Daily Fantasy NBA Basketball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings and DraftPot - 12/11/15

Big old Friday in the NBA. And if you are like me, you will be making some kind of excuse to not attend some Friday night family function that involves a Christmas-related theme and hours of boring/ nonsensical characters walking around on a stage somewhere. Here's to hoping I can dodge a major kid-related bullet tonight. Going to be a close one. But enough about my problems, let's get to the picks.

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POINT GUARD

John Wall - FD 9500 DK 9100
Opponent - NOP FD Proj. Pts - 44.74 DK Proj. Pts - 46.13
Like Beal below, Wall is just playing a million minutes a game right now. The Wiz need him to considering the state of their team. They are incredibly short-handed at the moment and need run from their primary scorers as much as possible. Wall is that guy and he's been out on the court for insane usage of late. It should keep going tonight against a Pelican team among the worst in the league at defending against opposing point guards. Though the price is up there, this game flow is right in the sweet spot and Wall should be out there for the majority.

Ricky Rubio - FD 7100 DK 7000
Opponent - DEN FD Proj. Pts - 32.41 DK Proj. Pts - 33.42
Rubio needed a miracle overtime the other night against the Lakers in order to creep into the value zone (and even then it was close). Our system likes him though against the Nuggets who are right down there with the Lakers in terms of guarding against the point guard. Rubio isn't a scorer which hurts his top end upside, but he does everything else. If the minutes are there then I like his floor, but there's some concern that he never looks for his own shot.

Matthew Dellavedova - FD 4400 DK 4600
Opponent - ORL FD Proj. Pts - 19.84 DK Proj. Pts - 21.58
The Cavs are in an interesting spot tonight. They are real short on backcourt players. J.R. Smith is out, leaving them Dellavedova and Mo Williams (with Jared Cunningham thrown in) to handle almost all of the run for the one and the two. I think both of these guys are coming at solid prices and if Mo sees the minutes' restriction come off then he's a full go. Regardless, Delly should log major minutes in this one. He needs every one of them to hit value, but he's coming cheap.

Isaiah Thomas - FD 7900 DK 7800
Opponent - GSW FD Proj. Pts - 35.1 DK Proj. Pts - 37.49
If you think there is any chance in hell the Celtics hang for a whole game with the Warriors then I really like Thomas' price. But there might not be a chance in hell so take him as a tournament play.

 

SHOOTING GUARD

O.J. Mayo - FD 4800 DK 5400
Opponent - TOR FD Proj. Pts - 24.56 DK Proj. Pts - 26.98
At this point he's the starting point guard for the Bucks and logging major minutes and handling a ton of the ball-handling duties for the Bucks. Even when MCW comes off the bench, O.J. is, at times, sliding over to the two. This is a minutes' bonanza for the guy and the price just isn't there yet. the encouraging thing about Mayo, from a fantasy perspective, is he isn't relying completely on the scoring in his current role. This is an easy cash game play on FanDuel as long as he's still in the starting lineup.

Dwyane Wade - FD 7300 DK 7000
Opponent - IND FD Proj. Pts - 33.36 DK Proj. Pts - 33.86
Shooting guard is a little tough sledding on this big slate. Mayo is close to a must for me, but after that it gets a little dicey. Wade is an interesting play here. His price remains in this mid tier because his performances have been all over the place this season and he gets his minutes shaved when games are out of hand. But this matchup, from a volume perspective plays well for him. The game projects as close and Indiana plays at a fast pace. Recommending Wade is as much about the scarcity of the position as anything else.

Bradley Beal - FD 7200 DK 7200
Opponent - NOP FD Proj. Pts - 31.76 DK Proj. Pts - 34.17
It's definitely a slight overpay and he's anything but a safe buy. But Beal is in a good situation for this game. It projects as the top scoring game on the slate and Beal's minutes (should) give him a high floor. He needs to score in bunches to hit value because that's his primary way of accumulating fantasy points. But this matchup is choice.

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SMALL FORWARD

LeBron James - FD 10400 DK 10000
Opponent - ORL FD Proj. Pts - 46.53 DK Proj. Pts - 48.4
He went full up beast mode the other night against Portland after watching the Cavs get boat-raced without him the game before. Lebron went vintage in a 33/10/3 turnout and the Blazers had no real answer for him on the offensive end. Orlando isn't a bad defensive team, in fact they rank 8th in Def Eff this season, but Lebron is coming on the cheaper end of the superstar scale. He is like clockwork in terms of scoring and while he won't turn in performances like he did on Tuesday, he has as high a floor as anyone in the top tier.

Marcus Morris - FD 5800 DK 5900
Opponent - PHI FD Proj. Pts - 28.12 DK Proj. Pts - 30.46
The weirdest thing about Morris lately is that while the minutes and the shots attempts and minutes have generally been there, nothing else has been happening for Morris. In his last four games he hasn't had more than 4 rebounds. He had been averaging almost six per game before that. And the defensive stats haven't been there either. But this is Philly and 76ers play sloppy. There should be opportunity aplenty for Morris in this one and you are catching him on a price decline. That's a perfect place to buy.

Andrew Wiggins - FD 6800 DK 6700
Opponent - DEN FD Proj. Pts - 30.8 DK Proj. Pts - 31.56
He really struggled against the Lakers on Wednesday night and couldn't find his shot until later in the game. By then it was too late for his production. He's gifted with another great opponent tonight. Denver isn't a crazy fast team, but they are below average against shooting guards on the season. The two things that concern me about Wiggins are that he's very scoring dependent and Minny was content with running a lineup without him until very late in the fourth quarter against the Lakers. He's more of a tournament play for me.

POWER FORWARD

Anthony Davis - FD 11000 DK 10800
Opponent - WAS FD Proj. Pts - 51.58 DK Proj. Pts - 52.37
We've seen the Wizards as perfectly content to get up and down the floor this season. They rank fourth in the league in overall pace and have one of the worst defensive efficiencies around. To boot they are really depleted on the front line. They've been starting Jared Dudley in the four and that's going to be a big issue with Davis around. Brow is coming off a low minute/low output game against the Celtics. That's fine and I think he's a fantastic buy right now. This is just the right kind of game and opponent for his skill set.

Derrick Favors - FD 8200 DK 7900
Opponent - OKC FD Proj. Pts - 39.85 DK Proj. Pts - 40.38
Before absolutely embarrassing the Knicks on Wednesday, Favors had been seeing a nice trend on his minutes of late. If the Jazz are committed to having him out there for longer/ more consistent stretches then he has some big time fantasy upside. Now the Thunder are looking strong right now and Ibaka is a good defender, but they've been about average against opposing power forwards thanks in large pyart to how much OKC pushes the pace. If Utah can hang then Favors could play a big factor.

Jon Leuer - FD 4500 DK 5200
Opponent - POR FD Proj. Pts - 24.72 DK Proj. Pts - 25.32
Leuer is still starting for the Suns and it doesn't look like Markieff Morris will be coming back into the fold anytime soon. He's getting run close to thirty minutes a game and is just enough of the offense to get him in at these very reduced prices. Lea plays a little of the stretch four in that he'll get out from beyond the arc every once in awhile, shooting 40% from three.

Consider LaMarcus Aldridge as something of an upside play.

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CENTER

Marcin Gortat - FD 6300 DK 6000
Opponent - NOP FD Proj. Pts - 30.75 DK Proj. Pts - 31.24
He missed a few games to go home to Poland in order to deal with family matters. He came back to face the Rockets and looked like he hadn't missed a beat. Gortat was great, going 18/13 in 36 minutes of play. The Wizards will need him to do something similar tonight in terms of court time. Like I've said, they are so thin in the front court and need all the big men they can get. Gortat can roll both ends of the court and should be in line for a nice game against a Pelicans squad getting blitzed against opposing centers.

Jahlil Okafor - FD 6100 DK 6400
Opponent - DET FD Proj. Pts - 28.91 DK Proj. Pts - 29.27
He's a hard one to trust. Okafor sat out a couple of games from the suspension, struggled against the Spurs and then blasted on the Nets. The truth is somewhere in between, but his price are very cheap if he's going to be out there for 30 minutes a game. Detroit is middle of the pack against opposing centers and Okafor's minutes are rather secure regardless of game flow or potential blowout (i.e. Sixers getting crushed).

Marc Gasol - FD 7900 DK 7400
Opponent - CHA FD Proj. Pts - 36.01 DK Proj. Pts - 36.4
Gasol is shooting a lot more per minute in the short term than he was earlier in the season. This is an interesting development and is something that could stick going forward. Z-Bo is still working down low of course, but more of the offense is running through Gasol. Charlotte is in the bottom third of the league at defending against opposing centers and Gasol could work on Zeller and company.

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