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Basketball Picks Daily Fantasy Expert Advice

02/25/2016
Doug Norrie

Daily Fantasy Basketball Injury News and Updates for FanDuel and DraftKings - 2/25/16

Welcome to the daily updates and injury news article. We'll try and update it right up to line-up locks with as much information as comes across our desks. Let's get to it!

Last night's picks can be found here, so you can wrap your mind around what you need to be looking at before lineups lock tonight.

By the way - we keep our projection system updated with all of the changes as they occur throughout the day right up until lineup lock. Every day. If you want access to that system so you can cut out a lot of the research element, click the button below!

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Now let’s look at some news that’s come in throughout the day to see if anything’s changed in our minds or in the NBA landscape. It's a shorter slate and a light news day, but we'll be updating as stuff rolls in. Also throw out some ideas in the comments and we can take it from there.

What We Know

Today's a light day on the news front. As of right now, there isn't much we are waiting to know or too many injury pieces shaking out. This being the NBA or course these things change on a dime, but heading into the afternoon all is quiet.

Alex Len will play
This situation continues to make for a crowded front court in Phoenix. The Suns have a number of guys who would instantly become must plays if we had any sense of consistent and robust minutes. But that isn't the case. Instead they rotate minutes among Len, Chandler, Humphries, Teletovic and Leuer. All are coming very cheap and with Chandler coming back the minutes stand to get diminished even more on the player level.

 

What We’re Waiting to Know

Victor Oladipo is questionable
This would have major repercussions on lineups. Right now Dipo is basically a must play in our system. But the issue with his thigh throws a monkey wrench in that scenario for a couple of reasons. Of course, if he were ruled out then Fournier would get a major minutes' bump and most likely enter must play territory. The other issue though is if Dipo does play, how we handle his minutes. He's such a beast in the system right now because he projects at such a huge amount of run. Injury issues throw that into question. Luckily this is the first game on the slate so we should have some answers. Update: Dipo is playing. 

Joe Johnson and the Nets Buyout coming?
I doubt this happens today, but news came down earlier that the Nets are considering just buying the dude out and getting it over with. Brooklyn is a trainwreck and Johnson is one of the least exciting players in the league to watch. Getting rid of him would open up major minutes for some of the scrubs who sit the bench behind him.
I take this back. Joe Johnson has been waived. It's a little unclear how this plays out. For now I've bumped up Bojan Bogdanovic, Markel Brown and Wayne Ellington some minutes each.

 

The "every lineup" guys

Russell Westbrook - FD 10900 DK 11000
Opponent - NOP
FD Proj. Pts - 51.11 DK Proj. Pts - 53
Shelvin Mack - FD 3700 DK 4100
Opponent - SAS
FD Proj. Pts - 24.98 DK Proj. Pts - 26.46
These guys are showing up everywhere on FanDuel and it makes sense. The savings on one allows you to spend on the other. The Pelicans are one of the worst defenses in the league, leaving a ton of opportunity for Westbrook to do his thing. From a safety perspective, it doesn't get much better than Russ. He's just such a lock for a high floor mostly because of his video game/ cheat code style that has him all over the court. He is the toughest player to fade both from an actual numbers-pov but also from a "heart attack" sense as well. One simply cannot fire up League Pass for an OKC game and root against the guy.

Mack other other hand is a must play if he's named the starter again. Judging on his minutes over the last two games, this seems close to a lock. It also helps that Raul Neto is the only guy standing in his way. Which is to say, very little is standing in Mack's path.

 

Good luck out there today! If you want access to all of our numbers, get started with a free trial below - on us! You can also get started with DFSR pro - our brand new lineup optimizer!

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38 Visitor Comments

  1. Hey guys mack isn’t showing up in my lineup tool any1 know why?

  2. Suns are a mess. Zero reason for them to play Chandler other than getting their “moneys worth” out of his deal. They should have two objectives at this point… lose a ton of games and get a ton of minutes for all the kids to see what pieces fit/work for next season. With the exception of Tucker seems like a lot of nights they cap minutes for some unknown reason. Tough to roster anyone on that team when they start Chandler. One or more of the bigs will either get a DNPC or will be barely visible on the stat sheet.

    Still don’t trust that OKC game. Fully expect Russ and Durant to be on the bench the entire 4th quarter laughing it up.

  3. Is the assumption that a combination of Jennings, Payton, and Fournier would make up Dipo’s minutes if he sits? Maybe more Aaron Gordon at the 3 and Ilya at the 4 with Fournier playing the 2, leaving Vuc all the run he can handle? And how does this affect the line and odds of a blowout making GS players more risky?

    So much trickle down effects to the Dipo GTD tonight.

    • Definitely a chance they just go small to keep up – but I’d guess it’s more likely Gordon goes to the 5 and battles Draymond there.

      This game is going to be a blowout, IMO.

    • Probably only a matter of time before he signs with the Cavs or Thunder.

  4. Any thoughts on Harden tonight? Hes been consistently in the mid 50’s in his last 5 and I like the pace with Portland.

  5. Thoughts on how Joe’s minutes shake out? He was old but dude still logged 30+ minutes every night.

  6. I like the idea of Bojan Bogdanovic as a punt play tonight. He’s been averaging 22 minutes a game in February, WITH Joe Johnson on the roster.

  7. With Joe Johnson out, should I play Bojan or Phil Pressey as my pint tonight? GPP

  8. I would imagine Ellington Bogdanovic and Thomas Robinson all get little bumps but are any of them worth using?

    • Even with the plus matchup tonight, it’s too hard to guess on BKN’s guards and wings without seeing it play out post-Joe Johnson. I am valuing BroLo and Thad much higher tonight because the offense should almost completely go through them.

  9. where is Ronnie Price vs a shitty Nets D?

  10. the only reason he didn’t get them vs the Spurs is because he fouled out…

  11. Love Ryan Anderson today in tournaments, low ownership, nice savings, and nice upside in an high scoring fast, pace game.

  12. Cant decide if the extra 500 is worth going up from harden to westbrook tonight? thoughts? Harden has been more productive as of late but brooks match up is better

    • I’m definitely taking Westbrook here.

  13. Lillard and harden have basically played 1 v 1 basketball with 8 other guys watching in their recent matchups. How you guys feel about using both tonight

    • Harden had 30 shots last game, but shot almost his exact season average over the 10 games leading up to it. I’m not reading too much into that, and our system already knows he shoots a lot.

      Lillard is shooting more recently, and it might be sustainable. Still, his price has risen, so he’s no sure thing.

  14. Any reason why plumlee is only projected 22 mins? His minutes have been north of 26 in the past 2 games

  15. Pelicans lose another starter. Just announced Bryce Dejean-Jones out with broken wrist.

  16. What do we think of giannis tonight coming off the monster triple double?

  17. I had him and took him out to get Davis and Westbrook
    Couldn’t fit Mack and Sloan or I would be under salary lol took Sloan simply less mouths to feed

  18. Peter… I’m playing Giannis. Faded all the big dogs. Just too many what ifs for a lot of punt plays for me so liked GA.

  19. Very Uncomfortable with Harrison Barnes thus far. I hope he doesn’t wreck my LU. I hate playing him in my cash games but it fit nicely and I figured he would come close to value. here we are with 2:42 minutes left in the first with a big 1 pt 1 turn over for a big fat zero. #LandMines I went with Jrue,Sloan,Fournier,Harden,Crowder,Gordon,Parker,Vuc

    • Harry Barnes always lets me down, but I always go back to the well. At some point I should learn.

  20. whats this other upgrade about for $24 bucks?

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