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Daily Fantasy Basketball Injury News and Updates for FanDuel and DraftKings - 4/2/16
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!
What We Know
Demarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo are out. Kings are tanking
George Karl came out and said that Cousins wouldn't play anymore road games. The thought process behind it? The Kings want to lose. No other reason to make such a weird stipulation about his playing time. Plus tonight Rondo gets a little R&R. It's fine, this is the NBA after all and teams are incentivized to lose which makes late season DFS such a struggle. Tonight the Kings will play short-handed and I expect to see a ton of Rudy Gay, Darren Collison, Seth Curry and possibly Kosta Koufos is Willie Cauley-Stein can't go. This is one of those slates where it would have been nice to have Boogie because there really aren't many upper tier guys to spend up on.
Dwyane Wade is doubtful
He sat out last night and this "doubtful" tag comes awfully early in the day which I think spells him sitting tonight. Gerald Green drew the start at the two last night and went nuts from the field, scoring 30 points. Don't expect a similar performance simply because he's incredibly unlikely to run that hot from three again. But the minutes should be there and he's coming cheap. This is a tough slate to fully spend money so I'm not calling him a must play. I do like the usage increase Goran Dragic typically sees with Wade off the court though.
What We're Waiting to Know
Will Derrick Rose and/or Taj Gibson play?
They are both doubtful right now and I would bet they both sit. If they are out then both Jimmy Butler and Nikola Mirotic become just about must plays. Both of their usage rate tic up with Derrick and Taj off the court. I'd have them as must plays (see below).
Will the Raptors rest anyone?
There's been rumblings about this for some time now, though they haven't pulled the trigger on sitting anyone major. You could see it tonight with either Lowry or Derozan getting some rest. If that was the case then the other one would instantly jump to the top of the value list on such a short slate. You are going to be looking for places to spend and I'd play whoever was looking at the most shots in Toronto.
The "Every Lineup" Guys
Jimmy Butler - FD 7800 DK 7300
Opponent - DET
FD Proj. Pts - 43.15 DK Proj. Pts - 44.52
He's a great play if Rose is in the lineup tonight. He's a must play if Rose is out. Butler gets, by far, the biggest usage bump on the Bulls when he's without Rose. He ends up becoming a de facto point guard of sorts for the team and they run the offense through him completely. Again, I'd play him even if Rose played because of the minutes. But if he's the man in Chicago he should be a 100% start.
Nikola Mirotic - FD 5300 DK 5200
Opponent - DET
FD Proj. Pts - 30.03 DK Proj. Pts - 32.4
This is assuming Taj Gibson doesn't play. Don't get caught up in Bobby Portis starting (like I and many others did last game) as Mirotic is part of the unit Hoiberg wants to run for major minutes because they can space the court effectively. Mirotic's range opens things up from the four and allows Butler to penetrate as well as a pick and roll game with Gasol.
These are players that show up in each of the top 10 lineups as produced by our lineup optimizer. This doesn't necessarily mean that they're "safe," it just means that their projected weighted-mean point total is a solid building block for a great lineup foundation today.
Good luck out there today! If you want access to all of our numbers, get started with a free trial below of our lineup optimizer, on us!
image sources
- Joey Dorsey, DeMarcus Cousins: (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
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Alright! Looking forward to a solid night. Optimizer do work!
Using DFSR player ratings in my own spreadsheet (since FantasyAces not supported)
G J.Butler 37.41 5,800.00
G G.Dragic 29.44 5,150.00
G E.Mudiay 26.14 4,900.00
F P.George 39.43 6,400.00
F N.Mirotic 21.24 4,500.00
F T.Harris 26.51 4,850.00
C I.Mahinmi 23.30 4,350.00
Util Mc.Morris 25.24 4,500.00
Util D.Collison 22.94 4,450.00
Please note that using this technique I scored 328.00 on FantasyAces last night, and cashed 5/6 days so far this week (Wednesday was the exception). This lineup is pending Rose/Gibson being ruled OUT and Wade being ruled OUT. System seems to like George/Mahinmi since Indiana still has playoff positioning to play for and the 6ers have been able to at least be somewhat competitive.
hey how could i get in touch with you? for business regarding DFS do you have twitter?
@dailyfantasysr on Twitter or dailyfantasysr@gmail.com
Optimizer is on fire. 63rd and 73rd last night out of 11,000
Haven’t been using optimizer, but love the player projections. Really helps me understand value. Everyone forgot about an oldy but a goodie last night in Wesley Mathews. 1% owned last night for a guy who plays 35+ minutes with updside. When Felton was out, sealed the deal for me. Would have been a big night if not for Len’s fouling issues
Korver was a steal last night…. Risk but at .3% owned and 20.3 points, I’ll take it…. Love the consistent quality you folks put out… Looking forward to MLB!! Keep up the great work…
Anyone trust faried tonight?
like I trust an escort to not give me an STD…
LOL! agreed
Seems into be to risky for me.
Gasol or Drummond? Or both?
Butler and Mirotic provide better value for Chicago while Harris and Morris provide better value for Detroit. Drummond struggles against centers that pull him away from the paint. You will see Gasol a lot in the pick and roll with Butler tonight sans Rose. Gasol has also been known to run the Bulls offense away from the basket and pick up a good number of assists. In short…Gasol if you want to play a center in that game that’s safe but Butler and Mirotic have high ceilings at a discount.
So what other player would you recommend today in the Center position?
I think you have to lean heavy on Bulls, Pistons, Pacers and Blazers. They’re basically the only teams playing for anything tonight and their games are the only ones with a single digit point spread.
I think you meant Bulls, Pistons, Heat and Blazers, right? Indy almost a 12pt fave..
Fully expect as the day winds on to get a long list of guys resting tonight and/or odd guys starting coming off the bench.
$$$BOOM$$$ Optimizer crushed again last night!
Very good night. Agreed.
Thoughts on Aldridge?
what was optimizers score last night? ive strayed away from it and made my own with success but its always lower than the optimizers lol last night was a 346 FD for me. 1400 out of 115000
The optimal lineup last night had 326. When the Barea news came out 5 minutes before if you locked him in that team had 329
326 is the opti I ran , covered all multis and double ups and paid in all tourneys
Mirotic makes me nervous…from watching a lot of bulls games, it seems like the coach plugs him in and if his shot is on early he gets run, but if not, he gets buried on the bench! He feels like a must FADE tonite IMO.
I agree on this assessment. I think he tends to ride the hot hand and Mirotic has come out gunning that last couple of nights. That being said, I think that Bulls lineup gives them the best chance with spacing especially if Rose is out because then basically the whole crew can shoot threes.
casspi out tonight and could be shut down. Sac is really running out of bodies.
Any thoughts on whiteside tonight at center? Optimizer is going with pau, but have enough $$ left to go with whiteside.
Certainly seems like he has more upside than Pau given how erratic his minutes have been. But erratic minutes also leads to safety concerns…
Agree Ryan though Heat are in a race for 3 seed and I’m sure wld like to avoid 2nd Rd matchup with cavs if they fell to 4. Raptors still not 100% out of 1 seed contention.
Trick will be using those competitive games and not missing out on the other off season couch guys who cld still go off. Glad I found this sight and you guys to sift through all this mess.
Do you guys run the optimizer for college basketball?
No – too much noise in CBB data to come up with complete projections at this point. We’re forming a strategic partnership that may allow us to do this for next year, though. In the meantime, we have Justin cherry pick good plays and write them up 🙂
Decided to roll with Ryan’s comment tonight. Seeing Lowry might sit and the Raptors have 3 easy games of the last 6. Thinking the teams he mentioned will be better matchups.
I like Morris, P. George, and Butler. Not relying on too many punt plays.
Had Mirotic in most of my lineups but took him out due to better plays at SF.
Just read that Rudy gay may sit 2nd half today and on limited minutes!
What’s everybody’s thoughts on Aldridge? Collison? Jackson vs philly?
where did you read that?
Morris on detroit SF is on fire right now. And because they played last night his price hasn’t risen. They’re using him a lot in their offense. And he’s safe at that price for cash games with a lot of upside.
Our optimizer has loved Morris all year, but be careful projecting him for too much more based on recent games. He’s not going to shoot 70% forever of course.
Lavoy Allen starting at PF over Myles Turner
I just put Lavoy Allen in my lineup so I can spend cash on other positions. I hope that Rudy Gay info is not true.
Just saw WCS and Koufos have been added as questionable tonight. A Curry/Collison stack might be 80% of that Rivers/Crawford combo from the other night.
Gay info? Where is that posting, I get tanking but are they going to toss in some D league players last minute?
He’s been pretty good lately in spots so this is a bummer…
Darrell Arthur DEN is QUESTIONABLE
They may start picking people out of the stands for this one. Seems like everyone is questionable/doubtful for this game.
Hey guys just bought my pro membership…I absolutely love this community. You guys genuinely want each other to win money and contribute to for everyone’s success. Looking forward to contributing as well! Sap story aside…
Is there any way to choose multiple Centers in the optimizer? I’m sure it’s been asked 100 times, what’s 1 more? Thanks!
Andrew,
Thanks for signing up. And we agree with you on the community aspect. The single best things that’s happened in the last couple of months is the comments section in articles. It’s been totally organic, robust and such a value add to us.
Re: centers. I’m assuming you are talking about DraftKings and the answer is unfortunately no. That functionality was basically breaking the site (the non-technical answer of course).
Gotcha…I’ll just lock in a similar price point in the Utility slot to compensate for the Center price. Thanks, Doug!
Its so hard to win these days! But….i didnt start winning consistently until i open this page first! Its the base to all my research…this optimizer usually catches the plays that play….like last night…no one thought to play Middleton…everyone was on booker and thompson…soon as you see something like that in optimizer dont change it!!
There’s nothing on Rudy Gay yet ( as of 4:04pm est) but Kings said down the stretch they may look to get him rest and they rested him 5 days ago on a back to back so people are speculating.
Cousins, Bellenili, Rondo and Casspi all officially OUT
I suspect he plays if for no other reason than they are getting close to not having anyone else.
Honestly don’t feel great about any sac player tonight other than Collison and Curry.
I’m with you. I don’t feel amazing about that situation. But they could be rolling with something like 8 guys. I do like Rudy
I agree. I personally think these are going to be two hug PP$ guys and I don’t see WCS playing much. But who knows!
With the optimizer and some personal research I got 334.25 to tie in 2nd out of 15,000.
25 cent entry turned into $87.50
Good stuff!
I love that result…Im next! lol
I would assume if we get early enough word that WCS or Koufos is out, the other gets s pretty significant boost? Not crazy about Drummond tonight and I guess remains to be seen how Turner to bench affects his and Mahinmi minutes.
I’m stuck about Faried!! He’s really risky, but he may be a great tourney guys. What do yall think,
What makes faried risky to me is his minutes! But if Arthur Is out I project him for 28+ minutes. And the manimal can exceed value easily with that allotment of minutes. If Arthur Is out. I may even take him in cash games. I seseem to always use him on the good days thankfully!
Any news if Pop is sitting his stars tonight?
My thoughts are that WCS will play….makes people scared to play him bc of the shoulder issue but who the heck else are they going to play? But if hes a lock for me bc DEN is terrible down low and this fits him so well to have a big game…kuofos was the man but now its down to WCS 10 min before lock
Noel doubtful any thoughts on carl landry?
Doug…if we get news that Rose is out and Moore is running the point…wouldnt he be a must play over Curry? Along with plugging in mirotic, butler, and gasol? Or only plug those guys in if gibson is declared out as well?
It’s very, very close. My inclination would be to go with Curry who runs at SG with the starters and then plays backup PG minutes as well. But either would be fine I think.
Lillard has been really off lately. Is he viable for cash? Or gpp only?
I like him fine for cash on this slate. But I can understand being hesitant. He’s been shooting terrible from the field for sure. And this isn’t the best matchup. It’s a price thing as far as our system in concerned.
Man this is a tough slate to figure out. Now that GS lost at home, I think SA is going to go for it to be the only undefeated at home. I’m liking LA and KL tonight for my 2 studs…and build around that with some punts like Collison and Curry (and maybe one of the PHI big guys).
I wish the game mattered more. Reality is neither TOR or SA is going to catch the team ahead of them most likely. TOR may sit guys and so might the Spurs. It’s got a REALLY low o/u (194) and Spurs already a 11.5pt fave before we get news on anyone sitting. I like some pieces in this game at the same time those pieces make me a little nervous.
No more love for Collison? He’s averaging 28 over his last eight and looks to be the starting PG tonight. 26 seems like an awfully low projection.
I agree with you that it looks low. I’m reverse-engineering his projection to see if there’s something amiss. One issue for sure is that it’s tough to peg him for more than 35 or so minutes.
Morris or Mirotic?
There was a slight issue with his usage projection based on the players out for the Kings. It was giving him the right minutes but not accounting for him running without Rondo
Thomas I’m with you. Not touching anyone from TOR, but I think SA is going to want to keep that undefeated record at home. Kawhi should be well rested and LA should put up a decent game. They will be in one of my GPP lineups for sure.
But TOR may just waive the white flag. Couple sites saying Scola, Lowry, Jonas and DeRozan might get night off for rest. Scola already listed as questionable. Makes for a lot of interesting punt plays but not sure how much value you get from the Spurs???? They played down to the undermanned Pelicans the other night and the result was just a stat sheet spread across 12 guys. As I said. Entire game makes me nervous. Will only give it a hard look if both sides scratch a bunch of dudes.
Spurs injury report on espn.com has Leonard as OUT anybody have any idea if he is going to sit ?
Is Aldridge slowly creeping into sneaky GPP play? Kawhi too?
Looking for PG13 to have a big night
ESPN always has the prior games listing so until they are in it will always say out
No love for Paul George tonight? Is the system scared of a blow out? I kno Philly always loses but they somehow keep games closE
System likes him fine. It’s more than Mirotic (assuming no Taj) and Gay are such fantastic values that they outstrip George of the latter’s worth
How about Landry with Noel out again???
Can;’t remember another night like this where I’m just tempted to hit the cancel button on all my entries. Can’t get any sort of feel for things. No top end guys to sort of latch onto. Three games an hour+ after lock where guys could sit, lopsided lines… who knows… might just be one of those nights where I apply CASH game thinking to GPP and just get in the money and move on 🙂
I don’t blame you here. This late in the season things get very dicey.
Can’t trust Landry, especially because Grant will get around 25 minutes, I don’t think there’ll be enough other minutes to warrant a start
This would have been my exact answer
Any thoughts on Morris of the Pistons vs. Mirotic from the Bulls?
Mirotic if no Taj. Otherwise, Morris
Need to know Bulls plan. Last 15 minutes Hoiberg said “Rose most likely to sit… Gibson GTD”…. Hopefully we know before 7:30 lock but who knows”?
Honestly I think Morris will have a nice overall game
..I dont c mitotic slowing him down
Any thoughts on Deng for the heat without wade or Covington for Phili as slightly cheaper options?
Thinking of going PRO, are the lineups that the optimizer produces more geared towards cash games or gpp ?
Hey Big Will!
Cash games for the optimal lineups, but it has plenty of features if you want to scale your lineup toward more GPP – like stacking, removing certain games, etc.
Crap… Taj is warming up now? Lol but still considered doubtful? That’ll throw a wrench in some things…
which 2 out of 3 guards would yall play out of barton mccullom and curry in an after hours game?
Taj is a tough dude. I can easily see him playing and might fade mirotic for Paul George and spend down at center.
Taj will try to play. Making some adjustments now.
Andddd taj will try to play tonight… According to Fantasy Labs
Any news on WCS?
Ahhhhhhhhhhh
Gibson plans to play just came through roto Ap
Taj will only play 10 mins and Mirotic will go in and put up 40+ fantasy points. Of course, this will ONLY happen if I switch these guys. If I leave my lineups with Mirotic then Taj will play his full mins and put up 40+ fantasy points. So you see, I can’t win no matter what the lineup tool suggests.
Getting nervous!!! Taj may be limited. Urgh!!!!!
First time since I’ve been on PRO ( I think?) that the FanDuel projection has been under 300. Going to be an interesting night.
I just took mirotic down from 9 to 3 line ups. I hope I’m not over reacting to the taj news
Spurs not resting players. Don’t know what that means with Pop, but there it is…
Optimizer faded Paul George! I may run with him though
Spurs aren’t resting just came in.
FantasyAces top projection based on ratings and applied to my spreadsheet (no Aces optimizer yet)…it likes B. Diaw at 3k over E. Brand at 3k
G J.Butler 37.41 5,800.00
G D.Collison 22.94 4,450.00
G S.Curry 9.79 3,500.00
F P.George 39.43 6,400.00
F L.Deng 26.58 4,750.00
F B.Diaw 13.54 3,000.00
C A.Drummond 37.10 5,900.00
Util P.Gasol 40.68 6,000.00
Util G.Dragic 29.44 5,150.00
Lillard is showing up a lot, is he really that strong of a play?
Is anyone putting Gay in their cash lineups? Not sure how much I trust that. May break it up between that and taking out Gay and going with the next optimal.
Only thing that’s stopped me from rolling with gay in all my gpps is hearing about this minute restrictions. But that’s was here and hasn’t been verified far as I can tell
Whoa…optimal lineup changed big time. What happened?
The guys are working hard on the other end!!
Rose OUT
Safe to fade Mirotic in all formats?
Got three FD GPP lineups tonight:
– Collison/Mudiay/KCP/Derozan/Morris/Kawhi:/LMA/Lavoy/Andre
– Collison/Mudiay/Butler/Curry/Kawhi/Morris/LMA/Tobias/Gasol
– Collison/Mudiay/Butler/KCP/Kawhi/Morris/LMA/Lavoy/Gasol
Where would you switch out a PG for dragic and make other changes?
Always go with your gut, right? 🙂 Optimizer and me didn’t see eye to eye on George so I went with George in all my lineups.
Good Luck!!! to everyone tonight. Let’s win some $$$$$$$
Not feeling like a great night. Went with optimizer in a few and gut in others. We will see.
Lowry out!
Welp. I think I panicked at lock. I think we are in for a crazy night.
Can you update with lo out for the late changes
Freaking Kids… Curry off the bench McLemore starting.
that would be Kings 🙂
these last second line up changes kill me.. i hope Baseball season is much easier on that.. GL everyone.
Baseball, NFL and NHL are MUCH easier with injuries. Those leagues don’t let the teams play so fast and loose with injury news. You can get fined if guys suddenly have “the flu” in other leagues5 minutes before game time but the NBA refuses to police those things.
Mirotic doesn’t start? How many mins does he get lol.
Jeepers I was happy to get him in my lineup at 6:29 when Gibson was ruled out. Thanks Chicago.
Baseball is a lot easier for injuries, just gotta keep a close eye on the weather that’s all.
The great Ben Mclemore
Geez I should have went with landry
Lowry AND Derozan out!!!!!!
DD out too should have faded this game all together
Cory Joseph a better option than Seth Curry?
Jimmy Butler with a HUGE first half!
Damn – Butler goin’ off!!! I got him in every single lineup.
I can only hope they moved curry to bench to have some off for the 2nd unit since nobody else is left
PG doing pretty bad at 78% in cash and I faded him. 4x if everyone is lucky. Aldridge and butler on fire. Loving where I’m at.
Mitotic killing me
Damn I had Derozan!
Mirotic killed me. Thanks! Going to give this opt. another day. 46% had butler tonight. I had him in the lineups with Mirotic. Guess one of the every line up guys was no good.
He wasn’t an every line up guy at the end you have to run the opti close to tip
He’s still showing up on the DK opt that was for tonight.
He showed back up after we found out Taj was out. But he wasn’t at main slate tip time for sure.
Ok then what am I doing wrong then? I checked the opt at 7:00 est and he was in it and then after games started he was still in it and even now his still showing up. Is it not refreshing on my end. Just trying to figure it out.
Thanks. Going to give it one more shot tomorrow. I don’t know if it’s not reshreshing or not but I clicked it about 7ish and there was no change. Guess tomorrow’s another day.
Hope you guys got around to the optimal lineups at the end – very solid night around here! Crazy how much was changing there at the end.
And also, was there ever any doubt about Rudy Gay? Lol, that one took a steady hand. Glad I stuck with him!
Yes! At 334 and counting…not sure if I got final optimal or not as I lost Internet on my phone during dinner at 728..minor freak out
Justin, last I saw mirotic was in, but I put Morris instead. Not sure how final #1 optimal worked out
10-4. Awesome you had a good night. I hope to turn it around tomorrow. I e been on a dead streak.
I think the site was down I couldn’t get on either . But I’m liking the one I used
4th day using the optimizer here. Came out in the black days 1 and 2 despite getting screwed by Powell and then Portis. After costing myself money day 3 by getting cute and using Booker instead of listening to the optimizer and playing Middleton (played the rest of the lineup verbatim), I decided to 1) pay for the service and 2) just listen to the optimizer haha. It was scary to fade George and play Gay, but these shredded cash games speak for themselves. Great product.
Seems like something was wrong somewhere because a few minutes before lock I couldn’t get the site to fresh either.
Must not have seen the final lineup. Like others site locked up there for about 5 minutes. on FanDuel Ended up at 324. Cashed in some GPPS but not others. Cleaned up on DraftKings 335.
I don’t save lineups throughout the day but pretty sure there was one in there from earlier with Reggie Jackson and Koufus and had the parts that hit like Aldridge, Butler, Gay and co. That lineup had to be 370+