Five Thoughts for Friday NBA DFS - FanDuel and DraftKings 12/1/18 We've got a big Friday coming in the NBA and that means we've also got a lot of big thoughts on players going into the evening. Here we'll take a deeper look at a player (or players) at each position and try to find the truth in the matchups and recent performances. Let's take a look at five thoughts for Friday in the NBA. Point Guard The OKC negative feedback loop Russell Westbrook FD - $11300 DK - $11400 Opponent - MIN Proj Pts FD - 56.45 DK - 60.23 Westbrook’s recent return to Triple-Double Russ has appeared to come at the price of OKC’s ability to actually win games. Over the last six games, Westbrook has averaged a 27/11.5/9 line on 38 minutes and the Thunder have gone 1-5 with the lone win a stunner against the Warriors. They’ve also suffered embarrassing blowout losses to the Magic and Mavericks in the last two. The question here isn’t whether last season’s stat sheet-filling Westbrook can show up but rather should he be taking on this role? It’s going to be a core question going forward for the Thunder. For DFS purposes, as long as he’s going full-on Russ then he is still coming in at something of a value on both FanDuel and DraftKings. Funny enough, the style of play has led to the Thunder falling behind, leading to Coach Billy Donovan needing to run Russ more to play catchup. It’s something like the NBA version of a negative feedback loop. When Westbrook has 20 or more shots in a game the Thunder are 1-8. Less? 7-4. And sure, 20 shots in a game is a somewhat arbitrary starting point, but it does speak to a potentially larger problem for the Thunder. Tonight he’ll get a bottom-third defensive efficiency team in the Timberwolves who could throw Jimmy Butler his way if Jeff Teague is in the lineup. Otherwise, he’d be seeing some combination of Tyus Jones and Butler. It will be interesting to see if OKC makes any fundamental changes to their approach which would negate some of Westbrook’s fantasy upside, but for now, I think we feel comfortable buying on his recent performance.   Shooting Guard Another walk down Beal Street without John Wall Bradley Beal FD - $8000 DK - $7900 Opponent - DET Proj Pts FD - 41.5 DK - 42.75 On the one hand, we have a pretty big sample size of what Bradley Beal’s game looks like when John Wall is off the court. Over the last two seasons, Beal goes from a 26.2 usage (per NBAwowy) with Wall on to a 32...

DFS NBA Podcast for Wednesday 10/25/17 - FanDuel and DraftKings DFSR’s Doug Norrie and James Davis take to the podcast discussing a full Wednesday in the NBA. There’s so much to break down with 10 games on the schedule. Highlights include a discussion about the Jimmy Butler late scratch from last night, the new Point Lebron era in Cleveland, buying low on Westbrook and what to make of Nikola Jokic’s slow start. They go through every game and take a look at the fantasy implications for FanDuel and DraftKings. Subscribe to this podcast on...

Daily Fantasy NBA Basketball Picks for FanDuel and DraftKings - 5/11/16 Playoffs Now’s your chance to get DFSR Pro with NBA Optimal Lineups, Projections, Player Cards and Google Chrome extension that auto-populates your lineups into FanDuel. Or try a free trial of our base package with projections for every player. While the seasons overlap, you'll get access to our tools for the NBA and NHL (and MLB when the time comes)! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! First time with NBA? Be sure to read our free NBA Ebook on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered. We've also launched a Stats and Research Page, which includes a lot of the individual statistics that we use to make our projections. It's free! Enjoy.   Miami Heat at Toronto Raptors Analysis With the injuries to both of these teams starting centers, small-ball has become the style of play that is going to be seen throughout the rest of this series. Game 4 had some very interesting storyline's that should be mentioned here: Although he didn't outproduce him, Cory Joseph saw more minutes than Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan continued his wildly inconsistent postseason with a crushing sub 10 FP performance, Bismack Biyombo had a solid double-double in 31 minutes of action, the Heat's 4 returning starters each saw about 40+ minutes in this one, and Justice Winslow saw 31 minutes (and produced fairly well) off the bench. A lot of this game is going to hinge on the health of Whiteside, because if he can go it changes the dynamic of the game entirely. Given that the Heat are now tied in this series, and the fact that Whiteside has been diagnosed with a sprained MCL, I think it's likely that he's out at least 1 more game (but I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on TV so how much do I really know?). Top Plays Dwyane Wade - FD 8100 DK 8300 Opponent - TOR FD Proj. Pts - 39.18 DK Proj. Pts - 39.79 Joe Johnson - FD 5100 DK 5100 Opponent - TOR FD Proj. Pts - 23.97 DK Proj. Pts - 26.03 Goran Dragic - FD 6500 DK 6400 Opponent - TOR FD Proj. Pts - 29.59 DK Proj. Pts - 31 Our system likes the following guys from the Heat, and with each of these guys seeing a bump in minutes and usage with Whiteside off the floor, I have to agree with the system. Wade is playing (almost) like he was back in '05-'06 when he won a championship, playing super aggressive, attacking basketball on the offensive end (as evidenced...

Daily Fantasy NBA Basketball Picks for FanDuel and DraftKings - 5/7/16 Playoffs Now’s your chance to get DFSR Pro with NBA Optimal Lineups, Projections, Player Cards and Google Chrome extension that auto-populates your lineups into FanDuel. Or try a free trial of our base package with projections for every player. While the seasons overlap, you'll get access to our tools for the NBA and NHL (and MLB when the time comes)! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! First time with NBA? Be sure to read our free NBA Ebook on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered. We've also launched a Stats and Research Page, which includes a lot of the individual statistics that we use to make our projections. It's free! Enjoy.   Toronto Raptors at Miami Heat Analysis After two games, we’ve had two slow, grinding contests. They both went to OT, yet I wasn’t particularly entertained. I guess if I was a Heat or Raptors fan… Maybe if I had a DFS lineup to stir my interest? Great idea! The problem here is the game’s likely low Pace, given the teams’ defenses, playing styles, and performances to date. That makes it hard to project players from either side to have a particularly good fantasy night. The players who look to get the most touches won’t get that many relative to a typical game (or the other game on the slate). The higher priced (over $7k) options here do not project to have good multiples. One or two might have strong performances, but it’s impossible to expect that on average. We know D-Wade will be clutch, but that doesn’t mean he’ll put up 30. Is anyone out there willing to run Lowry in a cash contest? There are a couple of solid mid-tier plays, but tread carefully with anyone else in this one. Top Plays DeMarre Carroll - FD 4800 DK 4300 Opponent - MIA FD Proj. Pts - 24.78 DK Proj. Pts - 26.76 Carroll is the second-best SF option for Saturday’s slate on FD. Fortunately you get (have) to play two, meaning Demarre is a solid play there. On DK it’s a different (even better) story. His significantly lower price, combined with the favorable scoring system, render him the top SF option, and arguably the play of the night at any position. Will he put up a 9x like last game? You can’t expect that, but somewhere between a 9x and Game 1’s 5x seems reasonable. We like him to go over 6x on average. Get him in your lineups. Jonas Valanciunas - FD 7000 DK 7000 Opponent - MIA FD Proj. Pts...

Daily Fantasy NBA Basketball Picks for FanDuel and DraftKings - 5/6/16 Playoffs Now’s your chance to get DFSR Pro with NBA Optimal Lineups, Projections, Player Cards and Google Chrome extension that auto-populates your lineups into FanDuel. Or try a free trial of our base package with projections for every player. While the seasons overlap, you'll get access to our tools for the NBA and NHL (and MLB when the time comes)! Get started for free by clicking the button below. START YOUR FREE TRIAL NOW! First time with NBA? Be sure to read our free NBA Ebook on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered. We've also launched a Stats and Research Page, which includes a lot of the individual statistics that we use to make our projections. It's free! Enjoy.   Cleveland Cavaliers at Atlanta Hawks Analysis Well okay. Think Cleveland likes the unit they've been deploying to handle the Hawks? Game two was over before the end of the first quarter and was a laugher by halftime. Now it should be known that Cleveland will not shoot like this from three again. They were above 60% for the game and that is just lights out territory. It won't be repeated and rest assured you won't see J.R. Smith turning on his inner Curry with that kind of shooting night again. But, we knew the Cavs liked what they had in playing Thompson at the five and the mismatches it would create everywhere else. They exploited it and will keep going back to what works. Again, I'm really not faulting the Hawks too much for what transpired in the second game. Sure they are outmatched in this series, but if a team is basically going just make every three then there's nothing anyone can do. Game three will be closer for sure. Top Plays Last game was such a blowout that it really didn't change my mind about any of the value plays coming out of this series. I'm just running back the picks from last time around because I think every piece of his holds true. LeBron James - FD 10600 DK 11000 Opponent - ATL FD Proj. Pts - 53.51 DK Proj. Pts - 55.67 Kevin Love - FD 7600 DK 8100 Opponent - ATL FD Proj. Pts - 39.82 DK Proj. Pts - 42.68 Tristan Thompson - FD 4800 DK 4800 Opponent - ATL FD Proj. Pts - 28.24 DK Proj. Pts - 28.85 J.R. Smith - FD 4700 DK 5300 Opponent - ATL FD Proj. Pts - 24.5 DK Proj. Pts - 27.7 This analysis is from our last article and it still holds true. Sure this seems like a...