NBA

NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Tuesday 2/26/13

Clippers against Bobcats, Heat against Kings, Bulls against Cavs? The NBA's trying to go for a single-day FP record.

Editor's Note: This article will not be appearing this Thursday or Friday due to author travel. Make sure to check out the Daily Projections page and make your own stats-fueled selections those days.

Another day, another dollar, another successful fantasy night. Behind our mid-range top options Rodney Stuckey (22 points) and Corey Brewer (16 points), our optimized rosters had yet another successful day. numberFire CTO Michael Worthington used our optimized roster in a 50 person money tournament on Fan Duel and placed 15th, doubling his entrance cost. That value is fine, but we strive to do even better.

We think today's rosters can get there.

We know that people play all sorts of fantasy platforms, not just from from our friends at StarStreet but on other platforms such as DraftStreet and FanDuel as well. So once again, we're not only going to give you one, but three optimized rosters, all for you, the numberFire reader.

As you can see, there are some minor differences between the rosters. That has to do with two key components: the position restrictions on each site, and the different player pricing system on the sites as well. We've plugged this data into our player projection system, and we've come up with the best overall values for your Daily Fantasy team on each platform today.

As always, the full tables for today's action are available at our Daily Fantasy Projections page. Make sure to check it out to see where the best values are for your team.

StarStreet Optimized Roster

PlayerPositionProjected FPCostValue
Dwyane WadeG37.90$14,0002.71
Blake GriffinF35.43$13,3002.66
David LeeF/C35.88$13,1002.74
Joakim NoahC34.03$12,0002.84
Monta EllisG32.13$11,5002.79
Carlos BoozerF29.73$9,9003.00
Andrei KirilenkoF27.78$9,1003.05
O.J. MayoG27.18$9,1002.99
Nate RobinsonG25.00$8,0003.13

DraftStreet Optimized Roster

PlayerPositionProjected FPCostValue
Dwyane WadeG34.20$16,6662.05
Chris PaulG32.53$16,0022.03
Brook LopezC28.78$13,6292.11
Chris BoshC28.83$12,6852.27
Carlos BoozerF26.03$12,4282.09
O.J. MayoG24.13$10,8272.23
Byron MullensC22.35$9,5672.34
Markieff MorrisF14.25$7,0622.02

Fan Duel Optimized Roster

PlayerPositionProjected FPCostValue
LeBron JamesSF43.6$9,9004.40
Dwyane WadeSG35.2$9,1003.87
David WestPF31.5$7,9003.99
Deron WilliamsPG28.0$6,8004.12
Andrei KirilenkoSF25.6$6,0004.27
Ryan AndersonPF26.1$5,9004.42
Dion WaitersSG22.0$4,9004.49
Luke RidnourPG21.7$4,7004.62
DeAndre JordanC20.0$4,2004.76

The Best of the Best

Dwyane Wade - He's the only player to appear on all three of our optimized rosters today, and it's for a good reason. It's almost not even fair when a player of his caliber, at a significantly lower price than teammate LeBron on most platforms, goes against the Sacramento Kings. You've heard the stats before: Sacramento is last in defensive rating, next-to-last in defensive effective field goal percentage (eFG%), and first in finding ways to crush the souls of their fans. I think I'll go with the guy averaging 25 points, six rebounds, and four assists over his last three games against stronger defenses, thank you very much.

David West - Typically, the power forward is killed by Indiana's murderously slow pace; at 89.8 possessions per 48 minutes, the Pacers have the 26th quickest pace in the league. Know what should do nicely to change that up? I'd say a game against Golden State, their sixth-quickest pace in the NBA, and their 18th-ranked defensive rating should do the trick. The Warriors are strong on the defensive boards (third-best defensive rebound percentage) but not so much on the offensive boards (20th), which should allow West to pick up some easy stats.

Blake Griffin - Just as with the Heat playing the Kings, Clippers players will be in high demand tonight going against the Charlotte Bobcats. That's not going to be a question. What may be in doubt, though, is the question of which Clippers players. On our optimized rosters, Griffin appears only on the StarStreet list, Paul appears only on the DraftStreet list, and Jordan appears only on the Fan Duel list; that's not helping matters. But if I had to choose one, it would be Griffin, and not just because I'm still pushing for bonus points per Kia commercial. The Bobcats are decent at avoiding turnovers (eighth-best offensive turnover percentage), but are absolutely pitiful in rebounding (29th DRB%). That gives the edge to Griffin over Paul for me if it's a choice between the two.

Top Mid-Range Values

Carlos Boozer - Yeesh. Is it official "Playoff team against bad defense" night in the NBA? I feel like there should be a night where the NBA just shoots for fantasy point records; they might have inadvertently done that today. So the Bulls are like the Clippers and the Heat, except they're only playing the third-worst defense in the NBA in terms of defensive rating. I know, a crying shame. Something tells me Carlos Boozer is going to be just fine, considering the Cavs' dead-last defensive eFG% and 27th defensive rebound percentage. It's always nice when a team's two weaknesses match up perfectly with one of your fantasy guys.

Andrei Kirilenko - Oh, Kirilenko's going against too strong of a defense I guess, the Suns are only the seventh-worst in the league. But if there's a large, gushing wound on a defensive unit already poked all over with spears, it's at the two forward spots. The Suns are giving up a .521 eFG% against opposing small forwards, and that increases to .538 eFG% against opposing power forwards. With at least 14 points in each of his three games since coming back from injury, I don't see Kirilenko having a problem with the Phoenix defense tonight.

O.J. Mayo - Monta Ellis has a 106 defensive rating. That was the highest value on the team... until J.J. Redick showed up. His 111 defensive rating in his first game was right in line with his season average of 112 while in Orlando. These are the guys who are supposed to intimidate O.J. Mayo? Add Milwaukee's fifth-quickest pace into the equation, meaning extra possessions and opportunities for Mayo, and you've got a sneaky solid play on your hands.

What do you think of the new Daily Fantasy Helper format? Let the author know at Zach@numberfire.com.