NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Tuesday 1/19/16
If you've never played daily fantasy basketball before, it's time to start. Unlike traditional leagues, you're able to select the players you want on that specific day only, giving you a different squad to root for each and every NBA night.
Today's lineups can be found here. The information below is to help you understand why particular players are being picked, because we don't want you going into the night completely blind. We want to help you. Keep in mind, however, that things often change up until tip-off, so make sure you're refreshing the optimal lineups as close to the start of games as possible.
Oh, and if you're interested, check out our daily fantasy basketball heat chart for today's slate. It's full of information like tonight's Vegas lines, team offensive and defensive efficiency ratings, pace, fantasy points against and so much more.
As for today's picks -- let's get to it.
The Best of the Best
Paul George (FD: $8,700, DK: $9,200) - George continues to put together the best offensive campaign of his young career, posting a career-best 23.9 points per game with a 55.9% True Shooting Percentage, which is also a career-high. Tonight, he gets a tremendous matchup against a Suns defense that ranks just 25th in the league in Defensive Efficiency according to our metrics and has given up the fourth most fantasy points per game to opposing small forwards, making him one of the best plays on the board.
Russell Westbrook (FD: $10,500, DK: $10,700) - Now ranking fourth in our player power rankings with an outstanding 15.9 nERD, Westbrook is in play pretty much any time he takes the floor. Vegas anticipates tonight's matchup between the Thunder and Nuggets to be the highest scoring on the slate by a wide margin and, considering his matchup with a Denver squad that has allowed the fifth most fantasy points per game to opposing point guards on the year, the Thunder floor general is our top overall projected player on tonight's short slate.
Chris Bosh (FD: $7,800, DK: $7,600) - Bosh is in the middle of his best month of the season, averaging 19.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3 assists in 34.2 minutes in the month of January. He's accumulated a 26.2% Usage Rate over that span and could even see a boost in usage tonight with Goran Dragic sidelined. The veteran Heat big man draws a terrific matchup against a struggling Bucks interior defense and should dominate the paint en route to a huge fantasy outing.
Top Mid-Range Values
Brandon Knight (FD: $6,500, DK: $7,200) - While he's yet to have a true breakout performance since Eric Bledsoe was lost for the year, he has been very productive without his backcourt-mate, averaging 19 points, 5.2 assists and 2.5 rebounds in a whopping 37.6 minutes per game since Bledsoe went down. The Suns' star point guard should remain the focal point of the offense in what should be a very fast-paced, high-scoring affair and has a great chance to exceed value tonight at a very reasonable price across the industry.
Jrue Holiday (FD: $6,300, DK: $6,000) - Although he is still coming off the bench, Holiday has seen a significant increase in playing time as of late, playing an average of 30.1 minutes per game over his last eight outings. He is coming off of a 23-point, 9-assist, 2-rebound performance yesterday against Memphis and could be in line for a huge workload with Tyreke Evans questionable to suit up tonight.
Eric Gordon (FD: $5,200, DK: $5,100) - Much like his teammate Holiday, Gordon has seen a boost in playing time recently as well, playing 34.1 minutes per game over his last eight and has played at least 32 minutes in five of his last six games. The former Indiana Hoosier star gets the pleasure of matching up with a Timberwolves' backcourt that has allowed the sixth most fantasy points per game to opposing shooting guards this season and should see minutes in the mid-30s once again, especially if Evans is unable to give it a go.
Basement Ballers
Tyler Johnson (FD: $4,500, DK: $5,100) - With both Goran Dragic and Beno Udrih out tonight, Johnson will slide into the Heat starting lineup and should see all the minutes he can handle. The Heat's sophomore guard has been impressive when on the floor, averaging 14.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.1 steals on a per-36 minute basis and should push for minutes in the mid-30s tonight in a dream matchup against a Bucks team that ranks 29th in the NBA in Defensive Rating (109.2).
Markieff Morris (FD: $4,900, DK: $4,800) - Despite spending much of the season in coach Jeff Hornacek's dog house, Morris is back in the rotation as of late because the Suns are that banged up right now. The Suns' forward is has posted 14 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.6 steals in 27.6 minutes per game over his last three contests and is coming off of a 17-point, 5-rebound, 3-assist, 3-steal performance in 34 minutes on Sunday against the Timberwolves. Morris should remain a significant part of the rotation tonight and can still be had for less than $5,000 on both FanDuel and DraftKings.
Nikola Jokic (FD: $4,900, DK: $4,800) - With Jusuf Nurkic unlikely to play once again tonight, Jokic should see close to 25 minutes for the second consecutive game. He dropped 18 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds while adding 4 steals on Sunday against the Pacers and has a great chance to follow that up with another strong performance considering he will likely see a lot of time matched up with the defensively-challenged Enes Kanter tonight.
