Daily Fantasy Basketball 2015: NBA DraftKings Rankings for April 28
Until all three underdogs won last night, the NBA playoffs had been rather underwhelming thus far this season.
Maybe yesterday was the turning point? Because it should be a doozy of a Tuesday night. First, the revamped Rondo-less Mavs travel to Houston to try to extend their series to a sixth game.
Then, in the main event, the Spurs and Clippers tip off for Game 5 in Los Angeles. I think we can all universally agree that this series has more to offer than just about any other first-round series since the playoffs expanded to 16 playoff teams in 1984. Just for fun, let's review why this series is so great.
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1. Four Hall of Famers (Chris Paul, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan), with Kawhi Leonard and Blake Griffin needing only four more peak-level seasons (in this writer's opinion) to ensure spots in Springfield, Mass.
2. According to numberFire.com, the Clippers and Spurs are second and third in the league by the nERD metric, which measures overall team efficiency.
3. According to basketball-reference.com, the Clippers finished the season ranked first in offensive rating and the Spurs finished second in defensive rating. So watching CP3 and company operate offensively against Kawhi and Timmy Duncan is a stat geek's dream.
Now, on to tonight's player rankings.
Point Guard
1. J.J. Barea ($6,100) at Rockets
2. Chris Paul ($9,800) vs. Spurs
3. Patty Mills ($3,100) at Clippers
I wrote about Barea last week when he was the front-runner to play the majority of Rajon Rondo's vacated minutes for Dallas. He came through in a big way. Barea almost posted back-to-back double-doubles in two high-scoring bouts in Dallas.
Per draftkings.com, he's averaged just shy of 38 fantasy points in the last two games and has been a huge key in helping the Mavericks offense regain its early-season swagger. The Mavs scored 249 points combined in games three and four without playing overtime!
But enough about stats, allow me to be the 17,000th writer to mention how crazy it is that J.J. Barea is having an impact on the playoffs. Tied with Nick Calathes (pictured) as the NBA's most unassuming player, Barea is just one of seven Puerto Rican-born players to ever make the league. He's also one of five Northeastern University players to play in the NBA, according to basketball-reference.
Shooting Guard
1. Monta Ellis ($7,800) at Rockets
2. James Harden ($10,400) vs. Mavericks
3. Jamal Crawford ($4,400) vs. Spurs
It's Harden, Monta and everybody else. They're the only two reliable scoring shooting guards playing tonight, and both have benefited from Rondo's absence. Monta scored over 30 points in Games 3 and 4. Harden dropped 42 in game three, but came back down to Earth with a pedestrian 24 points and 42 fantasy points in Game 4. Still, 42 fantasy points is a fantastic fantasy floor. You don't love it, but you'll take it as a Harden owner.
Both offenses in this series hinge on the success of their drive-happy "shooting guards." (I put shooting guards in quotes because both Ellis and Harden are their team's primary ball-handlers.) Thus far, both offenses have flourished in the Lone Star State.
Small Forward
1. Al-Farouq Aminu ($5,600) at Rockets
2. Kawhi Leonard ($8,900) at Clippers
3. Josh Smith ($6,400) vs. Mavericks
Aminu isn't Chandler Parsons. He doesn't have the height, the ball-handling ability or the defensive presence of mind, but he's serviceable. He's jumped in price from $3,900 for Game 2, to $5,600 tonight, but he's still (slightly) undervalued.
Kawhi is the safest bet to score 40 of all the small forwards, but I'd rather spend up elsewhere.
Josh Smith has emerged as a valuable bench player in this series. Detroit's pariah has embraced his backup role. He plays tough defense, works hard in transition and clearly loves throwing alley-oops to his center/best man: Dwight Howard.
Power Forward
1. Blake Griffin ($10,000) vs. Spurs
2. Tim Duncan ($8,300) at Clippers
3. Dirk Nowitzki ($7,600) at Rockets
Honorable Mention: Boris Diaw ($5,100) at Clippers
Blake was ridiculed throughout the season for some of the things he did and said. Fans were upset when he wrote a lengthy piece in The Players Tribune about this season's shortage of dunks. Others commented negatively on his rebounding decline.
Well. In three of the four games in this series, Blake has been the best player on the floor. Per draftkings.com, in two home games this series, Blake is averaging 27.5 points, 12 boards and 8.5 assists. He's also averaging 1.35 fantasy points per minute in the playoffs!
Center
1. Dwight Howard ($8,100) vs. Mavericks
2. *Tiago Splitter ($2,600) at Clippers*
3. Tyson Chandler ($6,800) at Rockets
Through four games, the casual observer might believe that Tiago Splitter is attempting to play his way out of the Spurs rotation. Per draftkings.com, he's averaging just 16 minutes and fewer than 10 fantasy points per game.
But Splitter has been a key player in the Spurs' last two runs through the Western Conference. At some point, the 30-year-old Brazilian needs to step up. Though he looks severely overmatched by the frontcourt athleticism in Los Angeles, Tiago should still be able to post at least one decent outing.
According to draftkings.com, at a cost of just $2,600, Splitter is by far the cheapest starter on the board. If he finally puts together a solid night, nothing huge, he gives a fantasy player tons of wiggle room with the other seven positions. He is worth a start if you're spending up everywhere else.
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