Daily Fantasy Basketball 2014: Best NBA FanDuel, DraftKings Lineup for Dec. 30
With 10 games on the slate for Tuesday night, the NBA features a slew of key battles.
Cleveland at Atlanta, San Antonio at Memphis, Phoenix at New Orleans, Washington at Dallas and Toronto at Portland are all matchups between teams jockeying for postseason position.
But beyond that silly real-life stuff, it's an intriguing schedule for daily fantasy purposes, as there are four games with over/under marks well above 200 points, per Odds Shark.
There are going to be some massive scores, so let's take a look at some potential lineups to win some moolah.
FanDuel ($60,000 Budget)
| PG | Ty Lawson, DEN | vs LAL | 8,900 |
| PG | Derrick Rose, CHI | vs BKN | 7,000 |
| SG | Danny Green, SA | at MEM | 6,500 |
| SG | Kobe Bryant, LAL | at DEN | 8,700 |
| SF | Draymond Green, GS | vs PHI | 7,600 |
| SF | K.J. McDaniels, PHI | at GS | 4,700 |
| PF | Kenneth Faried, DEN | vs LAL | 6,500 |
| PF | Tristan Thompson, CLE | at ATL | 5,600 |
| C | Henry Sims, PHI | at GS | 4,500 |
The most enticing game of the night, at least from a fantasy perspective, is probably Los Angeles at Denver. Both teams are in the bottom four in points allowed per game and top seven in pace. Last time they played, they combined for 179 field-goal attempts and 72 free-throws in an overtime contest. It was low-scoring because neither team could put the peach inside the basket, but the potential was obviously there for huge numbers.
That said, Ty Lawson and Kobe Bryant were immediately in my lineup. Lawson is a 20-10 machine while playing a career-high 37.5 minutes per game (and he'll have some combination of Jeremy Lin and Ronnie Price guarding him), while Mamba isn't going to be shy after attempting just 10 shots on Sunday.
Then there's Kenneth Faried, who is doing ridiculous things like this, via FantasyInsiders.com's Dave Loughran:
After a rough start to the season, the Manimal is averaging a ludicrous 21.0 points and 19.3 rebounds in his last three games. He's going to be in a ton of lineups, but against the Lakers frontcourt for only $6,500 you pretty much have to use him.
Another intriguing game is Philadelphia at Golden State, as each team is in the top three in the NBA in pace.
Moreover, the 76ers are depleted. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is doubtful, while Nerlens Noel's status doesn't sound promising, per The Philadelphia Inquirer's Keith Pompey:
The Sixers played just nine players Saturday, which included Noel and six minutes from Furkan Aldemir. It will basically be a seven-player rotation if Noel sits, meaning Henry Sims and K.J. McDaniels will get all the minutes they can handle, making it easy to provide value at $4,500 and $4,700, respectively.
On the other side of things, it's hard to trust the expensive Warriors players in what will likely be a blowout. However, Draymond Green's ability to fill up the stat sheet makes him safe no matter the matchup. Against Minnesota on Saturday, he scored four real-life points and 38.6 FanDuel points.
Doing things like this tends to help:
Finally, we have two players who are making the most of injuries to teammates.
Danny Green is averaging 17.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.3 blocks in the last six contests without Kawhi Leonard. He has been my fantasy man crush all season, and it's not stopping now.
Tristan Thompson is averaging a double-double in the three games since Anderson Varejao went down, and he has logged over 77 total minutes in the last two. He doesn't do anything spectacular, but with that kind of volume, he's a solid choice for $5,600.
DraftKings ($50,000 Budget)
| PG | Rajon Rondo, DAL | vs WAS | 7,100 |
| SG | Jimmy Butler, CHI | vs BKN | 8,700 |
| SF | Wilson Chandler, DEN | VS LAL | 6,500 |
| PF | Kenneth Faried, DEN | vs LAL | 6,900 |
| C | Henry Sims, PHI | at GS | 4,500 |
| G | Zach LaVine, MIN | at UTA | 4,200 |
| F | Tobias Harris, ORL | vs DET | 7,300 |
| UTIL | Tony Wroten, PHI | at GS | 4,800 |
Similarities: Faried, Sims
Jimmy Butler is playing on another planet right now. In his last six games, he's averaging 26.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks in 41.4 minutes. Basketball Insiders' Alex Kennedy put it simply:
Until he enters $10,000-and-above territory, Butler is pretty much going to be in my lineup every night the Bulls play. Maybe even on some nights they don't.
Rajon Rondo isn't nearly at that level for me, but he's certainly trending upward. As HoopsHype on Twitter pointed out, the veteran point guard has been far more aggressive since his move to Dallas:
Already a player who racks up rebounds, assists and steals at a unique rate, Rondo is fantasy gold if he keeps attempting around 15 shots per night. With Monta Ellis (ankle) a little banged up, I like him even against Washington's talented backcourt.
Tobias Harris' consistency is vastly underrated. He has scored in double digits every game this season. On the year, he's averaging 33.8 DraftKings points, and over his last five games, he's averaging 33.3. There's just no fluctuation, and that's extremely valuable.
The rest of the roster is mostly value picks.
Wilson Chandler has played 40-plus minutes in the last two games and should have little trouble contributing big numbers in the Lakers-Nuggets offensive slugfest.
Tony Wroten isn't exactly a model of efficiency, but he's aggressive, can get to the hoop at will and has a usage percentage that is similar to guys like Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry and DeMar DeRozan. He started the second half against Utah on Saturday, he'll get a ton of minutes with Philly's injury-riddled roster and he's surprisingly cheap at $4,800.
Finally, trusting any Timberwolves player is risky, but Zach LaVine is coming off a career game (12 points, 14 assists), and the Jazz have the fourth-worst defensive rating in the NBA. He's worth the roll of the dice at $4,200.
