Daily Fantasy Basketball 2015: NBA DraftKings Strategy for Friday, March 13
Since last Friday, a couple of things have happened.
1. Russell Westbrook has cooled. He dropped from "Hansel, he's just so hot right now" status (clip NSFW) to "he's obviously going out and putting up monster stats, but I just can't afford him" status.
I mean, come on—$12,500 for one player! That's a quarter of the total budget.
It's just too much.
2. We turned the clocks forward for daylight savings time. Unless you're a farmer, vampire or you live in Arizona or Hawaii, you love daylight savings time!
Seriously, who doesn't like playing sports after work, beautiful rooftop sunsets and outdoor happy hours?
Let's hope Friday's picks bring as much joy as last Sunday's glorious lost hour brought (insert candid photo of me crossing my fingers).
**Breaking News**
According to CSNBayArea.com, The Golden State Warriors have announced they will rest Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Andrew Bogut tonight vs. Denver. Marreese Speights also out on a one game suspension.
This makes Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes and virtually every Warrior bench player a smart value play. Shaun Livingston, Leandro Barbosa, David Lee, and Justin Holiday should all play a lot tonight.
While Warriors head coach Steve Kerr might try and slow the tempo without his gunners, the Nuggets should have an easier time scoring. Look for all the Nuggets starters (plus Will Barton) to have nice games.
| Studs | Opp. | Price | Values | Opp. | Price | |
| Ricky Rubio | @ OKC | $8,100 | Aaron Brooks | @ Cha | $5,400 | |
| Ray McCallum | @ Phi | $4,600 | ||||
| Isaiah Canaan | vs. Sac | $4,600 |
Ricky Rubio ($8,100) at Oklahoma City
Though Westbrook is running wild on offense, he has been exposed recently on defense. Turns out there is a toll for trying to break the NBA's usage rate statistic. Check out the stat lines for Westbrook's counterpart in the past six games:
| Player | DK Fantasy Points | Points | Assists | Rebounds |
| Chris Paul | 55.5 | 33 | 9 | 4 |
| Kyle Lowry | 28 | 14 | 5 | 2 |
| Aaron Brooks | 18.8 | 6 | 7 | 3 |
| Isaiah Canaan | 53.3 | 31 | 6 | 7 |
| Damian Lillard | 42.8 | 29 | 5 | 3 |
| Eric Bledsoe | 67.8 | 28 | 9 | 13 |
Next up for Russ to "guard?" R-r-r-ricky R-r-r-rubio! The shockingly young Spanish heartthrob hasn't played well in his last two outings, but he still averaged nearly 40 Draft Kings fantasy points per game over his last nine. And with Rajon Rondo toiling away in Dallas, Rubio is also the second-biggest triple-double threat in the league (behind Russ).
| Studs | Opp. | Price | Values | Opp. | Price |
| Dwyane Wade | @ Tor | $7,200 | Will Barton | vs. GS | $4,300 |
| J.J. Redick | @ Dal | $6,200 |
I nearly added Jason Richardson to the list of "value" plays for this Friday. But he stunk up the joint last Friday after I stuck my neck out for him.
That said, if you're looking for a value play and you spent big elsewhere, Jason Richardson (provided he gets minutes and shoots better than 0 percent) gets to play in an uptempo game against the matador exterior defense of the Sacramento Kings.
Will Barton ($4,300) vs. Golden State
Simply put, when Barton gets playing time for the Denver Nuggets, he puts up stats.
He's averaging nearly 26 Draft Kings fantasy points per game in 11 games since joining Denver.
The Golden State Warriors are stingy on defense but play an extremely fast pace. According to OddsShark.com, this game's over/under is 218—the highest spread of the NBA slate by far. There will be a lot of on-court action in this fast-paced duel, and Will Barton should be a factor.
| Studs | Opp. | Price | Values | Opp. | Price |
| Rudy Gay | @ Phi | $7,600 | P.J. Tucker | vs. Hawks | $5,700 |
| Nicolas Batum | vs. Det | $6,700 | T.J. Warren | vs. Hawks | $3,300 |
| Tobias Harris | @ Bos | $6,700 |
Nicolas Batum ($6,700) vs. Detroit
Batum is was having the worst season of his career. In 60 games before Wes Matthews went down with a torn Achilles last week, Batum posted 9.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game and shot only 40 percent from the field.
In the two games since Matthews' injury, Batum has enjoyed a larger piece of the Portland Trail Blazers' offensive pie. He's averaging 17.5 points, eight rebounds and 4.5 assists, shooting 56 percent and playing nearly 40 minutes per game.
| Studs | Opp. | Price | Values | Opp. | Price |
| Lamarcus Aldridge | vs. Det | $9,000 | Nerlens Noel | vs. Sac | $6,800 |
| Draymond Green | @ Den | $7,200 | Nikola Mirotic | @ Chi | $6,800 |
| Brandon Bass | vs. Orl | $5,200 |
Draymond Green ($7,200) at Denver
We touched on Draymond's ability to get fantasy points without relying on scoring. Well, Friday he gets Denver, the NBA's Shangri-la for opposing power forwards. In this fantasy buffet, Draymond will eat.
Nerlens Noel ($6,800) vs. Sacramento
Per Max Rappaport of Sixers.com, Nerlens Noel is the only player in the NBA with over 100 blocks and 100 steals this season. Since the All-Star break, Noel is averaging 2.8 blocks and 2.8 steals per game.
This dude is on a tear. He's challenging Andrew Wiggins for the Rookie of the Year Award, and he's helped win a lot of daily fantasy basketball guaranteed prize pools.
| Studs | Opp. | Price | Values | Opp. | Price |
| DeMarcus Cousins | @ Phi | $9,500 | Robin Lopez | vs. Por | $5,000 |
| Nikola Vucevic | @ Bos | $8,000 | |||
Is the Nikola Vucevic vs. Tyler Zeller center matchup in the Boston Celtics-Orlando Magic game the deepest alphabetical matchup between two starting centers in NBA history? It has to be up there, right?
Hold on, just doing some research...
Hassan Whiteside, Brandan Wright and Jeff Withey all fall after Vucevic alphabetically, so it's not even the last this season.
*Fun fact: There has never been an NBA player whose last name begins with the letter "X." Seriously, the Basketball-Reference.com page is grayed out.
Anyway, back to business, Vucevic, DeMarcus Cousins and Robin Lopez all have great matchups Friday night. I'd wait to fill out the center position then play the one that fits nicely under your salary cap.
All stats courtesy of Statmuse.com, DraftKings.com and Basketball-Reference.com.
