Daily Fantasy Basketball 2015: NBA DraftKings Best Lineup for April 14
The NBA playoffs are nearly here. And with the end of the regular season and the start of the second season, the slate will be wiped clean.
This season's incredible MVP debate will die down (unless the Rockets, Warriors or Cavs lose in the first round.) New storylines will emerge. Some players will shine, others will crumble. It will surely be an incredible first round, with unique angles, matchups and crowds in every series.
But before all of that, we have two days of regular-season daily fantasy basketball on draftkings.com—tonight and tomorrow. That's it.
Just two more slates of stars resting and rookies getting opportunities to play meaningful minutes. For daily fantasy players, tonight and tomorrow night represent the last two days of real value. Because in the playoffs, everything changes. There are no back-to-backs and no "schedule losses," and television timeouts are longer and more frequent.
Those changes allow coaches to play their best players a higher percentage of the time without worrying about energy or fatigue.
But this isn't the playoffs. Tonight's games don't mean as much to some teams as they do to others. You, as the daily fantasy player, have to be aware of that. I strongly suggest monitoring rotogrinders and Twitter for starting lineups until the games are set to start.
Here's what I'm rolling out tonight:
| Position | Player | Opponent | Price |
| Point Guard | Chris Paul | @ Pho | $9,700 |
| Shooting Guard | Archie Goodwin | vs. LAC | $3,000 |
| Small Forward | Terrence Ross | @ Bos | $3,300 |
| Power Forward | Tyler Hansbrough | @ Bos | $4,300 |
| Center | DeAndre Jordan | @ Pho | $8,000 |
| Guard | John Wall | @ Ind | $8,400 |
| Forward | Markieff Morris | vs. LAC | $6,000 |
| Center | George Hill | vs. Was | $7,200 |
*This is subject to change as more information is released throughout the day.*
Trust the Clippers' Stars
Aside from DeMar DeRozan and John Wall, all of the expensive players on the board tonight play for the Clippers. Fortunately for daily fantasy players, the Clippers will undoubtedly lean on their 'big three' because they have to keep winning.
The Clippers, Spurs, Rockets and Grizzlies are all within a game of one another in the conference standings. After tomorrow's games, those four teams will fill in the bracket as the 2-seed, 3-seed, 5-seed and 6-seed. There's a massive difference between hosting the Mavericks in Round 1 and going on the road to play the Spurs.
Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan all have favorable matchups tonight in Phoenix. According to basketball-reference, the Suns play at the third-fastest pace in the league. They also started an extremely undersized lineup last game against the Spurs.
Look for the Clippers to build a sizable lead with a steady dosage of passing and dunking between their three leading fantasy players.
Celtics and Pacers Need Wins
Both Boston and Indiana would make the playoffs if the season ended today. But both want to continue to win (Indiana needs to win to stay ahead of Brooklyn) as they finish out the regular season.
Both franchises will give their starters the majority of the minutes. I'm avoiding using any non-rotation guys from either team.
Raptors, Wizards and Suns Will Be Less Dependable
Rotogrinders predicts Terrence Ross and Tyler Hansbrough will start for the Raptors. Ramon Sessions is listed as the starting point guard for Washington. However, Phoenix is expected to run out the same starting lineup they've been employing for most of April.
These three teams should all be content and safe in their current seed. I expect these coaches to be extra cautious with their stars in semi-meaningless games.
