Follow me on Twitter @14AdotWalsh for advice and retweets from NBA beat writers as they pertain to your lineups.
Typically, when I do an article I’ll have a firm grasp of the matchups, the minutes we’ll see and just about anything else- today is not one of those days.
It is the final night of the preseason and we already have a lot of inactives, which puts the mind at anything but ease. Tonight’s article will have some good antidotes, no doubt, but most of these will be mere suggestions.
Before we get to the game, let’s have some words from the DFS Army…
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NBA Preseason Daily Fantasy Breakdown for Friday – October 21st, 2016
Toronto Raptors @ Washington Wizards (-2.5) – O/U: 200.5
-Roster News-
TOR: Jared Sullinger (OUT), Cory Joseph (OUT)
WSH:
I think Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan got all geared up for the regular season with their performances last week. Don’t expect either to get many minutes or even play, for that matter. If we get word that this isn’t the case then, of course, both guys are great options.
The Raptors will probably look to get Fred Van Vleet all the run he can handle in this game. The former Wichita State Shocker had a massive game (31/5/5 in 38 minutes) against the Buenos Aires San Lorenzo. 38 minutes certainly helped him get all those stats, but at least you know he’s capable of such things.
Norman Powell would be another guy to take a serious look at in this game. If all the stars sit out, he becomes the main scoring threat for this team. Also, look at Pascal Siakam for the exact same reasons.
Lucas Nogueira and Jakob Poeltl are in a battle for the backup center spot in the rotation. I liked Poeltl coming out of the draft, as he’s got the ability to block a ton of shots and grab all the rebounds.
As for the Wiz, we’ll have to see how their rotation shakes out. If the starters are in, we know the drill- John Wall, Bradley Beal and take the other guys with a grain of salt.
Otto Porter might get some work in this game but I expect to see Kelly Oubre, Jr. for a good amount of time tonight. Thomas Satoransky, Trey Burke, Andrew Nicholson and Marcus Thornton should play minutes as well.
ELITE PLAYS: ugh
SECONDARY: everyone mentioned
Philadelphia 76ers @ Miami Heat (-5.5) – O/U: 197.5
-Roster News-
PHI:
MIA:
To start, we’ll finally see Jahlil Okafor this preseason…but he’ll only play 8-10 minutes. We know the allotment of minutes for two other guys as well- Gerald Henderson is expected to play 18-20 minutes and Joel Embiid will play the same amount. After that, things aren’t exactly set in stone.
I seriously doubt that Hassan Whiteside plays tonight as the Heat are on the back-end of a back-to-back. Last night, Whiteside had a homecoming of sorts and he only played in the first half. I’m not sure why they would only give him a couple minutes in that game, and then load him up tonight- it just doesn’t make sense.
This team did play last night, so it’s possible that they come out sluggish tonight. It’s also possible that Goran Dragic, who didn’t play last night, comes in and steals some minutes from guys that need them.
Last night we saw Rodney McGruder have his biggest game of the preseason and it’ll be interesting to see if he can do this on back-to-back nights. He’ll be a lot more popular today, so it might not be a bad move to fade him in a contrarian manner.
ELITE PLAYS: Whiteside (if he’s in), Dragic (if he’s in), Embiid
SECONDARY: McGruder, Derrick Williams
Charlotte Hornets @ Minnesota Timberwolves (-5.5) – O/U: 194.5
-Roster News-
CHA: Nicolas Batum (OUT), Spencer Hawes (OUT), Brian Roberts (OUT), Marvin Williams (OUT)
MIN: Andrew Wiggins (OUT-illness), Shabazz Muhammad (QUESTIONABLE-hip soreness)
It would surprise me if the Hornets played Kemba Walker on the back-end of a back-to-back set. He was out there for a decent number of minutes yesterday, so expect him to sit or not play much at all. If this ends up being the case, Ramon Sessions would get a ton of minutes with Roberts still out.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Frank Kaminsky, Jeremy Lamb and Marco Belinelli should get all the run they can handle tonight.
Zach LaVine had his best game of the preseason against the Hornets back on October 10th; I’d expect him to do well tonight with Wiggins out of the lineup. Kris Dunn should also get extended minutes out of the backcourt.
You have to wonder if we’ll see the twin towers of the T-Wolves, Karl-Anthony Towns and Gorgui Dieng tonight. The Hornets have actually done a pretty good job of defending bigs this preseason, most notably Whiteside last night. Both of these guys have proven to be matchup proof for most of their short NBA careers so it might be worth it to take a chance.
ELITE PLAYS: Kaminsky, Belinelli, Kemba (if he’s in), LaVine, Towns (if he’s in)
SECONDARY: Lamb, Dunn
Houston Rockets @ San Antonio Spurs (-6) – O/U: 208
-Roster News-
HOU: James Harden (OUT), Trevor Ariza (OUT), Clint Capela (OUT), Eric Gordon (OUT), Patrick Beverley (OUT)
SA: Danny Green (OUT-quad), Jonathan Simmons (OUT-calf)
The list of inactive Rockets for tonight caught a lot of people by surprise, but it’s good that we have this information to start our research. At first glance, it appears that Ryan Anderson is locked-and-loaded to be in our lineups. However, without most of his running mates, I wonder how much time he’ll get…and they’re playing a solid defensive unit. It probably won’t be their top unit, but they’re not chicken scratch either.
The guys from the Rockets to look at tonight are Tyler Ennis, KJ McDaniels, Montrezl Harrell and Sam Dekker-I like Ennis and McDaniels the most out of those four. Corey Brewer is a guy that we all know, but it seems like the younger guys will get most of the run tonight. Again, they’re not playing a bad team, but the extended minutes should more than make up for it.
I doubt we’ll see the Spurs starters for long, if at all. Kyle Anderson is probably going to get a decent number of minutes, but other than him, I’m not too sure where else to look. It’ll be a great matchup for them so we’ll have to wait for word on the Spurs starters.
For the
ELITE PLAYS: Ennis, McDaniels
SECONDARY: Harrell, Dekker
Dallas Mavericks (-1) @ Denver Nuggets – O/U: 205
-Roster News-
DAL: JJ Barea (OUT-elbow), Quincy Acy (OUT-foot)
DEN: Darrell Arthur (OUT-knee), Gary Harris (OUT), Emmanuel Mudiay (DOUBTFUL-ankle)
Dallas essentially used their last game as the dress rehearsal to get ready for the regular season…but that did not go as planned. The Mavs starters haven’t played much together this preseason and this is their last chance to get it right before the curtain comes up on the regular season. A little insight may have been dropped from Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle tonight:
“We want to play better,” Carlisle confessed. “We haven’t played very well the last couple of games, and this is the last shot before next Wednesday. You know, I view this as a very important night, and we’ll play at least 10 games. And we want to do better.” – I think he meant 10 GUYS, not games, there at the end. IIIIII dunno…
I’m still skeptical that we’ll see many of the Mavs core players have big numbers tonight. Guys like Seth Curry, Justin Anderson and Dwight Powell will get their minutes as well, but this isn’t a situation that we need to be in.
Nuggets head coach Mike Malone said last week that he was done resting players for the preseason. I guess that means we should feel comfortable seeing some of their star players tonight and I can certainly get down with Will Barton, Danilo Gallinari and either Jusuf Nurkic or Nikola Jokic.
I did hear rumblings of Emmanuel Mudiay possibly sitting out tonight but I haven’t seen a definitive answer on that yet. If that is the case, Malone has mentioned that he would like Jamal Murray to get some extra run before going into the season. The same goes for Juancho Hernangomez, in terms of getting an extra look.
ELITE PLAYS: Barton, Gallinari, Nurkic
SECONDARY: Jokic, Dirk, Murray
Phoenix Suns @ Los Angeles Lakers (-3.5) – O/U: 216
-Roster News-
PHX:
LAL:
This is a great spot for fantasy goodness- I can pretty much make the case for anyone on either side. Check for lineup announcements prior to tip.
ELITE PLAYS: D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, Devin Booker, Eric Bledsoe, TJ Warren
SECONDARY: Everyone else!
Portland Trail Blazers @ Golden State Warriors (-9) – O/U: 215
-Roster News-
POR:
GS:
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr had said earlier in the week that he wanted to get his starters 30+ minutes in the final preseason games. I tend to think he’s telling the truth here because, after all, why the hell would he lie about something like that when it’s not even the regular season? Fact of the matter is, this team is amazing and Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are better than everyone. I can probably do without Dray in this scenario, but you get the point.
As for the Blazers, Damian Lillard would be a great option if he played tonight. We’ve seen him benefit from the Warriors up-tempo play in the past and tonight could be another example. CJ McCollum, Evan Turner, Maurice Harkless and Mason Plumlee are all secondary options in this game.
ELITE PLAYS: Curry, KD, Klay, Lillard
SECONDARY: Dray