Searching For the Free Square
In the game of Bingo, every card gets an empty spot in the middle called the “Free Square”. Since it’s the middle square, the free square is essentially the ideal spot from which to build lines around. In DFS we define the Free Square as the player to build your lineups around. Generally, this player represents the closest we can find to a sure thing for the slate. This column is all about trying to identify the free square for a particular slate. Very often, this will be a low-cost player thrust into a starting role and sure to make or exceed value. The type of player that allows us to load up the rest of our lineup with high salary studs. Occasionally it will be a high priced stud in a great spot, The goal of this column is to use quantitative data to identify the free square for the days Daily Fantasy Basketball slate. Each slate we will take a deep look at three or four players which represent outsized value on the day’s slate of games and choose the one which best represents the top value and floor play to earn the title of the slates Free Square
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Recap
Let’s take a look at our free squares from last night. Our first free square of the night was George Hill who ended up with 20.75 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 4.5x value. Our second free square of the night was Jordan Clarkson who ended up with right around 33.50 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 6x value. Our final free square of the night was Steven Adams who ended up with right around 39.75 DKFP which would be good enough right around 7x value.
Tonight
We have a smaller slate ahead of us for Thursday night. The teams with the highest implied totals of the night are as follows: Houston Rockets (109), Milwaukee Bucks (109), and the Boston Celtics (108). The highest priced players on the slate are James Harden, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Joel Embiid.
Free Squares
- Ish Smith PG DET ($4,900)
- Ish Smith and the Detroit Pistons will take on the Orlando Magic on the road tonight. The Pistons have an implied total sitting at right around 104-points and they are currently 4.5-point favorites. The Pistons have been playing at a pace of right around 98.4 and the Magic have a pace of right around 103.0. This is going to be a significant pace up game for the Pistons and Ish Smith tonight which should provide a nice fantasy boost tonight. He is likely going to be matched up against Elfrid Payton tonight who is not that great of a defender and a guy Ish should be able to have a nice game against him tonight. He has the following stats on the season on so far this year: 20.1 MPG, 2.3 RPG, 3.9 APG, .2 BLKPG, .4 STLPG, 8.9 PPG, 18.3 FPPG, and a .91 DKFP. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 25.982 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 6.12x value. He is projected to play right around 32 minutes. There is a whole lot to like about this matchup for Ish Smith tonight. He is going to play a ton of minutes with Reggie our for the foreseeable future and he has a great matchup. Load him up as an affordable point guard with a ton of upside tonight on Draftkings.
- Tyus Jones PG/SG MIN ($3,400)
- Tyus Jones and the Minnesota Timberwolves will take on the Milwaukee Bucks tonight on the road. The Timberwolves have an implied total sitting at right around 105-points and they are currently 3.5-point underdogs. The Timberwolves have been playing at a pace of right around 99.7 and the Bucks have been playing at a pace of right around 99.1. This is going to be a pace neutral game for both teams tonight as they play at relatively the same pace. Tyus Jones is likely going to be guarded by Eric Bledsoe tonight who is an average defender. He has the following stats on the season so far this year: 16.3 MPG, 1.8 RPG, 2.6 APG, .1 BLKPG, 1.1 STLPG, 4.1 PPG, 12.5 FPPG, and a .77 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 25.895 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 7.61x value. He is projected to play right around 36 minutes tonight. Ish and Tyus are in pretty similar spots tonight. Both of these guys are filling in for injured players and are going to get all the minutes they can handle tonight. On top of this Tyus has a solid matchup and I love his price tonight. Like Ish load him up as a value guard with a ton of upside tonight.
- Bismack Biyombo PF/C ORL ($4,600)
- Bismack Biyombo and the Orlando Magic will take on the Detroit Pistons at home tonight. The Magic have an implied total sitting at right around 100-points and they are currently 4.5-point underdogs. Like I talked about in the Ish Smith write up the Pistons have an implied total sitting at right around 104-points and they are currently 4.5-point favorites. The Pistons have been playing at a pace of right around 98.4 and the Magic have a pace of right around 103.0. This will be a pace down game for the Magic but I still like the spot that Biyombo is in tonight. Biyombo is likely to guarded by Andre Drummond tonight who is an okay defender. Biyombo has the following stats on the season so far this year: 15.4 MPG, 4.5 RPG, .3 APG, 1.1 BLKPG, .1 STLPG, 4.1 PPG, 12.4 FPPG, and a .80 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 24.606 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.35x value. He is projected to play right around 30 minutes tonight. Biyombo is not a guy who is going to score a ton of point on offense. What we are looking for him to do is to get a bunch of rebounds and blocks and anything offensive is just icing on the cake. At $4,600 I think he can exceed his value and make a nice value forward or center on Draftkings tonight.
Free Square of the Night
We have a smaller slate tonight with some good tournaments across the industry. I hope I have narrowed down some guys that we can look to target. We have tons of tools and content available at the DFS Army this year for NBA so don’t miss out on all of those opportunities to make some money. Click the link “DFS Army VIP Membership” and sign up and join the Army today! With my ultimate free square pick, I am going to go with Ish Smith tonight! Good luck Army!
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