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 Ish Smith who ended up with 37.75 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 7.7x value. Our second free square of the night was Tyus Jones who ended up with right around 28 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 8.2x value. Our final free square of the night was Bismack Biyombo who ended up with right around 32.75 DKFP which would be good enough right around 7.1x value.
Tonight
We have a larger slate ahead of us for Friday night. The teams with the highest implied totals of the night are as follows: Toronto Raptors (113), Golden State Warriors (112), and the Houston Rockets (111). The highest priced players on the slate are James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and DeMarcus Cousins.
Free Squares
- Lance Stephenson SG/SF IND ($5,600)
- Lance Stephenson and the Indiana Pacers will take on the Chicago Bulls on the road tonight. The Pacers have an implied total sitting at right around 103-points and they are currently 2.5-point underdogs. The Pacers have been playing at a pace of right around 100.5 and the Bulls have been playing at a pace of right around 100.7. This is going to be a neutral pace game for both teams tonight as they play at a very similar pace. Stephenson is likely going to be guarded by Justin Holiday who is a pretty solid defender but I still like the matchup for Stephenson tonight. He has the following stats on the season so far this year: 22.6 MPG, 5.5 RPG, 2.8 APG, .2 BLKPG, .5 STLPG, 8.6 PPG, and a 20.7 FPPG, and a .92 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 33.452 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.99x value. Lance Stephenson is projected to play 35 minutes tonight. Oladipo is likely going to be out again tonight which means we are going to look towards Lance to pick up some of that slack tonight. He is super affordable tonight and I think he has a lot of upside. Load him up as a mid-tier guard or forward on Draftkings tonight.
- George Hill PG/SG SAC ($4,900)
- George Hill and the Sacramento Kings will take on the Phoenix Suns at home tonight. The Kings have an implied total sitting at right around 107-points and they are currently 3.0-point favorites. The Kings have been playing at a pace of right around 97.5 and the Suns have been playing at a pace of right around 104.5. This is going to be an extreme pace-up game for the Kings tonight which should provide a lot of extra fantasy opportunities for Hill. He is likely going to be guarded by Tyler Ulis tonight who is a terrible defender and a guy Hill should expose tonight. He has the following stats on the season so far this year: 27.0 MPG, 3.1 RPG, 2.8 APG, .3 BLKPG, .9 STLPG, 10.1 PPG, 20.6 FPPG, and a .76 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 26.382 which would be good enough for right around 5.38x value. He is projected to play right around 32 minutes. Hill is in a great spot tonight at a really affordable price. Load him up as a value guard on Draftkings tonight.
- Carmelo Anthony SF/PF OKC ($6,100)
- Carmelo Anthony and the Oklahoma City Thunder will take on the Milwaukee Bucks tonight at home. The Thunder have an implied total sitting at right around 107-points and they are currently 7.5-point favorites. The Thunder have been playing at a pace of right around 99.5 and the Bucks have been playing at a pace of right around 99.7. This is going to be a neutral pace game as both these teams play at virtually the same place. Carmelo is likely going to be guarded by Khris Middleton who has not been a great defender this year. He has the following stats on the season so far this year: 33.0 MPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.6 APG, .6 BLKPG, .7 STLPG, 17.6 PPG, 30.7 FPPG, and a .93 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 30.875 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.22x value. He is projected to play right around 34 minutes tonight. Carmelo has taken a bit of a back seat to Paul George and Westbrook this season but I like his price and matchup tonight. He is still averaging pretty solid numbers for what he is priced at and we all know that he can still put up big numbers. I like as a mid-tier forward tonight on Draftkings.
Free Square of the Night
We have a larger 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 Lance Stephenson tonight! Good luck Army!
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