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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Tonight
We have a shorter sized slate ahead of us for Tuesday night. The following teams have the highest implied totals tonight: Toronto Raptors (118), Phoenix Suns (105), and the Portland Trailblazers (104). The highest priced players on the slate are Russell Westbrook, Damian Lillard, and Kyle Lowry.
Free Squares
- Kyle Lowry PG TOR ($8,700)
- Fred VanVleet and the Toronto Raptors will take on the Phoenix Suns tonight at home. The Raptors have an implied total sitting at right around 118-points and they are currently 13.5-point favorites. The Raptors have been playing at a pace of right around 101.1 and the Suns have been playing at a pace of right around 106.4. This is going to be an extra fast game for the Raptors tonight which should have a significant boost to their fantasy production. Lowry is likely going to be guarded by Tyler Ulis who is the worst point guard defender on the slate tonight. Lowry has the following stats on the season so far: 32.4 MPG, 6.3 RPG, 7.0 APG, .1 BLKPG, .8 STLPG, 16.4 PPG, 37.7 PPG, and a 1.16 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection 43.057 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 4.95x value. He is projected to see right around 35 minutes. This is going to be a tough slate tonight due to its size. You are not going to have guys with super high projections. That being said I think Lowry is in a great spot tonight and he should have no problem exploiting this horrible Suns defense. Load him up a high-priced point guard with a ton of upside.
- T.J. Warren SF/PF PHO ($6,400)
- T.J. Warren and the Phoenix Suns will take on the Toronto Raptors on the road tonight. The Suns have an implied total sitting at right around 105-points and they are currently 13.5-point underdogs. Like I talked about in the Lowry write-up the Raptors have been playing at a pace of right around 101.1 and the Suns have been playing at a pace of right around 106.4. This will be a slower game for the Suns tonight but I still like the spot and price for Warren tonight. Warren is likely going to be matched up against DeMar DeRozan tonight who is the 5th worst small forward defender on the slate tonight. He has the following stats on the season so far this year: 31.1 MPG, 5.9 RPG, 1.3 APG, .8 BLKPG, 1.0 STLPG, 18.7 PPG, 31.2 FPPG, and a 1.0 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 33.068 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.17x value. He is projected to play right around 35 minutes. Warren is a guy who has been in the free squares quite a bit. He plays a ton of minutes and has a relatively high FPPM. Load him up as a mid-tier forward on Draftkings tonight
- Bradley Beal SG WSH ($7,600)
- Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards will take on the Portland Trailblazers on the road tonight. The Wizards have an implied total sitting at right around 99-points and they are currently 5.5-point underdogs. The Wizards have been playing at a pace of right around 101.0 and the Trailblazers have been laying at a pace of right around 100.8. This will be a neutral pace game as both of these teams play at pretty much the same speed. Beal is likely going to be matched up against C.J. McCollum tonight is the 5th worst shooting guard defender on the slate tonight. Beal has the following stats on the season so far this year: 34.2 MPG, 4.2 RPG, 3.3 APG, .5 BLKPG, 1.2 STLPG, 22.1 PPG, 35.5 FPPG, and a 1.04 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 36.353 which would be good enough for right around 4.81x value. He is projected to see right around 36 minutes tonight. Beal has not played that great since John Wall has been out, but I think he is in a good spot to right the ship tonight. He has a favorable matchup and should see all the minutes he can handle tonight. Load him up as a higher-priced shooting guard tonight.
Free Square of the Night
We have a shorter sized 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 Kyle Lowry tonight! Good luck Army!
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