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 back at how our free squares did for last night. Our first free square of the night was Goran Dragic who ended up with 37.75 DKFP which was good enough for right around 5.8x value. Our second free square of the night was Caris Levert who ended up with 22.75 DKFP which was good enough for right around 4.2x value. Our final free square of the night was Bobby Portis who ended up with right around 7.5 DKFP which was good enough for right around 1.6x value.
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Tonight
We have a tiny slate ahead of us for Thursday night. The teams with the highest implied totals are as follows: Cleveland Cavaliers (113), Toronto Raptors (110), and the San Antonio Spurs (107). The highest priced players on the slate are Lebron James, Joel Embiid, and DeMar DeRozan.
- Delon Wright PG/SG TOR ($5,100)
- Delon Wright and the Toronto Raptors will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight at home tonight. The Raptors have an implied total sitting at 110-points and they are currently 3.0-point underdogs. The Raptors have been playing at a pace of right around 102.0 and the Cavaliers have been playing at a pace of right around 100.0. This will be a slight pace down game for the Raptors tonight but I still like this spot for Wright tonight. He is likely going to be guarded by Isaiah Thomas who is not a good defender and a guy I expect Wright to put some points up on tonight. He has the following stats on the season so far this year: 21.3 MPG, 3.0 RPG, 2.5 APG, .6 BLKPG, 1.2 STLPG, 9.0 PPG, 19.8 FPPG, and a .93 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 28.896 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.67x value. He is projected to play right around 32 minutes tonight. Wright is going to be in the starting lineup tonight for the injured Kyle Lowry and he is going to get all the minutes he can handle tonight. He has a solid matchup and a good FPPM this year. Load him up as a mid-tier guard on Draftkings tonight.
- Tyrone Wallace PG/SG LAC ($3,800)
- Tyrone Wallace and the Los Angeles Clippers will take on the Sacramento Kings tonight on the road. The Clippers have an implied total sitting at right around 106-points and they are currently 1.0-point favorites. The Clippers have been playing at a pace of right around 101.0 and the Kings have been playing at a pace of right around 97.7. This is going to to be a pace down game for the Clippers and Wallace tonight. In saying that his price is so low and he is in a good spot so I don’t think the pace down game will affect him too much. He is likely going to be coming off the bench tonight which should help him as the Kings don’t have a great defensive bench. He has the following stats on the season so far this year: 28.2 MPG, 3.7 RPG, 2.3 APG, .7 BLKPG, 1.7 STLPG, 15.3 PPG, 28.1 FPPG, and a .99 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 21.603 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.69x value. He is projected to play 26 minutes tonight. The Clippers back-court is banged up and Ty Wallace has been a nice player for them lately. He is pretty much bottom barrel priced and makes a great value guard play on Draftkings tonight.
- LaMarcus Aldridge PF/C SAS ($8,500)
- LaMarcus Aldridge and the San Antonio Spurs will take on the Los Angeles Lakers tonight on the road. The Spurs have an implied total sitting at right around 107-points and they are currently 2.5-point favorites. The Spurs have been playing at a pace of right around 97.4 and the Lakers have been playing at a pace of right around 106.4. This is about as significant pace up game as there can be with the Lakers playing at the fastest pace in the league and the Spurs are one of the slowest teams in the league. This should have some nice fantasy implications for Aldridge tonight. He is likely going to be guarded by Julius44. Randle who is an okay defender. Aldridge has the following stats on the season so far this year: 33.5 MPG, 8.7 RPG, 1.9 APG, 1.1 BLKPG, .5 STLPG, 22.6 PPG, 39.8 FPPG, and a 1.19 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 44.189 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.2x value. He is projected to play right around 35 minutes tonight. Aldridge is in a nice spot tonight and I like his price. This is going to be a nice pace up matchup which should allow for extra fantasy opportunities for Aldridge tonight. Load him up as a higher priced forward or center with a lot of upside tonight.
Free Square of the Night
We have a tiny 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 Delon Wright tonight! Good luck Army!
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