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 Delon Wright who ended up with 18.0 DKFP which was good enough for right around 3.5x value. Our second free square of the night was Tyrone Wallace who ended up with 20.25 DKFP which was good enough for right around 5.3x value. Our final free square of the night was LaMarcus Aldridge who ended up with right around 27.50 DKFP which was good enough for right around 3.2x value.
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Tonight
We have a decent sized slate ahead of us for Friday night. The teams with the highest implied totals are as follows: Houston Rockets (118), Golden State Warriors (114), and the Washington Wizards (114). The highest priced players on the slate are LeBron James, Chris Paul, and DeMarcus Cousins.
- Dragan Bender SF/PF PHO ($4,300)
- Dragan Bender and the Phoenix Suns will take on the Houston Rockets tonight on at home. The Suns have an implied total sitting at right around 111-points and they are currently 7.0-point underdogs. The Suns have been playing at a pace of right around 104.0 and the Rockets have been playing at a pace of right around 102.9. This is going to be a great fantasy game to target tonight as we have two of the fastest teams in the league going at it tonight. Bender is likely going to be matched up against Ryan Anderson tonight who is a terrible defender and a guy I expect a big offensive output from tonight. He has the following stats on the season so far this year: 21.3 MPG, 3.1 RPG, 1.2 APG, .6 BLKPG, .3 STLPG, 5.7 PPG, 13.3 FPPG, and a .62 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 19.305 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 4.35x value. He is projected to play right around 35 minutes tonight. He doesn’t have the greatest numbers on paper but this is a great matchup for Bender tonight at a very affordable price. He is going to play a ton of minutes and I don’t see how he doesn’t exceed his value tonight. Load him up as a value forward in a good spot on Draftkings tonight.
- Spencer Dinwiddie PG/SG BKN ($6,600)
- Spencer Dinwiddie and the Brooklyn Nets will take on the Atlanta Hawks on the road tonight. The Nets have an implied total sitting at right around 104-points and they are currently 3.0-point underdogs. The Nets have been playing at a pace of right around 103.7 and the Hawks have been playing at a pace of right around 100.7. This is going to be a pace down game for the Nets tonight but Atlanta is not a slow team by any means. He is likely going to be guarded by Dennis Schroder tonight who is a horrible defender and a guy who I think Dinwiddie will take it too offensively tonight. He has the following stats on the season so far this year: 27.5 MPG, 3.1 RPG, 6.4 APG, .4 BLKPG, .6 STLPG, 13.2 PPG, 28.7 FPPG, and a 1.04 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 33.954 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.14x value. He is projected to play 32 minutes tonight. This is a great matchup for Dinwiddie tonight. Load him up as a mid-tier guard with upside tonight.
- T.J. Warren SF/PF PHO ($6,200)
- T.J. Warren and the Phoenix Suns will take on the Houston Rockets tonight on at home. The Suns have an implied total sitting at right around 111-points and they are currently 7.0-point underdogs. The Suns have been playing at a pace of right around 104.0 and the Rockets have been playing at a pace of right around 102.9. As stated in the Bender write-up this is a great fantasy game to target tonight. Warren is likely going to be guarded by Trevor Ariza tonight who is a good defender. He has the following numbers on the season so far this year: 32.0 MPG, 5.6 RPG, 1.4 APG, .6 BLKPG, .9 STLPG, 19.6 PPG, 31.5 FPPG, and a .98 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 37.608 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 6.09x value. He is projected to 38 minutes tonight. It’s a tougher matchup for Warren tonight but other than that I really like this spot for him tonight. He is going to play a ton of minutes per usual and this should eb a high scoring fast paced game. Load him up as a moderately priced forward on Draftkings tonight.
Free Square of the Night
We have a decent 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 T.J. Warren tonight! Good luck Army!
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