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
Recap
Let’s take a look back and see how our free squares did last night. Our first free square of the night was Montrez Harrell who ended up getting us 18.75 DKFP which was good enough for right around 4x value. Our second free square of the night was Ben Simmons who ended up getting us right around 66.75 DKFP which was good enough for 8.8x value. Our final free square of the night was Dejounte Murray who ended up with right around 26.50 DKFP which was good enough for right around 5.5x value.
We had another big night in the DFS Army as one of our VIP Members @redkacheek took down a cool $3,000 on Fanduel last night!
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Tonight
We have a short slate ahead of us for Thursday night. The teams with the highest implied totals are as follows: Golden State Warriors (120), Denver Nuggets (109), and the Oklahoma City Thunder (109). The highest priced players on the slate are Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant.
- Jarrett Jack PG NYK ($4,600)
- Jarrett Jack and the New York Knicks will take on the Denver Nuggets tonight on the road. The Knicks have an implied total sitting at right around 104-points and they are currently 5.5-point underdogs. The Knicks have been playing at a pace of right around 100.3 and the Nuggets have been playing at a pace of right around 100.0. These teams play at virtually the same place so neither team will see much of an upgrade or downgrade tonight. Jack is likely going to be guarded by Jamal Murray tonight who is a less than a stellar defender. Jack has the following stats on the season so far this year: 26.5 MPG, 3.4 RPG, 6.2 APG, .7 STLPG, 8.0 PPG, 22.3 FPPG, and a .84 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 24.771 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.39x value. He is projected to play right around 28 minutes tonight. There is not a ton of value of this small slate and I don’t think you can go wrong with Jack tonight. He has a great matchup and a solid price tonight which makes him an enticing play on Draftkings tonight.
- Paul George SF OKC ($7,600)
- Paul George and the Oklahoma City Thunder will take on the Washington Wizards tonight at home. The Thunder have an implied total sitting at right around 109-points and they are currently 5.0-point favorites. The Thunder have been playing at a pace of right around 99.6 and the Wizards have been playing at a pace of right around 101.1. This will be a nice little pace up game for the Thunder and Paul George tonight. He is likely going to be guarded by Otto Porter Jr. tonight who is a solid defender. He has the following stats on the season so far this: 36.2 MPG, 5.6 RPG, 3.0 APG, .6 BLKPG, 2.1 STLPG, 20.9 PPG, 38.1 FPPG, and a 1.05 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 40.843 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.38x value. He is projected to play right around 36 minutes tonight. Other than a tough matchup I like this price and spot for PG tonight. He has a solid FPPM number and I expect him to exceed his value tonight. Load him up as a mid-tier forward on Draftkings tonight.
- Draymond Green PF/C GSW ($7,500)
- Draymond Green and the Golden State Warriors will take on the Minnesota Timberwolves at home tonight. The Warriors have an implied total sitting at right around 120-points and they are currently 11.5-point favorites. The Warriors have been playing at a pace of right around 103.7 and the Timberwolves have been playing at a pace of right around 99.2. This is going to be a pace down game for the Warriors tonight but I still like the spot for Draymond tonight. He is likely going to be guarded by Karl Anthony-Towns tonight who is just an average defender. He has the following stats on the season so far this year: 32.2 MPG, 7.8 RPG, 7.5 APG, 1.3 BLKPG, 1.3 STLPG, 11.4 PPG, 37.6 FPPG, and a 1.17 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection fo right around 39.99 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.33x value. He is projected to play right around 33 minutes tonight. I like this spot for Draymond tonight and the price is right. Load him up as a mid-tier forward or center with some upside 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 Draymond Green tonight! Good luck Army!
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