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 Elfrid Payton who ended up with 35.25 DKFP which was good enough for right around 5.3x value. Our second free square of the night was Will Barton who ended up with 31.25 DKFP which was good enough for right around 5.5x value. Our final free square of the night was Goran Dragic who ended up with right around 42.0 DKFP which was good enough for right around 6.9x value.
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Tonight
We have a decent sized slate ahead of us for Sunday night. The teams with the highest implied totals are as follows: Oklahoma City Thunder (114), Los Angeles Lakers (111), and the Atlanta Hawks (107). The highest priced players on the slate are Russell Westbrook, Damian Lillard, and Paul George.
- Kyle Anderson PG/SF SAS ($4,800)
- Kyle Anderson and the San Antonio Spurs will take on the Portland Trailblazers on the road tonight. The Spurs have an implied total sitting at right around 98-points and they are currently 2.0-point underdogs. The Spurs have been playing at a pace of right around 97.3 and the Trailblazers have been playing at a pace of right around 100.2. This is going to be a nice pace up game for the Spurs tonight as they are one of the slowest teams in the league and they get a nice boost tonight. Anderson is likely going to be guarded by Evan Turner tonight who is not that great of a defender. He has the following stats on the season so far this year: 26.6 MPG, 5.9 RPG, 2.6 APG, .8 BLKPG, 1.2 STLPG, 8.4 PPG, 23.2 FPPG, and a .87 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 29.105 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 6.06x value. He is projected to play right around 33 minutes tonight. Anderson is in a good spot tonight and is going to play a ton of minutes. He is one of those interesting guys that fill up the stat sheet in a ton of different categories. He makes a great value forward or guards on Draftkings tonight.
- Courtney Lee SG/SF NYK ($4,900)
- Courtney Lee and the New York Knicks will take on the Dallas Mavericks on the road tonight. The Knicks have an implied total sitting at right around 101-points and they are currently 5.5-point underdogs. The Knicks have been playing at a pace of right around 99,7 and the Mavericks have been playing at a pace of right around 98.2. This is a slight pace down game for the Knicks tonight but neither of these teams plays that fast. Courtney Lee is going to be guarded by Wesley Matthews tonight who is not that great of a defender and a guy I expect Lee to put some points on tonight. He has the following stats on the season so far this year: 32.4 MPG, 3.4 RPG, 2.8 APG, .2 BLKPG, 1.4 STLPG, 13.6 PPG, and a 25.3 FPPG, and a .78 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 26.414 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.39x value. He is projected to play right around 35 minutes tonight. I like this spot and matchup for Lee tonight. He always plays a ton of minutes and makes a nice value guard or forward on Draftkings tonight.
- LaMarcus Aldridge PF/C SAS ($7,600) ***QUESTIONABLE***
- LaMarcus Aldridge and the San Antonio Spurs will take on the Portland Trailblazers on the road tonight. The Spurs have an implied total sitting at right around 98-points and they are currently 2.0-point underdogs. As talked about in the Kyle Anderson write-up the Spurs have been playing at a pace of right around 97.3 and the Trailblazers have been playing at a pace of right around 100.2. Aldridge should see a nice little fantasy boost tonight. Aldridge is likely going to be guarded by Al-Farouq Aminu tonight who is a solid defender but I still like the spot Aldridge is in tonight. He has the following stats on the season so far: 33.4 MPG, 8.4 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.1 BLKPG, .5 STLPG, 22.2 PPG, 39.1 FPPG, and a 1.17 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 40.795 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.37x value. He is projected to play right around 35 minutes. Other than a tougher matchup I like everything about this spot for Aldridge tonight. No Kawhi tonight which opens up a ton of fantasy production for the rest of the Spurs tonight. I think Aldridge benefits greatly tonight. He makes a great upper-tier forward or center tonight on Draftkings tonight.
Free Square of the Night
We have a smaller 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 LaMarcus Aldridge tonight! Good luck Army!
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