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
I want to give a quick shoutout to one of VIP Members @insanedolfan37742 for taking down $100,000 on Fanduel last night!
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Let’s take a look at how our free squares did last night. Our first free square of the night was Dwight Powell who ended up with 27.50 DKFP which was good enough for right around 7.4x value. Our second free square of the night was Nikola Mirotic who ended up with right around 12.75 DKFP which was good enough for right around 2.2x value. Our final free square of the night was Andre Drummond who ended up with right around 53.25 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.8x value.
Tonight
We have a large slate ahead of us for Tuesday night. The teams with the highest implied totals are as follows: Golden State Warriors (120), Cleveland Cavaliers (116), and the Houston Rockets (113). The highest paid players on the slate are James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and the Lebron James.
- Mario Hezonja PG/SG ORL ($4,500)
- Mario Hezonja and the Orlando Magic will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight at home. The Magic have an implied total sitting at right around 109-points and they are currently 6.5-point underdogs. The Magic have been playing at a pace of right around 101.9 and the Cavaliers have been playing at a pace of right around 100.9. Slight pace down game for the Magic tonight but it is not that significant and Hezonja is still in a great spot. Hezonja is likely going to be guarded by Jae Crowder tonight who has struggled defensively this season. Hezonja has the following stats on the season so far this year: 18.2 MPG, 3.1 RPG, 1.1 APG, .3 BLKPG, .7 STLPG, 7.8 PPG, 15.4 FPPG, and a .85 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 27.16 DKFP which was good enough for right around 6.03x value. He is projected to play right around 30 minutes tonight. Hezonja is in a great spot tonight and he is very affordable. Load him up as a value guard tonight on Draftkings tonight.
- T.J. Warren SF/PF PHO ($6,700)
- T.J. Warren and the Phoenix Suns will take on the Los Angeles Lakers on the road tonight. The Suns have an implied total sitting at right around 106-points and they are currently 8.0-point underdogs. The Suns have been playing at a pace of right around 103.1 and the Lakers play at the fastest pace in the league at right around 105.4. This is going to be a pace up game for the Suns and just overall a fantastic matchup tonight. These should be quite the uptempo game tonight. Warren is likely going to be guarded by Brandon Ingram who is not a guy I am too worried about tonight on the defensive end. Warren has the following stats on the season so far this year: 32.2 MPG, 5.2 RPG, 1.4 APG, .6 BLKPG, 1.0 STLPG, 19.5 PPG, 31.0 FPPG, and a .96 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 37.62 DKFP which was good enough for right around 5.61x value. He is projected to play right around 34 minutes tonight. Warren is in a really good spot tonight in an up-tempo matchup. Load him up as a mid-tier forward with upside tonight on Draftkings.
- Julius Randle PF/C LAL ($6,800)
- Julius Randle and the Los Angeles Lakers will take on the Phoenix Suns tonight at home tonight. The Lakers have an implied total sitting at right around 113-points and they are currently 8.0-point favorites. As stated in the Warren write-up the Suns have been playing at a pace of right around 103.1 and the Lakers play at the fastest pace in the league at right around 105.4. As you can tell I really like targeting this game for fantasy purposes tonight. Randle is likely going to be guarded by Dragan Bender who is a below average defender and a guy I think Randle can dominate tonight offensively. He has the following stats on the season so far this year: 23.5 MPG, 7.4 RPG, 2.1 APG, .6 BLKPG, .5 STLPG, 14.0 PPG, 27.9 FPPG, and a 1.19 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 37.609 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.53x value. He is projected to play right around 31 minutes tonight. I love the matchup for Randle tonight for a guy who already has a high FPPM. Load him up at either the center or forward position tonight on Draftkings.
Free Square of the Night
We have a medium 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 Mario Hezonja tonight! Good luck Army!
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