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
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Tonight
We have a medium slate ahead of us for Thursday night. The teams with the highest implied totals are as follows: Golden State Warriors (117) Toronto Raptors (113), and the Oklahoma City Thunder (110). The highest priced players on the slate are Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry.
- Kyle O’Quinn PF/C NYKK ($4,400)
- Kyle O’Quinn and the New York Knicks will take on the Toronto Raptors on the road tonight. The Knicks have an implied total sitting at right around 99-points and they are currently 13.5-point underdogs. The Knicks have been playing at a pace of right around 100.4 and the Raptors have been playing at a pace of right around 101.7. This is a slight pace up game for the Knicks tonight which should add some extra fantasy value. O’Quinn is likely going to be guarded by Jonas Valanciunas tonight who is a below average defender. O’Quinn has the following stats on the season so far this year: 16.4 MPG, 5.6 RPG, 1.9 APG, .5 STLPG, 6.5 PPG, 18.8 FPPG, and a 1.15 DKFP. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 31.19 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 7.09x value. He is projected to play right around 28 minutes. Porzingis is out for the season which means a whole lot of production an opportunity has opened up for the rest of the Knicks. O’Quinn has a great matchup, price, and FPPM number which makes him a great play on Draftkings tonight.
- Michael Beasley SF/PF NYK ($6,300)
- Michael Beasley and the New York Knicks will take on the Toronto Raptors on the road tonight. The Knicks have an implied total sitting at right around 99-points and they are currently 13.5-point underdogs. Like I stated in the O’Quinn write-up the Knicks have been playing at a pace of right around 100.4 and the Raptors have been playing at a pace of right around 101.7. This is a slight pace up game for the Knicks tonight which should add some extra fantasy value. Beasley is likely going to be guarded by Serge Ibaka who is a decent defender. Beasley has the following stats on the season so far this year: Beasley has the following number on the season so far this year: 19.3 MPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.3 APG, .5 BLKPG, .4 STLPG, 12.4 PPG, 22.1 FPPG, and a 1.15 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we have a projection of right 36.034 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.72x value. He is projected to play right around 32 minutes tonight. Like O’Quinn Beasley is going to see a large uptake in production without Porzingis in the lineup. He has a great FPPM number and I love his price and upside on Draftkings tonight.
- Brandon Ingram SG/SF LAL ($6,500)
- Brandon Ingram and the Los Angeles Lakers will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight at home. The Lakers have an implied total sitting at right around 107-points and they are currently 3.5-point underdogs tonight. The Lakers have been playing at a pace of right around 105.3 and the Thunder have been playing at a pace of right around 100.3. It’s a pace down game for the Lakers tonight but I still like the spot for Ingram tonight. Ingram is likely going to be guarded by Paul George tonight who is a solid defender. Ingram has the following stats on the season so far this year: 33.5 MPG, 5.4 RPG, 3.7 APG, .7 BLKPG, .8 STLPG, 15.9 PPG, 30.2 FPPG, and a .90 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 32.416 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 4.98x value. He is projected to play right around 34 minutes tonight. It’s a tougher matchup but Ingram has been playing extremely well is his last 6 games. I think he continues that tonight and makes a solid mid-tier forward or guard play 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 Kyle O’Quinn tonight! Good luck Army!
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