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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Tonight
We have a small slate ahead of us for Monday night. The teams with the highest implied totals are as follows: Oklahoma City Thunder (112), Houston Rockets (111), and the Portland Trailblazers (109). The highest priced players on the slate are Russell Westbrook, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and James Harden.
- Pau Gasol PF/C SAS ($5,700)
- Pau Gasol and the San Antonio Spurs will take on the Houston Rockets on the road tonight. The Spurs have an implied total sitting at right around 99-points and they are currently 11.5-point underdogs. The Spurs have been playing at a pace of right around 97.9 and the Rockets have been playing at a pace of right around 101.3. This is going to be a significant pace up game for the Spurs tonight which should benefit Gasol tonight. Gasol is likely going to be guarded by Clint Capela tonight who is a decent defender. Gasol has the following stats on the season so far this year: 25.0 MPG, 8.4 RPG, 3.3 APG, 1.1 BLKPG, .3 STLPG, 10.7 PPG, 29.0 FPPG, and a 1.16 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 33.241 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.83x value. He is projected to play right around 28 minutes tonight. I love the price for Gasol tonight as he has a pretty solid FPPM number. The Spurs are going to need him to have a big game if they want to keep this one close. Load him up as a forward or center on Draftkings tonight.
- Bam Adebayo PF/C MIA ($3,800)
- Bam Adebayo and the Miami Heat will take on the Portland Trailblazers on the road tonight. The Heat have an implied total sitting at right around 102-points and they are currently 6.5-point underdogs. The Heat have been playing at a pace of right around 98.8 and the Trailblazers have been playing at a pace of right around 100.2. This is going to be a nice little fantasy boost for the Heat tonight as they are one of the slowest teams in the league. Bam is likely going to be guarded by Jusuf Nurkic tonight who is a pretty solid defender. He has the following stats on the season so far this year: 19.4 MPG, 5.3 RPG, 1.5 APG, .6 BLKPG, .5 STLPG, 7.1 PPG, 18.0 FPPG, and a .93 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 21.135 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.56x value. He is projected to play right around 23 minutes tonight. Bam doesn’t play a ton of minutes but he is efficient with him. Load him up as a value forward or center tonight on Draftkings.
- Eric Bledsoe PG/SG MIL ($6,800)
- Eric Bledsoe and the Milwaukee Bucks will take on the Memphis Grizzlies on the road tonight. The Bucks have an implied total sitting at right around 106-points and they are currently 7.5-point favorites. The Bucks have been playing at a pace of right around 99.3 and the Grizzlies have been playing at a pace of right around 97.8. This is going to be a pace down game for the Bucks tonight but I still like the spot for Bledsoe tonight. He is likely going to be guarded by Kobi Simmons who is an okay defender. He has the following stats on the season so far this year: 31.3 MPG, 3.8 RPG, 4.6 APG, .6 BLKPG, 2.0 STLPG, 17.3 PPG, 33.4 FPPG, and a 1.07 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 36.249 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.33x value. He is projected to play right around 33 minutes tonight. Bledsoe’s price has gone down a bit and I think we can get him at a good price tonight with solid upside. Load him up as a mid-tier guard tonight on Draftkings tonight.
Free Square of the Night
We have a small 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 Pau Gasol tonight! Good luck Army!
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