VicSearching 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 at how our free squares did last night. Our first free square of the night was Cristiano Felicio who ended up with right around 24.75 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 6.5x value. Our second free square of the night was Jrue Holiday who ended up with right around 25.50 DKFP which was good enough for right around 3.2x value. Our final free square of the night was Kevin Love who ended up with right around 49.90 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 7.7x value.
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Tonight
We have a decent slate ahead of us for Thursday night. The teams with the highest implied totals are as follows: New Orleans Pelicans (117), Los Angeles Lakers (114), and the Houston Rockets (113). The highest priced players on the slate are Anthony Davis, James Harden, and Joel Embiid.
- Dennis Schroder PG ATL ($6,500)
- Dennis Schroder and the Atlanta Hawks will take on the Sacramento Kings on the road tonight. The Hawks have been playing at an implied total sitting at right around 106-points and they are currently 1.5-point underdogs. The Hawks have been playing at a pace of right around 101.4 and the Kings are one of the slowest teams in the league playing at a pace of right around 98.3. Pace down game for the Hawks and Schroder tonight but I still love the spot for him tonight. He is likely going to be guarded by D’Aaron Fox who is an atrocious defender. I expect a solid offensive outing from Schroder tonight. Schroder has the following stats on the season so far this year: 31.0 MPG, 3.1 RPG, 6.2 APG, .1 BLKPG, 1.1 STLPG, 19.5 PPG, 34.3 FPPG, and a 1.11 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 37.531 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.77x value. He is projected to play right around 32 minutes tonight. Even though the Hawks have not been good this year Schroder has put together a solid DFS season. He has a great FPPM number and has a dream matchup tonight. Load him up as a mid-tier point guard with upside tonight on Draftkings.
- J.J. Barea PG/SG DAL ($5,500)
- J.J. Barea and the Dallas Mavericks will take on the Utah Jazz tonight at home. The Mavericks have an implied total sitting at right around 95-points and they are currently 8.5-point underdogs. The Mavericks have been playing at a pace of right around 98.7 and the Jazz have been playing at a pace of right around 98.7. These teams play at an identical pace. Barea is likely going to be guarded by Ricky Rubio tonight who is a pretty solid defender. Barea has the following stats on the season so far this year: 23.2 MPG, 3.0 RPG, 6.3 APG, .5 STLPG, 11.5 PPG, 25.8 FPPG, and a 1.11 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 28.462 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.17x value. He is projected to play right around 27 minutes tonight. Barea has had a solid FPPM number all year and as long as he gets the minutes tonight I think he will exceed his value. Load him up as a mid-tier guard tonight on Draftkings.
- Deyonta Davis PF/C MEM ($3,300)
- Deyonta Davis and the Memphis Grizzlies will take on the Charlotte Hornets tonight on the road. The Grizzlies have an implied total sitting at right around 102-points and they are currently 10.0-point underdogs. The Grizzlies have been playing at a pace of right around 98.0 and the Grizzlies have been playing at a pace of right around 101.7. This is going to be a nice pace up game for Davis and the Grizzlies tonight. Davis is likely going to be guarded by Willy Hernangomez who is not a great defender. Davis has the following stats on the season so far this year: 14.0 MPG, 3.9 RPG, .6 APG, .6 BLKPG, .2 STLPG, 5.6 PPG, 12.9 FPPG, and a .92 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 18.479 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.6x value. He is projected to play right around 23 minutes tonight. Davis is near minimum price, drawing a start, playing in a significant pace up game, and has a great matchup tonight. Don’t overthink this one and load up Davis as either a value forward or center tonight on Draftkings tonight.
Free Square of the Night
We have a decent 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 tonight Dennis Schroder tonight! Good luck Army!
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