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
Tonight
We have a short slate ahead of us for Monday night. The teams with the highest implied totals are as follows: Charlotte Hornets (117), Minnesota Timberwolves (115), and the Philadelphia 76ers (115). The highest priced players on the slate are Andre Drummond, Joel Embiid, and Karl-Anthony Towns.
(Sign up for a DFS ARMY VIP MEMBERSHIP today before it’s too late!)
(Follow me on Twitter!)
- Julius Randle PF/C LAL ($7,900)
- Julius Randle and the Los Angeles Lakers will take on the Detroit Pistons on the road tonight. The Lakers have an implied total sitting at right around 104-points and they are currently 5.5-point underdogs. The Lakers have been playing at a pace of right around 104.8 and the Pistons have been playing at a pace of right around 99.6. It’s a pace down game for the Lakers tonight but I love the spot and price for Randle tonight. Randle is likely going to be guarded by Blake Griffin tonight who is a below average defender. Randle has the following stats on the season so far this year: 26.3 MPG, 7.9 RPG, 2.5 APG, .6 BLKPG, .5 STLPG, 16.1 PPG, 31.4 FPPG, and a 1.19 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 47.206 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.98x value. He is projected to play right around 37 minutes tonight. Randle has a solid matchup tonight, is going to play a ton of minutes, and a has a solid FPPM number. Load him up as a higher priced forward or center with upside tonight.
- Trey Burke PG/SG NYK ($4,800)
- Trey Burke and the New York Knicks will take on the Charlotte Hornets on the road tonight. The Knicks have an implied total sitting at right around 105-points and they are currently 11.5-point underdogs. The Knicks have been playing at a pace of right around 100.6 and the Hornets have been playing at a pace of right around 101.8. It’s a nice little pace up game for the Knicks and Trey Burke tonight. Burke is going to be guarded by Kemba Walker tonight who is an average defender. Burke has the following stats on the season so far this year: 18.1 MPG, 1.8 RPG, 3.7 RPG, .1 BLKPG, .6 STLPG, 11.1 PPG, 20.4 FPPG, and a 1.13 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 31.617 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 6.59x value. He is projected to play right around 28 minutes tonight. Burke is in a prime spot tonight and I think he crushed value as a lower priced guard tonight on Draftkings.
- Kyle Kuzma SF/PF LAL ($6,900)
- Kyle Kuzma and the Los Angeles Lakers will take on the Detroit Pistons on the road tonight. The Lakers have an implied total sitting at right around 104-points and they are currently 5.5-point underdogs. The Lakers have been playing at a pace of right around 104.8 and the Pistons have been playing at a pace of right around 99.6. Like I stated in the Randle write-up this is a significant pace down game but I like the spot for Kuzma tonight as well as Randle. Kuzma is likely going to be guarded by Stanley Johnson is an okay defender. Kuzma has the following stats on the season so far this year: 30.4 MPG, 6.2 RPG, 1.8 APG, .5 BLKPG, .6 STLPG, 15.8 PPG, 29.0 FPPG, and a .95 FPPM. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 37.276 DKFP which would be good enough for right around 5.4x value. He is projected to play 41 minutes tonight. Kuzma is going to play a ton of minutes in what should be a high scoring game. Load him up as either forward position on Draftkings tonight.
Free Square of the Night
We have a short 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 Julius Randle tonight! Good luck Army!
(Sign up for a DFS ARMY VIP MEMBERSHIP today before it’s too late!)
(Follow me on Twitter!)
Do you want access to the most advanced Daily Fantasy Basketball tools in the industry? How about the chance to talk player picks and lineups with our NBA DFS Pros and like-minded players? DFS Army VIP Members get all of that PLUS access to our best in the industry projections and optimization tools. Go to DFS Army VIP membership and join the Army today! You won’t find a better deal or a better DFS team to join!
