Hello DFS Army! My name is Michael, otherwise known as DFS Madness on Twitter (@MadnessDFS), I am one of the new writers/contributors that the Army has brought on to join the team! I’ll be writing a Core 4 article a few times per week and then full slate breakdowns on the weekends. A quick little background about me, I am an Economics student at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse (yeah it’s cold here) with graduation coming this May. I’ve been playing DFS for about 4-5 years now and providing content for about 2-3 of those years.
Purpose of the Core 4: These four players are guys that I want to lock into my cash game lineups and if doing multi-entry, using the Domination Station lock them in or set high exposure percentages to them. These are players that I see as underpriced, in great matchups, in play because of injuries, increased usage, etc. I also need to mention that these plays are normally geared toward Draftkings pricing and scoring, I’m not a huge fan of NBA for Fanduel, so if you see my list has three small forwards or two centers, etc. it’s because of the multi-position eligibility on Draftkings. With that said, let’s jump right into it!
Yesterday’s Core results:
De’Aaron Fox – 25 dkp; 3.2x – Well this one backfired hard on me. To be fair if you predicted Fox to only play 22 minutes you were already far ahead of the field, as he was around 30% owned in cash games. The Kings did some weird stuff with their rotations last night, not a whole lot we can do about this one. It was a fast paced game, the process was there, but the result wasn’t ideal.
Bogdan Bogdanovic – 34 dkp; 6.2x – Bogdan did what I expected him to do, he was a bit more chalky at 64% in cash games, but he was too cheap for the matchup plain and simple.
Tim Frazier – 26 dkp; 8.1x – He was only 7% owned in my cash games which was incredibly surprising to me. But hey, I’ll take 8x from a low owned guy all day long.
Darren Collison – 10 dkp; 1.6x – We wrap things up with public enemy number one… I didn’t have a write up yesterday, so let me explain the process behind this one. Tyreke Evans and Victor Oladipo were out and the Pacers were playing the Washington Wizards who struggle across the board on defense. The real killer here, much like with Fox, is he only played 25 minutes which I guess I can’t blame them because he honestly just played awful. This team is a mess right now and have been blown-out in their past two games, avoiding them in the near future while they figure out rotations may be the best plan.
Collison and Fox were complete land mines last night, so let’s bounce back tonight…..(insert Price Is Right fail horn here).
Tonight’s Core 4:
Reggie Jackson – $4,700
The Pistons will host the Dallas Mavericks tonight in a projected 206.5 total with Detroit favored by 2.5. The total is the lowest on the slate but don’t let that scare you off of Jackson here. As of 1:30 ET, there is very little value on this slate and Jackson is a great way to get some. In his past 3 games he’s seen his minutes steadily increase – 30, 35, and 37 and with Ish Smith still out tonight I don’t expect that to change. If we head over to the Research Station , we see that the Mavericks rank 25th against opposing point guards and is projected for 31.5 draftkings points tonight, which is 6.7x on his current price tag. In a slate lacking value, go ahead and lock in Reggie Jackson tonight.
Jalen Brunson – $3,400
So….. the Breaking News page just told me that the Mavericks just traded away their whole team two hours after I said there was zero value on this slate. Things have changed! Patrick Beverley is still a good play, but Brunson is better from a point per dollar perspective that will allow us to jam in multiple super stars tonight. With Doncic, Dennis Smith Jr., DeAndre Jordan, Barea and Wesley Mathews off the court, Brunson sees a usage rate of 27% in a 108 minute sample size. He also sees an average of 1.1 fantasy points per minute and should receive as many minutes as he can handle tonight with the Mavs being so short handed. Don’t over think this spot and lock in Jalen Brunson.
Giannis Antetokounmpo – $10,600
The Bucks go on the road to play the Toronto Raptors tonight in what could be a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals, with a projected total of 231.5 with Toronto favored by 3. The problem with Giannis is normally that the Bucks are blowing teams out and he doesn’t see a full complement of minutes. That should not be the case tonight and I expect Giannis to play at least 35 minutes. In two games against the Raptors this season Giannis has averaged 38.2 minutes along with 64.1 draftkings points. Many people may worry about potential Kawhi Leonard defense, but thats not the case. In the first two matchups it has actually been Pascal Siakam guarding Giannis 48% of the time, Kawhi is simply not big enough to effectively guard Giannis for 40 minutes. In what should be a great all around basketball game, go ahead and lock in the Greek Freak tonight.
Klay Thompson – $5,800
In the highest projected total of the night at an enormous 240, the Warriors go on the road to face the Philadelphia 76ers. You’re going to want to have some pieces of this game seeing as how the total is incredible, we’ve already spent up with Giannis so paying up for Steph or Durant may be difficult. Let’s go down to Klay Thompson who feels a bit underpriced at under $6k. With DeMarcus Cousins on the court this season, Klay averages 1.01 fantasy points per minute and if this game is able to stay relatively close he should have no problem going above and beyond 30 minutes. Cousins has played a big role in the Warriors offense now that he is back from injury and his sucking usage away from the big stars. However, this isn’t the case with Klay, his usage rate actually increases from 28% to 30% with Cousins on the floor. He is a catch and shoot guy, so if Cousins is going to draw the defense toward the hoop, Klay will be waiting around for wide open shots. Go ahead and lock Klay in at $5,800 tonight.
As always I appreciate everyone who gave the core a read! Feel free to mix it up with me in our coaching forums as news breaks and lock approaches. If you don’t know about them, our two newest pages contain Breaking News and our exclusive Coaches’ Picks……both invaluable for late breaking news and pivots in NBA. Make sure to follow me on Twitter @MadnessDFS as I occasionally make changes to the core. Let’s make some money tonight!