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:
- Zach LaVine – 53.5 DKP; 8.1x – I can’t say I expected him to blow up like this, but he sure didn’t disappoint.
- Jakob Poeltl – 23.25 DKP; 7.3x – Pretty much the exact game I envisioned him having, nothing too crazy, but exceeding value very nicely.
- Marvin Bagley – 28.5 DKP; 4.9x – This game was a blowout by the time the third quarter ended which held Bagley down a bit. LaVine and Poeltl more than made up for his average game.
- James Harden – 54 DKP; 4.3x – The Rockets just simply didn’t need Harden last night, they handled business pretty easily. Luckily Harden was high owned so it didn’t hurt us too bad.
Overall, a pretty solid day from the core, back at it tonight after the NBA trade deadline has passed!
Tonight’s Core 4:
JaVale McGee – $4,500
The Lakers will go on the road to play the Boston Celtics tonight in a projected 227 total with Boston favored by 8.5. The Lakers traded away big man Ivica Zubac and newly acquired Mike Muscala, so there will be some open minutes for the big men tonight. I expect McGee to be able to grab minutes into the mid 20’s and he has certainly produced when he’s gotten these types of minutes. He has an average of 1.24 fantasy points per minute on the season, therefore if he’s able to play 25ish minutes tonight, we can expect him to be around the 30 fantasy point mark. At this price and this situation, go ahead and lock in JaVale McGee.
Damian Lillard – $8,600
The Portland Trail Blazers will play host to the San Antonio Spurs in a matchup that features a 226.5 projected total with the Blazers favored by 6. Lillard draws an incredible matchup here as the Spurs will be without Derrick White and rank 24th on the season against opposing point guards. If we head to the Research Station, we can see that Lillard is currently projected to 5.6x his salary with 48.4 draftkings points. He’s simply too cheap and if he’s able to put up those kind of numbers you’re going to want him on all your teams.
Jonathon Motley – $3,200
Quick update here! Rabb is still a fine play, but I’m projecting Motley much better. The Clippers are extremely shorthanded in the front court and Motley will be forced into minutes most likely in the mid 20’s. Against this Pacers team he should have absolutely zero issue hitting and far exceeding value today. He only needs around 16 points to hit value and he’s around 1.2 draftkings points per minute this season. If he gets 24 minutes he should crush value, go ahead and lock him in!
Al Horford – $6,700
The nice thing about Rabb and Horford is that they are both PF and C eligible on Draftkings, which allows us to play them along with McGee. I encourage everyone to go give CeeGee’s “1st Look” article a read, he includes a section called “And 1 Top 3’s Today” and Al Horford happens to lead his list of Center options. Horford draws an incredible matchup here, the Lakers are ranked 27th in the league against opposing centers and that won’t change for the better with more JaVale McGee out there. Horford is just too cheap for this matchup, the Research Station has him projected to hit 5.1x but I think he goes well beyond that and closer to 6x, let’s lock in the Dominican Stallion (Dan LeBatard fans will appreciate the nickname).
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!
