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:
- Damian Lillard – 49 DKP; 5.7x – Dame came through and did exactly what I thought he would, nothing to over analyze here!
- JaVale McGee – 28.5 DKP; 6.3x – I wrote how McGee gets about 1.24 fantasy points per minute and should be somewhere in the 25 minute range last night. He ended up playing more than I thought he would at 30 minutes and got near 30 fantasy points, he did exactly what we needed him to do!
- Al Horford – 27.25 DKP; 4.1x – Horford was my underachiever of the night, he only ended up playing 25 minutes which was a bit weird. However, I wrote that the Lakers struggle with centers… and they did but it was DANIEL THEIS who went out and dropped 35 draftkings points. Just one of those nights where Theis was the hot man, so they ran him out there.
- Johnathan Motley – 17.75 DKP; 5.5x – Motley was a bit frustrating because he picked up 3 really quick fouls. At near min price with just him and Harrell in the front court, it was a dream spot that actually went under-owned. I’ll take 5.5x out of him any day, but he could’ve certainly been on track for 10x without the fouls.
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With that said, let’s move onto tonights core!
Tonight’s Core 4:
Dennis Smith Jr. – $5,800
The new look New York Knicks go on the road to battle the Detroit Pistons in a projected 206 total with Detroit favored by 8.5. If we take a look at CeeGee’s “1st Look” article, we can see that the Detroit Pistons are a team we want to attack as they are ranked 25th in team defensive efficiency. What better way to attack them other than Dennis Smith Jr. the new guy on the team. These two teams actually just played on Tuesday night, in that game Smith played a massive 40 minutes while taking 25 shots on his way to 39.25 draftkings points. It looks like the Knicks are going to let Smith play as many minutes as he can handle and run this team with Mudiay and Ntilikina still banged up. At $5,800 Dennis Smith is just simply too cheap, go ahead and lock him into your lineups.
Lauri Markkanen – $7,000
The Bulls go on the road to play the Brooklyn Nets in a projected 224.5 total with the Nets favored by 8.5. The Bulls got rid of Bobby Portis and Jabari Parker over the deadline and were able to get Otto Porter Jr. in return. With Portis and Parker off the team Markkanen should have his minutes solidified (if they weren’t already). We’ve been doing it all season, so why stop now? Big men against the Nets is a real thing, if we go to the Research Station we see that the Nets rank 29th against opposing power forwards. Not only is this a fantastic matchup for Markkanen, but he’s been in great form, over his last five games he’s averaging 44.5 draftkings points per game. He has legitimate 50 point upside here, for the spot he is too cheap, go ahead and lock in Mr. Markkanen.
Dwayne Wade – $5,000
I’ll start by saying, I rarely play Dwayne Wade or any of the Miami Heat for that matter. They have an extremely deep rotation and aren’t afraid to use it. However, the unloaded Wayne Ellington and Tyler Johnson to Phoenix (Ellington now with Detroit). With these two off the court this season Wade sees a usage rate of 31.2% and averages around 1.15 fantasy points per minute. Not only does he see a bump in usage, but he draws an excellent matchup against the Sacramento Kings who rank 28th in defense against opposing shooting guards. At just $5,000 Wade feels like a steal in this matchup, go ahead and lock in a low owned Dwayne Wade.
Karl-Anthony Towns – $10,000
I feel like I play Paul George and Karl-Anthony Towns more than everybody, but hey it works. Tonight Towns draws a matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans who are expected to have Anthony Davis back. I see the Davis news as a positive, as he will help keep this game competitive and up-tempo. Towns has played the Pelicans three times already this year and his numbers against them are impressive to say the least, he’s averaging 67.3 draftkings points in these three contests. The Pelicans rank 21st against opposing centers and this is tied for the highest projected total on the slate at 231. You’re going to want to have a piece of this game, so why not do it with Karl-Anthony Towns.
As always I appreciate everyone who gave the core or game break 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. Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@MadnessDFS) as I will occasionally make changes to the core later in the day.
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