Welcome to another year of the DFS Army NBA Full Court Press! Members had a ton of success using the Full Court Press along with various articles and tools that DFS Army provides, that said, we are glad to be back with another year of the all-inclusive article. You have to start your research somewhere, and oftentimes going game by game and breaking down every matchup and its key players is the first step in our process. My name is Michael aka @MadnessDFS on Twitter, make sure to give me a follow as I’ll occasionally make updates to the advice in the article. But, you’ll mostly find me in our VIP coaching forums where I provide detailed lineup maneuvers and answer all lineup questions. With that said, let’s get it started!
Before I get started, make sure to check out CeeGee’s new SuperDraft “Top Plays” article linked below. SuperDraft is an innovative new DFS site that does not have salaries, but instead uses a multiplier system. Check out more on how it works below!
-> NBA SuperDraft Top Plays <-
Full Court Press:
New Orleans Pelicans @ Toronto Raptors
Vegas Total: 231.5
Vegas Spread: Tor -7
The NBA regular season kicks off with the defending champs in the Raptors at home against the new-look New Orleans Pelicans. We will start with the Pelicans here and they start their season with some bad news as Zion Williamson will begin his rookie season with surgery which will sideline him for around two months. With Zion out and Anthony Davis out of town, there will be more usage to go around and we know how much Jrue Holiday can absorb. Holiday is always a guy I look toward when the Pelicans need someone to take over and I would expect him to lead the team in usage here to start the season. He’s not priced too high and gets a decent matchup against the Raptors who lost one of the best defenders in the league in Kawhi Leonard. Newly acquired Lonzo Ball will be his backcourt mate here and it will be interesting to see how he fits in this offense. For now, he feels like a good value play at just mid-$5k on Draftkings. Ball proved he has triple-double upside every time he touches the court. Brandon Ingram also came over in the Anthony Davis trade and will look to take a big step this season with his new team. Ingram is similarly priced to Lonzo Ball and we know how Alvin Gentry loves to run his starters big minutes. I like Ingram in this matchup but may get stuck on Siakam at times which is less than an ideal defensive matchup. Derrick Favors and JJ Redick round out the starting five for this team and are more of last pieces in for me as I complete my lineups. Both players are solid plays, but no one that I’m really forcing in. I’m expecting that I’ll be paying up for two superstars in the next game so value may be in demand here, so Kenrich Williams may be in play. At the near-minimum price and no Zion Williamson, we can expect him to get some run and proved that he can be a nice fantasy point per minute guy last season. It’s more of a GPP play, but I like the value on him. As for the Raptors, they lose their MVP in Kawhi Leonard and will look to lean on the young bodies of Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby. Siakam coming off a newly signed contract extension is one of the more underappreciated guys in the league in my opinion. With Leonard now gone Siakam will take control of this offense and just feels too cheap to me, I expect him to be around $9k on Draftkings at some point this season. We can expect Kyle Lowry to see an increase in usage as well with Leonard gone. I can’t say Lowry is my favorite play, but you can certainly do worse in his price range. He’s more of a borderline elite play for me than a lock and load type guy, but he’s priced nicely. OG Anunoby will slide into the starting lineup and assume a bigger role this season, he makes sense as a value play if you’re trying to jam some higher-priced guys in. Marc Gasol and Fred VanVleet are both fine options for me, but neither are elite plays by any means.
5-star plays: Jrue Holiday, Lonzo Ball, Paskal Siakam, Kyle Lowry
4-star plays: Brandon Ingram, Derrick Favors, Fred VanVleet
Deeper Values: Kenrich Williams, OG Anunoby
GPP Sleepers: Kenrich Williams, JJ Redick
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Los Angeles Lakers @ Los Angeles Clippers
Vegas Total: 226
Vegas Spread: LAL -2.5
It wouldn’t be opening night without LeBron James opening up the season in the battle of Los Angeles with the new-look Clippers. The Lakers acquired Anthony Davis over the offseason and will be the partner in crime to the king himself. I’m expecting Kawhi Leonard to guard LeBron James in this game, just because he physically matches up better. LeBron is always a great GPP play, but I likely won’t be going there in cash games. That said, all eyes are on Anthony Davis here for me. The Clippers struggled with big men last season and didn’t do anything over the offseason to really help that. With Kawhi minimizing LeBron I would expect the offense to run through AD here. Davis is an elite play for me on this slate and I’ll find a way to get him in there. The rest of this lineup features a bunch of ancillary pieces but maybe some guys that can help us get some value on this slate. I’m expecting this Lakers rotation to run pretty deep to start the year with guys like Rondo, Howard, Caruso, and Caldwell-Pope all getting run at some point. Rajon Rondo is currently questionable for this game and would open up some Quinn Cook value if he’s ultimately unable to go. Dwight Howard played some big minutes in the preseason and I would expect he takes the starting job from JaVale McGee at some point, but the truth is he just can’t run the floor as fast as the Lakers may want to run things. As long as Howard is on the floor, he’ll absorb rebounds and putbacks so he makes sense as a nice value play. The Clippers will start the season without Paul George as he recovers from shoulder injuries. This will leave Kawhi Leonard to run this team and absorb a lot of the usage here. I will do what I can to jam in both Anthony Davis and Kawhi Leonard into my lineups here in what I expect to be a competitive game. I also love Lou Williams here and should continue to be the sixth man here. Again, with no George, Lou will get his shots and still get around 30 minutes. He makes sense as a secondary play at that price tag. Montrezl Harrell will be needed in this matchup to help slow Anthony Davis and company. The problem with Harrell in that matchup is he’s just too small for him. However, the other options for the Clippers are Ivica Zubac and JaMychal Green. I would expect Patrick Beverley to play a ton of minutes as he usually does so he makes sense for cash games here. Lastly, Landry Shamet and Maurice Harkless are deep GPP plays on this slate.
5-star plays: Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard, Kawhi Leonard, Lou Williams
4-star plays: LeBron James, Montrezl Harrell, Patrick Beverley, JaMychal Green
Deeper Value: Landry Shamet, Maurice Harkless, Quinn Cook (if Rondo OUT)
GPP Sleepers: Landry Shamet, Maurice Harkless, Rajon Rondo, Ivica Zubac, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
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