Welcome to the Core 4! My name is Michael aka @MadnessDFS on Twitter, make sure to give me a follow as I’ll occasionally make updates to the article throughout the day as news breaks. 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!
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!
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Process:
I’ve had a lot of people ask me how I get to my core guys or what do I use to get to these guys to set a foundation for my lineups, so I’m introducing a new section to this article that I’m hoping can lead this to be a little more process-based and help all of you either find a core that you like or simply see how I got to these guys so you know I’m not just pulling them out of my ass! With that said, let’s get this puppy started!
Recognizing Value:
When it comes to NBA DFS value is truly king and being able to pinpoint underpriced guys will go along way in your success in this sport. With that said, the first thing I do is head right to the Research Station (or Domination Station if you’re closer to lock) and go ahead and sort by “Value” or “PP/$”. This will then sort the player pool from the highest projected value to lowest. Many of you will see that I post my Core 4 results on Twitter and it will say something along the lines of Joel Embiid – 6.2x, that “x” number is the particular value that the player was able to reach at their price tag. That’s why questions in slack like “James Harden or Donte DiVincenzo” are incredibly difficult to answer because Harden is the obvious better play from a raw points perspective, but DiVincenzo may have a higher value. You can also scroll to the right in the Research Station and find the two columns that will tell you how the player has performed relative to a 6x (cash) or 7x (GPP) marker this season, as seen below.
And1 Rating:
Once we have determined the top value options on the slate we can begin to dig a little deeper into what makes them a good play. The And1 rating is an all-encompassing metric that will lead you to the best plays on each slate each day. As you’re looking through your “sorted” Research Station or Domination Station, you will want to look for a green shade in the And1 column, green is good, red is bad!
Opportunity:
In the NBA, opportunity is everything which is very different from other sports. In baseball, a guy could get a spot start and get five at-bats and do absolutely nothing with them. That is typically not the case in NBA, if a guy is injured or out for some reason, usually a guy at a cheaper price tag will jump right into a decent role and be able to produce from a fantasy perspective no matter the actual NBA talent of the player. This is where I keep an eye on the Breaking News Feed for injuries or updates on potential value guys that we could look at starting.
Matchup/Pace:
Lastly, you don’t want a guy in a bad matchup, that much seems pretty obvious. That said, there are scenarios where I’m able to live with a poor DvP%. I’m a big believer in pace being a better representation of DFS production that simply defense vs. position especially in today’s NBA where some times are running up and down the court forcing the other team to play up to there speed. This is where I got to the Research Station and scroll over and find the “Vegas” and “Pace” section. Simply put, the more points scored in a game, the better for DFS production. You want to target guys with a + pace boost, also noted by having a green shade in this column.
Today’s Core 4:
Joel Embiid (C) – $9,000
The NBA drought has come to an end and the All-Star break has finally come to a conclusion! I will start off my core with Joel Embiid as his Sixers will host the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets and Sixers have actually played three times already this season, but Embiid has missed all of those games. I am expecting he’s available here and centers against the Nets is something I have been targeting all season long and something I’m going to continue to target with an underpriced Embiid. The Sixers draw a pace up spot at a respectable +2.7 here and play much better at home as made fairly obvious by now by man NBA content producers. The big thing for me is the rest that he’ll be coming off, he went into the break a little banged up so I’m expecting these days off to be big for him. The Research Station has him projected to hit 6x value on his current price tag which is too low in my opinion, I love me some Embiid here.
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De’Aaron Fox (PG) – $7,400
The second piece of the core will be hosting the Memphis Grizzlies in a game with a spread of 1.0 and an implied total of 228.0. I love targeting this game for fantasy purposes, the Grizzlies are playing incredibly fast this season giving the Kings a massive +5.0 pace up spot here. Fox has already performed well in this spot a few times this season as he is averaging 48.4 DraftKings points per game in two games against the Grizzlies this season. He’s averaging 1.23 fantasy points per minute to go along with a 29.5% usage rate on the season and is simply too cheap here. His price went down $300 over the All-Star break and is now at a price where getting to that GPP ceiling is much more attainable. He’s only hitting 6x at a rate of 29% this season based on his respective salaries, but to be fair, his price has been in the $8k range a decent amount this season. We are getting an unwarranted defense here and something I’m going to exploit.
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Coby White (PG/SG) – $4,700
Next up, we’re going to get a little value at the guard position with Coby White. He’s not necessarily huge value but it feels more like a balanced build day so he makes a lot of sense in a balanced lineup. White went into the All-Star break on a heater, going for at least 35 DraftKings points in two of his last three games. The thing I love about him is he fills up the stat sheet so we don’t need to be completely dependent on his scoring. He has at least nine rebounds+assists in three straight games and even racked up fours steals last game. The steals aren’t something that I’m going to chase but he’s also shot seven threes in those two high scoring games as well. The Research Station loves him and has him projected to be at 6.8x value which is something I really like here along with a projected 35 minutes while Kris Dunn is still out. It’s not necessarily a pace up spot for the Bulls but when it’s not a pace up spot I look for a good matchup, and the Hornets play very little defense, this is a spot I like a good amount.
Spencer Dinwiddie (PG/SG) – $7,300
We round out the Core 4 with Spencer Dinwiddie as a sort of run back correlation play with Joel Embiid, the first member of my core. Dinwiddie is simply too cheap here, he saw his price come down $500 over the break for no good reason at all. Kyrie Irving is out again and will be out for the foreseeable future meaning this backcourt belongs to Dinwiddie. With Irving off the court this season Dinwiddie has a 31.8% usage rate and 1.22 fantasy points per minute combined with a minute safety net of around 30 on the low end. He also went into the break in great form, scoring at least 47 DraftKings points in two of his last three games and is one of the more consistent producers when Irving is out. The Research Station also sees the price discrepancy here and has him projected for 5.5x at $7.3k. With these four guys in your lineup, you leave yourself $5,400 per player to construct the rest of your roster which is more than doable. Good luck tonight!
As always I appreciate everyone who gave the article 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.