RADIO
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all you RotoBallers out there. We are celebrating the NBA's Christmas Day slate of games in full force with a big day of DFS. As a proud partner of FantasyScore, a USA TODAY subsidiary and our new and exclusive DFS partner, we are offering the most exciting promotional offer in the DFS industry: An instant 50% deposit bonus up to $250 that no other DFS site in the industry can match!
All throughout the 2014-15 campaign, RotoBaller has been bringing you the top NBA DFS lineup picks at the guard, forward and center positions as well as a couple of sleepers for the day, and today is no different. Below are our favorite picks for Christmas Day, December 25th, 2014.
Don’t forget to enter FantasyScore’s Holiday Jam Freeroll tournament. With 150 winners out of the 300 slots allotted, the best part about this 50/50 tournament is the entry fee: zero dollars and zero cents. Who says nothing is free anymore? Sign up quick because space is limited.
The Holiday High Roller
Of all the high budget guys playing on Christmas- LeBron James, Kevin Love and Steph Curry to name a few- there’s only one that that stands out above the rest and is worth the investment.
Russell Westbrook (OKC, G) - $9000
This game has all the makings of a Dr. Seuss work as San Antonio head coach Gregg Poppovich may well play the Grinch on Christmas. It’s a nationally televised game so he may give his banged up players some rest because like the Grinch,
He hates the whole Christmas [and NBA regular] season.
Now, please don’t ask. No one knows quite the reason.
It’s hard to imagine that Pop won’t want all hands on deck for the matchup against OKC though especially since Westbrook and the Thunder are only three and a half games out of the seventh seed, currently owned by San Antonio. Meanwhile, the superman of Whoville who just so happens to moonlight as point guard for the Thunder is playing arguably the best basketball of his seven year career. Having put up considerable minutes over his last ten starts, Westbrook has hit at least 44.25 FSP in every one of those games. Even Dr. Seuss’ Grinch would spend the $9000 on him right now.
The Somewhat Cheaper, Way More Exciting Gifts
The following players offer more budget-friendly value while limiting their risk in terms of production. Consider these players that game you got and immediately thought it was a terrible gift, but ended up loving it when you opened and played it with a group of friends.
Jimmy Butler (CHI, F) - $6500
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through Chicago
Not a Laker was stirring, for times were hard to swallow.
The last-ranked scoring defense was nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of a slashing Butler danc’d in their heads.
Any rumors of Butler losing scoring chances with the return of Derrick Rose were quickly squashed when he put up 58.25 FSP Monday against Toronto. Though Butler is slated as a forward on FantasyScore, he typically plays the two guard and the Lakers have given up the most FSPPG to guards this season. Butler is averaging 38.49 FSPPG this season, which places him in the top five amongst all forwards that are playing on Christmas Day. Los Angeles ownst he league's last place scoring defense but is ranked seventh in pace, so there’s a strong probability that other Bulls starters will crack this Christmas list.
DeAndre Jordan (LAC, C) - $6300
Forever now known as the Famous LA Glass Eater, Jordan enters the day averaging 12.6 rebounds and 2.46 blocks per game, good enough for first and second, respectively, in the league. Because of this undeniable ability to make the game less fun to all other players, Ebenezer Scrooge made Jordan his first overall draft pick in a charity game sponsored by Charles Dickens. Unfortunately the Famous LA Glass Eater was ejected for his physicality with “Tiny” Tim Cratchit when going for a rebound after a missed free throw.
As for the NBA regular season, the Warriors are giving up the fifth-most rebounds per game (44.5) while grabbing 50.6% of total rebounds. This translates to plenty of scoring and rebounding chances for every player on the court. The Ghost of Christmas Future predicts a 35.00+ FSP game for the menacing rebounder.
Derrick Rose (CHI, G) -$6000
No matter if you call them the Wet Bandits or the Sticky Bandits, Rose and Butler will be robbing the Lakers of all Christmas joy on national television. Lakers point guard Jeremy Lin won’t be up to the challenge of guarding Rose, who looked like the Derrick Rose of old in Monday’s win over Toronto. The Los Angeles scoring defense is what the French call, “les incompetents.” At $6,000, Rose should provide top guard value on the day while costing only 10% of the allotted budget.
With an explosive (and healthy) Rose, his teammates will see a dramatic increase in exploiting weaker matchups, hence the one-two Wet Bandit combination of him and Butler. Only Kevin McCallister can stop these Wet Bandits and unfortunately for the Lakers, he is a Bulls fan.
Top Sleepers
The following three guys are quite the chance plays, but the rewards could play huge dividends in FantasyScore.
Andre Iguodala (GSW, G) - $4100
Golden State’s AI is starting to look comfortable within head coach Steve Kerr’s offense. Although he’s averaging only 17.56 FSPPG, Iguodala is on the verge of getting really hot as he has consistently reached the mid-20s in FSP over his last five games. The Clippers and Warriors both like to play up tempo so Iguodala should see more than his fair share of the ball. He's come a long way since his days in Philadelphia, but Iguodala is starting to realize that it truly is a wonderful life coming off the bench.
Tiago Splitter (SAS, F) - $3200
Make no mistake, Splitter’s owners will certainly have a nightmare before Christmas wondering whether Poppovich will even play him. It might be a foregone conclusion in assuming Splitter will see his minutes but it is always interesting attempting to decipher the mind of Pop. It goes without saying that DFS players should be aggressive in checking the pre-game lineups in this one.
Should Splitter play- and again, there’s no reason he shouldn’t- he should have an exploitable matchup against the Thunder interior. Thunder center Steven Adams and forward Serge Ibaka anchor a frontcourt that is allowing the second most field goal attempts per game inside five feet. Add the Kawhi Leonard injury to the mix and that’ll leave plenty of scoring opportunities for the Spurs’ big man to improve on his already stellar 68.2 TS%. Expect Splitter to unleash his inner Jack Skellington and play the role of Santa Claus for his DFS owners.
Tim Hardaway, Jr. (NYK, G) - $2900
The Knicks will more than likely be without Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith due to injury- although considering Smith’s recent history lesson on the word “Black,” don’t rule out the possibility that Black Bart has something to do with them missing time- which means that Hardaway will gain his fair share of minutes. Over his last seven games he is averaging 26.11 FSPPG, giving his owners an average return on investment of a little over 9.00 FSP/$1000.
Hardaway won’t pull a Ralphie and shoot his eye out, but he just may very well provide the important production numbers DFS players need to put them into the winners’ category. Other than Black Bart, Hardaway owners need to be a little wary of that stingy Wizard defense. Washington's wizardry knows no boundaries.
