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Sprinkle a little extra madness in your March by combining the thrill of college hoops action all day and NBA DFS action all night. Starting at 7:00 Eastern, FanDuel offers up a nice little six game slate with a pretty even East-West coast split.
As we've seen over the past week or two, Vegas odds-makers are hesitant in giving us any lines to look at. Much of that hesitance is due to all of the late scratch and *injury* news we're getting from tanking teams. Now that we have some as of this afternoon, let's see what we can gather. Right off the top, we can see a huge gap between the highest total (224) and the lowest (207). Seeing as it's such a small slate, we're going to want to avoid the low end games. The two games that look most attractive at this point are Clippers at Thunder (224) and Heat at Lakers (219). In those games, you have two teams fighting for playoff positioning facing off (LAC-OKC) and a Miami team jostling for position in the East against a Lakers team that, despite not having a shot at the playoffs, look like they're actually playing for something (pride perhaps?). I like the narratives behind those games and what Vegas is telling us about pace and point projections.
Below you will find our daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for FanDuel on 3/16/18. These DFS lineup picks can vary from higher-priced players and elite options, to lower-priced players and value picks on FanDuel.
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FanDuel DFS Guards
As more news breaks and there's a clearer picture of who is playing tonight (and who is/isn't motivated to play), I'll update this value core to include top dollar spends and contrarian picks for tournaments.
Lonzo Ball - PG, vs MIA ($7,800)
Aside from the abysmal free throw shooting, Lonzo has been a pretty fantastic rookie this month. He's playing big minutes totals, shooting a higher percentage from the field, and he's active on defense and fills up the stat sheet with blocks, steals and rebounds. On this small slate tonight, he happens to be my favorite "spend up" at point guard. The game is a slight pace down, but the super high minute totals, solid Usage rate (20%), and high point total projection (for the game) piques my relative interest here. In the past month, he's improved his FanDuel point per minute average, posting a 1.08 mark.
Wayne Ellington - SG, at LAL ($4,200)
In Dwyane Wade's absence, Ellington has done a great time of providing fantasy value by picking up some of the scoring resonsibility that Wade left on the table. In each of the Heat's last three games, Ellington has taken 11+ shots, allowed just one turnover and forced five steals. He's doing the little things and he's a strong three point shooter that isn't afraid to hunt his shot. Against the Lakers - which is a pace up situation against a soft defense - I like Ellington's upside and the game context helps to make his floor that much safer.
D'Angelo Russell - SG, at PHI ($6,900)
Russell is a little expensive for my taste in cash game play given the volatility in his fantasy output, but he is intriguing in tournaments for a few reasons. He's a streaky shooter and scorer, but the shot seems to be finding the bottom of the net for him more often of late and his Usage rate (27%) keeps his upside high in almost any game. This is also has the potential to be a great game environment thanks to a quick pace and patches of poor defense on either side.
Other FanDuel DFS Guards to Consider: Lonzo Ball - PG, vs MIA ($7,800); Milos Teodosic - PG, at OKC ($4,000)
FanDuel DFS Forwards
Justise Winslow - SF, at LAL ($5,600)
Winslow is playing the best basketball of his still young career in the Association. It couldn't come at a better time, either, as the Heat are hobbled up right now with a variety of nagging injuries. Now that Winslow's minutes are secure AND he's playing a larger offensive role, he's of high interest to me. That interest is piqued when he's listed in the price tier he is today and facing a team that more often than not create fantastic environments for fantasy points. Over the last 10 games, Winslow has beaten his price implied value seven times. Most impressively, he beat said price implied totals by an average of over 9.5 FanDuel points per night. I like him in all formats tonight.
Draymond Green - PF, vs SAC ($7,800)
You may have heard this by now, but just about every single stud on the Golden State roster has been ruled out tonight - save for Mr. Draymond Green. Green will get a boost tonight in Usage rate, touches, and potentially minutes if the game stays competitive throughout. What I like about using him as a spend-up guy tonight is that he does offer a very safe floor, thanks to his ability to stat stuff and not having his production tied to his ability to make shots. That said, he should get a few more looks tonight on offense and that does elevate his ceiling.
Other FanDuel DFS Forwards to Consider: James Johnson - PF, at LAL ($4,700); Tobias Harris - PF, at OKC ($7,700)
FanDuel DFS Centers
Nerlens Noel - C, at TOR ($4,400)
This one carries a bit more risk than I'd take on a full slate, but as we wind down the season I do subscribe to the idea that sleepers can be found when you've located a player who's minutes could far exceed his projection. Nerlens is one of those players, as he's just recently returned from another injury and Dallas has been in full tank mode - those elements combined are a great recipe for a "Nerlens game." Over the past two weeks, he's been producing 1.1 FanDuel points per minute on the court, seeing as few as 15 minutes and as many as 25.5 in this stretch. Toronto is a good defensive team, but they're also a bit banged up and appear to be tapering the minutes of their key cogs in anticipation of the upcoming playoff run.
Other FanDuel DFS Centers to Consider: Al Horford - C, at ORL ($7,200)
