RADIO
Happy Holidays, my friends, and welcome to another round of NBA Wednesday daily fantasy competition. Hopefully you get to kick back and build lineups all morning and afternoon in preparation for tonight. If you're stuck at work, like me, well I hope you still find a way to build a lineup - or a few dozen. We have an eight game slate tonight that looks pretty enticing as of this writing. In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy basketball lineup picks for FanDuel on 12/21/16. The DFS lineup picks will range from some of the elite players to mid-priced options and value plays on DraftKings.
Before I get into player selections and reasoning, let's glance at a few Vegas lines that are of interest. Due to back-to-backs, and therefore odds-makers not knowing who may or may not sit for rest tonight, we have a lot of games with spreads and over/unders that haven't been posted. Of those games that have been posted, for stacking purposes, there are three games that interest me most. The first, Rockets at Suns, is because of the incredibly high over/under, which is listed at 226. The other two that catch my eye are Wizards at Bulls and Thunder at Pelicans. Both of those games feature an over/under total of 208 and spreads of six points or less.
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FanDuel DFS Guards
Russell Westbrook - PG, at NOP - $12,500
Tonight, a rested Westbrook should be worth every penny - and then some. Sure, the price is a little steep, but when you consider the fact that Russ has been outperforming his price implied value on a consistent basis, it wouldn't be crazy to call him a bit of a bargain. He's coming off two unbelievable performances, and he matches up really well against New Orleans. For the season, the Pelicans have allowed the fourth most points to opposing point guards of any team taking the floor tonight. Not that many teams do, but the Pelicans backcourt simply doesn't have anyone capable of slowing Russ and his 42.3 Usage rate down.
Ricky Rubio - PG, at ATL - $5,600
If you really want to go fishing in the bargain bin at point, Rubio has an incredibly enticing matchup and a low price tag. His 32 minute per game average helps create a high floor, and while his season long numbers (12.73 PER and 14.3 Usage) leave something to be desired, his play has been improving drastically. In his last three games, he's exceeded 30 FanDuel points with each performance, and that was all while attempting an average of just six shot attempts per game. The matchup tonight is most enticing because of Atlanta's defensive struggles - of the 16 teams playing tonight, no team allows more points to opposing point guards than the Hawks.
Eric Gordon - SG, at PHX - $5,700
A healthy Eric Gordon has been an absolute pleasure to watch this season and a joy to own, in both DFS and season long formats - and for the Rockets, I would think. The former Indiana Hoosier is finally healthy and is shooting it from three at an incredible percentage this season - 43% to be exact, good for 11th best in the NBA - and has drained a total of 105 threes, which is just five behind your NBA leader, Steph Curry. Over his last 10 games, Gordon has exceeded value eight times, and by an impressive margin of nearly five points a night. Tonight, in a game with a high projected total and against a team that isn't known for their defensive prowess, Gordon should shine.
Also Consider: Dwyane Wade - SG, vs WAS - $7,000
FanDuel DFS Forwards
Andrew Wiggins - SF, at ATL - $6,400
After an explosive and promising start to the season, Wiggins seemed to fizzle out in November and into this month, but his recent play suggests that dip was just a quick slump and not something to be overly concerned with in the long run. Wiggins has now outperformed salary based expectations in each of his last four games - and by a very large number. In each of those contests, he's put up at least 17 field goal attempts - reaffirming his position as one of the focal points of this Minnesota offense. Tonight, his matchup - as well as his price - are great, as Atlanta has had many defensive struggles and the pace of the game suits Wiggins' style of play.
Kevin Love - PF, vs MIL - $8,700
Keep an eye on Love's status for tonight, as he is currently listed as questionable. Now that that's out the way, let's look at the reasons why you should play Love if he suits up tonight (and I have a feeling he will). First off, Love has been one of the most productive fantasy players this season, especially among forwards, as he's put up a strong 25.8 PER and is averaging 1.21 fantasy points per minute. He's had outbursts this season, too, the kind that remind us the kind of dominance he maintained while in a Timberwolves jersey, as three of his last four games have resulted in more than 50 FanDuel points. From a team perspective, there is a good chance that Kyrie Irving and LeBron James - who combined for 92 minutes last night - end up sitting, which would give Love the bulk of the offensive responsibility to shoulder, raising his fantasy floor and ceiling quite a bit.
Also Consider: Jimmy Butler - SF, vs WAS - $8,400
FanDuel DFS Centers
Steven Adams - C, at NOP - $5,200
Due to back-to-backs, steep prices and not very enticing matchups among the centers I would normally consider the "top options," I'm hunting in the bargain bin tonight and Adams has the salary, upside and matchup I'm looking for. Adams performance has been steadily increasing, as has his role in the Thunder offense, and as a result, he has outperformed salary based expectations in seven of his last 10 games. Outside of the over-priced monsters like Karl-Anthony Towns and DeMarcus Cousins, Adams has one of the highest usage projections of any center taking the floor tonight, and on top of that, he's facing the team that allows the most points to opposing centers.
Also Consider: Robin Lopez - C, vs WAS - 4,900
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