Hi, RotoBallers! The NBA season is here and we have a wonderful salary cap contest for you over at OwnersBox!
In case you're not yet familiar, OwnersBox is a fantastic new weekly fantasy sports platform that offers plenty of game setups to fulfill your desire to draft throughout the season.
In this article, I will be providing you with my weekly fantasy football lineup picks on OwnersBox for the Week 2 Contest of the Week, a seven-day contest that starts Friday, October 29th . Read my picks below, and then join us in this tournament as we battle it out for the cash prizes!
$5K Contest for Week 2!
OwnersBox is hooking up RotoBaller readers to celebrate the launch of their new salary cap style contests, so be sure to take advantage of these promo offers!
- Join this week's freeroll on OwnersBox - the contest is completely free to enter for new users with code NBA10, and there's a $5,000 cash guaranteed prize pool. You can also enter up to 18 lineups at $10 per lineup if you want more chances to win.
You can enter up until Friday, October 29 at 6:55 pm ET.
OwnersBox Guard Picks
Devin Booker, PHX - SG ($24,300) - 3 games
Booker is coming off his best game of the season, scoring 3 points and adding eight boards and six rebounds against the Kings, a game that saw him score 47 OwnersBox fantasy points.
His fantasy score has gone up each game, a trend that's unlikely to continue just because of the impossibility of infinite statistical improvement, but Booker is rounding into form and gets the Cavs, Pelicans, and Rockets this upcoming week. Those are some cushy matchups, with the only concern being that those games get too out of hand and lead to Booker not playing much in the fourth.
Dejounte Murray, SA - PG ($22,800) - 3 games
I love to see Murray making the leaps that he's making this season. He exploded with a triple-double in his last game, with 21 points, 15 assists, and 12 rebounds, which resulted in 54 fantasy ponts.
But it wasn't just a one-game explosion. He had nine rebounds in each of the two games before that one, suggesting that a Murray triple-double watch is a thing that we'll actively be talking about all season.
UPDATE: After I wrote all that, Murray faced the Mavs and put up 23 points, eight assists, and 10 rebounds — a near triple-double. GET HIM IN YOUR LINEUP WHILE HE IS STILL A VALUE.
D'Angelo Russell, MIN - PG ($19,500) - 3 games
Russell hasn't been super consistent, but he's coming off of his best game, scoring 37 fantasy points thanks to a 29-point, six-assist, five-round stat line.
Efficiency has been an issue for Russell, but *checks scoring* I don't think OwnersBox grades off for efficiency. Russell is a nice play in these big tournaments because he'll likely be under-rostered vs. some other shooting guards, but he has the ability to put up a big fantasy line if his shots are falling.
OwnersBox Forward Picks
Kevin Durant, BKN - SF ($30,300) - 3 games
We need a top guy in our lineup, and I like the idea of Durant as that guy. With James Harden off a bit, Durant is averaging 29.8 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game.
He's coming off of his worst fantasy game, but that "worst fantasy game" still saw him score 39 fantasy points. He's averaging 41 fantasy points over the last three games and he's had a triple-double already this year.
And hey, he gets the Pistons on Sunday. The sky's the limit in that game.
Kyle Kuzma, WAS - PF ($18,300) - 3 games
Kuzma has at least eight rebounds in every game and has scored in single digits just once this season.
I was really curious to see how Kuzma looked in a new home. So far, the answer is "really good." He just had one of his best games, with 21 points, eight rebounds, and three steals, which translated into 35 fantasy points, the second time he's scored 30-plus fantasy points and the fourth in five games he's scored at least 27. Just some great play from a player who I was admittedly ready to write off if he had stayed in Los Angeles.
Cam Reddish, ATL - SF ($17,600) - 4 games
Reddish has had one bad game this season, scoring just eight fantasy points against the Pelicans. But he's scored 23 or more in the team's other four games, thanks in large part to his scoring. He's not adding a lot in terms of rebounds or assists, but what Reddish is bringing is bench scoring, which is translating into some nice showings. Maybe his ceiling isn't as high as it could be, but I really like this salary since you get four games out of him, so the potential for best-ball activation means we can throw out his inevitable bad night.
OwnersBox Center Picks
Jakob Poeltl, SAS - C ($19,200) - 3 games
Love, love, love this value. At $6,400 per game, you get someone who has put up at least 30 fantasy points in all but one game.
Poeltl had 14 points and 13 rebounds against Dallas, scoring 34 fantasy points. That followed a 27 and 14 night against the Lakers that resulted in 47 fantasy points.
Teams just don't have an answer for Poeltl right now when it comes to scoring efficient buckets inside. That's translating into some really nice fantasy showings for Poeltl, who is finally getting the kind of minutes this year that fantasy managers have hoped for since his arrival in the Alamo City.
Sample Lineup
Here's a lineup I built using some of the players from this article: