NBA First Look 12-12-2019-Value Report-Betting Odds-DraftKings Picks-Lineup Builder
What's up dudes? Its your excellent friend "The Brand" here hope everyone has a good Wednesday slate. We had 4/5 picks from the video go off for great value! Of course the slate was shaken up quite a bit by the news of Giannis missing the game for Milwaukee, which opened up a ton of value that the field was mostly on, but we will get to that. In this article as usual I will break down the games from yesterday from a DraftKings perspective, so we can hopefully learn some useful information going forward. Make sure after reading to check the video at the bottom to see The Brand's "Starting Five" for 12-12-2019. Lets have a great Thursday, Happy Hoops!
Hawks @ Bulls
The Hawks struggles continued on into this game where they got trounced by the lowly Bulls. Its just looking a lot like there's not enough talent around Trae Young to make any significant run. Speaking of Trae Young he led the team in DraftKings scoring in this game which ended up only being good for 39.5 DK points and at his price was sadly undervalue. Two players were able to provide a low value 6x for The Hawks and that was Alex Len (touted in yesterdays video) and Cam Reddish. The Bulls pumped out a total of 136 total points and five players reached value on DraftKings. At the top we had Zach LaVine with 49.5 DK points crushing value on his salary of $7900, Thaddeus Young plays over 30 minutes out of nowhere and smashes for a 10x score of 40.75 DK points. Denzel Valentine was also able to 6x in just 22 minutes of work at his lowly price of 3.2k. Just leave it to the Bulls. It will be interesting to see what happens with these guys going forward, they need some pieces to step up around LaVine and so far everyone has been inconsistent, maybe they've found something here by unleashing Thaddeus Young, who was amazing last year for Indiana and has been more than an afterthought so far in Chicago.
Rockets @ Cavs
Leave it to The Rockets to let a trash team like The Cavs hang in there with them. Houston wins here by only 6 points. The Rockets assumed their true form where only Harden, Capela and Westbrook hit value. Harden dropped 80 and saved the people that overpaid for him. On the Cavs side of things Kevin Porter Jr. played 29 minutes and went for 10x his DK salary collecting 39 DK points. As always though anytime The Cavs are even in a game at all its pretty much a given that Kevin Love played well that night and he did 6x his salary for 37 DK points. Jordan Clarkson also played well which is usually part of the equation as well, providing a nice low value play of 33 DK points off his 4.1k salary.
Lakers @ Magic
Another clunker here involving two of the slowest teams in the league and like clockwork of course neither team ends up breaking 100 points. Lebron still made value for The Lakers and hit a 6x while Davis hit a 5x. So even in a situation where the team doesn't eclipse 100 points, they can both still get there. Danny Green and KCP were cute little 5x plays but nothing very significant or anything to count on for the future. The Lakers are just gonna be like this, behind AD and Lebron its throwing a dart. News came in prior to tip that Markelle Fultz would miss this game, that left a clear path for Aaron Gordon to lead the team in fantasy production, hitting a nice 7x 42 DK point night. Jonathon Isaac was an ok 5x play, its just going to be really hard to get too excited about any Magic player unless they are playing a pace up team.
Hornets @ Nets
Hornets come up big in Brooklyn and picked up wins on consecutive nights here. Devonte Graham led the way with a near 7x performance of 56.25 DK points. It was a tough going for the rest of the team as far as a fantasy production standpoint goes, Miles Bridges was a comfy and 5x for 25 DK points, Michael Kidd Gilchrist saw extra run here due to the lack of Batum and Marvin Williams. For Brooklyn they were able to chew up Charlotte down low for the most part, with Jarrett Allen and Deandre Jordan combining for 81.25 Dk points. Spencer Dinwiddie also turned in a nice 5x performance of 40 points. Pretty standard night for them all in all with no real surprises.
Celtics @ Pacers
This game was a great game to target as it was the exact opposite of expected and a lot of points were scored. The Pacers edged out the team in green here led by Malcolm Brogdon, who has been absolutely fantastic this season for The Pacers. Brogdon was able to hit a 6x good for 48 DK point performance in just 29 minutes of work. Sabonis was right there with him scoring 47 DK points himself but was listed at a salary that was 1k higher than Brogdons. Justin Holiday and Aaron Holiday both hit a nice near 10 x value for their mid 3k salaries. The two played 59 minutes between the two of them. For The Celtics Kemba Walker took 28 shots and led the team with a 64.75 DK point game. Jaylen Brown also a nice 6.5x game with 41 DK points. Kemba should continue to benefit from extra shots while Marcus Smart is out, which this may have been it here we shall see. Good to know for the future though, No Smart-Its Kemba time!
Grizzlies @ Suns
Grizzlies go into Phoenix and got the win and we saw a decent amount of scoring in this one. Jaren Jackson led the team with a 6x performance of 40 DK points. Value was pretty spread out across the team however we did get solid games out of Jae Crowder and Dillon Brooks who combined for 68 DK points, otherwise nothing really noteworthy. On the Suns side they were led by Frank Kaminsky and Kelly Oubre while Rubio and Booker went for negative value. Take note that Aaron Baynes played 18 minutes in his second game back from injury so I think we may see The Suns limit him to around this going forward. Keep in mind that in Boston, Baynes wouldn't play more than 20 minutes unless there was a blue moon. So just something I'm going to have an eye on here going forward.
Pelicans @ Bucks
New Orleans continues to struggle mightily and they drop another one here. Now the story of the slate may have been that Giannis was set to miss this game after tweaking his leg during shootaround. So with that, DFS players everywhere were salivating at playing Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe who were both massively owned across the industry. Reasonably so, it just goes to show you how sharp the field is or how much influence the industry has on itself. Fun math game here, so Middleton and Bledsoe combine for 87 Dk points at a cost of 12.4k combined, which would be comparative to the Giannis hitting his ceiling priced around the same. This game is numbers. Ersan Llyasova stepped into to the starting lineup and went for a 10x DK score of 36.75, making him another valuable piece of this team. George Hill was right there with him and scored 28 Dk points. New Orleans was hopeful that Derrick Favors would return here but that was not to be, Ingram and Holiday managed 5x outings but were worth fading at that value. Redick continues to play over 30 minutes a game and get his shots. Minutes at center were pretty evenly split with Hayes getting 24 and Okafor playing 20, this is probably their optimal setup as long as Favors keeps out.
Jazz @ TimberWolves
The TimberWolves continue to be the gift that keeps on giving and give up 127 points to the UTAH JAZZ. Another game for The Jazz without Mike Conley and they absolutely smash here, all the dudes got there including Gobert, Mitchell and Ingles, sadly Bojan struggled in this one and that production went to Emmanuel Mudiay of all people. Tough scene for me. Anyway, The Wolves put up 116 themselves, Towns struggled against Gobert and went undervalue, the team was led by Andrew Wiggins and Jeff Teague, who combined for 96.5 Dk points for a salary of 12.2k. Robert Covington and Josh Okogie also went for nice near 6x performances.
Clippers @ Raptors
The other big story of the slate here, with Kawhi Leonard returning to Toronto. Leonard hit an okay 47 DK point outing here which led The Clippers in a game in which they ultimately won. Lou Williams finally played over 30 minutes again and hit over 6x for 39.5 DK points. Moe Harkless hit 6x here for 24 DK points and played 30 minutes, which seems like they are holding solid while his price is also. On the Raptors side of things value was pretty spread but wanted to note that Marc Gasol has been on a nice little run here, and in this game he puts up 39.25 DK points which was good for 7.5x. Kyle Lowry disappointed owners and bricked for 23 DK points, while guys like Norman Powell and OG anunoby hit 5x, just makes my head spin, lets change these guys names to Toronto Randoms.
Knicks @ Warriors
Well, it doesn't get much worse for The Warriors after dropping this game in overtime to The Knicks. The Warriors trailed the whole way and came back to send it to OT but to no avail. The trio of Julius Randle, Marcus Morris and R.J. Barrett combined for 155.75 DraftKings points making them a fire stack option that you could have rostered for only 18.1k. On The Warriors side they were led by Draymond Green and a finally breaking out of his slump D'Angelo Russell, the duo combined for 106.75 DK points for just 13.7k. All in all this game would have been a profitable game stack when you combine the off the bench performance of Marquise Chriss who went off for almost 10x while Willie Cauley Stein saw himself lose time in this one.
Well, I'm tired of typing so let's get on to the video for Thursday 12-11-2012,onward and upward and HAPPY HOOPS!