NBA

3 Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 11/21/18

Dale Redman  —  @DTRedman Nov 21st, 2018
Facing off with Andre Drummond on Wednesday, Clint Capela is in for a long night. Who else are we staying away from in DFS?

In daily fantasy basketball, finding players you want to roster is a lot easier than finding players to avoid.

You can find a ton of great information and research on guys you might want to include in your DFS NBA lineups, but what about guys you may want to lessen your exposure to, or even fade altogether?

Avoiding players whose matchups or situations aren't as great as they seem can often be just as important as finding the best targets. After all, it takes only one player to sink a lineup. Searching for the landmines could mean the difference between winning and losing your contests. Which players should we avoid tonight?

Clint Capela, C, Houston Rockets

FanDuel Price: $8,400

On a jam-packed 13-game slate, there are plenty of primo center options to choose from on Wednesday. After going off for 55.7 FanDuel points against the Sacramento Kings on Saturday, Clint Capela may seem like one of those elite choices, but he is one to avoid.

Before that monster game, the Houston Rockets' big man had averaged just 33.5 FanDuel points in his previous seven. That includes a pair of sub-30 FanDuel point nights in his last four games. Capela also draws a challenging matchup against Andre Drummond and the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday.

The Pistons have been playing some tight defense in recent games, posting a top-six defensive rating over the last two weeks. In the last five games, opponents are scoring just 104.8 points per game, the seventh-fewest in the league. To make matters more difficult, Drummond has been dominating opposing centers too, cleaning an average of 17.3 boards in his last six games. He has the Pistons giving up the fewest offensive boards (8.2) per game as they own the fifth-best rebound percentage (51.9%) for the season. Centers score just 1.0 FanDuel points per minute against Detroit, the fourth-lowest rate in the league.

Spencer Dinwiddie, PG, Brooklyn Nets

FanDuel Price: $6,300

While Spencer Dinwiddie can go off at times -- as evidenced by his 49.8 FanDuel points last Friday -- he is prone to the occasional dud as well. In two of his last five games the Brooklyn Nets' guard has busted, collecting 22.3 or fewer FanDuel points. That includes a horrible 3-for-16 shooting performance against an average Los Angeles Clippers' defense on Sunday. Facing a surprising Dallas Mavericks' team on Wednesday, Dinwiddie is at risk of posting a flop again.

For the year, the Mavs own a top-10 defensive rating (106.3), but over their last seven games they have been an elite unit. During the last two weeks, Dallas owns the best defensive rating (98.3) in the NBA while holding opponents to the second-fewest points (98.0) per game. In five of those seven games, they have held opponents to 100 or fewer points. Opponents are shooting a league-worst 41.7% from the floor during the hot streak.

To make matters worse for Dinwiddie, the Mavs are holding shooting guards (where he has played 64% of his minutes) to 0.84 FanDuel points per minute this season.

Cedi Osman, SF, Cleveland Cavaliers

FanDuel Price: $5,100

After a back injury knocked Cedi Osman out for two games, he was eased back into action before returning to the starting lineup on Monday. He struggled against the Pistons, scoring just 10 points on 3-for-8 shooting. The Cleveland Cavaliers forward finished with 18.6 FanDuel points in over 30 minutes of action. It was his 10th time posting a sub-4.0 point-to-dollars value in his last 11 games. With his salary dropping and a seemingly favorable matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday, you may be tempted to buy back in. Don’t do it.

Over their last five games, the Lakers own a top-eight defensive rating, holding opponents to 43.3% shooting from the field, the fifth-lowest rate in the NBA. With LeBron James at their disposal, the Lakers have been tough on opposing small forwards all year too. They have limited the position to just 0.8 FanDuel points per minute, the seventh-lowest rate in the league.

Hurting Osman’s chances, even more, has been the slumping Cavs offense. In eight games this month, Cleveland has scored just 97.4 points per game while posting the third-worst offensive rating in the league.

Dale Redman is not a FanDuel employee. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.