3 NBA FanDuel Studs to Target on 2/9/16
It's a fairly short slate tonight in the NBA, with five games on tap.
With value plays typically being harder to come by on short slates, more than ever you need your high-priced players to carry the weight and put up big time fantasy numbers.
I'm going to break down three players who are elite fantasy options and around whom you can be confident building your lineups.
Steph Curry, PG, Golden State Warriors
Price: $10,900
It's no secret that Steph Curry is the best player in basketball right now, and even regularly sitting out for the fourth quarter in blowout wins, that has translated to fantasy scoring.
He leads the league with 31.0 points per game over the last month and is doing it on .677 True Shooting and with a 32.6 percent Usage Rate, both of which are third highest among players seeing at least 15 minutes per game. He's also putting up 6.8 assists and 5.3 rebounds and is second in the league with 49.7 FanDuel points per game in that span.
Curry draws a great matchup tonight against the Houston Rockets, who rank 24th with a 108.4 Defensive Efficiency. This is an especially good matchup for him because of Houston's weakness defending three-pointers -- they're allowing the most three-point attempts per game as well as the seventh highest three-point percentage.
This game has a ridiculous 230.5 over/under, which is more than 20 points above the next highest of the night. The Warriors and Rockets rank second and seventh, respectively, in Pace, and there's going to be no shortage of fantasy points going around in this one.
Carmelo Anthony, SF, New York Knicks
Price: $8,900
Washington is one of the best teams in the league to target wing players against in daily fantasy. They're giving up the fourth most fantasy points to opposing shooting guards and the second most to small forwards while sporting a 107.6 Defensive Efficiency that ranks 21st. They're allowing a league-high .390 three-point percentage and a .527 Effective Field Goal percentage that's the second highest in the league. They're also playing at the league's fourth-fastest Pace, creating plenty of possessions and opportunities for fantasy scoring. And as an added bonus, when we're looking at a player who can rebound, Washington ranks 28th with a 20.3 percent Offensive Rebound Rate.
Carmelo Anthony is fortunate enough to get this matchup tonight, and we can expect him to thrive. Melo is averaging 37.4 fantasy points per game over the last month, putting up 19.5 points, 8.1 boards and 5.8 assists per game with a 28.9 percent Usage Rate. He should have no troubles scoring against the shaky Washington defense, and his rebounding numbers offer major upside as well. He's posting a career high 19.9 percent Defensive Rebound Rate on the season, positioning him well to exploit the Wizards' weakness on the offensive glass.
Draymond Green, PF, Golden State Warriors
Price: $9,100
Draymond Green is another guy with big time upside in a Warriors-Rockets matchup that should be rich with fantasy scoring. As I mentioned before, both teams are top-10 in Pace, and this game has a massive 230.5 over/under. The Rockets rank 24th with a 108.4 Defensive Efficiency, and the Warriors have an implied total of 122.5, more than 10 points higher than anyone else tonight.
Green's fantasy production is inconsistent, but his combination of scoring, passing and rebounding gives him huge upside. He's averaging 13.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game over the last month and leads the league with 10 triple-doubles. His 37.6 FanDuel points per game rank 14th in the league, and he has the second highest single-game FanDuel score of the season, when he put up 77.4 points on January 2nd.
The Houston defense is weak, they're allowing the most assists per game in the league, and they're the second worst defensive rebounding team in the league. With all of these things going in a game that is likely to produce tons of possessions, Green has elite upside. Our projections also have him putting up the third highest score of the night.
