3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 2/23/16
Finding players you want to roster is a lot easier than finding players to avoid. Here are three players based on their price and matchups that could be landmines for your rosters tonight.
You can find a ton of great information and research on guys you might want to include in your DFS NBA lineups tonight, but what about some 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 each night. After all, it takes only one player to sink a lineup.
With an average slate of NBA games on tonight, searching for the landmines could mean the difference from winning or losing your contests.
Trevor Ariza, SF, Houston Rockets
FanDuel Price: $6,000
The Rockets are coming off a long layover tonight after not playing since last Friday, and they have to go into Salt Lake City to play the upstart Jazz. Trevor Ariza is coming off a huge game against the Suns last week where he scored nearly 44 FanDuel points. However, chasing points with Ariza tonight might make you regret it by the end of the night.
There is very little chance Ariza duplicates that performance tonight against Utah. The Suns are the worst team in the NBA giving up points to opposing small forwards, while the Jazz and Gordon Hayward are the second best, allowing only 0.69 FanDuel points per minute to opposing small forwards. Ariza also had five steals in that game which will be very hard to reach again, even though Ariza averages two steals per game.
In two games against the Jazz this season, Ariza is shooting only 37 percent from the floor and averaging fewer than 20 FanDuel points per game. Although he has been successful shooting the three against Utah this year, his price and the recent big game could lead players to be fooled into thinking Ariza is a safe play tonight.
Rudy Gobert, C, Utah Jazz
FanDuel Price: $7,300
While Rudy Gobert doesn’t have the toughest matchup for the night, he does have one that has given him problems in the past. Dwight Howard is nowhere near the defensive force he was four or five years ago, but Howard has owned Gobert in their few past meetings, and Howard still has the 12th-best Defensive Real Plus-Minus rating amongst centers this season at 3.64.
On top of that, in three career meetings with Howard where he played at least 20 minutes, Gobert is averaging fewer than five points and six rebounds per game. Gobert is on a nice streak heading into this game as well, as he has scored at least 30 FanDuel points in six of his last seven games. While his most recent showing against the Blazers should be a concern, players have limited options at center tonight, and some might be tricked into thinking that Gobert could put up good numbers.
Emmanuel Mudiay, PG, Denver Nuggets
FanDuel Price: $5,600
Another guy who doesn’t necessarily have the worst matchup tonight is Emmanuel Mudiay. However, with the trade deadline brought a new point guard to Denver in D.J. Augustin, and since then, Mudiay has not been seeing the minutes that he was getting before the All-Star Break. In the two games since the break, Mudiay has only played about 30 minutes per game, and with his turnover issues still plaguing his overall FanDuel numbers, it might be wise to steer clear of Mudiay.
Augustin got 30 minutes in the Nuggets’ last game, and if he is eating into the rookie point guard’s minutes more tonight, Mudiay’s landmine potential goes way up. He already has not performed well against Rajon Rondo once this season, scoring only eight points and committing five turnovers with only four assists. Mudiay also has nine turnovers in two games since coming back from the break.
Mudiay’s Turnover Percentage is 20.4 this season, and among players who have appeared in at least 40 games, only five players have higher mark than Mudiay. While his price is still very fair, the risk factors with Mudiay outweigh the potential benefits for his price point tonight.
