3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 3/4/16
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 a big slate of NBA games on tonight, searching for the landmines could mean the difference from winning or losing your contests.
Monta Ellis, SG, Indiana Pacers
FanDuel Price: $6,300
Monta Ellis made an appearance as a landmine exactly one week ago against these same Hornets, and you were likely pretty disappointed if you rostered him, as he went for only 20.2 FanDuel points. Now the Pacers head into Charlotte for another battle with the Hornets, and once again, Ellis’ matchup with Courtney Lee looms as a potential landmine for those wanting to put Ellis in one of their shooting guard slots.
In his last two games against the Hornets this season, Ellis is averaging fewer than 20 FanDuel points, and against Lee over the last few years, it hasn’t been any better. In his last five games against Lee, one against the Hornets and four against Lee as a member of the Grizzlies, Ellis is averaging only 18 FanDuel points per game, and he turned the ball over 14 times in those five games.
Lee has dropped his opponent’s field goal percentage, too, since the last time these two faced off last week. Lee is now allowing players he defends to shoot only 41.4 percent from the floor and only 34.2 percent from beyond 15 feet from the basket. Do not take the risk tonight with Ellis against Lee.
Marcin Gortat, C, Washington Wizards
FanDuel Price: $7,000
The Wizards face a tough matchup tonight against the defending Eastern Conference champions, and Marcin Gortat probably has the toughest matchup of them all. Cleveland ranks number one against opposing centers this season, giving up only 0.86 FanDuel points to the position, and with the game being in Cleveland, it likely means Gortat is once again in landmine territory here on Friday night.
In his last game against the Cavs just under a week ago, Gortat played only 25 minutes but did have a productive game for the minutes he played, putting up 13 points and 9 rebounds. However, while Gortat has been pretty solid against the Cavaliers this season, he is averaging only about 28 FanDuel points in his last two games against the Cavs. While this isn’t bad production, it isn’t going to help you win your tournaments tonight. Most of the time you need a player to hit at least "five times" their value to pay off any given night, and seeing as Gortat’s minutes are slowly going down, it may be wise to find another center.
In his last five games, Gortat has exceeded 30 minutes only once, and that was against the Sixers, a team that Gortat has had a lot of success against this season. Gortat is averaging about a fantasy point per minute this year, but in a tough matchup, and with his minutes dwindling recently, his price is simply too high to take a risk on tonight.
Nikola Vucevic, C, Orlando Magic
FanDuel Price: $8,000
Another center that has a tougher matchup tonight is Nikola Vucevic. While Phoenix hasn’t been good at defending most positions this season, the one position they have done well against this season is centers. The Suns rank as the eighth best team defending centers this season, and while Phoenix is coming off a back to back, there are still several outcomes that could make Vucevic a landmine tonight.
The biggest is his price, combined with what seems to be a recent minutes deduction. Much like Gortat, Vucevic has seen his minutes go down some recently. After playing at least 35 minutes per game in seven of his first nine contests in February, in the Magic’s last five games, Vucevic is averaging fewer than 30 minutes per game. He has still produced quite well in some of those games, but for $8,000 you need 40 FanDuel points from Vucevic to pay off value, and that may be hard to get tonight, even against Phoenix.
The Magic are coming into tonight playing their third game in four nights, which is tough for any team, let alone a team in early March. While Vucevic had a solid game against the Suns the first time out in Phoenix, if his minutes are truly starting to be scaled back some, this may be a night where he is better left off your rosters.
