NCAAB

NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Thursday 3/21/13

Jrue Holiday running quick against Denver and Ty Lawson? I'll take it.

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As always, the full tables for today's action are available at our Daily Fantasy Projections page. Make sure to check it out to see where the best values are for your team.

StarStreet Optimized Roster

PlayerPositionProjected FPCostValue
Jrue HolidayG34.25$13,8002.48
DeMarcus CousinsC33.98$13,6002.50
Thaddeus YoungF31.73$12,5002.54
Nicolas BatumF-G29.7$11,5002.58
J.J. HicksonF28.33$11,2002.53
Luol DengF27.4$10,9002.51
Ricky RubioG25.53$10,0002.55
Luke RidnourG20.95$8,0002.62
Juan Jose BareaG18.73$7,5002.50

Fan Duel, Draft Kings, and DraftStreet Optimized Rosters

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The Best of the Best

Jrue Holiday - A point guard against a Denver team with the NBA's second quickest pace and starting Ty Lawson's 109 defensive rating? Sure, I'll take advantage with Jrue Holiday. Holiday's typically not the most efficient player with his .478 effective field goal percentage (eFG%), but today's all about quantity over quality. Holiday only took eight shots in his previous game against the Clippers, but in the two games before that against Portland and Indiana, Holiday took at least 21 field goal attempts.

DeMarcus Cousins - Nikola Pekovic may be back, but this isn't a half bad matchup for Sacramento's mystery man. Pekovic only holds a 106 defensive rating on the season, one of the worst marks among centers in the NBA. Cousins, coming off injury himself, went for 17 points and 11 rebounds against the Clippers himself in 28 minutes and looks to not have any rust to shake off.

Nicolas Batum - The Bulls are easily the toughest defensive team playing today, sitting with the sixth-best defensive rating in the NBA. However, they have a minor weakness at small forward, where their .474 eFG% allowed to SFs is the second-highest to any position on the floor. With an incredible 37+ minutes played in each of his past nine games, you can rest assured that he will have his chances to score as well.

Top Mid-Range Values

J.J. Hickson - Joakim Noah has the most projected rebounds today at 10.4 boards. However, for three-quarters of the price, why not pick up Hickson and his second-place 10.2 projected boards? Hickson's 13.8 percent offensive rebound rate is the fifth-highest in the entire NBA, and the Bulls are surprisingly weak at defensive rebound rate with the No. 25 percentage in the league. A couple easy put-backs on the offensive glass, and Hickson will be worth his weight in gold.

Andre Iguodala - I'm a sucker for players going against their old teams; just look at LeBron against the Cavs last night. However, even putting the non-numbers crap aside, Iguodala statistically remains a solid play today as well. Philly might be about average in giving up points (13th defensive rating), but they only sit 25th in offensive rebound rate. Picking up those easy defensive boards is where Iguodala's value lies.

Luke Ridnour - The last time Luke Ridnour shot less than 50 percent in a game, it was March 10 against Dallas, a solid six games ago. I don't see that streak turning around against Sacramento's putrid defense, especially considering their average .535 eFG% given up to opposing point guards. With Sacramento's dead-last defensive rating meaning more opportunities for all T'Wolves, the assists should be there for Ridnour as well.