NBA

4 Under-the-Radar Daily Fantasy Basketball Plays for 10/25/16

On a loaded Warriors team, Draymond Green may be overlooked. Who else may go under-the-radar tonight?

Welcome back NBA! The regular season kicks off tonight, but you already knew that.

With only three games on the slate, you are going to need to dig deep to find some low-owned gems for your FanDuel lineups.

To complement the high-priced studs featured tonight, you'll need to differentiate your lineups if you plan to take down a GPP. You're going to have to go a bit under-the-radar.

Consider these four players for tournament lineups.

Patty Mills, PG, San Antonio Spurs

FanDuel Price: $3,900

Why He Will Go Overlooked:

On a night with only three games and featuring superstars Stephen Curry ($9,300), Damian Lillard ($8,900), and Kyrie Irving ($7,100), you can bet that many lineups with have two of these three elite point guards. Furthermore, value point guards look to be scarce.

Why You Should Use Him:

To go under-the-radar, we could look to George Hill ($5,600) who had a strong preseason running the point with his new team, the Utah Jazz. Or, we might consider Patrick Mills. Even though the San Antonio Spurs are a road underdog (by 8.5), they posses the third-highest team total (101.5), and Mills is one of the few Spurs capable of knocking down shots from long range. With Danny Green out tonight, Mills' 1.5 three-point makes per game from last year trails only Kawhi Leonard's 1.8 on this roster.

Mills is coming off an excellent summer as the second leading scorer for Australia in the Olympics with 21.3 points per game. He is now the only true backup point guard on the team, though Manu Ginobili will handle the ball as well. Mills will also be tasked to help fill in at shooting guard while Green is out, and the Spurs could certainly use his three-point prowess.

Tony Parker played an ineffective 26 minutes per game last year against the Golden State Warriors (down from 27.5 minutes on the season) due to his defensive liabilities against Curry, averaging a mere 13.65 FanDuel points. If this scenario plays out again, Mills will likely be the biggest beneficiary for playing time. And, if Golden State gets out to a big lead, Mills should get a chance to hoist up a few more shots in garbage time.

If you are really into taking on risk, you can consider Derrick Rose ($5,000). The problem with Rose is that we have no idea how much he will play after missing the entire preseason. He has a higher ceiling than Mills for sure, but if he only plays about half the game, that ceiling is capped. But Rose sure hasn't seen a shot that he didn't like and could catch fire while facing the Cleveland Cavaliers' biggest soft defense spot in Irving.

Evan Turner, SF, Portland Trail Blazers

FanDuel Price: $5,600

Why He Will Go Overlooked:

As star-studded as the point guard pool is on opening night, even more elite small forwards are available on this slate. LeBron James ($9,600), Kevin Durant ($9,300), Carmelo Anthony ($8,000), and Kawhi Leonard ($7,900) all should see significant ownership as owners try to get a combination of two of these studs into their lineups. Of the four, perhaps Durant will get the least love, possessing the second-highest salary while going up against the two-time reigning defensive player of the year in Leonard.

Why You Should Use Him:

It’s expected that Kyle Anderson ($3,500) will start for the injured Danny Green for San Antonio, so many seeking value will pivot to him for one small forward spot. This should lead to Evan Turner being the forgotten man on FanDuel, especially now that we know he will be coming off the bench for the Portland Trail Blazers. Turner should still play in the high-20’s for minutes as a primary ball-handler and distributor leading the second unit, which should allow him to continue to stuff the stat sheet.

Turner possesses a higher ceiling than some because his fantasy points are derived from the peripheral stats like rebounds, assists, and steals. Head coach Terry Stotts has staggered the minutes for Lillard and C.J. McCollum, so along with Allen Crabbe, Turner should always have plenty of scoring threats he can dish off to with the second unit. There is some risk to Turner because we aren't exactly sure how the minute distribution will play out, but if game script goes his way and Portland needs scoring help, Turner likely will be involved.

Draymond Green, PF, Golden State Warriors

FanDuel Price: $8,200

Why He Will Go Overlooked:

Draymond Green is the highest priced power forward on the slate with popular plays LaMarcus Aldridge ($7,400), Kristaps Porzingis ($6,900), Kevin Love ($6,800) and potentially Derrick Favors ($6,900) if he plays through his knee injury all priced below him. On a night when we have so many stars to fit in our lineups, Green's salary could leave him low-owned.

Why You Should Use Him:

The Warriors played at the fastest pace in the league last year, which shouldn't change this season, and are home favorites with the highest team total (110.0) according to Vegas lines. We should be trying to get as many players from this tilt into our lineups as we can. With the scoring trio of Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson, Green will likely be an afterthought at his high salary.

Green’s minutes are guaranteed with his normal role at power forward and playing the five in the Death Lineup. Green’s fantasy points are not dependent on his scoring; rather, he racks up the DFS points for us because he is a menace on defense, a nightly triple-double threat (13 last year and 33 double-doubles), and will only see his assist opportunities rise with Durant now in the mix. Green has as high a ceiling as anyone else tonight, especially if he is left open while the Spurs focus their attention on the other big three.

Mason Plumlee, C, Portland Trail Blazers

FanDuel Price: $5,600

Why He Will Go Overlooked:

Rudy Gobert ($6,200) looks to be underpriced, especially if Derrick Favors is unable to play. So Gobert should be chalk for the night at center after a strong preseason where he racked up double-doubles and seems to have returned to his dominant self following an injury-plagued 2015-16. Now the unquestioned starting center in Cleveland, Tristan Thompson looks like the top value play at the position.

Why You Should Use Him:

So, how can we differentiate our lineups at center? Gobert’s opponent, Mason Plumlee, might be my favorite under-the-radar play of the night. Some will be scared off of Plumlee because Utah was second-best defensively at the center position last season. In two games against Utah last year minus Gobert, Plumlee averaged 17.4 FanDuel points. However, in the two games with Gobert in the lineup, Plumlee posted games of 42.0 and 34.8 FanDuel points.

Something else you might not know: Plumlee averaged 7.0 points, 11.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists in last year’s playoffs. The assists are no fluke; Plumlee now acts as a primary distributor, allowing Lillard and McCollum to play off the ball to get open looks. In the six games last postseason that Plumlee played at least 30 minutes, he grabbed double-digit rebounds every game and scored no fewer than 31.5 FanDuel points.

During this preseason, the trend carried over, and he averaged 1.13 FanDuel points per minute. If that rate continues and he plays 30 minutes, that's 33.9 FanDuel points, or over 6 points per $1,000 in salary.

If you are feeling like taking on a little more risk, Joakim Noah ($5,000) contributes across the stat sheet like Plumlee and will serve as a facilitator, but we just don't know how many minutes he will play after spending most of the preseason sidelined with a bad hamstring.