NBA
NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Wednesday 3/6/13
When will Raymond Felton's cost finally rise? I'm not sure, but I'm not complaining.

We know that people play all sorts of fantasy platforms, not just from from our friends at StarStreet but on other platforms such as DraftStreet and FanDuel as well. So once again, we're not only going to give you one, but three optimized rosters, all for you, the numberFire reader.

As you can see, there are some minor differences between the rosters. That has to do with two key components: the position restrictions on each site, and the different player pricing system on the sites as well. We've plugged this data into our player projection system, and we've come up with the best overall values for your Daily Fantasy team on each platform today.

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
Dwyane WadeG39.43$14,0002.82
Joakim NoahC34.35$13,0002.64
Tim DuncanF36.08$12,8002.82
David WestF33.38$12,5002.67
Carlos BoozerF29.78$10,1002.95
Luol DengF29.13$10,0002.91
Raymond FeltonG27.88$9,5002.93
Marcin GortatC25.38$9,0002.82
Vince CarterG-F23.2$8,7002.67

DraftStreet Optimized Roster

PlayerPositionProjected FPCostValue
LeBron JamesF44.33$23,7181.87
Kyrie IrvingG32.03$15,6742.04
Chris BoshC28.78$12,9742.22
Jeremy LinG25.8$11,6542.21
O.J. MayoG26.1$10,8122.41
Nate RobinsonG20.13$8,3612.41
Byron MullensC19.4$8,1142.39
Gerald WallaceF19.35$7,9322.44

Fan Duel Optimized Roster

PlayerPositionProjected FPCostValue
LeBron JamesSF43.7$9,9004.41
Josh SmithPF33.1$9,0003.68
Luol DengSF26.8$6,6004.06
Anthony DavisPF26.3$6,4004.11
Chris BoshC29.4$6,2004.74
O.J. MayoSG27.1$5,8004.67
Joe JohnsonSG24.2$5,5004.40
Raymond FeltonPG25.5$5,5004.64
Steve NashPG22.6$5,1004.43

The Best of the Best

LeBron James - There are two NBA teams in Florida, and I believe it's safe to say that one is not like the other. The Orlando Magic are 26th in points allowed per possession, 24th in defensive effective field goal percentage (eFG%), and 30th in percentage of turnovers forced. Shooting for LeBron tonight is about as big of a stretch as saying, "Charles Barkley doesn't make sense sometimes." But when value presents itself, it would be foolish not to take it: James had 36 points, 11 assists, and 8 rebounds in his only game against the Magic this season.

Tim Duncan - Let's not get it twisted: the Bulls are solid defensively. As a team they have the fourth-best defensive rating in the league, and Joakim Noah is allowing less than a point per possession against him this season. But looking at the rest of the Bulls defense, attacking down low may actually be the best move. Opposing centers have shot .500 eFG% against them this season; the next highest eFG% for a position on the floor is small forwards at .474%. Especially considering the potential for put-backs - the Bulls are 21st in defensive rebound percentage - Duncan is one of the only solid plays for the Spurs tonight.

Chris Bosh - Strangely enough, Orlando isn't a terrible rebounding team with Vucevic at center; they are third in defensive rebounding percentage in grabbing 74.6 percent of available boards. Too bad that doesn't extend to the other end; the Magic are 23rd in offensive rebounding percentage, which opens up the opportunity for Bosh to get numbers grabbing defensive boards. Couple that with an extraordinarily high .530 eFG% against opposing centers for Orlando, and Bosh could have a field day.

Top Mid-Range Values

Luol Deng - Facing the Spurs defense? Meh. Facing the Spurs defense as a playoff team's leading scorer while being a moderately priced commodity? That sounds a little better. Luol Deng's 14.5 field goals attempted per game lead the Chicago Bulls; in turn his 16.4 points per game do the same. We think he'll finish right around there this game (16.6 projected points), especially considering the potential close game (especially with Tony Parker's absence), and the relative weakness of the Spurs defense at small forward (.479 eFG% is the second-highest of any position behind center).

O.J. Mayo - I'm not worried about the hand injury, I'm not worried about his five fouls in the last game, and I'm not worried about his minutes. The only things I'm looking at with Mayo are his opponent and his recent scoring ability. Thankfully, both of those are huge pluses in his direction: Mayo has at least 17 points in three of his past four games, and the Rockets have the 23rd-most efficient defense in the NBA. In an absolute track meet (both teams have paces in the top five quickest), I'll take the low-priced shooting guard with Dallas's third-largest usage rate.

Raymond Felton - If you've been a numberFire reader for a while, you'll notice that Raymond Felton shows up on this list a good deal. That's not just to placate our New York-based Wall Street readers (although I don't mind that effect): Felton really is being underrated across all platforms since coming back from injury. Appearing in the bottom third of both our StarStreet and Fan Duel optimized rosters today, Felton has A. played 30 minutes or more in six straight games, B. just came off a double-digit point streak of five games, and C. had 10 assists in his last contest against Cleveland. Mix all that up in some Detroit below-average defense stew, and Felton comes out looking pretty once again.

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