NBA

NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Wednesday 4/3/13

Denver and Utah always play each other hard, but one trend has emerged: Iguodala at the forefront.

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, FanDuel, and Draft Kings as well. So once again, we have four optimized rosters, all for you, the numberFire reader. One is for free here; the others can be found in our Premium section.

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
Tim DuncanF39.05$15,0002.60
Carmelo AnthonyF38.18$14,0002.73
Blake GriffinF36.33$13,7002.65
Tobias HarrisF29.35$10,9002.69
Andre IguodalaG-F28.38$10,8002.63
Kyle LowryG27.2$10,4002.62
Andre DrummondF23.13$8,5002.72
Robin LopezC22.23$8,4002.65
DeAndre JordanC21.23$8,0002.65

Fan Duel, Draft Kings, and DraftStreet Optimized Rosters

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The Best of the Best

James Harden - Give me the best player against Sac-Town all day, every day. The Kings sit 29th in defensive rating and 27th in defensive effective field goal percentage (eFG%), meaning that the Rockets as a team should be expected to go off. James Harden's 10th-highest individual offensive rating (117.9 points per 100 possessions) and eighth-highest usage rate (28.5 percent) in the NBA makes him one of the Kings' most formidable foes as well.

Blake Griffin - We'll keep pushing him for that regression to the mean: he posted 17 points and 5 rebounds after being on this list against a defensively tough Pacers squad on Monday. Today, the road gets a tiny bit easier: the Phoenix Suns sit 22nd in defensive rating and, important for Griffin, 26th in defensive rebounding percentage. Even through his rebounding slump, Griffin has still collected at least two offensive boards in six of his past seven games. The put-back opportunities will be there.

Carmelo Anthony - What, you were going away from the guy who dropped 50? Actually, most of the time yes, since regression to the mean indicates that his numbers are very unlikely to return to last night's heights. But that doesn't mean that you should turn away from him completely, especially in a format such as StarStreet where his cost hasn't risen as a result of that game. The Hawks aren't the best matchup, but power forward is their weak spot: opposing PFs have shot .505 eFG% against them this season.

Top Mid-Range Values

Brandon Jennings - Yeah, I have no worries about him being benched again. Jennings played 32 minutes against the Lakers last Thursday, 38 minutes against the Thunder on Saturday, and was only pulled after 24 minutes on Monday because the Bucks were murdering Charlotte. Tonight could very well be another one of those murders going against Minnesota, but he should get his points against the T'Wolves 24th-ranked defensive eFG%. Just beware of those turnovers: Ricky Rubio is first in the NBA in steal percentage.

Andre Iguodala - Don't confuse Utah's potential playoff birth with a strong defensive efficiency: the Jazz sit 21st in points allowed per possession, and shooting guards have shot .507 eFG% against them this season. Coupled with Utah's 22nd-ranked defensive rebounding percentage, that makes Iggy a strong play tonight. He has not shot under 50 percent in any of his three games against Utah this season.

Nicholas Batum - The Memphis Grizzlies are pretty tough defensively: their 100.9 defensive rating only sits behind Indiana for the best mark in the league. However, that doesn't mean that each individual Grizzlies player holds that strong defensive stance. Tayshaun Prince is surely not among them: his 104 defensive rating sits as third-worst on the Grizzlies among players who receive regular playing time, only behind the guard duo of Bayless and Pondexter. With Aldridge questionable once again, it'll be Batum that gets a chance to shine with points.