NBA

NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 4/5/13

Jrue Holiday's cost plummeting after a 2-24 game? Sounds like an exploitable inefficiency to me.

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
Russell WestbrookG39.95$15,6002.56
Monta EllisG33.78$13,1002.58
Paul PierceF33.63$13,0002.59
J.R. SmithG29.43$11,3002.60
Tobias HarrisF33.65$11,3002.98
Tristan ThompsonC25.9$10,2002.54
Josh McRobertsF25.33$9,5002.67
Jodie MeeksG21.6$8,0002.70
Nazr MohammedC24.98$8,0003.12

Fan Duel, Draft Kings, and DraftStreet Optimized Rosters

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The Best of the Best

Russell Westbrook - Normally it's Kevin Durant as our Thunder player of choice, but today, Westbrook occupies a larger number of our optimized charts than his forward counterpart. What gives? Well, against the Pacers, it's not exactly surprising. Indiana sits fourth in offensive rebound percentage and fifth in defensive rebound percentage, limiting Durant's opportunities outside of points. Meanwhile, facing off against George Hill and D.J. Augustin (the two highest defensive ratings on the Pacers) gives Westbrook the inside edge for point scoring tonight.

Jrue Holiday - Sure, I'd take going up against Jeff Teague: he has allowed opponents to shoot a .506 effective field goal percentage (eFG%) against him this season. For Holiday, that presents the perfect opportunity to get back on track. After a 2-24 game that has "OUTLIER!" written in neon lights, his cost decrease on many platforms is totally out of proportion. Remember, even with his shooting going slightly down as the season wears on, he has still attempted at least 17 shots in each of his past four games. Quantity over quality.

David Lee - He may have the defensive abilities of the Florida Gators playing Michigan, but that doesn't mean he won't get his numbers: Lee has posted double-digit rebounds in seven of his past eight games. We don't see that trend changing against the Suns tonight, who sit 14th in offensive rebounding percentage and 26th in defensive rebounding percentage. A .529 eFG% allowed to opposing power forwards doesn't hurt either.

Top Mid-Range Values

Nazr Mohammed - We're on the bandwagon. You're not going to get points from Mohammed; his abysmal 95 offensive rating (points scored per 100 possessions) is a solid indicator of that. However, his defensive rebounding and block rate should provide solid value. His 20.1 percent of available defensive rebounds collected should be fine against the 24th in offensive rebound Magic. So should the fact that he's close to minimum priced across most platforms despite playing 35+ minutes in each of the past two games with Noah and Gibson out.

Brandon Jennings - Playing against a team that sits 16th in defensive rating, allows point guards to shoot .515 eFG% from the field, and is all sorts of banged up down low (leading to more assist opportunities), I'd take a look at playing Brandon Jennings tonight. We know that he hasn't shot over 50 percent in a game since March 9, driving down his cost. But we also know that, similar to Jrue Holiday, he has only shot less than 13 attempts once in his past 11 games.

Jodie Meeks - With World Peace out, Meeks will pick up the minutes; Jodie Meeks has registered at least 35 minutes in each of the Lakers' past four contests. While Memphis may be a relatively tough matchup for the shooting guard, opposing starter Tony Allen may not be All-World defensively like you'd think from reading Bill Simmons columns. He has allowed opposing SGs to shoot .489 eFG% this year: not great, but not poor, either.