Sunday Recap

Buddy Hield   33.50 FPTs      19P/4A/4R/2S

Julius Randle    36.25 FPTs     20P/2A/9R/1S

Marvin Bagley    27.50 FPTs    17P/2A/6R

Buddy Hield had a good game against the Warriors. He didn’t have as big a day as I thought/hoped, Buddy has shown he can drop easily drop 30+ points and the Warriors are one of the worst teams in the league defending the 3. Hield ended up with 19 points, going 2-5 from 3, and finished with 33.50 fantasy points.

Julius Randle had 20 and 9 in a close game against the Denver Nuggets. Denver never really felt like they were in danger of losing the game but the Knicks never went away, Randle and Marcus Morris were a big part of that. Randle surpassed his fantasy average by 2 points.

I had to change my Marvin Bagley pick about an hour before tip off because of all the injuries and matchup changes across the board. Draymond Green was inserted in the starting lineup at the last minute and Bagley was moved to the bench in favour of Bjelica. Marvin played well in his 3rd game back, he had a solid 17 points and 6 rebounds in 22 minutes. Bjelica, on the other hand, had only 2 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists in 23 minutes of play. Bagley will consistently be in the 30+ FPT range once he is in the starting lineup for good.

Monday Picks

Yesterday was a tough one, it was only a 4 game slate to begin with then the injuries and the lineup shuffling started just before tip. Hopefully today’s 7 game slate will be a bit smoother and I won’t need to change any of these 3 locks before 7 pm.

Giannis Antetokounmpo – $11,100

Giannis is having another MVP calibre year to start the 2019-20 season. He is averaging 31 points a game and 12.8 rebounds. He looks like a slimmer Shaq out there, he is a monster when he is driving to the rim or posting up. With all of Giannis’ greatness this season, he can still get a lot better. Like Shaq, he is terrible from the line, only shooting 59%. Also, he is only knocking down 32% of his 3s. He has a high FG% only because of all the dunks and points in the paint he gets. This guy is getting 31 points a game and he can’t shoot. He has shown he doesn’t stop working on his game in the summer and has come into each season with something new or something improved the last few years. If the Freak can improve his percentage from the line and start knocking down some 3s more consistently, he would literally be unstoppable. Until then, we have to settle with 60+ fantasy points a night with his eyes closed. I was looking forward to this Luka/Giannis matchup but Doncic will miss the game with an ankle.

Tyler Herro – $4,600

Miami has been a huge surprise this year. They are the 2nd best team in the East and they are the 3rd best team, by percentage points, in the league with a record of 17-9. Jimmy Butler is the star and he is playing the best basketball he’s played in a long time. Also, Bam has taken the leap to be one of the best bigs in the East. After those two, the team as benefited the most from 3 rookies contributing in the starting lineup and off the bench. Kendrick Nunn has played great as the starting PG, but DraftKings had his salary adjusted pretty quickly, there wasn’t a big window to take advantage of an underpriced salary for Nunn. Duncan Robinson has been getting starting minutes and he has had some huge games for the Heat. He recently dropped 10 3s in a game, improving on the career hight 9 3s he had in a game earlier in the season. He is averaging 11.6 points, 44% from the perimeter, in 26 minutes a night. Herro has been coming off the bench all year and he has been a great value pick. He is getting 28 minutes a game and he is averaging 13.8 points and 3.9 rebounds. I like the production you get form Herro more than Robinson and he is a is a lot cheapier, Herro is only $4,600 tonight.

Trey Lyles – $3,600

Lyles has been a good play for me earlier in the year. Trey doesn’t get too many minutes or points for the Spurs when he is a just part of the rotation off the bench. His production goes up right a lot with the increase in minutes whenever he is inserted in the starting lineup. There isn’t a lot to think about with this pick. The Rockets give up a lot of points and outside of Capela they don’t have much size. Lyles is good cheap pick at $3,600, you will be able to use that saved salary to look at one of the many elite, high priced players available in this slate. Trey can get to the 25-30 fantasy points range if he gets 20-25 minutes.

Those are my 3 locks for Monday night. I like Siakam against the Cavs. Teams kind of figured out Siakam for a bit earlier in the month. he was getting double teamed and trapped a lot but he was still getting his fantasy numbers. He has recently been back to his dark horse MVP play, he is a good price tonight at $8,600. Kennard is another value pick at $5,400. DiVincenzo is back in the starting lineup for the injured Bledsoe, $4,600 is a steal.