Sunday Recap

Nikola Jokic   37 FPTs   18P/5A/6R/1B/1S

Malcolm Brogdon   29.75 FPTs  10P/10A/3R/1S

Brook Lopez   35 FPTs    17P/2A/8R/2B

Nikola Jokic had a huge first half against the Lakers. I thought he was on his way to a potential triple double, he had 11 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists for 27 fantasy points at halftime. Unfortunately he cooled off in the 2nd half and he only played 27 minutes in a Nuggets blowout win. He ended up with 18 points and 6 rebounds and 5 assist, he failed to reach his fantasy average, he finished with 37 FPTs.

I took a chance on Brogdon, he was in the middle of a funk (not the only one) and I thought he would put up a big game against a slightly banged up Bucks team. Malcolm recorded a double double, 10 points and 10 assists, but he only had 3 rebounds and turned the ball over 5 times. He failed to reach his fantasy average for a 5th straight game, I learned the hard way but I will be fading Brogdon for a bit.

Lopez followed up his great night in New York with another good outing against the Pacers. He failed to improve on his 7 blocks from last night but he did score 17 points, 8 rebounds and a respectable 2 blocks tonight. 35 fantasy points is a good point total for a value player, Lopez was only $4,900.

Monday Picks

I’m happy to leave that ugly 4 game slate behind and start tackling this 11 gamer tonight. Here are 3 players I am building my DraftKings lineup around.

Bradley Beal – $9,300

This has been the best season of Beal’s career. He is the fifth leading scorer in the league, averaging 28.2, that is 8 points better than his career average. All of his stats are up across the board. He is getting 7 assist a game and he is only averaging 3.9 for his career, his rebounds are up as well but not as drastic as the points and assists. Beal put up 37 and 36 against the Raptors and the Sixers, both losses, and he looked like the best player on the floor. Star players like to show out at MSG, it helps that the Knicks have been garbage for so long. I think Beal is going to have a huge night at the Garden, I’m calling a 40 point night. Beal is on the higher end of his average salary, he is $9,300 tonight, but I think he is going to be have the most fantasy points of any player tonight.

Julius Randle – $6,700

Randle has a great matchup tonight against the Wizards. Washington is riddled with injuries. Bertans and Hachimura are both out, Troy Brown Jr. is starting at the 4. Randle has a big size advantage over Brown, he is 2 inches taller and has 35 pounds on him. Brown is going to do his best to defend Randle without getting into foul trouble. I think Randle is going to feast on this depleted team. He has been the Knicks best player this season, he leads the team with 8.8 rebounds and 3.3 assist, and his 17.3 points per game is second only to Marcus Morris. The Wiz give up the most points in the league, 122, and they are the 8th worst team in the league for opponent rebounding. Now that injuries have taken away almost all of their big men I think they will be losing every battle on the glass tonight. Randle seems really undervalued tonight too, he is only $6,700. A 20/10 double double feels like the bare minimum from Randle tonight. I’m expecting him to have a big game.

Tristan Thompson – $6,300

Tristan Thompson is having good year on this terrible Cavs team. I like him tonight against the Hawks, John Collins is starting at Center for Atlanta, his first game back from a 25 game suspension. Collins is going to have his handful with Thompson, Tristan is one of the league leaders in offensive rebounds. I think will be a beast down low challenge Collins who will be getting his game legs back, hopefully Thompson will clean up the offensive glass all night. TT has reached or surpassed his fantasy average the last 3 games and he is only $6,300 tonight. I like Love tonight too, but Thompson is the cheaper option and he can get you comparable stats to Kevin Love.

Those are 3 players to build around tonight, these 3 are pretty expensive, it will leave you with an average player salary of $5,540. Here are a few cheap options I’m looking at to fill out my line. Elfrid Payton is getting the start for the Knicks, he is cheap at only $5,100 and when he gets minutes he put up his fantasy points. He doesn’t score a lot, he averages 7.8 points a game, but he gets his numbers filling the rest of the stat sheet. Ish Smith is another cheap player in that game. The Wizards are pretty banged up and Ish is there best option to start and get the majority of minutes tonight. $4,500 is a good bargain to add to your lineup.