Cash Plays
Tyler Ulis ($6,800) – The Brooklyn/Phoenix game has the highest team total tonight and will definitely be a matchup I am looking to target from a DFS perspective. Ulis had 3 straight games of at least 34+ fantasy points before having a rather low scoring night on Tuesday, putting up only 18.6 fantasy points in 42 minutes of action. However, this below average performance doesn’t draw me away from him, as he will be getting a matchup tonight against a Nets team that has given up the 2nd most fantasy points to opposing point guards this season (52.3). With Ulis getting 90% of the Suns point guard minutes he should easily be able to put up another 30+ fantasy point performance at Barclays Center.
Josh Richardson ($4,600) – In the time Josh Richardson has filled in for the injured Dion Waiters he has been less than spectacular, posting an average of 19.3 fantasy points in those games. However, for a guy priced at $4,600 I’m not going to be mad at that kind of production. He also has huge upside considering he’s going to see another 30+ minutes tonight with Waiters still out. There’s really not a whole lot of options tonight at shooting guard so I’m more than likely going to plug Richardson in against the Raptors and watch him go to work.
Carmelo Anthony ($6,500) – I’m really not a huge Carmelo Anthony fan, but at $6,500 it’s hard to pass on him. I think he will be a cash game pick purely based off of his low price tag tonight, but he also has a great matchup against a Portland Trail Blazers team that gives up the 3rd most points to the forward positions combined. I think Melo will be a popular pick and you can expect to be seeing him in my cash game lineup tonight.
Patrick Patterson ($3,600) – Patterson is expected to get a start tonight for Serge Ibaka, who is serving a suspension for Tuesday’s fight with Robin Lopez. Patterson will log heavy minutes tonight and get a lot of usage at what is almost a minimum price tag. He should be one of the highest owned guys tonight, though he’ll have his work cut out for him as he goes up against James Johnson and the Miami Heat, a top 5 team when it comes to containing power forwards from a fantasy perspective.
Alan Williams ($5,700) – Williams is a game time decision tonight, though he expects to play. Therefore, I am going to plan on getting him into my lineup tonight against a Nets team that is one of the worst in the league at containing opposing centers. Williams has been one of my favorite centers to roll with over the last month, and I’m looking forward to what he can do against a weak Brooklyn defense. Of course, make sure he’s playing before you lock him in.
If Williams does end up sitting, Alex Len ($5,100) is the next logical cash game center to plug into your lineup.
GPP Plays
J.J. Barea ($4,100) – J.J. Barea and the Mavericks have a matchup tonight against the Clippers in Dallas. Though the Clippers are a fairly decent team at containing point guards (which is mainly because Chris Paul is a great individual defender), I love Barea tonight. He’ll be running the 2nd unit for the Mavs, as per usual, and that means he’ll log most of his minutes without Paul on the court. This means Los Angeles will be relying more on guys like Austin Rivers to contain Barea, which is a matchup I think he can easily exploit. With his price down around 4k I love him in tournaments and strongly recommend you consider him as well.
Courtney Lee ($4,700) – Courtney Lee has underperformed over the last week, posting less than 20 fantasy points in his last 4 games. However, his price has come down in that time and he’s in a pretty good spot to perform tonight against a Trail Blazer team that gives up 21.5 points per game to shooting guards, along with close to 40 fantasy points on average this season to the position. The game has the 2nd highest point total for the night (218.5), so targeting a cheap shooting guard from the game is probably a good idea in GPP games.
Maurice Harkless ($3,800) – Evan Turner put up -0.8 fantasy points in 19 minutes of action on Tuesday. Though fantasy production is not always a direct consequence of the game a guy played, posting negative fantasy points is obviously never a good thing. Because of this, I don’t think the Trail Blazers are going to be too eager to give Turner minutes tonight against the Knicks, which is great news for Moe Harkless, who is now priced under 4k on Fanduel. Harkless has been seeing right around 30 minutes even with Turner back from injury, and he’s in a great position to produce tonight against a New York team that has given up the 2nd most fantasy points to small forwards over their last 10 games (48.7).
Noah Vonleh ($3,800) – Vonleh is another Portland guy I like tonight in tournaments. He has posted 20+ FP in 3 of his last 4 games and is in a great position to do the same against the Knicks. New York has been statistically awful against power forwards this year, giving up an average of 45.5 fantasy points per game to the position. Vonleh is a great GPP punt play and should be able to put up some strong numbers at home tonight.
Jonas Valanciunas ($5,300) – Looking at the slate I personally think Valanciunas is the best GPP center play tonight as he faces the Miami Heat. The Raptors should give him a little extra run considering they’ll need his size and physicality down low against Hassan Whiteside. The matchup should pin Jonas under the rim, which should allow him to grab a few extra boards. Despite having Whiteside down low, the Heat actually give up close to 50 fantasy points a game to opposing centers, so don’t be afraid to plug Valanciunas into your tournament lineups tonight.