With Week 17 of the NFL season wrapping up last night, this is the first Monday since August where there will be no NFL football to watch. With that, the focus for this Monday on SuperDraft will be squarely on the NBA contests! Included in these NBA contests is our NBA $10,000 Daily Dime contest. With a $10 entry, you will have the chance to win as much as $1,250 in cash prizes! Before you go to fill out your lineup, here are players you should heavily consider to help you win big:
Guards
1x-1.3x
Damian Lillard (1.25x) Portland vs Phoenix
While it has been a disappointing year record wise for Damian Lillard and the Blazers, Lillard has had the best season of his career fantasy wise. He is averaging 27 points, 7.6 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 46.6 fantasy points per game. You can rely on him to be consistent every single night with the load he has to carry. He ranks 2nd in the league in minutes per game (36.8) and 15th in usage rate at 29.8%.
This consistency is what makes him the top choice over the shallow pool of other players in this multiplier tier. With Trae Young still hurt and Bradley Beal’s status in question, the only other options here are Andrew Wiggins (1.3x) and Lillard’s teammate CJ McCollum (1.3x). Wiggins is notoriously inconsistent and McCollum is the clear 2nd option behind Lillard. With the difference in multiplier small, and Lillard a much more reliable night to night player. He is the easy choice here.
1.35x-1.65x
Spencer Dinwiddie (1.35x) Brooklyn at Minnesota
When Kyrie Irving went down in November the Nets were 4-7. They are now 12-8 since then with nobody benefitting more fantasy wise than Spencer Dinwiddie. Everyone seemed to respect Dinwiddie as a quality point guard in the league, but no one saw this explosion coming. Since Irving went down, Dinwiddie is averaging 25.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game. As a reserve he was averaging 17.1 points, 2.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.
With his numbers as a starter, he should at the very least be in the 1.3x group with McCollum and Wiggins. Dinwiddie is also facing a Minnesota defense that ranks 17th in the league in defensive efficiency and gave up 50 points, 7 assists, and 8 rebounds to Kyrie in their first meeting of the season. With Dinwiddie in Kyrie’s role now, he has great value at 1.35x.
1.7x-2x
Tyler Herro (1.75x) Miami at Washington
Herro has been a very promising rookie for a fun Miami Heat team that has started the season 24-8. Herro is averaging 13.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 24 fantasy points per game off the bench. Although, he has shown the ability to pop in games this season with his all-around game particularly with his scoring. He has scored 35 fantasy points in five games this season. One of them is against the opponent he faces tonight.
When Herro faced the Wizards on December 6th, he scored put up 22 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals which amounted to 39.75 fantasy points. It could have been even better for Herro in that game as he only went 2-7 from the three point line. With Washington sporting the worst defense in the league and giving up the 4th most three point makes in the league, there is a chance for Herro to be a home run at a 1.75x multiplier.
Forwards
1x-1.3x
Giannis Antetokounmpo (1x) Milwaukee at Chicago
You are probably tired of hearing about Giannis by now but you just simply can’t avoid inserting this man into your lineup, especially in a smaller six game slate like tonight. The only other options at forward in this tier are Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler at 1.3x.
While they have a great match-up facing the Wizards, their level of consistency is still distant from Giannis. Adebayo and Butler average 42.7 and 44.7 fantasy points per game respectively while Giannis is averaging 61.4 fantasy points per game. Considering the fact that he is facing a Bulls team that he’s scored an average of 64 fantasy points per game against in the two previous meetings, he is the play tonight in this tier.
1.35x-1.65x
John Collins (1.45x) Atlanta at Orlando
Hawks fans were excited before the season for what the Trae Young/John Collins duo would look like in season 2. Unfortunately, that was taken away after five games as John Collins got injured and then suspended. After a lengthy absence, John Collins finally made his return on December 23rd against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He had a great game racking up 27 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals for a total of 54 fantasy points. However, Trae Young is now hurt and it is up to Collins to carry the load. This may not be great for the Hawks win column, but it is a huge boost for Collins’ fantasy value.
In the three games he has been back without Young, he has scored 54, 39.5 and 58 fantasy points. With Young still out, you can expect this scoring trend to continue. With the match-up against the Orlando Magic, it is fair to expect total to be in the 50’s range instead of closer to the 39.5. He scored 39.5 against the Bucks while the other two came against the Bulls and Cavs. If he lands in his average of the two games which is 56, if you add the multiplier of 1.45x he would get to 81.2 points. Collins should be a no-brainer for every user.
1.7x-2x
Terrence Ross (1.8x) Orlando vs Atlanta
Terrence Ross might be the most obscure player in NBA history to score 50 or more points a game. He did as a member of the Toronto Raptors in 2014 when he scored 51 points against the Clippers. While you should not expect that type of performance anytime soon, Ross still has some firepower to be a good value play at 1.8x.
With Ross being a one dimensional scorer, all of his fantasy value comes from his points. He has seven games this season with 19 points or more scored. For a weak multiplier tier with limited upside options, that is a decent number to have. With the Magic facing the Hawks who have the 3rd worst defense efficiency rating at 111.1, this is a good candidate for a game where Ross can pop off and score 19+ points.
Centers
1x-1.3x
Andre Drummond (1.2x) Detroit at Utah
We have a very small tier tonight for the top centers. With Karl Anthony Towns questionable to play, the other options besides Drummond are the center he will be facing in Rudy Gobert (1.25x) and Hassan Whiteside (1.15x). With the multiplier differences miniscule between these three, Drummond is the right play here.
Drummond is averaging 50.3 fantasy points per game while Whiteside and Gobert are averaging 42.4 and 42.1 respectively. This is a huge gap in production for players with very similar multipliers. The difference is even bigger when you factor in the multiplier value to the player’s fantasy point per game average. Drummond is at 60.4 per game while Whiteside is at 48.7 and Gobert is at 52.6.
1.35x-1.65x
Nikola Vucevic (1.35x) Orlando vs Atlanta
Speaking of easy picks, Vucevic certainly qualifies as that at a 1.35x multiplier value. He is averaging 42.4 fantasy points per game which is better than Gobert and tied with Whiteside who have lower multiplier values than Vucevic. In this tier, the true center that is the closest to him is the Nets Jarrett Allen (1.45x) who is scoring only 32.9 fantasy points per game. With Vucevic in a favorable match-up against the poor Atlanta Hawks defense, you can expect him to exceed his normal fantasy performance. If Vucevic continues to be undervalued, you should keep inserting him into your lineup especially against weak competition like Atlanta.
1.7x-2x
Gorgui Dieng (1.8x) Minnesota vs Brooklyn
This pick obviously hinges a lot on whether Karl Anthony Towns will play or not, but if he doesn’t Dieng provides excellent value at a 1.8x multiplier. In Towns absence the last six games, Dieng has averaged 13.8 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 35.3 fantasy points per game.
If you add in the multiplier factor to his average during this stretch of time, he is averaging a whopping 63.6 fantasy points per game. This multiplier basically turns him into a Giannis/Harden-level player. It is rare to find this kind of value at 1.8x. You should all take advantage of it before Towns comes back healthy.
This article expresses the personal views of the writer and does not reflect the view(s) of SuperDraft in any way.
