3 Under-the-Radar Daily Fantasy Basketball Plays for 2/1/17
Nikola Vucevic, C, Orlando Magic
FanDuel Price: $7,000
Why He Will Go Overlooked:
The NBA is treating us with a beautiful 12-game slate tonight, meaning ownership should be pretty spread out at all positions, but none more so than center. Marc Gasol, Andre Drummond, Brook Lopez, Myles Turner, Steven Adams, and Guillermo Hernangomez are just a few of the options likely to be popular tonight.
Nikola Vucevic's minutes have been all over the place this season, and the Orlando Magic's implied team total of 104.5 points doesn't jump off the page. So it would be surprising to see him carry heavy ownership tonight.
Why You Should Use Him:
It's never been Vucevic's talent that has been in question, but rather his role as a part of Frank Vogel's inconsistent rotation. He's been in Vogel's good graces recently, though, starting and topping 33 minutes in every game the Magic didn't lose by 30 points over the past week. During those three games, Vuc played some exceptional basketball, averaging 39.9 FanDuel points per contest.
The 2.5-point spread in this one is one of the closest on the slate, so every indication would suggest that the game should remain competitive, meaning Vuc should be looking at his normal allotment of minutes. If given 30-plus minutes again, Vucevic is in a really good spot in this matchup.
Only five teams have allowed more FanDuel points per game to opposing centers than the Indiana Pacers, and a deeper look at the numbers provides an easy explanation for that. On the year, Indiana ranks third-worst in rebounding rate as a team, and starting center Myles Turner ranks 38th among qualified centers with a 13.7% rebounding rate.
Vucevic is an excellent rebounder, but he is especially proficient on the defensive end, posting the league's seventh-highest defensive rebounding rate (30.1%). He will spend most of his time boxing out Turner, who hasn't done much on the offensive glass this season, ranking 50th among 56 qualified centers in offensive rebounding rate.
Indiana's struggles to defend opposing bigs has never been more apparent than out of the pick and roll and in the low post, two areas where Vucevic is used often. No team has allowed more points to opposing roll men in the pick and roll than the Pacers, who have also allowed the highest field goal percentage in the post of any team other than Vucevic's own Magic.
Everything lines up for a good performance from Vucevic, with Vogel's volatile minute distribution being the only foreseeable deterrent. However, Vucevic's upside is definitely worth taking a shot on in tournaments, especially since his ownership should be low.
