In daily fantasy basketball, finding players you want to roster is a lot easier than finding players to avoid.
You can find a ton of great information and research on guys you might want to include in your DFS NBA lineups, but what about guys you may want to lessen your exposure to, or even fade altogether?
Avoiding players whose matchups or situations aren't as great as they seem can often be just as important as finding the best targets. After all, it only takes one player to sink a lineup. Searching for the landmines could mean the difference from winning or losing your contests.
Rudy Gobert, C, Utah Jazz
FanDuel Price: $7,600
Rudy Gobert has been on fire over his last four games, posting double-doubles in each, which has led to four consecutive 40-plus FanDuel point performances. However, there are two things working against him on Wednesday: the potential return of Derrick Favors and a matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Gobert is averaging an 1.41 points per shot with Favors off the floor, according to NBA Wowy. Also, RotoGrinders' Court IQ notes that he's averaging nearly one FanDuel point per minute in the same situation.
With Favors and Gobert sharing the floor, that points-per-shot-attempt number falls to 1.20. That doesn't even account for the poor matchup, either.
The Thunder are holding opposing centers to 0.88 FanDuel points per minutes, and considering Gobert hasn't had much success against Steven Adams, he's only a tournament option -- especially if Favors is in the lineup.
Wesley Matthews, SG, Dallas Mavericks
FanDuel Price: $5,800
For a guy who has dropped at least 33.8 FanDuel points in each of his last three games, Wesley Matthews is still pretty underpriced. However, it might be a night to jump off the Matthews train since he'll be facing a tough defensive opponent in the Detroit Pistons.
While Matthews has owned his last three opponents, it was a great opportunity: all three ranked in the bottom-12 for defensive rating and top-11 in pace. The Pistons are none of those things, with the league's 2nd-best defensive rating and 25th-ranked squad in pace.
There is also the problem of going against a now rested Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Pope is holding opposing players to just 40.0% shooting from the floor and an amazing 28.2% shooting from the three-point line. This has led the Pistons to allow only 0.73 FanDuel points per minute to opposing two-guards.
Jae Crowder, SF, Boston Celtics
FanDuel Price: $5,600
Isaiah Thomas' absence was supposed to give Jae Crowder some extra run, but his stat lines have gone in the opposite direction instead.
It won't get any easier, as Crowder has one of his toughest matchups this season by facing Kawhi Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs.
The Spurs are allowing only 0.72 FanDuel points per minute to small forwards this season. Even though Crowder had a nice performance in his first meeting against San Antonio, Thomas' presence probably helped. I see the Spurs spending more time defending Crowder, which makes him a tough player to target.