NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Tuesday 1/15/13

Using seven of the nine players in yesterday's optimized lineup (only replacing Ramon Sessions and Nene with Dion Waiters and Ben Gordon), Chief Analyst Keith Goldner placed seventh out of 436 participants in a StarStreet Daily Fantasy pool. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

But that's the beauty of Daily Fantasy: even if you didn't use our optimized roster yesterday, there's always another chance.

Through the power of Math!, we've optimized the best possible roster for your Daily Fantasy needs, using the cost figures and scoring system from our friends at StarStreet as a guide.

As always, the full tables for today's action are available at our Daily Fantasy Projections page. But I'm here to break down the best of the best and tell you why they're so valuable.

The numberFire Optimized Roster

Kobe Bryant - Who cares that he's the second-most expensive player on the board? Go with the stone-cold lock when you can. The Black Mamba hasn't put up less than 20 points since November, and he's reached five assists in four of his past five games.

Blake Griffin - Especially with Chris Paul looking like he's out of the lineup, expect the entire Clippers offense to run through Blake. Nobody else on the team takes (13.4 FGA per game) or makes (7.2 FG per game) more shots on L.A. than Griffin, and only Jamal Crawford has a higher usage rate. Add that to his projected 10.2 rebounds and you're set.

LaMarcus Aldridge - But Blake's not the only big man who can score. Aldridge rebounded nicely from his seven-point outing against Golden State with 33 against the Thunder on Sunday. Next on the docket: Denver, whose two weakest positions in terms of Net PER are PF and C. Expect Portland to try and take advantage.

Andre Iguodala - Iggy hasn't had his best year in Denver; his offensive rating is a career-low 102. But that's only served to drive down his cost, just low enough to be in a range where he looks extremely attractive against a Portland team that ranks 24^th in defensive rating and 23^rd in opponents' effective field goal percentage (eFG%).

J.J. Hickson - Remember that stuff I said about Aldridge? The same applies here to Hickson. But unlike his big man teammate's points, it's all about the rebounds for the N.C. State grad: he's put up at least nine boards in each of his past six games. The only limit on his potential this game is Denver's strength on the offensive boards, as they pull them down on 32.4 percent of their chances (first in the NBA).

Roy Hibbert - It's a block party tonight for Hibbert! The fact that he is second among all projected players with 2.3 blocks tonight is unsurprising; he's third in the NBA with a 7.0 block percentage. In his most recent game against Brooklyn, he put up six. And Charlotte has been blocked 302 times this season, the most in the NBA.

Metta World Peace - His recent struggles have sent his price plummeting faster than his rap album sales, as he's dropped from 24 to 23 to 12 to 8 points in his past four games. But even with Dwight Howard back, we expect a regression to the mean. His 108 offensive rating is the second-highest of his career, the best since the Melee days of yore.

Robin Lopez - Otherwise known as the other Lopez brother, Robin has been picking up solid minutes as of late for New Orleans. Since the turn of the calendar, he's only played under 20 minutes in a game once in 7 Hornets contests. And that's resulted in solid stats - he's hit five rebounds six times and double-digit points four times during this stretch.

Eric Bledsoe - How bold can I make this warning: This is if Chris Paul doesn't play. Right now, it doesn't look like he's going to. And that makes Bledsoe easily the best value on the board. His best value may not even come offensively: his 4.2 steal percentage leads the NBA, and Houston is dead last in offensive turnover percentage.

Quick Hits

Your medium-sized sleeper of the day is Jason Richardson of the Philadelphia 76ers. Coming back from his night off last Wednesday, Richardson was back on point with 16 points, and perhaps more importantly, 32 minutes played against the Rockets on Saturday. You know what's another way to break a slump? Facing a team that's 27^th in defensive rating and 28^th in opponents' eFG%. That makes him a nice potential value at only $8,200.

Your deep sleeper of the day is Bismack Biyombo. A low-priced member of Friday's ideal lineup, he did have five rebounds and three blocks against Toronto but only managed a measly two points. But it's the blocks and rebounds that you go for: he's 14^th in the NBA with a 5.0 block percentage and has put up double-digit rebounds twice in his past seven games (including 17 against Detroit on Jan. 6).

Stay away from James Harden today. Of course he's the highest-priced player on the board; that's what happens when you put up at least 24 points in 15 straight games. But not only is he a turnover machine at 3.7 TOPG, he's facing a team designed to stop those two exact facets of his game. The Clippers are fourth in opponent eFG% at .474, and they're first in opponent turnover percentage at 16.0 percent of possessions.

The game to watch today is Clippers/Rockets. With Harden on one side and Griffin on the other, two of the top scorers today will be on the floor. But for me, I'm much more interested in the L.A. guard situation. If Chris Paul does indeed sit, Bledsoe and Willie Green could become two of the best values of the day, especially with how much the Rockets love to run (fastest pace in the NBA).