3 Daily Fantasy Basketball Players to Avoid on 2/22/16
Finding players you want to roster is a lot easier than finding players to avoid. Here are three players based on their price and matchups that could be landmines for your rosters tonight.
You can find a ton of great information and research on guys you might want to include in your DFS NBA lineups tonight, but what about some 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 each night. After all, it takes only one player to sink a lineup.
With a large slate of NBA games on tonight, searching for the landmines could mean the difference from winning or losing your contests.
Tobias Harris, SF, Detroit Pistons
FanDuel Price: $5,500
One of the newest members of the Pistons has been very good since making his way north from Orlando, but Tobias Harris is faced with an extremely tough matchup tonight. Combine that with his solid production over the last two games, as well as his low price, and Harris is still appealing despite having to go against one of the top defenses in the league tonight in the Cavs. However, this may all be a mirage.
Harris has now played LeBron James and the Cavs three times as a member of the Magic, and this will be his fourth total this season. Despite the fact that playing at power forward should help Harris tonight, the Pistons’ forward is only averaging just over 10 FanDuel points per game against the Cavaliers this season. Cleveland is actually better at defending power forwards this season than small forwards, coming in giving up the second fewest points to the position this season, allowing only 0.82 FanDuel points per minute to the position.
Even though he isn’t known as a defender, Kevin Love has been pretty good on the defensive side of the ball this season. He ranks fifth in the NBA in Real Defensive Plus-Minus (DRPM) amongst power forwards at 3.01, and on top of all of this, Harris might also take some turns trying to defend James like he did with the Magic, and that further hurts his potential to reach value tonight. Don’t be swayed by the cheap price tag for the new Pistons forward.
Ricky Rubio, PG, Minnesota Timberwolves
FanDuel Price: $6,800
Ricky Rubio has found his way back into the landmine category tonight for several reasons, but the main one is his price. At $6,800, you need Rubio to get above 30 FanDuel points tonight to get anywhere close to hitting value, and while his ownership may be lower tonight due to the good amount of point guards on the slate, the numbers say it might be a good idea to lay off.
In his first meeting with the Celtics this season, Rubio shot the ball only 1-for-9 and finished with just over 20 FanDuel points. With Marcus Smart likely taking some turns at him tonight, Rubio stands to ruin the nights of the people chasing points with him. Rubio is coming off of a nearly 40-fantasy-point night against a somewhat below average defensive team in the Knicks, but the Celtics rank number one against point guards this season, giving up fewer than 0.8 FanDuel points per minute to point guards.
Even if Rubio sees another 35 minutes tonight, his matchup, price and recent game make him a fade tonight. Smart ranks just outside of the top five point guards in the NBA in DRPM, and he is holding his opponents to only 42.5 percent from the floor this season. If Smart sees another 30 minutes for Boston, Rubio might fall well below value.
J.R Smith, SG, Cleveland Cavaliers
FanDuel Price: $5,100
J.R. Smith may be an eternal landmine if he isn’t hitting shots, and coming back from the All-Star Break, the veteran shooting guard has not been as smooth. He is only 6-of-21 in his two games back from the break, and with Iman Shumpert likely still out tonight, people are going to be flocking right back to Smith for value at shooting guard.
However, Smith is going up against Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a good defender who has the ability to make Smith a landmine once again. Smith is coming off the back-to-back tonight, and after playing 39 minutes yesterday afternoon against the Thunder, he may have an off night with his shot once again. Even last night when he hit five three-pointers, Smith fell well below value thanks to his lack of contributions in other categories.
Caldwell-Pope hasn’t been shooting the ball well either since coming back from the break. And, while Caldwell-Pope also played yesterday, Smith has had issues shooting the ball on back-to-back sets this season, converting only 37 percent of his shots. If he isn’t hitting shots or contributing in other areas, there is no need to take the risk in rostering Smith.
