Do you have a penchant for value plays? Tonight is your night. Do you love Cavaliers’ backup players? Well, tonight is REALLY your night. It appears that the big three will sit for the Cavs in OKC tonight meaning that they will only have 8 healthy and able bodies. There will be a ton of value within the Cavs roster because, as I always say here, someone has to score and rebound. If you’re looking for a game to stay away from, that would be the Jazz/Mavs game with a Vegas total of only 193.5. Outside of that, everything looks to showcase plenty of scoring including two games in the 220’s (Rockets/Hornets at 225.5 and Celtics/Blazers at 220.5). Best of luck!
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The numbers in the parenthesis are the number of experts that picked that player to give you more context as to the gaps between players and the tiers. Also listed projected ownership percentages for Cash and GPP leagues to help determine which players will be the chalk and which players could be a good, low-owned contrarian play.
Here are the Industry Consensus picks for tonight.
Highly Touted
- Channing Frye (14x) – 76% Cash / 51% GPP – Should see a huge uptick in minutes tonight with the Cavs big-three sitting out. Cheap option that should be highly owned in Cash and GPP format.
- Russell Westbrook (11x) – 33% / 25% – Russ vs the Cavs backups should provide plenty of opportunities for him to have a big game. Potential for a blowout could limit his upside though.
- James Harden (11x) – 33% / 25% – His pace has slowed considerably lately. Only one double-double in the last five games.
- Nikola Vucevic (11x) – 45% / 31% – Coming off a 19 point, 14 rebound performance. In the last five games, he’s averaging 13.6ppg and 11.4rpg.
- Kay Felder (11x) – 63% / 42% – Another Cavs option that is super cheap and bound to see big minutes. Someone is going to have to score, rebound and assist tonight.
- Kyle Korver (11x) – 63% / 42% – Can’t lump Korver into the “Cavs that never play but will tonight” category though he will be asked to shoulder a big scoring load tonight, I would imagine. He’s coming off a 29 point game last night in which he was 8 of 9 from distance.
- Nicolas Batum (10x) – 34% / 25% – Batum continues to stuff stat sheets. In the last ten games, he’s posting 14.2ppg, 6.8rpg and 6.5apg.
- Serge Ibaka (10x) – 33% / 25% – Outside of a dud last Saturday, Serge has been on fire. Posting 18ppg and 8rpg in the last five.
- Maurice Harkless (9x) – 36% / 26% – Mo should pick up a chunk of Evan Turner’s minutes. Has not scored in double-digits in any of the last three games.
- Robert Covington (9x) – 25% / 21% – Covington is always a nice value option. In his two games back from injury, he’s putting up 14.5ppg and 5rpg.
- Rudy Gobert (9x) – 25% / 21% – Gobert draws a tough matchup in the slow-paced Mavs tonight. With that said, he’s still averaged 15.1ppg and 12.9rpg over the last ten.
- Jordan McRae (8x) – 35% / 25% – Possibly the most unpredictable of the Cavs that will pick up minutes tonight. He’s minimum-priced so there’s bound to be some value there.
- Jahlil Okafor (8x) – 35% / 25% – Embiid is still out meaning Okafor will be relied upon heavily down low. In the last two games, he’s putting up 18ppg and 6rpg. Should return at least 5x value.
- Damian Lillard (7x) – 19% / 17% – Back-to-back 29 point games. His ability to knock down long-range shots have made a difference in the last two games.
- Gordon Hayward (7x) – 19% / 17% – Always a steady option that has a consistent floor. Scoring 24.2ppg and grabbing 6.6rpg in the last five.
- Tristan Thompson (7x) – 26% / 18% – Thompson could be the guy that picks up a lot of scoring opportunities this evening. In the last five games, he’s averaging 11.6ppg and 9.8rpg.
- Kemba Walker (7x) – 19% / 17% – Looks a bit gassed this month. In three February games, he’s only posting 14ppg.
Recommended
- Clint Capela (6x) – 15% / 14% – Solid numbers of 15ppg and 8.4rpg over the last five.
- Elfrid Payton (6x) – 15% / 14% – Inconsistent but can be a fantastic value play on nights when he plays well.
- Victor Oladipo (6x) – 15% / 14% – He is starting to come into his own as the Robin to Russ’s Batman. Posting almost 16ppg over the last ten.
- Trevor Ariza (5x) – 11% / 11% – Ariza is coming off a 20-7-4 game which was his best in some time.
- Steven Adams (5x) – 11% / 11% – Adams is averaging a double-double over the last five games with 12.4ppg and 10.4rpg.
- Isaiah Thomas (5x) – 13% / 12% – Has not scored less than 20 points in a game since November 18th. The C’s should bounce back after a dud in Sacramento and Thomas will be the key to that.
- CJ McCollum (5x) – 12% / 12% – Dropped 35 points on the Celtics in this season’s earlier matchup.
- Ersan Ilyasova (5x) – 11% / 11% – Ilyasova scored 20+ points in two straight prior to throwing out two duds in a row. He’ll look to get back on track tonight.
- Dario Saric (5x) – 20% / 14% – Saric is coming off a game where he scored 20 points in just 21 minutes.
Suggested
- Evan Fournier (4x) – 9% / 9%
- Al-Farouq Aminu (4x) – 9% / 9%
- Ryan Anderson (4x) – 15% / 12%
- Al Horford (4x) – 9% / 10%
- Jae Crowder (4x) – 9% / 9%
- Frank Kaminsky (3x) – 6% / 8%
- George Hill (3x) – 6% / 8%
- Eric Gordon (3x) – 6% / 8%
- Patrick Beverley (3x) – 6% / 8%
Hope you find the right combination to cash! Follow me on Twitter @mbutlerok
