Twelve games on a full Friday night in the Association. Two of the three highest Vegas totals are played in the late-night tonight. The Warriors are currently 19.5 point faves in the revenge game against the Bucks. I can honestly say that I’ve never seen an NBA line that high. As is typical on a night with a lot of games, there are a lot of players in the Suggested category and significantly less in the Highly Touted and Recommended tiers.
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.
Highly Touted
- Omir Casspi (7x) – Casspi is averaging 16.3ppg, 8rpg and 4.3apg over his last three. His cost is still relatively affordable.
- Carmelo Anthony (7x) – Melo has gotten things going lately. Over the last three games, he’s putting up 26.7ppg, 11.7rpg and 5apg.
Recommended
- Tyreke Evans (6x) – Evans has been really good since coming back off injury. He had a down night in his last game but it was certainly an outlier when looking at his overall body of work.
- Kristaps Porzingis (6x) – Porzingis has been up-and-down over his last couple of weeks. If the form holds true, he’s due for a bad one tonight.
- Nikola Vucevic (6x) – Has averaged 17ppg over his last five, including two double-doubles.
- Anthony Davis (5x) – Four straight double-double outings for The ‘Brow.
- DeMarcus Cousins (5x) – Cousins also has four straight double-doubles. In those games, he’s averaging 22.3ppg and 11.3rpg.
- Eric Bledsoe (5x) – Bledsoe has really blossomed this season. Not that he wasn’t really good before this year but he’s taken things to another level. He had a rough game on Wednesday in a blowout loss to the Warriors but I expect him to bounceback in a big way tonight.
Suggested
- Ricky Rubio (4x) – Rubio can’t shoot but he really does not need to. He missed a triple-double by one point on Wednesday. What he lacks in the scoring department, he makes up for by facilitating.
- John Henson (4x) – I played Henson a lot last year as a sleeper. He just doesn’t garner consistent enough minutes to make him reliable. Keep an eye out to see if Greg Monroe is playing or not.
- Brandon Knight (4x) – Knight has been a bit up-and-down lately himself. On the year, he’s averaging 20.3ppg, 5.2apg and 4.2rpg.
- Kawhi Leonard (4x) – Kawhi is posting 23.7ppg and 6rpg over his last three games.
- Andre Drummond (4x) – Drummond has a double-double in four of his last five. During those games, he is averaging 15.5rpg.
- Kent Bazemore (3x) – He played great on Monday (28-5) and poorly on Wednesday (8-7). Your guess is as good as mine as to whether he will bounceback or not.
- Chris Bosh (3x) – I’ve always love Bosh’s game. He had a rough night on Wednesday; however, in the three games prior to that, he averaged 23ppg and 8rpg.
- Jon Leuer (3x) – Leuer has found a home in Phoenix. He, along with many other Suns, struggled in a blowout loss to the Warriors earlier in the week.
- Gorgui Dieng (3x) – I never thought this guy stood a prayer of playing in the NBA. He’s somewhat proven me wrong. He is consistently getting at least 25 minutes per game each night.
- Derrick Favors (3x) – I love Favors! I roster him on a nightly basis. He’s averaged 17.2ppg and 8.6rpg this season.
- Chris Paul (3x) – Paul has a double-double in three of his last five games. During that five game stretch, he’s averaged 11.4apg.
- Isaiah Thomas (3x) – Thomas put up 38 points, 7 assists and 3 boards against Detroit on Wednesday.
- Jrue Holiday (3x) – He’s no longer under a minutes restriction so that helps. Has averaged 17ppg over the last two games.
- Draymond Green (3x) – Three straight double-doubles, including a triple-double on Wednesday, from another guy that I wasn’t sure would cut the mustard in the NBA. In those games, he’s averaged 21.3ppg, 11rpg and 7.7apg.
Good luck everyone and catch us next Tuesday for the next edition of Expert Consensus.
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