NBA – Industry Expert Consensus – February 5th

Ten action-packed games for this Friday in the NBA.  No double-digit spreads and six of the games currently feature an O/U of over 200.  Another item to note is that the latest tip on the evening is 8:30pm CT so no late tips means you can go to bed knowing how you fared.  And finally, we have a short list of Highly Touted players followed by a jam-packed Recommended section of players.

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

• Thaddeus Young (7x) – Young has seen his scoring dip a bit lately but put up 16 points and 14 boards his last time out.
• Nikola Jokic (7x) – Coming off a dud but had three straight double-doubles prior to that.  Even with the dud, he’s still averaging 13.8ppg and 9.6rpg over the last five.

Recommended

• Victor Oladipo (6x) – Oladipo feasted on the poor perimeter defense of the Thunder earlier in the week to the tune of 37 points.  I think I could drop in 20 on the Thunder.
• Kawhi Leonard (6x) – The Spurs keep coasting and Leonard continues putting up solid numbers.  A Spurs-Mavs matchup in Dallas tonight should be fun to watch.
• Myles Turner (6x) – Turner can still be had for a rather affordable price.  He’s putting up 13.4ppg and 7.6rpg over the last five.
• John Wall (6x) – Wall put up 41 points and 10 assists against the Warriors earlier in the week.
• Derrick Favors (6x) – In the last two games, Favors is averaging 14.5ppg, 9.5rpg and 5bpg.
• Derrick Rose (6x) – Like Toby Keith says “I ain’t as good as I once was but I’m as good once as I ever was”…or something like that.  Rose is still as solid option, though not the elite player he once was.
• Robert Covington (5x) – Averaging 14ppg and 8rpg over the last five.
• DeMarcus Cousins (5x) – Cousins has a slight ankle tweak so make sure he’s playing before inserting in your lineup.  He’s been phenomenal lately with double-doubles in each of his last three starts.
• Chris Paul (5x) – Paul is putting up 21ppg and 7.8apg in the last five.

Suggested

• Lebron James (4x) – He’s good.  23.4ppg, 7.2apg and 7rpg in the last five.
• Nikola Vucevic (4x) – Has three double-doubles in the last five games.
• Kevin Love (4x) – If you haven’t heard this in the last week then you’ve been living under a rock but…Kevin Love is getting more elbow touches.  Personally, I think it would be a bit creepy is someone was touching my elbow.  What?  Oh, not those kind of elbow touches…got it!
• LaMarcus Aldridge (4x) – Putting up 32ppg over the last two.
• Emmanuel Mudiay (3x) – Two straight sub-par games from the rookie.  He’ll look to bounce back tonight.
• Wayne Ellington (3x) – 14.3ppg over the last four games.  He’s averaging around 30 minutes/game and has double-digit FG attempts in each of the last four.
• Aaron Gordon (3x) – Do you ever really trust Scott Skiles rotations?  If so, Gordon is a solid play.  He threw up a dud against OKC this week but had back-to-back double-doubles prior to that.
• Brook Lopez (3x) – Lopez is averaging 24.4ppg and 8.8rpg in his last five.
• Jeff Green (3x) – Never trust Jeff Green.  Just don’t do it.  Although, if you’re feeling lucky, now might be the time to trust him.  Green is putting up 26ppg in the last four.
• Carmelo Anthony (3x) – MELO IS NOT PLAYING TONIGHT
• Donald Sloan (3x) – Getting decent minutes but production has been so-so at best.

Good luck everyone and catch us next Monday for the next edition of Expert Consensus.

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