We only have 6 games on today’s slate, so we are going to keep this edition of the Index short, sweet and FREE!
There are quite a few studs on this slate and the eye test doesn’t really seem to offer much in the way of cheap value. But games don’t lock until 7 pm central tonight, so anything is possible with late scratches and injury news.
Lastly today, I hope you are getting caught up with all of your Christmas shopping, but if you are wanting some bargain bin talent on today’s slate, may I suggest the following players.
Al-Farouq Aminu – SF/PF – Portland Trail Blazers – $4,700
Analysis: My season-long fantasy league is without Whiteside, Jokic and now Jusuf Nurkic. Yes, I have all of those guys on my team, and they are all big men. Nurkic is a big blow for my fantasy team as I am without any of my centers. This also applies to the Blazers, whose back up to Nurk is Meyers Leonard, who isn’t trusted enough to handle all of the minutes most nights. That leaves the Blazers to play smaller and I feel that leaves Aminu playing all the minutes he can handle tonight (and he already has been since his minutes restriction was lifted). Aminu has a sub-par usage rate of 16% with Nurkic off the floor, but he is averaging nearly a fantasy point per minute. Aminu is in a pace-up game against a Curry-less Golden State team, so should play a ton of minutes and can stuff the stat sheet with board and steals. Any scoring he does is a bonus.
Draymond Green – PF/C – Golden State Warriors – $7,400
Analysis: I am going to suggest a little different strategy tonight on DraftKings. Play Draymond Green at center. I think the position is super weak outside of Boogie and Brow. And for some reason Draymond, despite putting up 46 and 53 fantasy points with Steph Curry shelved, gets a price decrease tonight. Maybe the algorithm saw his 1-for-9 performance and found it necessary to price him down, but he still put up 46 DK points. I’ll take that kind of floor with triple-double upside even with a poor shooting possibility. I also love guys coming off poor shooting performances. Guys like Draymond will want to make up for such a performance much like we want to the next day in DFS after having a bad night with our construction.
Chris Paul – PG/SG – Houston Rockets – $8,100
Analysis; There’s some injury buzz floating around about James Harden tonight. He’s probably, but is dealing with a calf issue. Chris Paul has been very solid since returning to the floor, and now he’s seeing elevated minutes. Paul will see Rajon Rondo defense tonight against the Pelicans, something I will take all day every day. Paul also has triple-double upside with a safe floor. This should be the game with the highest-pace of play and highest-projected points scored, so CP3 has a great chance for double-digit points, high usage even with Harden playing and the floor of extra rebounds and assists. It’s only a matter of time before he is in the $9K range, so strike with the iron is cheap!
