A day after Nikola Vucevic torched the 76ers’ interior defense, it’s Andre Drummond’s turn on Wednesday. Check out daily fantasy expert Ricky Sanders’ recommended plays to help you fill out your roster for today’s NBA contests.
Guards:
Derrick Rose, Bulls, $13,300 – Early reports indicated Pau Gasol may not suit up on Wednesday but he has been upgraded to probable and is expected to play through his illness. Honestly this is good news for Derrick Rose because even though his usage would have ballooned even more than it already has without Jimmy Butler, the Bulls were a virtual lock to get blown out if Gasol sat. Now, with a chance to compete, this is a perfect spot to deploy Rose because he has averaged 38.3 fantasy points per game (FPPG) without Butler this season which equates to nearly a 22 point per game (PPG), 5.5 rebound per game (RPG) and six assist per game (APG) line every time out. The Wizards will be on the second end of back-to-back and the Bulls will be fresh so don’t be surprised if this one comes down to the wire and Rose approaches or exceeds 40 fantasy points once again.
Mike Conley, Grizzlies, $12,200 – After putting up a dud last time out, the recency bias may come into play with Mike Conley. However, do not fret because he should quickly make up for his previous performance with a productive one against the Lakers. No team allows more fantasy points to opposing point guards (PGs) than the Lakers and Conley has enjoyed an uptick in usage without Marc Gasol. In the three previous games to Sunday’s letdown in Toronto, Conley scored at least 20 real points (PTS) in each. Conley has always been a solid passer and he can provide steals so if he’s scoring at a solid clip then he should easily be able to hit value. Sans Gasol, there is definitely no guarantee Memphis should win this game in blowout fashion so Conley can be expected to play his usual minutes in a superb matchup. This is a great spot to deploy him.
Goran Dragic, Heat, $11,300 – Dwyane Wade returned from a few game absence last game and struggled mightily with his shot (4-21). The guy was understandably rusty after a multiple game layoff and he still looked somewhat hobbled by the knee injury. On Wednesday, any Heat player present on the court needs to be fully mobile because they will face the NBA’s best team in the Golden State Warriors. For the third straight game on Monday, the offense really ran through PG Goran Dragic which led to him scoring 20-plus points for the second consecutive game. Since Chris Bosh was forced to leave the team with the blood clot issue, Dragic has registered at least 41 fantasy points in each game. While there certainly is blowout potential against the Warriors, the spread is only 8.0 in Miami. The two places to attack the Warriors defense are at the PG and center (C) spots but Dragic’s game fits best with the likely pace of this game. Do not be surprised if he posts another 20-5-5 type line at a price not fully adjusted to the expected track meet style of this game.
Forwards/Centers:
Andre Drummond, Pistons, $14,200 – I actually just wrote a piece on RotoCurve outlining the Pistons rotation so this is fresh in my mind. Coach Stan Van Gundy is awfully fantasy friendly when it comes to how he distributes minutes, especially lately, because he just runs his starters into the ground. Since the team acquired Tobias Harris, four players have played over 100 minutes in three games and Reggie Jackson has played 95.6. In Drummond’s case, he has averaged 36.3 minutes per game (MPG) since the arrival of Harris and draws literally the best possible matchup on Wednesday. Did you see what Nikola Vucevic did to the 76ers on Tuesday? He diced them up for 53.75 fantasy points which isn’t surprising because no team allows more fantasy points to opposing Cs. As long as Philadelphia keeps this one close, Drummond should push 20-20 and should produce one of his trademark monster performances only he (and maybe Hassan Whiteside) can pull off on a regular basis.
DeAndre Jordan, Clippers, $13,800 – Speaking of players with 20-20 upside, maybe DeAndre Jordan should have been added to Whiteside’s name in the previous tidbit when speaking about players who can post ridiculous PTS, REB and BLK combinations on a given night. Jordan, similarly to Derrick Rose, is missing an important piece from his team so he has been forced to step up his production…but in different ways. While Jordan is scoring nearly three more PPG without Griffin, there is no one on his own team challenging him for rebounds so he is averaging 2.2 more RPG as well. All-in-all he has averaged an additional six FPPG without Griffin and at his current price he averages about 3x value (which would put your team at a pace of 300 fantasy points). On Wednesday, he’ll face a Denver take that ranks in the bottom third of fantasy points allowed and defensive efficiency to opposing Cs so he should be able to provide value at the very least. Feel free to roster him in all formats.
Tobias Harris, Pistons, $11,100 – Reverting back to the Pistons rotation, Tobias Harris has already benefitted greatly from the new system and he serves to further benefit with Stanley Johnson ruled out for the next few weeks. Despite averaging nearly the same MPG, Harris has improved from 13.7 PPG with the Magic this season to 17.0 with the Pistons so far. With Johnson out, Harris will undoubtedly take on a few additional minutes and the matchup is juicy against the 76ers who literally give it up to every position. Harris has played 55.3 minutes at small forward (SF) and 44.8 at power forward (PF) since joining the Pistons and the 76ers rank in the bottom four of efficiency to both positions. Regardless of where Harris is playing, he will be facing a weak defender and weak defensive system. If he pushes 35-37 minutes, I would be shocked if he didn’t surpass value at this price. He is a rock solid cash play on Wednesday and could conceivably be unleashed in tournaments as well.
*Stats are accurate as of Tuesday, Feb. 23
