Adam Strangis NBA DFS Picks and Pivots: 8.20
Welcome back NBA DFS fans! I’m Adam Strangis and I’ll be covering NBA DFS Picks and Pivots for Brian Tulloch for the next couple weeks. After months of being on pause, the league is back and so is DraftKings with big prizes pools to take down so let’s get started with our top NBA DFS Picks and Pivots: 8.20!
For those of you new to Picks and Pivots, the goal of this NBA DFS article each and every day is to provide you a “First Look” overview of the slate where we use DraftKings pricing as a baseline to help us get started. Rather than simply write out the “top plays,” this article will focus on slate strategy and roster construction with a GPP mindset to help you get started on your initial builds. Without further ado, let’s dive into today’s slate!
NBA DFS Picks and Pivots: Slate Breakdown
A big part of this slate could be sort of dictated by the Orlando Magic, if we get news in time. If Aaron Gordon remains out, we can use James Ennis and Gary Clark as values once again. If not, things get a little trickier. Let’s build with Gordon IN, because it’s always easier to use punts and spend up.
Core Group
The biggest decision is up top between James Harden, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Normally with Russell Westbrook out, this is Harden all day and maybe he still has he highest ceiling of 85-90 DK points. I’m leaning Bron here since he’s the cheapest and he legitimately flirted with a 20/20/20 game on Tuesday night. If the Lakers could have hit the ocean, he almost surely hits 20 dimes. Los Angeles clearly needs Bron and AD to carry them and giving LeBron 41 minutes a night is going to lead to good things.
With it being a little tougher to game stack, let’s move into the core group that I’m looking at to pair up with Bron. I do really want to have more exposure to the late hammer and Carmelo Anthony is perfect. His price didn’t rise above $6,000 and he racked up 36.5 DK on 3-11 shooting. Does he grab 10 boards again? Maybe not but he’s going to shoot better and is really affordable.
If we wind up not playing Harden, there’s still a great way to get a piece of the Rockets offense. His name is Eric Gordon. He was $5,500 on the last slate so I wound up going lighter on him. He scored 30 DK and saw his price drop by $600. That makes little sense to me and he took 17 shots in 30 minutes. I’ll take that volume at this price every single day.
The fourth member does sort of hinge on what kind of news we get. One of the tougher positions to fill currently is center. Anchoring your lineup to a top end stud means limited options elsewhere. Steven Adams looks like a very attractive mid-range option. I’d happily put Clark here and build outwards, but we may not know before tip of this game. Adams bullied the undersized Rockets in Game 1 to a 17/12/2 line for 36 DK. He is really cheap for that kind of potential production.
Player Pool
The first two that could well end up in my main lineup are Goran Dragic and Jimmy Butler for the Heat. Butler especially is underpriced and if we may not have value to fit LeBron+Stud. I feel like Butler is that perfect next tier under $8,000. Players like Butler thrive in playoffs and with chips on their shoulders. Dragic is still a great play if he’s going to get 34 minutes. He’s just not the slam dunk lock he was at $4,400.
We’ve talked about the Magic value but some value could come early. If Victor Oladipo sits for the Pacers, we can open up plays like Aaron Holiday or Justin Holiday. Additionally, Malcolm Brogdon would be a bigger priority with Dipo’s scoring and usage missing.
Players In Consideration – Damian Lillard, Davis, Jusuf Nurkic, CJ McCollum, Bam Adebayo, Dennis Schroeder (bounce back spot), Evan Fournier, Brook Lopez, Terrance Ross, DJ Augustin
NBA DFS Picks and Pivots: The Wrap-Up
The final decisions are really dependent on Gordon and Dipo. I would expect Dipo to play and with Gordon missing Game 1, there’s legitimate reason to think he might not go. It’s really going to be a pain if we don’t get any news, but we’ll deal with it as it comes. The core of LeBron, Gordon, Anthony and Adams leaves us with $5,675 per player which is plenty to find a nicely balanced lineup.
Let’s jump into Discord and talk some hoops my friends. Time to make money!
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