Adam Strangis NBA DFS Picks and Pivots: Wednesday, August 12
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: Wednesday August 12!
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
If you guys thought yesterday was a nightmare with guys sitting out and not always knowing who to play….I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news. I hope someone gets that Wade Barrett reference from WWE but nonetheless, we move on.
Yesterday at least offered us a few teams that had to go all out (hello Damian Lillard) but today is not the same. The teams on the slate for NBA DFS Picks and Pivots: Wednesday August 12 aren’t playing for anything. The only small argument to be made is the Nuggets could take over the #2 seed from the Clippers. However, they just put their starters on limited minutes in the last game so I’m not buying that.
Today is going to be a minefield, to say the least. I highly encourage to play light and do NOT wade into cash games. There’s just way too much risk.
This could change in a heartbeat but my lean now is to just eat the chalk and start with James Harden. He’s going to be running the show with Russell Westbrook sitting out. Yes, maybe he only plays 25-28 minutes but keep in mind, Harden just put up 60 DK in 32 minutes. He’s still the building block today.
I can’t stress how much today hinges on news. Most of the teams should be getting players back in the lineup. One team that could be the exception is the Pacers, who play the Rockets. TJ Warren is definitely out (he has Jimmy Buckets-itis) and Malcolm Brogdon, Myles Turner and Victor Oladipo are all questionable. This could be the game to stack in all honesty. If the Pacers are down multiple starters, Aaron Holiday especially jumps into the picture. Doug McDermott can be a really awesome cheap value as well. Dougie McBuckets will shoot and he shot 42.9% from deep this season on 280 attempts.
From the Rockets side, we can keep riding players like Ben McLemore, Austin Rivers and possibly Eric Gordon. I want to see what kind of minute restriction he’s on but at $4,100 he is interesting a bit. Gordon was at 1.03 DKPM with Westbrook off the floor this year and had almost a 30% usage rate.
Now that we have a game stack going (maybe) that’s going to leave us with plenty of salary and I’m going for broke. I’m pairing up Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Kawhi just played 37 minutes against the Nets.
Kawhi’s last three games have been 37, 38 and 37 minutes. PG has played 28, 37 and 36 in his last three and Doc Rivers has said they want some continuity heading into the playoffs. Give me two studs that can pay off in 30 minutes. First, we will have vale even if it doesn’t come from Indiana. Second, trust is going to be hard to find overall on this slate.
The last team I want to touch on is the Sixers. If Joel Embiid misses again, I think I’m willing to take a chance on a minimum priced Kyle O’Quinn. I’m certainly not expecting 45 DK again but they’ll need some size. You can always lower Kawhi or PG if you don’t want to go this route.
NBA DFS Picks and Pivots: The Wrap-Up
Much like every slate, we’re taking a stand. It’s important on a four game slate to pick a lane and I’m going with the Rockets/Pacers stack (value permitting) and pairing up Kawhi and PG. I believe we’ll get the value to make it work through the day. However, always make sure to hang out in the Discord as we react to the news.
Let’s jump into Discord and talk some hoops my friends. Time to make money!
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