The NBA is in a tough situation right now with players entering the health and safety protocols. This is on top of the number of players out due to injuries. Teams are signing players that have not seen the court for 10-day contracts.
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GAME NOTES
This round the Jazz are hit hard with 5 players out and a few listed as questionable. 4 of these 5 players are starters. This opens up a lot of value. This game may be at risk of the 3 questionable players sit out. Jordan Clarkson, Hassan Whiteside, Eric Pachsall, Rudy Gat and Royce O’Neall are all in play:
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Spurs are another team down 5 players-3 starters and 1 key player. Dejounte Murray amd Jakob Poeltl are the 2 starters left. They both get a boost along with Bryn Forbes, Kieta Bates-Diop and Tre Jones just to name a few.
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Mavericks are down Kristaps Porzingas and Luka Doncic is listed as doubtful. This accounts for 66% usage. Another good spot to look for players/value. Tim Hardaway Jr picks up the biggest usage bump. Jalen Brinson is right behind him. Maxi Keber is already playing 35 minutes and Dorian Finney-Smith should see a bump as well. Dwight Powell is also someone to look at. They get an excellent matchup agains the Rockets tonight.
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Another team to keep an eye on is the Hawks as a few key players are listed as questionable. This game starts at 10pm, so the news Amy not come in before lock. Trae Young, Bogdanovic, Cam Reddish and John Collins are all listed as questionable. Kevin Huerter would be my favorite option of Young, Bogdonivic or Reddish sits out.
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Looking at a 9-game slate starting at 7pm
Always keep an eye on the status of players before lock, especially now. There are still a decent number of players with questionable tags.
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Change to the article layout today- brief breakdown of the teams most effected by covid/injuries along with CORE plays, Dimes Play and a few other options.
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CORE
Tim Hardaway Jr.- with Porzingas out and Doncic questionable Hardaway is my favorite option on the Mavericks. He is not afraid to shoot the ball and without 2 of the teams top shooters Hardaway will easily take 20 plus shots. Also, he will see an increase in minutes pushing 35 along with adding on some peripheral stats. The best part is that the Mavs go against the second worst team on the slate with a plus 5 pace differential. This means more shots and opportunities for THJ.
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Jordan Clarkson- went through shoot around and is trending towards playing. He will be the focal point of the Jazz offense tonight. Clarkson already takes 15-20 shots a night. What will he do with Mitchell, Gobert, Ingles, Bogdonivic and Conley off the floor….30 shots! Well, his usage does increase to over 40% withy these players out and that is a steal at just over 5K.
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Bryn Forbes- should see a bump in minutes and usage with White and Vassell out. His usage hits 25% and he should play 25-30 minutes if not more. A decent matchup against the Sixers and an excellent price at only 3.5K.
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Jordan Nwora– will see a usage bump and minutes in the mid-high 30s tonight with the Bucks down a few starters and key players. Last game he led the team in minutes at 40 and took 15 shots while adding in some rebounds and a few assists. He has hits 30 or more FPs in 6 of the last 7 games with a ceiling of 49 in that timeframe. I see him coming in at lower ownership with the potential to hit 7-8 times value tonight.
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Top Pay Up Spots
- Nikola Jokic
- Anfernee Simons-still viable at his price
- Jalen Brunson
- Christian Wood
- Giannis Antetokuonmpo/Kevin Durant – game stack
- Dejounte Murray
- D’Aaron Fox-price still too cheap
- Malik Monk
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Favorite Value
- Value listed from Jazz above
- Value listed from Spurs above
- Value listed from Mavericks above
- Nassir Little
- Aaron Wiggins
- Robert Covington
- Damian Jones
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Dimes Play
Eric Paschall– should see 25 plus minutes tonight as the Jazz are without 5 key players. He has the potential to put up 20 reals points while adding in 5-7 rebounds and a few peripheral stats. When given the opportunity Pascall has pushed 30 plus points and over 10 rebounds. He showed this upside playing for the Warriors back in 2019/20.
**Options to help build lineups- Take these core plays and enter into optimizer with your favorite settings (rating, FBrating, FBprojections, FunkProjections, ownership or ratings). OR use this article to help you build a lineup with some of your favorite plays. The Dashboard is also a great tool to help build lineups- It contains a good variety of stats and projections from multiple sources.
Good Luck!