I am always looking for different platforms to play on as the more options DFS players have, the better it will be for the industry.
One would think that Yahoo, and their super high user base, should be able to draw over a mix of sharks and casual players into their games -- and I'm interested in checking out how their games work.
For those that have not played you get a salary cap budget of $200 to fill the following positions:
PG, SG, G, SF, PF, F, C, UTL.
I made a small deposit and will give you a quick run down in who I like tonight:
PG: TJ McConnell ($16) - McConnell has been on quite a roll lately along with another 76ers player I will have on this list in a bit. I am really hoping they keep Okafor off the floor tonight, even though I'm a fan of his, because it seems McConnell and Nerlens Noel have shown a great chemistry together and I would like to see this duo continue to own the majority of the minutes for Philly.
SG: Tim Hardaway Jr ($17) - This obviously hinges on Thabo's availability -- but lets be honest -- if Hardaway hasn't earned his starting job at this point I'm not sure what else he needs to do. He has absolutely taken over games in the 4th quarter recently and given the Hawks a young athletic guard to pair with the blazing quick Schroder.
G: Will Barton ($21) - The Nuggets are extremely short handed and Will Barton has been scorching hot since shouldering the offensive load for the team. Most everyone in the DFS world was locking Barton into their lineups tonight until the news that Wilson Chanlder may play now after previously being ruled out. I think this actually works out to my benefit here as Chandler may still not see a full allotment of minutes and, even if he plays 30 minutes, it's questionable how well he will be able to produce if he has this NBA flu that's been going around. Everyone is jumping ship off of Barton tonight and I think this lowers his ownership enough that I want more shares of him now.
SF: Kawhi Leonard ($45) - I will have to keep an eye on news as we get closer to lock tonight because you just never know when Pop will decide to sit his guys, especially giving them a little bit of a break heading into the All-Star game. If Kawhi does indeed play he is a lock and load for me tonight. Since Pau Gasol has been out Kawhi has absolutely taken over this team and he can flat do it all. The multiple time Defensive POY now has shown that he can score thus making him a dual threat that is a staple in all of my lineups tonight.
PF: Frank Kaminsky ($15) - Frank "the Tank" has been play some incredible ball since being inserted into the starting lineup. Tonight both Plumlee and Zeller have been ruled out again so Frank will get the lion's share of minutes for the Hornets vs a Raptors front court that is not exactly known for their defensive prowess and are also playing on the 2nd game of a back to back. At just $15 I think Frank is a great play at PF tonight.
F: Dario Saric ($13) - Dario has been absolutely on fire lately. Finally he is showing Philly fans why the front office drafted and waited on him to be ready to come join the NBA and he looks like he's starting to get comfortable with his surroundings. If Okafor ends up not playing Dario should see extended run again tonight and I feel is an absolute must play at just $13.
C: Mark Gasol ($34) - I am usually not a huge fan of looking at previous match-ups with teams/players because there are so many different underlying circumstances to each game, but Gasol has absolutely torched the Pelicans in recent history - so much so that I have to look his way. I was thinking of going Noel here and spending up at UTL but a) that gives me 3 Philly players, which is scary and b) Gasol is such a safe option with upside in a match that he's dominated in the past.
UTL: Paul George ($39) - There are a couple things going for PG13 here tonight: 1) LeBron has been getting destroyed on DEF lately and 2) The Cavs have been playing a large number of close games this season. This should allow Paul to stay on the court for an extended amount of minutes in what should be a high scoring up-paced game. He has easily been one of my top 3 least favorite players to use this season but I feel like I have to go back to him in this spot tonight.
So many options tonight so all of this is subject to change, but for now, this will be the lineup I'm firing out on Yahoo.
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Saturday, February 4, 2017
Early morning thoughts on NBA DFS
What a frustrating night of DFS.
I can sum it up pretty quickly:
a) Jimmy Butler ruined a good share of my lineups right off the bat.
b) I picked the wrong PG in Sacramento (Collison did fine but Lawson was the pick. A lot of people took both and I clearly should've considered the same).
c) I picked the wrong SF in Phoenix (went with Chriss instead of TJ Warren)
d) I didn't have nearly enough Jokic. I had a few shares of him but was afraid to fire him back into my lineups coming back from injury last night.
e) Mudiay tanked.
f) RHJ struggled.
g) LeVert got the start and tons of minutes but put up a dud.
h) Myles Turner continues to make my scratch my head at why he's not dominating games
That's enough, you get my point. Onward and upward.
Early thoughts on tonight's games:
I will likely be playing a lot of cash games tonight while I tinker with my tournament strategy.
A quick look at the schedule has me noticing a couple things that I will be factoring into my roster creations today.
No team that plays today has a game tomorrow.
Denver is on a B2B and this is their 4th game in 5 nights. There are a billion questions here. Will Jokic get a full allotment of minutes after just returning from injury? Which of the Nuggets' injured players will return tonight? Want a recipe for a blowout? I have one for you: a banged up Nuggets team that likes to run up and down the court will play @ San Antonio tonight. This one could get out of hand quickly.
Orlando is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights. How will that effect Evan Fournier, who is coming back from injury?
Detroit is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights. With Ish Smith continuing to see an increase in minutes, is this a spot to fire him into my few GPP lineups?
Indiana is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights. So both sides of the ball will be a bit tired in this game. This may make for a sloppy offensive game so I may look at getting someone like Drummond that could grab all of the rebounds after each shot clanks off the iron. He has only played 29 and 26 minutes in each of the last two games, so he shouldn't be overly exhausted tonight.
Memphis in on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights. This is one where I'll have to pay attention close to roster lock. I would not be surprised to see one of Gasol, Conley or Z-Bo sitting this game out.
Minnesota is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights. Not super concerned about this one, as they are a pretty young team .. but if you're deciding on a roster spot between two players and one of them is playing for the 3rd time in 4 nights and traveled all 3 games you may want to factor that in.
Milwaukee is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights. Another young team that this shouldn't make much of a difference but worth noting. The big thing for the Bucks will be who Kidd decides to run out there at the C position. If Henson gets another start I will be locking him in, though I have to believe that Monroe is a better match up vs the up and down pace of the Suns.
Phoenix is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights. Speaking of the Suns, they also are playing for the 3rd time in 4 nights. I would think this will slow Chandler down just a little thus making me like whomever Milwaukee starts at center even more.
Golden State is playing their 3rd in 4 nights. Honestly, this doesn't matter much. The starters usually are rested throughout the game and they do not play tomorrow, but I still wanted to make note.
Philadelphis is playing their 3rd in 4 nights. Is Embiid going to give it a run tonight or shall we throw Ilyasova out there again tonight?
Sacramento is on the back end of a B2B. Again, doesn't matter a huge amount. Boogie has proven in the past that he's just fine on B2B games and he's the biggest cog in this game. Lawson and Collison are both in play again tonight as well as Matt Barnes assuming Temple and Afflalo are out again for this one.
Notable things to look for tonight:
Will Rose play for the Knicks? Brandon Jennings price continues to rise but he has been very solid while starting for the injured Rose. Will Hernangomez continue to get minutes? He has produced each time he's been given the chance, which is why I'm still puzzled at him getting 4 minutes in a quadruple over time game earlier in the week. Is Porzingis back to game form? He looked like it in their last outing so I will giving him a shot tonight.
Who draws the start at C for Milwaukee?
Will the Magic rest Fournier tonight and force me to play Payton?
Will Jokic start tonight and, if so, will he be on any minutes restriction?
Dwight Howard revenge game twice in one week?
Does Embiid play tonight or is another Okafor/Ilyasova night?
How will Frank Kaminsky handle getting the start at C tonight vs the Jazz?
Early players I am high on:
LeBron James: All eyes are on LeBron now as he has called out his team, his GM and Charles Barkley. As a player who loves the spotlight, this is a time for LeBron to show what he can do on the court to shut up all of the noise going on off the court. Factor in the fact that he's playing in Madison Square Garden tonight and I fully expect something big.
Rudy Gobert: Bigs vs the Hornets was "a thing" anyway, but with Kaminsky starting at the 5 I just do not see anyone that will be able to out rebound Gobert. I could see a 20/20 night in the making for him this evening.
Dwight Howard: Howard proved earlier in the week that he can still get motivated to show flashes of his former self, and he loves sticking it to his old teams. The Hawks face the Magic tonight and I expect Dwight to come out ready to play tonight.
Tim Hardaway Jr: Not only am I interested in Tim because of his breakout game earlier in the week vs the Rockets, but at his price he is a solid start if he draws the start. His matchup tonight vs the Magic isn't nearly as enticing as his previous one vs Houston, but I will still have my fair share of him tonight if he starts.
James Johnson: Everyone is starting to get healthy for Miami so I think Johnson will go overlooked on tonight's slate. In his last four games he has put up 31.5, 39, 41.5 and 33.5 DK points and I do not see that slowing down tonight vs the undermanned 76ers team.
Also in play for me are Marcin Gortat, Porzingis, Hernangomez and Goran Dragic.
I can sum it up pretty quickly:
a) Jimmy Butler ruined a good share of my lineups right off the bat.
b) I picked the wrong PG in Sacramento (Collison did fine but Lawson was the pick. A lot of people took both and I clearly should've considered the same).
c) I picked the wrong SF in Phoenix (went with Chriss instead of TJ Warren)
d) I didn't have nearly enough Jokic. I had a few shares of him but was afraid to fire him back into my lineups coming back from injury last night.
e) Mudiay tanked.
f) RHJ struggled.
g) LeVert got the start and tons of minutes but put up a dud.
h) Myles Turner continues to make my scratch my head at why he's not dominating games
That's enough, you get my point. Onward and upward.
Early thoughts on tonight's games:
I will likely be playing a lot of cash games tonight while I tinker with my tournament strategy.
A quick look at the schedule has me noticing a couple things that I will be factoring into my roster creations today.
No team that plays today has a game tomorrow.
Denver is on a B2B and this is their 4th game in 5 nights. There are a billion questions here. Will Jokic get a full allotment of minutes after just returning from injury? Which of the Nuggets' injured players will return tonight? Want a recipe for a blowout? I have one for you: a banged up Nuggets team that likes to run up and down the court will play @ San Antonio tonight. This one could get out of hand quickly.
Orlando is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights. How will that effect Evan Fournier, who is coming back from injury?
Detroit is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights. With Ish Smith continuing to see an increase in minutes, is this a spot to fire him into my few GPP lineups?
Indiana is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights. So both sides of the ball will be a bit tired in this game. This may make for a sloppy offensive game so I may look at getting someone like Drummond that could grab all of the rebounds after each shot clanks off the iron. He has only played 29 and 26 minutes in each of the last two games, so he shouldn't be overly exhausted tonight.
Memphis in on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights. This is one where I'll have to pay attention close to roster lock. I would not be surprised to see one of Gasol, Conley or Z-Bo sitting this game out.
Minnesota is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights. Not super concerned about this one, as they are a pretty young team .. but if you're deciding on a roster spot between two players and one of them is playing for the 3rd time in 4 nights and traveled all 3 games you may want to factor that in.
Milwaukee is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights. Another young team that this shouldn't make much of a difference but worth noting. The big thing for the Bucks will be who Kidd decides to run out there at the C position. If Henson gets another start I will be locking him in, though I have to believe that Monroe is a better match up vs the up and down pace of the Suns.
Phoenix is on a B2B and this is their 3rd game in 4 nights. Speaking of the Suns, they also are playing for the 3rd time in 4 nights. I would think this will slow Chandler down just a little thus making me like whomever Milwaukee starts at center even more.
Golden State is playing their 3rd in 4 nights. Honestly, this doesn't matter much. The starters usually are rested throughout the game and they do not play tomorrow, but I still wanted to make note.
Philadelphis is playing their 3rd in 4 nights. Is Embiid going to give it a run tonight or shall we throw Ilyasova out there again tonight?
Sacramento is on the back end of a B2B. Again, doesn't matter a huge amount. Boogie has proven in the past that he's just fine on B2B games and he's the biggest cog in this game. Lawson and Collison are both in play again tonight as well as Matt Barnes assuming Temple and Afflalo are out again for this one.
Notable things to look for tonight:
Will Rose play for the Knicks? Brandon Jennings price continues to rise but he has been very solid while starting for the injured Rose. Will Hernangomez continue to get minutes? He has produced each time he's been given the chance, which is why I'm still puzzled at him getting 4 minutes in a quadruple over time game earlier in the week. Is Porzingis back to game form? He looked like it in their last outing so I will giving him a shot tonight.
Who draws the start at C for Milwaukee?
Will the Magic rest Fournier tonight and force me to play Payton?
Will Jokic start tonight and, if so, will he be on any minutes restriction?
Dwight Howard revenge game twice in one week?
Does Embiid play tonight or is another Okafor/Ilyasova night?
How will Frank Kaminsky handle getting the start at C tonight vs the Jazz?
Early players I am high on:
LeBron James: All eyes are on LeBron now as he has called out his team, his GM and Charles Barkley. As a player who loves the spotlight, this is a time for LeBron to show what he can do on the court to shut up all of the noise going on off the court. Factor in the fact that he's playing in Madison Square Garden tonight and I fully expect something big.
Rudy Gobert: Bigs vs the Hornets was "a thing" anyway, but with Kaminsky starting at the 5 I just do not see anyone that will be able to out rebound Gobert. I could see a 20/20 night in the making for him this evening.
Dwight Howard: Howard proved earlier in the week that he can still get motivated to show flashes of his former self, and he loves sticking it to his old teams. The Hawks face the Magic tonight and I expect Dwight to come out ready to play tonight.
Tim Hardaway Jr: Not only am I interested in Tim because of his breakout game earlier in the week vs the Rockets, but at his price he is a solid start if he draws the start. His matchup tonight vs the Magic isn't nearly as enticing as his previous one vs Houston, but I will still have my fair share of him tonight if he starts.
James Johnson: Everyone is starting to get healthy for Miami so I think Johnson will go overlooked on tonight's slate. In his last four games he has put up 31.5, 39, 41.5 and 33.5 DK points and I do not see that slowing down tonight vs the undermanned 76ers team.
Also in play for me are Marcin Gortat, Porzingis, Hernangomez and Goran Dragic.
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Four game Thursday for NBA DFS
Well it has been quite the up and down week of NBA DFS. Early in the week I made a bit of a fun run in a 30,000 person GPP before falling a little short but the last couple of days have been small loss or break even nights.
Thursday brings us a small four game slate with a couple fun games and a couple snoozers.
Granted, any game can have its share of great plays just like any high total game can have a star tank, but I think I'll game stack two of these games and then throw a couple mix and match lineups in and be done with it.
Here are my late night/early morning thoughts on the first game on the slate:
Los Angeles Lakers @ Washington Wizards
D'Angelo Russell came back from his injury on Tuesday and put up 51.25 DK points playing 34 minutes against the Denver Nuggets scoring 22 real life points to go with 7 rebounds and a career high 10 assists. His price on DK is still at $5,700 which is extremely low IF he is going to get his full amount of minutes again. There is a very good chance I start all of my lineups with Russell on Thursday night.
Ivica Zubac is starting to emerge as the big man to own on the Lakers. In Tuesday night's game it looked for a while as though Zubac had moved back to the end of the bench as both Tarik Black and Timofey Mozgov both were playing well and stealing all of the minutes. Low and behold, when it came down to crunch time, Zubac was the man that coach Walton trusted on the court and he did not disappoint, scoring a career high (yes, it's early in his career) 17 points and putting up 25.5 DK points. In the three games since he has been getting minutes Zubac has scored 25.5, 31.5 and 33 DK point respectively. At just $3,900 I truly believe Zubac will be one of the highest owned players on tonight's slate.
Lou Williams is better, in my opinion, coming off of the bench so the return of Russell is great for his fantasy perspectives. Most fantasy players will look away from him if he isn't start, but I actually like him a lot more coming off the bench and leading the second unit. Tuesday's game Williams played 24 minutes but took 11 shots and put up 43.25 DK points. I'm a little worried about him matching up against Bradley Beal in spots, but for just $5,700 I will throw him into a few lineups for sure.
John Wall is in a fantastic spot against a Lakers team that severely struggles stopping guards but man his price is HIGH. He should have little to no problem reaching 50+ DK points but are you willing to spend such a huge chunk of your salary on just one guy? It may be worth the gamble in hopes that LA can keep this game close and he gets a full allotment of minutes and if you're game stacking this one then he's a must play. Otherwise, choose your spots wisely.
Bradley Beal continues to produce and his price continues to rise as he now sits at $7,000 on DK. As mentioned in the previous Wizards player, the Lakers have a hard time slowing down guards and Beal has been playing very well of late. He has reached 5x (or close) 5 of his last 6 games and I don't see that slow down tonight. He will be in my cash game lineups but I'm just not sure there is enough upside to be a great GPP play. Again, game stack player - sure - but otherwise I may not have much of him in other GPP lineups.
Kelly Oubre Jr is the cheap guy I like for Washington in this game. Call me crazy, but his minutes has been solid of late and there is a chance the Wizards blow this game out early and Oubre gets to stay on the court and be the main source of offense. His is a very athletic young player that has the ability to shine under the right circumstances and I believe tonight, for GPPs, is a good spot for him to do just that.
Since we are getting late (updating at 5:40pm) I am just going to mention a few more players I like tonight:
Dwight Howard in a revenge game against a Rockets team that he was less than thrilled with while playing there. Facing the revolving door of centers in Houston Howard is in a great spot in theory tonight. Unfortunately, as we have seen many times in the DFS world, theory doesn't mean fact. The Hawks have been absolutely horrible recently and have put up some serious stinkers in the last couple of weeks. In what should be an up-tempo fast paced game one would have to believe the ATL players should have the chance to have great fantasy games and at just $6,900 on DK I am a fan of Howard as one of my cash game guys tonight.
Dennis Schroder will be in a lot of my GPP lineups, but maybe not cash tonight. He has either thrived or tanked in recent weeks (seems to be the same as the rest of this team) so I can't trust him in cash games facing Patrick Beverley defense but at $6,400 I could see him getting 7 or 8x tonight in this potential shootout.
Steph Curry came back after missing the Warriors' previous game with an illness and put on a sick show against the Hornets last night (see what I did there). The only thing that worries me here is playing on a back to back after having the NBA flu just a couple nights ago. With this being a late game we can't really wait for news on if he's for sure playing but if you're confident that he's going to play then he's a great play tonight in all formats. $8,900 on DK and he has been showing flashes of his old MVP form so that price is a steal at the moment.
Kawhi Leonard could be the highest scoring player on tonight slate assuming the 76ers can find a way to make this game competitive. Leonard's usage rate goes through the roof when LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol are not on the court, which will be the case tonight. Kawhi could be in line for a major game but this one could get out of control pretty quickly as the 76ers are playing without Embiid.
Dewayne Dedmon was in play for me before I heard Aldridge was out so now I will have a bit more of him in my GPPs. I never seem to get David Lee right as he scores about 10 when I start him but 30 when I don't, so I will just avoid him and save myself the headache. At $3,500 I will throw Dedmon into a few GPP lineups tonight as he should be in line for some time on the floor tonight and he seems to produce well when he gets the chance. If this game gets ugly he will see even more time and without Embiid to worry about I like Dewayne's spot here.
Dario Saric did all he could last night to crush me in my games but a garbage time run got him back to value when the final buzzer went off. Embiid is out and Covington is healthy tonight for Philadelphia so Saric should continue to see 20+ minutes on the court. He has shown flashes of the ability to be an offensive weapon and should get the late run if this game blows out. I will have him in several lineups tonight but won't go too over-board.
Well folks, that's all for tonight. With just under an hour to lock please hit me up with any questions you may have and good luck!
Thursday brings us a small four game slate with a couple fun games and a couple snoozers.
Granted, any game can have its share of great plays just like any high total game can have a star tank, but I think I'll game stack two of these games and then throw a couple mix and match lineups in and be done with it.
Here are my late night/early morning thoughts on the first game on the slate:
Los Angeles Lakers @ Washington Wizards
D'Angelo Russell came back from his injury on Tuesday and put up 51.25 DK points playing 34 minutes against the Denver Nuggets scoring 22 real life points to go with 7 rebounds and a career high 10 assists. His price on DK is still at $5,700 which is extremely low IF he is going to get his full amount of minutes again. There is a very good chance I start all of my lineups with Russell on Thursday night.
Ivica Zubac is starting to emerge as the big man to own on the Lakers. In Tuesday night's game it looked for a while as though Zubac had moved back to the end of the bench as both Tarik Black and Timofey Mozgov both were playing well and stealing all of the minutes. Low and behold, when it came down to crunch time, Zubac was the man that coach Walton trusted on the court and he did not disappoint, scoring a career high (yes, it's early in his career) 17 points and putting up 25.5 DK points. In the three games since he has been getting minutes Zubac has scored 25.5, 31.5 and 33 DK point respectively. At just $3,900 I truly believe Zubac will be one of the highest owned players on tonight's slate.
Lou Williams is better, in my opinion, coming off of the bench so the return of Russell is great for his fantasy perspectives. Most fantasy players will look away from him if he isn't start, but I actually like him a lot more coming off the bench and leading the second unit. Tuesday's game Williams played 24 minutes but took 11 shots and put up 43.25 DK points. I'm a little worried about him matching up against Bradley Beal in spots, but for just $5,700 I will throw him into a few lineups for sure.
John Wall is in a fantastic spot against a Lakers team that severely struggles stopping guards but man his price is HIGH. He should have little to no problem reaching 50+ DK points but are you willing to spend such a huge chunk of your salary on just one guy? It may be worth the gamble in hopes that LA can keep this game close and he gets a full allotment of minutes and if you're game stacking this one then he's a must play. Otherwise, choose your spots wisely.
Bradley Beal continues to produce and his price continues to rise as he now sits at $7,000 on DK. As mentioned in the previous Wizards player, the Lakers have a hard time slowing down guards and Beal has been playing very well of late. He has reached 5x (or close) 5 of his last 6 games and I don't see that slow down tonight. He will be in my cash game lineups but I'm just not sure there is enough upside to be a great GPP play. Again, game stack player - sure - but otherwise I may not have much of him in other GPP lineups.
Kelly Oubre Jr is the cheap guy I like for Washington in this game. Call me crazy, but his minutes has been solid of late and there is a chance the Wizards blow this game out early and Oubre gets to stay on the court and be the main source of offense. His is a very athletic young player that has the ability to shine under the right circumstances and I believe tonight, for GPPs, is a good spot for him to do just that.
Since we are getting late (updating at 5:40pm) I am just going to mention a few more players I like tonight:
Dwight Howard in a revenge game against a Rockets team that he was less than thrilled with while playing there. Facing the revolving door of centers in Houston Howard is in a great spot in theory tonight. Unfortunately, as we have seen many times in the DFS world, theory doesn't mean fact. The Hawks have been absolutely horrible recently and have put up some serious stinkers in the last couple of weeks. In what should be an up-tempo fast paced game one would have to believe the ATL players should have the chance to have great fantasy games and at just $6,900 on DK I am a fan of Howard as one of my cash game guys tonight.
Dennis Schroder will be in a lot of my GPP lineups, but maybe not cash tonight. He has either thrived or tanked in recent weeks (seems to be the same as the rest of this team) so I can't trust him in cash games facing Patrick Beverley defense but at $6,400 I could see him getting 7 or 8x tonight in this potential shootout.
Steph Curry came back after missing the Warriors' previous game with an illness and put on a sick show against the Hornets last night (see what I did there). The only thing that worries me here is playing on a back to back after having the NBA flu just a couple nights ago. With this being a late game we can't really wait for news on if he's for sure playing but if you're confident that he's going to play then he's a great play tonight in all formats. $8,900 on DK and he has been showing flashes of his old MVP form so that price is a steal at the moment.
Kawhi Leonard could be the highest scoring player on tonight slate assuming the 76ers can find a way to make this game competitive. Leonard's usage rate goes through the roof when LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol are not on the court, which will be the case tonight. Kawhi could be in line for a major game but this one could get out of control pretty quickly as the 76ers are playing without Embiid.
Dewayne Dedmon was in play for me before I heard Aldridge was out so now I will have a bit more of him in my GPPs. I never seem to get David Lee right as he scores about 10 when I start him but 30 when I don't, so I will just avoid him and save myself the headache. At $3,500 I will throw Dedmon into a few GPP lineups tonight as he should be in line for some time on the floor tonight and he seems to produce well when he gets the chance. If this game gets ugly he will see even more time and without Embiid to worry about I like Dewayne's spot here.
Dario Saric did all he could last night to crush me in my games but a garbage time run got him back to value when the final buzzer went off. Embiid is out and Covington is healthy tonight for Philadelphia so Saric should continue to see 20+ minutes on the court. He has shown flashes of the ability to be an offensive weapon and should get the late run if this game blows out. I will have him in several lineups tonight but won't go too over-board.
Well folks, that's all for tonight. With just under an hour to lock please hit me up with any questions you may have and good luck!
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
WrestleMania Season hits a snag ... but there are more problems than that
There is still some question around the twitter world on if the Seth Rollins injury is a shoot or a work, but it sure seems like a legit issue.
It would be devastating if Rollins, arguably the best pure wrestler and most over face on RAW right now, is forced to miss WrestleMania for a second year in a row.
The feud with HHH had been slowly gaining steam before Seth's appearance at NxT Takeover which was completely unexpected and took the rivalry to a whole other level.
Monday Night RAW saw HHH come out and cut a very intense and well performed promo before calling Rollins down to the ring to meet "his destroyer", which we all now know was the only and only Samoa Joe.
Unfortunately, as it seems at the time of this blog post, when Joe was taking him to the mat with the Coquina Clutch it looked as though Seth's leg buckled and, as we hear now, re-injured the right-knee of the "Architect".
If you haven't re-watched the slow-mo videos of this finish, you should. Pay close attention to the words exchanged between the two superstars.
Multiple reports are saying that it appears to go like this:
Joe: "Are you ok?"
Seth: "I hope so."
And with that, we now wait to find out how significant this injury will be and whether or not this takes Seth off of the card for the "Grand Daddy of them All" for the second consecutive year.
Now let me be honest, I have been and will always be a big HHH mark. I'm just a fan of his in-ring psychology as well as his "holier than thou" promos --- but I was torn about him working 'Mania this year.
On one side, the last time he worked this event it was a slow moving horrible match that needed several spots of outside interference to make it watchable.
That match was vs the Icon Sting, who was severely out of shape and really was showing his age.
This match would have been against one of the best in-ring technicians in the industry and likely could have been a high quality match with some incredible story telling.
One can only hope that this injury does not derail one of the sure fire main matches of WrestleMania.
That being said, I have a big of a problem with a few of the other rumored matches for the card.
First we'll go with Goldberg vs Lesnar.
In a vacuum this match would be fine for what it is. Two legends and two monsters facing off in what is sure to be a hard hitting and brutal fight that fans everywhere would like to see.
The problem is ... they've faced off twice now since November and Goldberg has bested The Beast both times without breaking a sweat.
If we are to believe that they are even attempting to make this believable, why would Goldberg agree to fight Brock again? What good would it do him?
This would be the definition of a match where "nothing to be gained". If Goldberg goes out and loses to Brock what does that prove? Brock was still manhandled twice previously (actually 3 times if you count that debacle of a match they had at WrestleMania 20) so what would this single victory really do to make up for those? If Goldberg wins how do they ever bring Lesnar's character back to the level of intimidation and dominance that he once was?
And without that gimmick, what is he exactly? If he's not the Beast, then he's just another guy...
The only way I can see this match making sense is the following:
Goldberg takes on Kevin Owens at Fastlane for the Universal Championship. We have all seen that Goldberg has his son and wife in the front row when he works during this most recent return.
We could see Lesnar come out during the title match, go over to Goldberg's son and flash that evil grin he's famous for, thus distracting the challenger and costing him his chance to win the belt while also goading him into the re-match?
That or the potential "career vs career" match that we sometimes see in these situations, but I can't imagine they'd have Goldberg end his career by losing on the grand stage of Mania.
Speaking of "why would wrestler A give wrestler B another chance", my other problem with the rumored card would be (c) Charlotte defending against everyone's favorite hugger Bayley.
If they were considering this match for WrestleMania then they maybe should have made Bayley look like a formidable opponent at the Royal Rumble.
Instead we got what might as well have been a squash match.
Bayley looked completely outmatched and dominated in a spot that they could have given her the chance to show her talents but come up just a little short.
Granted they did give her the pin the following night in the 6 person mixed tag match over the champ, but what does that prove? That she can steal a pin in a match with the assistance of other teammates?
I have to wonder .. are we all looking one way while the WWE plans something completely different for us?
If you pay attention to the commentary during the Royal Rumble Michael Cole and Corey Graves repeatedly mention how dominant Charlotte's been at PPVs and it is hard to ignore how strong she has been booked since first winning the title.
Yes, I know, she has lost the title on more than one occasion to Sasha Banks, but go back and watch those. Even when she lost it was usually because she became over-confident and lost focus, not because she was just beaten.
Are they building up the unbeatable champ for WrestleMania to have Bayley pin her clean and thus, in turn, make Bayley the new Daniel Bryan ...
or....
Are we as fans all looking towards that match when what we actually will see is a Bayley vs (heel) Sasha Banks at WrestleMania (in what could be a show stealing match) while the WWE is building towards a "unbeatable" Charlotte vs "unbeatable" Asuka program?
Could the two most dominant women in the WWE be on a collision course and meet each other in one of the main spots at the biggest show of the year?
As big as a Bayley fan as I am, a potential Charlotte v Asuka match has me very excited.
For those of you who do not know who Asuka is or have never seen her in action do yourself a favor and head over to youtube now and check out a few of her matches. You can thank me later.
It would be devastating if Rollins, arguably the best pure wrestler and most over face on RAW right now, is forced to miss WrestleMania for a second year in a row.
The feud with HHH had been slowly gaining steam before Seth's appearance at NxT Takeover which was completely unexpected and took the rivalry to a whole other level.
Monday Night RAW saw HHH come out and cut a very intense and well performed promo before calling Rollins down to the ring to meet "his destroyer", which we all now know was the only and only Samoa Joe.
Unfortunately, as it seems at the time of this blog post, when Joe was taking him to the mat with the Coquina Clutch it looked as though Seth's leg buckled and, as we hear now, re-injured the right-knee of the "Architect".
If you haven't re-watched the slow-mo videos of this finish, you should. Pay close attention to the words exchanged between the two superstars.
Multiple reports are saying that it appears to go like this:
Joe: "Are you ok?"
Seth: "I hope so."
And with that, we now wait to find out how significant this injury will be and whether or not this takes Seth off of the card for the "Grand Daddy of them All" for the second consecutive year.
Now let me be honest, I have been and will always be a big HHH mark. I'm just a fan of his in-ring psychology as well as his "holier than thou" promos --- but I was torn about him working 'Mania this year.
On one side, the last time he worked this event it was a slow moving horrible match that needed several spots of outside interference to make it watchable.
That match was vs the Icon Sting, who was severely out of shape and really was showing his age.
This match would have been against one of the best in-ring technicians in the industry and likely could have been a high quality match with some incredible story telling.
One can only hope that this injury does not derail one of the sure fire main matches of WrestleMania.
That being said, I have a big of a problem with a few of the other rumored matches for the card.
First we'll go with Goldberg vs Lesnar.
In a vacuum this match would be fine for what it is. Two legends and two monsters facing off in what is sure to be a hard hitting and brutal fight that fans everywhere would like to see.
The problem is ... they've faced off twice now since November and Goldberg has bested The Beast both times without breaking a sweat.
If we are to believe that they are even attempting to make this believable, why would Goldberg agree to fight Brock again? What good would it do him?
This would be the definition of a match where "nothing to be gained". If Goldberg goes out and loses to Brock what does that prove? Brock was still manhandled twice previously (actually 3 times if you count that debacle of a match they had at WrestleMania 20) so what would this single victory really do to make up for those? If Goldberg wins how do they ever bring Lesnar's character back to the level of intimidation and dominance that he once was?
And without that gimmick, what is he exactly? If he's not the Beast, then he's just another guy...
The only way I can see this match making sense is the following:
Goldberg takes on Kevin Owens at Fastlane for the Universal Championship. We have all seen that Goldberg has his son and wife in the front row when he works during this most recent return.
We could see Lesnar come out during the title match, go over to Goldberg's son and flash that evil grin he's famous for, thus distracting the challenger and costing him his chance to win the belt while also goading him into the re-match?
That or the potential "career vs career" match that we sometimes see in these situations, but I can't imagine they'd have Goldberg end his career by losing on the grand stage of Mania.
Speaking of "why would wrestler A give wrestler B another chance", my other problem with the rumored card would be (c) Charlotte defending against everyone's favorite hugger Bayley.
If they were considering this match for WrestleMania then they maybe should have made Bayley look like a formidable opponent at the Royal Rumble.
Instead we got what might as well have been a squash match.
Bayley looked completely outmatched and dominated in a spot that they could have given her the chance to show her talents but come up just a little short.
Granted they did give her the pin the following night in the 6 person mixed tag match over the champ, but what does that prove? That she can steal a pin in a match with the assistance of other teammates?
I have to wonder .. are we all looking one way while the WWE plans something completely different for us?
If you pay attention to the commentary during the Royal Rumble Michael Cole and Corey Graves repeatedly mention how dominant Charlotte's been at PPVs and it is hard to ignore how strong she has been booked since first winning the title.
Yes, I know, she has lost the title on more than one occasion to Sasha Banks, but go back and watch those. Even when she lost it was usually because she became over-confident and lost focus, not because she was just beaten.
Are they building up the unbeatable champ for WrestleMania to have Bayley pin her clean and thus, in turn, make Bayley the new Daniel Bryan ...
or....
Are we as fans all looking towards that match when what we actually will see is a Bayley vs (heel) Sasha Banks at WrestleMania (in what could be a show stealing match) while the WWE is building towards a "unbeatable" Charlotte vs "unbeatable" Asuka program?
Could the two most dominant women in the WWE be on a collision course and meet each other in one of the main spots at the biggest show of the year?
As big as a Bayley fan as I am, a potential Charlotte v Asuka match has me very excited.
For those of you who do not know who Asuka is or have never seen her in action do yourself a favor and head over to youtube now and check out a few of her matches. You can thank me later.
Monday, January 30, 2017
Cincinnati Reds Preview #1
As a huge baseball fan, I simply can't wait for the upcoming season to begin. As we move closer to Opening Day I will attempt to write some small articles on different pieces of the teams I follow. Here is my first installment. Please let me know what you think:
The Cincinnati Reds showed signs of life in what was
supposed to be a dreary and hard to watch 2016 season.
Players like Adam Duvall and Jose Peraza helped give Reds
fans a glimmer of hope for the future and future Hall of Fame 1st
baseman Joey Votto showed that he is not ready to call it quits just yet.
A lot of every day fans of the team may have been scratching
their heads after the trade of Dan Straily, who lead the team last season in
wins; strikeouts as well as innings pitched.
Admittedly I was a little taken a-back when I first heard the news as
well. That being said, once I heard the
haul they got in return, I was absolutely thrilled.
In return for the veteran Straily the Reds picked up right-handed
pitching prospects Luis Castillo and Austin Brice from the Miami Marlins along
with outfielder Isaiah White.
Castillo, the highlight of the package Cincinnati received,
was rated as Miami’s number 5 prospect according MLB.com and has been known to
hit triple digits with his blazing fastball.
To fill the spot in the rotation that once belonged to the
aforementioned Straily the Reds promptly went out and signed veteran free agent
pitcher Scott Feldman.
Feldman, who split time between the Houston Astros and
Toronto Blue Jays, is nearly a .500 pitcher for his career and should be able
to slide into the back end of the Cincinnati rotation and give the
Reds a
veteran presence to help bring along some of his younger teammates.
The rotation still has some question marks for the 2017
season but holds an abundance of potential if the returning members can stay healthy
and improve on last year’s efforts.
Anthony DeSclafani had a breakout season in 2016 and should,
in my opinion, get the ball for Opening Day.
DeSclafani is followed by a returning Homer Bailey who is hoping to be
ready for Spring Training this year.
After Bailey things start to get a little questionable.
Brandon Finnegan showed some flashes of brilliance last
season but when he was bad, he was very bad.
I still believe he is better suited for the back-end of the bullpen, but
that is an argument for another day.
Cody Reed could use a little more seasoning but each time
they have sent him to AAA Louisville he has absolutely dominated the
competition. He has to find a way to
transition that ability to the majors and find a way to get big league hitters
out consistently.
Cincinnati also has two bright prospects in the minors that
could make their mark on the big league squad sooner rather than later.
Both Robert Stephenson and Amir Garrett have the kind of
ability that could eventually see them as the #1 and #2 starters on this team
for many years to come. Combining those
two with the newly acquired Luis Castillo and Cincinnati fans have a lot to be
excited about in terms of the future rotation possibilities.
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Thursday night 4 game slates - throw a dart and try not to hurt yourself
After a couple break even nights in a row (breaking even is like winning, right?) it's time for a very unexciting four game Thursday night slate.
How does one attack a slate when the best DFS player in the league, Russell Westbrook, is involved in a game with an O/U south of 200?
How many Dallas Maverick players are too many Dallas Maverick players?
TNT -- I appreciate you wanting to show us how good Westbrook is, but seriously, this is the game you're making us watch tonight?
Anyway, onto my teams. I decided to play a few more cash games tonight, so we'll go with that lineup:
PG: Eric Bledsoe - Suns: Against my better judgement, I decided to avoid Westbrook in my cash game lineups tonight. Usually he's a staple of my team when playing cash, but I ended up going a different route tonight. With the O/U of the Suns and Nuggets game tonight being in the 230 range, I decided to load up on a few pieces from that game. Bledsoe has been on fire recently and I decided to pivot away from Russell and give Eric a shot tonight instead.
SG: Devin Booker - Suns: As mentioned, this game's over under was pretty big and Booker has been one of the hottest players in the league lately. He is quite scoring dependent but he has consistently been producing of late and I don't see that stopping tonight. Gary Harris DEF worries me a little, but I have faith that Devin should be able to reach value pretty easily.
SF: Justin Anderson - Mavericks: The Mavericks are kind of a MASH unit these days. There will be several players from this team in my lineups tonight in both tournaments and cash as the key group should see plenty of minutes and chances to produce. Anderson is a cheap option that looks to be gaining confidence with each minute he gets. Facing a OKC team that doesn't overly focus on DEF and isn't exactly shooting the lights out these days - Anderson should have a chance to both score and steal some rebounds during this game.
PF: Darrell Arthur - Nuggets: A little bit of a gamble here, which I don't usually make in cash lineups, but Arthur has been very solid since coming back from injury. The front court for Denver is a bit muddled so I have to hope they continue to give him 15-18 minutes and, at league minimum, it is not overly concerning but he could get a DNP at any time as we've seen from Mike Malone.
C: Tyson Chandler - Suns: Chandler has been producing at a $7200-$7300 range but is still sitting at $6800 as of today. This may be one of the last nights I am able to justify rostering him for a while but I wanted to roll him out there tonight in this high total game. a consistent 28-30 point player lately, he is exactly what I need to balance out my cash teams tonight.
G: Jameer Nelson - Nuggets: Other than one dud, Nelson has stepped into the starting role nicely since Mudiay went down with an injury. Another player from the highest predicted total on the board tonight, Nelson is another player that may not flash huge upside but certainly shouldn't kill my team, barring disaster.
F: Karl Anthony-Towns - Timberwolves: KAT is an absolute monster and I try and fit him onto my teams any time I can. It was a toss up on KAT or Jokic and my coin flip lead me to Towns (kidding). I just think that Len and Chandler could get Jokic in some foul trouble tonight so I decided to pivot over to Towns as he is a solid 45-50 pt player night in and night out. When fielding cash teams I like to try and stay as solid and predictable as possible.
UTL: Ricky Rubio - Timberwolves: I think Rubio was scared of being Wally Pipped. Ricky went home for a game earlier this week and Kris Dunn had a monster night. Needless to say, Rubio came right back to the team and deemed himself ready to go. Jeff Teague defense really is nothing to scare me away from someone and this game is another of the higher totals of the night. Rubio is able to put up solid fantasy nights without relying on scoring, and those are the kind of players I like.
In my tournaments I have shares of Pierre Jackson, Dwight Powell, Enes Kanter and Andrew Wiggins.
Good luck to everyone! I hope your players stay out of foul trouble and don't decide to put up a dud tonight.
How does one attack a slate when the best DFS player in the league, Russell Westbrook, is involved in a game with an O/U south of 200?
How many Dallas Maverick players are too many Dallas Maverick players?
TNT -- I appreciate you wanting to show us how good Westbrook is, but seriously, this is the game you're making us watch tonight?
Anyway, onto my teams. I decided to play a few more cash games tonight, so we'll go with that lineup:
PG: Eric Bledsoe - Suns: Against my better judgement, I decided to avoid Westbrook in my cash game lineups tonight. Usually he's a staple of my team when playing cash, but I ended up going a different route tonight. With the O/U of the Suns and Nuggets game tonight being in the 230 range, I decided to load up on a few pieces from that game. Bledsoe has been on fire recently and I decided to pivot away from Russell and give Eric a shot tonight instead.
SG: Devin Booker - Suns: As mentioned, this game's over under was pretty big and Booker has been one of the hottest players in the league lately. He is quite scoring dependent but he has consistently been producing of late and I don't see that stopping tonight. Gary Harris DEF worries me a little, but I have faith that Devin should be able to reach value pretty easily.
SF: Justin Anderson - Mavericks: The Mavericks are kind of a MASH unit these days. There will be several players from this team in my lineups tonight in both tournaments and cash as the key group should see plenty of minutes and chances to produce. Anderson is a cheap option that looks to be gaining confidence with each minute he gets. Facing a OKC team that doesn't overly focus on DEF and isn't exactly shooting the lights out these days - Anderson should have a chance to both score and steal some rebounds during this game.
PF: Darrell Arthur - Nuggets: A little bit of a gamble here, which I don't usually make in cash lineups, but Arthur has been very solid since coming back from injury. The front court for Denver is a bit muddled so I have to hope they continue to give him 15-18 minutes and, at league minimum, it is not overly concerning but he could get a DNP at any time as we've seen from Mike Malone.
C: Tyson Chandler - Suns: Chandler has been producing at a $7200-$7300 range but is still sitting at $6800 as of today. This may be one of the last nights I am able to justify rostering him for a while but I wanted to roll him out there tonight in this high total game. a consistent 28-30 point player lately, he is exactly what I need to balance out my cash teams tonight.
G: Jameer Nelson - Nuggets: Other than one dud, Nelson has stepped into the starting role nicely since Mudiay went down with an injury. Another player from the highest predicted total on the board tonight, Nelson is another player that may not flash huge upside but certainly shouldn't kill my team, barring disaster.
F: Karl Anthony-Towns - Timberwolves: KAT is an absolute monster and I try and fit him onto my teams any time I can. It was a toss up on KAT or Jokic and my coin flip lead me to Towns (kidding). I just think that Len and Chandler could get Jokic in some foul trouble tonight so I decided to pivot over to Towns as he is a solid 45-50 pt player night in and night out. When fielding cash teams I like to try and stay as solid and predictable as possible.
UTL: Ricky Rubio - Timberwolves: I think Rubio was scared of being Wally Pipped. Ricky went home for a game earlier this week and Kris Dunn had a monster night. Needless to say, Rubio came right back to the team and deemed himself ready to go. Jeff Teague defense really is nothing to scare me away from someone and this game is another of the higher totals of the night. Rubio is able to put up solid fantasy nights without relying on scoring, and those are the kind of players I like.
In my tournaments I have shares of Pierre Jackson, Dwight Powell, Enes Kanter and Andrew Wiggins.
Good luck to everyone! I hope your players stay out of foul trouble and don't decide to put up a dud tonight.
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
What a frustratingly fun night of NBA DFS
So close, yet so far away.
Last night was a perfect example of why it's difficult to put in a lineup early in the day and then actually expect that lineup to succeed to it's fullest potential.
As I sit scanning Twitter at around 6:30pm last night we get news that Kawhi Leonard was going to be sitting out the Spurs game last night vs the Nets.
"Yikes!" I thought to myself. "This changes everything!!"
Now I have to scramble through and remove Leonard from all of the teams that I currently had him on and, also, go back now and add in a couple Nets players because they have a better chance of keeping it close now. All of the sudden Lopez was in play, Kilpatrick was in play, RHJ was in play. Not only that, but now I need to add LaMarcus Aldridge to as many lineups as possible as his usage is off the charts with Kawhi sits!!
As I'm doing that I get the report that Anthony Davis is also out for the Pelicans.
"DRATS!!!!"
Now I have to make sure I didn't have him in any lineups (which I didn't) but now I have to make sure I get Jrue Holiday and Terrance Jones in some lineups as they are sure to get a huge up-tick in usage with out Brow on the court!
Unfortunately I, like most, didn't think the Pelicans would be able to keep the game close enough to warrant playing LeBron, Love or Kyrie so I faded those three (bad idea) and put my money elsewhere.
Jrue ended up being just 1.9% owned in the DK $4 $150,000 for first league while Jones was a smidge over 10%.
As the early games rolled through I had a couple teams doing decent but one team smashing.
Here was that lineup:
PG: Antetokounmpo (50.75 FPP) : With a high scoring match-up vs the Rockets in his sight, it was hard to go against the Greek Freak in this spot. I figured he would get a bit over looked with all of the other stars on the slate. He ended up being 20.7% owned and at $10,600 he got me nearly 5x, which I was fine with.
SG: Dellavedova (29.75 FPP) : Again, a high scoring match-up vs the Rockets and Delly remains in the starting lineup after a pretty solid showing in the Bucks last game. At just $3,500 I thought he was an absolute lock on Monday night to at bare minimum reach value. He ended up far exceeding my expectations and, at 11.1% owned, was just the kind of player needed in my GPPs to try and move up in the standings.
SF: Dion Waiters (48.75 FPP) : If they're going to keep his price under $6k and Miami continues to run him out there for over 30 minutes a game, Dion will be an insta-start in my lineups for a while, especially with Tyler Johnson out. I felt he was a must start at $5,700 as his minutes and production continues to improve since coming back from injury. Of course, I didn't expect him to put up almost 50, but I really thought he was a very safe play for that price tag. I was very excited to see he was only 18.5% owned!
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge (42.25 FPP): Man oh man. Thanks, Brooklyn, for your efforts on Monday... LMA will be in my lineup any time Leonard is out. That is just facts. At $6,900 he needed just 35 FPP to reach 5x and I figured he was a mortal lock for that tonight vs a Nets team that clearly hates playing defense. Unfortunately this game turned into a blow out and he only played 27 minutes. At 25.8% ownership he was my highest owned player, but I still would've liked for that game to stay close so that he saw some 4th quarter action, darn it.
C: Clint Capela (21.25 FPP): Here is another player who is seeing a little more production as his minutes continue to increase after coming back from injury. To be fair, this was a total "dart" as they announced he would be starting, which always makes me interested and, even more intriguing, Miles Plumlee was starting for the Bucks. My thought was that Capela would be able to out rebound the former Dukie thus giving him a very good chance of hitting value just based on peripheral stats and hopefully find a tip back basket or 5 to get up to 30 FPP. Unfortunately this did not play out the way I'd hoped. He ended with 21 FPP which, at $4,000, was still 5x on his salary but I fully expected him to reach 25+ and at just 8.5% owned I was really pulling for him Monday night.
G: Jrue Holiday (67.5 FPP): As mentioned, the moment that I heard Davis was out I swapped Holiday into as many teams as I could as quickly as I could. His numbers have been down lately, which is likely what helped contribute to him being just 1.9% owned, but I was ok rolling the dice on him going up against Kyrie defense. Needless to say he far out performed my expectations as he put up that magical 9x number we always dream about. Thanks Jrue,
F: Terrence Jones (63.75 FPP): Did someone say 9x? Mr. Jones will see your 9x and raise you one more. At just $6,200 ended up getting 10x, which is what you need in order to take down a GPP. Especially since he was just 10% owned. The fear, of course, was that the Pelicans would get blown out and none of the starters would play their full allotment of minutes or that Alvin Gentry would simply come up with some crazy lineup changes that left everyone scratching their head ... which has been known to occur. I was willing to take that chance, however, as Jones has proven to be a great DFS player when actually given minutes, so he was worth the risk and it certainly paid off.
UTL: Thaddeus Young (19.75 FPP): Well, drats. Thad is a very streaky player that, when going good, is an insta-start for me. After scoring over 30 FPP in 4 of his last 6 games, I thought he was worth a shot at $5,500 vs an average rebounding team such as the Knicks. My theory was he would be able to rebound a lot of the bricks that were put up on both sides, as neither of these teams really jump off the chart when it comes to FG%. Unfortunately he got in foul trouble early and then Myles Turner took over the game, leaving Thad in a comfy position on the bench cheering on his team for long stretches of time. He ended up getting 31 minutes, which is encouraging, but with the foul trouble he was not able to be as aggressive as he usually is thus limiting his fantasy potential.
Oh well. It was fun while it lasted and I was feeling pretty good about my teams with about 100 minutes left for my squad but it just didn't pan out the way I hoped.
Maybe next time.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave comments below!
Last night was a perfect example of why it's difficult to put in a lineup early in the day and then actually expect that lineup to succeed to it's fullest potential.
As I sit scanning Twitter at around 6:30pm last night we get news that Kawhi Leonard was going to be sitting out the Spurs game last night vs the Nets.
"Yikes!" I thought to myself. "This changes everything!!"
Now I have to scramble through and remove Leonard from all of the teams that I currently had him on and, also, go back now and add in a couple Nets players because they have a better chance of keeping it close now. All of the sudden Lopez was in play, Kilpatrick was in play, RHJ was in play. Not only that, but now I need to add LaMarcus Aldridge to as many lineups as possible as his usage is off the charts with Kawhi sits!!
As I'm doing that I get the report that Anthony Davis is also out for the Pelicans.
"DRATS!!!!"
Now I have to make sure I didn't have him in any lineups (which I didn't) but now I have to make sure I get Jrue Holiday and Terrance Jones in some lineups as they are sure to get a huge up-tick in usage with out Brow on the court!
Unfortunately I, like most, didn't think the Pelicans would be able to keep the game close enough to warrant playing LeBron, Love or Kyrie so I faded those three (bad idea) and put my money elsewhere.
Jrue ended up being just 1.9% owned in the DK $4 $150,000 for first league while Jones was a smidge over 10%.
As the early games rolled through I had a couple teams doing decent but one team smashing.
Here was that lineup:
PG: Antetokounmpo (50.75 FPP) : With a high scoring match-up vs the Rockets in his sight, it was hard to go against the Greek Freak in this spot. I figured he would get a bit over looked with all of the other stars on the slate. He ended up being 20.7% owned and at $10,600 he got me nearly 5x, which I was fine with.
SG: Dellavedova (29.75 FPP) : Again, a high scoring match-up vs the Rockets and Delly remains in the starting lineup after a pretty solid showing in the Bucks last game. At just $3,500 I thought he was an absolute lock on Monday night to at bare minimum reach value. He ended up far exceeding my expectations and, at 11.1% owned, was just the kind of player needed in my GPPs to try and move up in the standings.
SF: Dion Waiters (48.75 FPP) : If they're going to keep his price under $6k and Miami continues to run him out there for over 30 minutes a game, Dion will be an insta-start in my lineups for a while, especially with Tyler Johnson out. I felt he was a must start at $5,700 as his minutes and production continues to improve since coming back from injury. Of course, I didn't expect him to put up almost 50, but I really thought he was a very safe play for that price tag. I was very excited to see he was only 18.5% owned!
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge (42.25 FPP): Man oh man. Thanks, Brooklyn, for your efforts on Monday... LMA will be in my lineup any time Leonard is out. That is just facts. At $6,900 he needed just 35 FPP to reach 5x and I figured he was a mortal lock for that tonight vs a Nets team that clearly hates playing defense. Unfortunately this game turned into a blow out and he only played 27 minutes. At 25.8% ownership he was my highest owned player, but I still would've liked for that game to stay close so that he saw some 4th quarter action, darn it.
C: Clint Capela (21.25 FPP): Here is another player who is seeing a little more production as his minutes continue to increase after coming back from injury. To be fair, this was a total "dart" as they announced he would be starting, which always makes me interested and, even more intriguing, Miles Plumlee was starting for the Bucks. My thought was that Capela would be able to out rebound the former Dukie thus giving him a very good chance of hitting value just based on peripheral stats and hopefully find a tip back basket or 5 to get up to 30 FPP. Unfortunately this did not play out the way I'd hoped. He ended with 21 FPP which, at $4,000, was still 5x on his salary but I fully expected him to reach 25+ and at just 8.5% owned I was really pulling for him Monday night.
G: Jrue Holiday (67.5 FPP): As mentioned, the moment that I heard Davis was out I swapped Holiday into as many teams as I could as quickly as I could. His numbers have been down lately, which is likely what helped contribute to him being just 1.9% owned, but I was ok rolling the dice on him going up against Kyrie defense. Needless to say he far out performed my expectations as he put up that magical 9x number we always dream about. Thanks Jrue,
F: Terrence Jones (63.75 FPP): Did someone say 9x? Mr. Jones will see your 9x and raise you one more. At just $6,200 ended up getting 10x, which is what you need in order to take down a GPP. Especially since he was just 10% owned. The fear, of course, was that the Pelicans would get blown out and none of the starters would play their full allotment of minutes or that Alvin Gentry would simply come up with some crazy lineup changes that left everyone scratching their head ... which has been known to occur. I was willing to take that chance, however, as Jones has proven to be a great DFS player when actually given minutes, so he was worth the risk and it certainly paid off.
UTL: Thaddeus Young (19.75 FPP): Well, drats. Thad is a very streaky player that, when going good, is an insta-start for me. After scoring over 30 FPP in 4 of his last 6 games, I thought he was worth a shot at $5,500 vs an average rebounding team such as the Knicks. My theory was he would be able to rebound a lot of the bricks that were put up on both sides, as neither of these teams really jump off the chart when it comes to FG%. Unfortunately he got in foul trouble early and then Myles Turner took over the game, leaving Thad in a comfy position on the bench cheering on his team for long stretches of time. He ended up getting 31 minutes, which is encouraging, but with the foul trouble he was not able to be as aggressive as he usually is thus limiting his fantasy potential.
Oh well. It was fun while it lasted and I was feeling pretty good about my teams with about 100 minutes left for my squad but it just didn't pan out the way I hoped.
Maybe next time.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave comments below!
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Wednesday NBA DFS and how horrible it went
Another frustrating night of DFS is about in the books and it can't end fast enough.
I only played a handful of teams tonight but it was enough to fry my brain a bit ... but I guess that really doesn't take much.
The Good or Not Horrible
In what is almost an insta-start for me, Kemba Walker playing at home vs Lillard DEF was a lock on almost every roster I had tonight. Lillard isn't known as much of a defender and I figured they would leave McCollum to try and match up with Batum so Kemba could have his way tonight.
He didn't exactly crush value, as he was $7,700, but he got to that magic 5x area I like finishing with 40.5 DK points. Not a bad way to start my lineups, as he certainly was the anchor on nearly all of them.
Darren Collison played some pretty good ball with Ty Lawson was out a few weeks ago and, with Lawson questionable leading up to the game, I went ahead and fired Darren out into over 1/2 of my lineups tonight. Just before the game, but after the roster lock of the early games, Lawson was ruled out and helped my this pick look a little better. At $5,300 he needs 28 to reach the 5x level I like and, as I write this, he as 19.5 at half so that shouldn't be too hard for him to reach.
Montrezl Harrell is a high energy guy that I absolutely love when he's going to get minutes vs a big man that isn't a dominant presence like a Cousins, Towns, Gobert, etc. Tonight he faced the Bucks who would be using Greg Monroe and John Henson and shortly before roster lock it was announced that Harrell would be starting over Capella. That was all I needed to hear to fire him out in a few lineups tonight and he did not disappoint as he ended with 37 DK pts at just $5,100.
There were other guys that I had sporadically throughout the rest of my teams such as Batum, Beasley, Kuzminskas, Lowry and Aminu who all put up solid nights for my teams.
That being said, they couldn't pick up the slack of my two huge duds of the night. There were two popular "cheap-ish" centers tonight and I wanted to start them both on my teams, using the C slot for one and the UTL slot for the other, but thought better of it. Instead, I decided to split them up evenly across almost all of my teams as "there's no way they both bust tonight, right?"
The HORRIBLE
Kyle O'Quinn is likely one of the most hated men in the DFS universe tonight. A super popular pick, which should've been reason enough for me to fade him, O'Quinn jumped to the top of everyone's value chart the second that Noah was ruled out tonight for the Knicks. Being that he has shown flashes of brilliance during a number of his starts tonight he was an almost "must play" in many people's eyes tonight, including mine. 4.75 DK points later and I'm cursing at my computer, the TV, O'Quinn, Spike Lee and anything else related to the Knicks. How someone that has flashed 40 point upside on multiple occasions could get 4.75 pts and get just 10 minutes in a start is mind-blowing.
And, on the other side of the ball we have
Kelly Olynyk of the Celtics. Coming off 7 straight games of 20 or more DK pts and putting up 44 and 34 in his last two outings, Olynyk was in a prime spot to crush value again tonight against the hapless Knicks. As baffling as it is that O'Quinn only played 10 minutes tonight it is complete insanity that Kelly was given only 13 minutes for Boston tonight. Now, I get it, I know, Amir Johnson played great for the Celts and cut into his time, just like Hernangomez played great cutting into O'Quinn's time but with the recent track-record of Olynyk one would think he would get a little more rope to hang himself with before yanking him off the floor. Apparently not. Ending with just 9 pts the majority of my rosters were dead once the final buzzer went off in this game.
Again, in retrospect I should've likely looked elsewhere as these two guys were certainly going to be high owned and that's not the best way to attack tournaments but never did I expect them both to tank this bad.
Well, live and learn, right?
I only played a handful of teams tonight but it was enough to fry my brain a bit ... but I guess that really doesn't take much.
The Good or Not Horrible
In what is almost an insta-start for me, Kemba Walker playing at home vs Lillard DEF was a lock on almost every roster I had tonight. Lillard isn't known as much of a defender and I figured they would leave McCollum to try and match up with Batum so Kemba could have his way tonight.
He didn't exactly crush value, as he was $7,700, but he got to that magic 5x area I like finishing with 40.5 DK points. Not a bad way to start my lineups, as he certainly was the anchor on nearly all of them.
Darren Collison played some pretty good ball with Ty Lawson was out a few weeks ago and, with Lawson questionable leading up to the game, I went ahead and fired Darren out into over 1/2 of my lineups tonight. Just before the game, but after the roster lock of the early games, Lawson was ruled out and helped my this pick look a little better. At $5,300 he needs 28 to reach the 5x level I like and, as I write this, he as 19.5 at half so that shouldn't be too hard for him to reach.
Montrezl Harrell is a high energy guy that I absolutely love when he's going to get minutes vs a big man that isn't a dominant presence like a Cousins, Towns, Gobert, etc. Tonight he faced the Bucks who would be using Greg Monroe and John Henson and shortly before roster lock it was announced that Harrell would be starting over Capella. That was all I needed to hear to fire him out in a few lineups tonight and he did not disappoint as he ended with 37 DK pts at just $5,100.
There were other guys that I had sporadically throughout the rest of my teams such as Batum, Beasley, Kuzminskas, Lowry and Aminu who all put up solid nights for my teams.
That being said, they couldn't pick up the slack of my two huge duds of the night. There were two popular "cheap-ish" centers tonight and I wanted to start them both on my teams, using the C slot for one and the UTL slot for the other, but thought better of it. Instead, I decided to split them up evenly across almost all of my teams as "there's no way they both bust tonight, right?"
The HORRIBLE
Kyle O'Quinn is likely one of the most hated men in the DFS universe tonight. A super popular pick, which should've been reason enough for me to fade him, O'Quinn jumped to the top of everyone's value chart the second that Noah was ruled out tonight for the Knicks. Being that he has shown flashes of brilliance during a number of his starts tonight he was an almost "must play" in many people's eyes tonight, including mine. 4.75 DK points later and I'm cursing at my computer, the TV, O'Quinn, Spike Lee and anything else related to the Knicks. How someone that has flashed 40 point upside on multiple occasions could get 4.75 pts and get just 10 minutes in a start is mind-blowing.
And, on the other side of the ball we have
Kelly Olynyk of the Celtics. Coming off 7 straight games of 20 or more DK pts and putting up 44 and 34 in his last two outings, Olynyk was in a prime spot to crush value again tonight against the hapless Knicks. As baffling as it is that O'Quinn only played 10 minutes tonight it is complete insanity that Kelly was given only 13 minutes for Boston tonight. Now, I get it, I know, Amir Johnson played great for the Celts and cut into his time, just like Hernangomez played great cutting into O'Quinn's time but with the recent track-record of Olynyk one would think he would get a little more rope to hang himself with before yanking him off the floor. Apparently not. Ending with just 9 pts the majority of my rosters were dead once the final buzzer went off in this game.
Again, in retrospect I should've likely looked elsewhere as these two guys were certainly going to be high owned and that's not the best way to attack tournaments but never did I expect them both to tank this bad.
Well, live and learn, right?
Bradley Open Saturday Qualifying 1/14/17
This was my first time bowling the Bradley in several years, but you kind of know what to expect when you go there and that is SUPER slick lanes and a lot of spare shooting.
You must come into this tournament with a level head, know you are likely not going to put up any huge games and be mentally prepared for a grind to the fullest extent.
Unfortunately I had been sick for the month leading up to this event and, prior to the sweeper event on Friday night, had only bowled three games since the Holiday Doubles which was back on December 17th. I refused to let that be an excuse and buckled in for what I knew would be a long 5 games of bowling Saturday morning.
During practice I tried my Columbia300 Tyrant that was at 500 grit, my Track Cyborg that was at 500 grit and my Hammer Phobia that I hit with a 1000 pad during practice. After our 15 minutes of practice had been completed I was in full panic mode, as I hadn't even come close to hitting the pocket and had absolutely no idea how to attack the lanes to being the day.
I decided to try and take my Cyborg and just trap the headpin until I got comfortable and, well, I failed miserably at doing it. My first ball of the event I missed a little up the lane and it never hooked, leaving a 3-6-7-9 to start. Needless to say, I wasn't able to create enough angle down lane to make it but got my count and moved onto the next frame, which wasn't much better. I moved my feet another 2 left but kept my target the same, aced it, 4-6-10...
18 in the second, when you know you're not going to be able to string together strikes, is not exactly how you want to get out of the gate. I kept fishing around and managed to mix in a double and stayed clean for 182. Trust me when I saw I was VERY happy to get off that pair without digging a bigger hole to start my day.
I moved to the next pair and decided to stay with the same plan of attack and things managed to get worse. I started x, high flush 8 pin (twister pins) spare, x, high flush 8 pin (twister pins) flag it.
Noooo! Again, this is going to be a grind, missing single pins is flat out unacceptable.
The next few frames were a combination of horrid shot making and worse decision making leading to a strike followed by a 3-7 split (spared), missing the headpin and leaving the 1-3 (spared), missing the headpin leaving the 1-3-6-9 and missing it before leaving another high flush 8 pin in the 10th for 170.
Two games in, 48 under and not in the cut. Consider me crabby at this point.
On the way to my pair for the third game I thought to myself "wait, you're having all sorts of troubles getting your ball to shape at all ... why are you throwing a pin up ball? Why not use something pin down so that it can at least try to see the front part of the lane and smooths out the back rather than the "reaction" I had seen the first two games where it went dead straight if I missed left or up the lane, but snapped high if I grabbed it too much or missed in."
So game 3, based on what I learned Friday night and knowing I needed to trust my gut more, I started with the pin up Cyborg again rather than making the switch to begin the game. After a high flush 8 pin in the first frame, strike in the second following by a 5 count washout and a 3-7-9, it was time to make the change.
In the 5th frame I grabbed my Ebonite Mission Unknown, which has a 2" pin and is pin under the ring finger , that I had hit it with a 500 pad that morning before we started. I proceeded to throw a triple before juicing one up a bit and leaving a 3-9 in the 8th. I struck again in the 9th but left a really good 7 pin in the 9th and ending with 192.
After game 3 I had moved into the cut, but just barely. I had a lot of work to do these next two games.
Game 4 was much of the same that I had seen all morning. Started with a strike but missed the headpin in the second (1-3-9 spare), weak 7 pin in the 3rd (spare), half-pocket 7-10 in the 4th, strike in the 5th, 3-5-6 in the 6th, chopped it. Needless to say, at this point, I was in fry mode. I am pretty sure this is when I made a Facebook post that read: "Sizzle Sizzle Pop Boom" and then text Matt Sanders and Brett Shepherd to let them know that it wasn't looking good for me to make the first cut and needed to figure something out quick or I wouldn't be bowling Saturday night. I stayed clean the rest of that game and ended with 180, leaving me a little ahead of the cutline with one game to go.
Knowing I likely needed somewhere around 180 or above to feel somewhat safe about securing my spot into the second round my idea was to just stay close to the pocket, make some spares, survive this cut and then try and figure out some sort of magic reaction later that night in the second round.
First frame that game plan went right out the window as my ball actually hooked a bit in the front and went high for a 2-4-7-8, which I promptly chopped. Awesome.
I made just a little move with my feet but also brought my index finger in a little closer and tilted my right foot a little more right so that I ensured my first step was in the direction I wanted and tossed the next three strikes followed by a 5 count washout. Seemed every time I had a double or triple my next should would be just fast enough that it would hydroplane right past the spot.
After that frame I was able to strike in the 6th, nine spare in the 7th, strike in the 8th and nine spare in the 9th giving myself a chance to mark in the 10th and feel good about my spot, which fortunately I did by throwing a double and ending with 199, thus securing my spot into the next round.
It was a complete mental and physical grind, which was expected. Based on what I felt I had that morning combined with my suspect spare shooting and shot making, I was less than excited or confident in my chances heading into Saturday night.
That being said, I never give up, ever, and I was determined to figure out something. Whether or not my determination would help my shot making was a whole other argument.
#TeamEBI #InfuseYourGame
You must come into this tournament with a level head, know you are likely not going to put up any huge games and be mentally prepared for a grind to the fullest extent.
Unfortunately I had been sick for the month leading up to this event and, prior to the sweeper event on Friday night, had only bowled three games since the Holiday Doubles which was back on December 17th. I refused to let that be an excuse and buckled in for what I knew would be a long 5 games of bowling Saturday morning.
During practice I tried my Columbia300 Tyrant that was at 500 grit, my Track Cyborg that was at 500 grit and my Hammer Phobia that I hit with a 1000 pad during practice. After our 15 minutes of practice had been completed I was in full panic mode, as I hadn't even come close to hitting the pocket and had absolutely no idea how to attack the lanes to being the day.
I decided to try and take my Cyborg and just trap the headpin until I got comfortable and, well, I failed miserably at doing it. My first ball of the event I missed a little up the lane and it never hooked, leaving a 3-6-7-9 to start. Needless to say, I wasn't able to create enough angle down lane to make it but got my count and moved onto the next frame, which wasn't much better. I moved my feet another 2 left but kept my target the same, aced it, 4-6-10...
18 in the second, when you know you're not going to be able to string together strikes, is not exactly how you want to get out of the gate. I kept fishing around and managed to mix in a double and stayed clean for 182. Trust me when I saw I was VERY happy to get off that pair without digging a bigger hole to start my day.
I moved to the next pair and decided to stay with the same plan of attack and things managed to get worse. I started x, high flush 8 pin (twister pins) spare, x, high flush 8 pin (twister pins) flag it.
Noooo! Again, this is going to be a grind, missing single pins is flat out unacceptable.
The next few frames were a combination of horrid shot making and worse decision making leading to a strike followed by a 3-7 split (spared), missing the headpin and leaving the 1-3 (spared), missing the headpin leaving the 1-3-6-9 and missing it before leaving another high flush 8 pin in the 10th for 170.
Two games in, 48 under and not in the cut. Consider me crabby at this point.
On the way to my pair for the third game I thought to myself "wait, you're having all sorts of troubles getting your ball to shape at all ... why are you throwing a pin up ball? Why not use something pin down so that it can at least try to see the front part of the lane and smooths out the back rather than the "reaction" I had seen the first two games where it went dead straight if I missed left or up the lane, but snapped high if I grabbed it too much or missed in."
So game 3, based on what I learned Friday night and knowing I needed to trust my gut more, I started with the pin up Cyborg again rather than making the switch to begin the game. After a high flush 8 pin in the first frame, strike in the second following by a 5 count washout and a 3-7-9, it was time to make the change.
In the 5th frame I grabbed my Ebonite Mission Unknown, which has a 2" pin and is pin under the ring finger , that I had hit it with a 500 pad that morning before we started. I proceeded to throw a triple before juicing one up a bit and leaving a 3-9 in the 8th. I struck again in the 9th but left a really good 7 pin in the 9th and ending with 192.
After game 3 I had moved into the cut, but just barely. I had a lot of work to do these next two games.
Game 4 was much of the same that I had seen all morning. Started with a strike but missed the headpin in the second (1-3-9 spare), weak 7 pin in the 3rd (spare), half-pocket 7-10 in the 4th, strike in the 5th, 3-5-6 in the 6th, chopped it. Needless to say, at this point, I was in fry mode. I am pretty sure this is when I made a Facebook post that read: "Sizzle Sizzle Pop Boom" and then text Matt Sanders and Brett Shepherd to let them know that it wasn't looking good for me to make the first cut and needed to figure something out quick or I wouldn't be bowling Saturday night. I stayed clean the rest of that game and ended with 180, leaving me a little ahead of the cutline with one game to go.
Knowing I likely needed somewhere around 180 or above to feel somewhat safe about securing my spot into the second round my idea was to just stay close to the pocket, make some spares, survive this cut and then try and figure out some sort of magic reaction later that night in the second round.
First frame that game plan went right out the window as my ball actually hooked a bit in the front and went high for a 2-4-7-8, which I promptly chopped. Awesome.
I made just a little move with my feet but also brought my index finger in a little closer and tilted my right foot a little more right so that I ensured my first step was in the direction I wanted and tossed the next three strikes followed by a 5 count washout. Seemed every time I had a double or triple my next should would be just fast enough that it would hydroplane right past the spot.
After that frame I was able to strike in the 6th, nine spare in the 7th, strike in the 8th and nine spare in the 9th giving myself a chance to mark in the 10th and feel good about my spot, which fortunately I did by throwing a double and ending with 199, thus securing my spot into the next round.
It was a complete mental and physical grind, which was expected. Based on what I felt I had that morning combined with my suspect spare shooting and shot making, I was less than excited or confident in my chances heading into Saturday night.
That being said, I never give up, ever, and I was determined to figure out something. Whether or not my determination would help my shot making was a whole other argument.
#TeamEBI #InfuseYourGame
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Bradley Open Doubles Tournament - 1/13/17
The Bradley Open in Lexington KY typically has a singles sweeper on Friday night on their league pattern before the main event. This year they opted to do a doubles event instead, and it went over like hotcakes.
I believe they had 85 (give or take) doubles teams participate this year on a "modified" league pattern and the event was very well received. Each team bowled 4 regular games before cutting the field to the top 8 teams for a bracket final.
Matt Sanders (Track staff member and fellow lefty) was nice enough to partner up with me in this one and we always find a way to have fun when bowling together. This tournament was no exception.
Game 1: Never really got comfortable in practice and was in between which ball to use, as nothing really jumped out at me and looked amazing. Ended up going with my Ebonite GameBreaker 2 Phenom Pearl and started 8/9/ x 8/ before rattling off a 4 bagger into the 10th where I left a pretty good 7 pin and ended with 236. Matt had some carry issues throughout the game (darn twister pins) and ended up with 212.
Game 2: Started out slow again with x 8/ 8/ 9/ 8/ before making a small change with my hand to try and get up the back of it a bit more and moved up on the approach and switched to 4 steps to slow my swing down and struck out for 245. Matt got dialed in that game and shot 247 giving us 492 and moving us into the top 10 overall.
Game 3: This game was a struggle for me and lead to a bigger issue later. I started with a strike before missing one a little left that never hooked and 3-7-9'd. I made a little adjustment off of that and threw a 4 bagger before catching one a little too clean for a big 4. I told Matt at that point that I felt like I should switch to my original GB2 but really hadn't thrown it with my new Phenom Pearl so I wasn't 100% sure what it would do in comparison, so I was a little gun shy on making the move. Instead, I moved a little and left a 6 pin, then struck in the 9th before leaving a ringing 7 in the 10th. Because I'm a dope, instead of switching to the GB2 on the fill, I decided to try moving a little with the Phenom Pearl and struck for 200 even. Matt, again, bowled 247 giving us 447 and dropping us out of the top 10.
Game 4: I started this game off with the Phenom Pearl again and went bucket, 3-9, weak 7 out of the gate. Brett Shepherd came down and I got his opinion on if I should change, which he agreed that it was likely the best idea. Because I'm hard headed, however, I tried one more ball with the Pearl and weak 7'd again and decided enough was enough. It was clear that the shiny pearl ball was just stopping down lane because the backs had tightened up so much and I needed something that could get started a little quicker so that I wasn't relying so much on the downlane hook. Frame 5 I changed to the GameBreaker2 and promptly tossed the next 5 strikes... Drats! Heading into the 10th frame I felt that if either of us struck out we had a real chance of making the top 8. Matt made a really good shot but left a 7 pin, so it left it all square on my shoulders. I stepped up and made, what I thought, was my best shot of the game but apparently I either caught it too clean or just missed a move (we did have 5 lefties on our pair) and the ball checked up a little too much for a 6 pin. Matt ended up with 237 and I had 235 to end our qualifying with 472 and +250 for the 8 total games.
We gathered up all of our equipment and patiently waited for the cut score, assuming we were out, but crossing our fingers that we get lucky.
Finally they make the announcement "bowlers we have tabulated all of the scores and the score to make the top 8 was +265. Finishing in 9th place were Matt Sanders and Chris Hester."
Ugh.
Obviously there are several spots over the course of 4 games where you can find 15 pins, but I can't help but think "what if I would've changed balls sooner?" Clearly I needed to change but I second guessed myself and kept trying to tinker with hand positions and speed changes to get the ball to square up rather than just making the necessary change.
Frustrating as I feel my stubbornness and lack of preparation cost us the cut, and that's not fair to Matt.
Hopefully he gives me another chance to make up for that mistake. We are bowling the Prop Cup Doubles Event in July, but hopefully we can find an event or two before then to get more practice in together.
Overall we had a good night, got close to the cut with both of us having a "so-so" game, and made a few bucks. I enjoy competing in team and doubles events, so it was a fun evening for me!
Thanks for reading
#TeamEBI #InfuseYourGame
I believe they had 85 (give or take) doubles teams participate this year on a "modified" league pattern and the event was very well received. Each team bowled 4 regular games before cutting the field to the top 8 teams for a bracket final.
Matt Sanders (Track staff member and fellow lefty) was nice enough to partner up with me in this one and we always find a way to have fun when bowling together. This tournament was no exception.
Game 1: Never really got comfortable in practice and was in between which ball to use, as nothing really jumped out at me and looked amazing. Ended up going with my Ebonite GameBreaker 2 Phenom Pearl and started 8/9/ x 8/ before rattling off a 4 bagger into the 10th where I left a pretty good 7 pin and ended with 236. Matt had some carry issues throughout the game (darn twister pins) and ended up with 212.
Game 2: Started out slow again with x 8/ 8/ 9/ 8/ before making a small change with my hand to try and get up the back of it a bit more and moved up on the approach and switched to 4 steps to slow my swing down and struck out for 245. Matt got dialed in that game and shot 247 giving us 492 and moving us into the top 10 overall.
Game 3: This game was a struggle for me and lead to a bigger issue later. I started with a strike before missing one a little left that never hooked and 3-7-9'd. I made a little adjustment off of that and threw a 4 bagger before catching one a little too clean for a big 4. I told Matt at that point that I felt like I should switch to my original GB2 but really hadn't thrown it with my new Phenom Pearl so I wasn't 100% sure what it would do in comparison, so I was a little gun shy on making the move. Instead, I moved a little and left a 6 pin, then struck in the 9th before leaving a ringing 7 in the 10th. Because I'm a dope, instead of switching to the GB2 on the fill, I decided to try moving a little with the Phenom Pearl and struck for 200 even. Matt, again, bowled 247 giving us 447 and dropping us out of the top 10.
Game 4: I started this game off with the Phenom Pearl again and went bucket, 3-9, weak 7 out of the gate. Brett Shepherd came down and I got his opinion on if I should change, which he agreed that it was likely the best idea. Because I'm hard headed, however, I tried one more ball with the Pearl and weak 7'd again and decided enough was enough. It was clear that the shiny pearl ball was just stopping down lane because the backs had tightened up so much and I needed something that could get started a little quicker so that I wasn't relying so much on the downlane hook. Frame 5 I changed to the GameBreaker2 and promptly tossed the next 5 strikes... Drats! Heading into the 10th frame I felt that if either of us struck out we had a real chance of making the top 8. Matt made a really good shot but left a 7 pin, so it left it all square on my shoulders. I stepped up and made, what I thought, was my best shot of the game but apparently I either caught it too clean or just missed a move (we did have 5 lefties on our pair) and the ball checked up a little too much for a 6 pin. Matt ended up with 237 and I had 235 to end our qualifying with 472 and +250 for the 8 total games.
We gathered up all of our equipment and patiently waited for the cut score, assuming we were out, but crossing our fingers that we get lucky.
Finally they make the announcement "bowlers we have tabulated all of the scores and the score to make the top 8 was +265. Finishing in 9th place were Matt Sanders and Chris Hester."
Ugh.
Obviously there are several spots over the course of 4 games where you can find 15 pins, but I can't help but think "what if I would've changed balls sooner?" Clearly I needed to change but I second guessed myself and kept trying to tinker with hand positions and speed changes to get the ball to square up rather than just making the necessary change.
Frustrating as I feel my stubbornness and lack of preparation cost us the cut, and that's not fair to Matt.
Hopefully he gives me another chance to make up for that mistake. We are bowling the Prop Cup Doubles Event in July, but hopefully we can find an event or two before then to get more practice in together.
Overall we had a good night, got close to the cut with both of us having a "so-so" game, and made a few bucks. I enjoy competing in team and doubles events, so it was a fun evening for me!
Thanks for reading
#TeamEBI #InfuseYourGame
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Thursday 1/12 DFS NBA contest - Viva La Mexico?
One of the games I like the most is being played in Mexico tonight, and that scares me. I loved Dirk until I started doing a little research on games played there and now I'm fading most of the guys in that game, save one.
Here is my locked in lineup:
PG: Jrue Holiday - $7,000 - Pelicans: As soon as Anthony Davis went out I locked Jrue into all of my lineups - though I fully assume and expect he and Terrence Jones to be the chalk from that game. Holiday was already on my board as he continues to impress but he really has no choice but to go big in tonight's game vs the hapless Nets.
SG: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope - $5,900 - Pistons: KCP was the last player I inserted into my lineups tonight, as I don't LOVE his match-up tonight, but at under $6k I felt he has a very good chance of hitting value. In what should be an up-tempo game this kind of "do it all" guy should be able to fill several slots in the box.
SF: Carmelo Anthony - $7,300 - Knicks: I never feel good about rostering Melo, but with Porzingis out and no Jimmy Butler playing DEF he turned into almost a "Must start" player tonight. In a match-up vs his buddy D Wade and in a spot where the Knicks will likely want to get a win on their home court a night after dropping a heart breaker to the Sixers, I look for Carmelo to put up 55+ tonight. Call me crazy...
PF: Terrence Jones - $6,000 - Pelicans: As I mentioned, with Davis out, Jones was an insta-start. When he gets minutes he produces at a high fantasy level. He should see all of the minutes he can stand tonight without Brow in the lineup. At $6k, a pretty hefty price tag, Jones will have some work to do to reach value but I have a hard time imagining him not getting there.
C: Tyson Chandler - $4,900 - Suns: Ugh, this Mexico game... Chanlder has been playing at a high level at a very reasonable price. Len is questionable, so Tyson should see plenty of minutes if he can stay out of foul trouble. Bogut was scratched, so this should allow Tyson to have a little bit easier of a time grabbing some rebounds and of course there's the revenge factor of a player playing his former team.
G: Eric Bledsoe - $7,000 - Suns: Ugh, this Mexico game... Wait, I think I just said that? Bledsoe's price is very low for what he's been doing lately on the court. I'm thinking that DK factored in the travel along with a pretty solid DEF he's facing tonight, but I'll take his chances at that price for as long as they want to give it to us.
F: Harrison Barnes - $6,700 - Mavericks: Alright, I won't say it again. For tournaments only, I have several players in this game that I like. I can't trust them in cash games because there's no telling how playing in this different atmosphere will effect some of these guys - but for tournaments, I couldn't resist Barnes at a good price playing in an up-tempo game.
UTL: Rajon Rondo - $5,000 - Bulls: I had a small % of him in their last game and he played pretty darn well ... and DK noticed and bumped up his price. That being said, the team still needs offense and Wade can't do it all by himself. I really wanted to gamble with McDermott again tonight but decided to roll Rondo out there in the national TV spot that he likes to play in. Hopefully he gets some run and he continues to try and increase his trade value tonight.
Here is my locked in lineup:
PG: Jrue Holiday - $7,000 - Pelicans: As soon as Anthony Davis went out I locked Jrue into all of my lineups - though I fully assume and expect he and Terrence Jones to be the chalk from that game. Holiday was already on my board as he continues to impress but he really has no choice but to go big in tonight's game vs the hapless Nets.
SG: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope - $5,900 - Pistons: KCP was the last player I inserted into my lineups tonight, as I don't LOVE his match-up tonight, but at under $6k I felt he has a very good chance of hitting value. In what should be an up-tempo game this kind of "do it all" guy should be able to fill several slots in the box.
SF: Carmelo Anthony - $7,300 - Knicks: I never feel good about rostering Melo, but with Porzingis out and no Jimmy Butler playing DEF he turned into almost a "Must start" player tonight. In a match-up vs his buddy D Wade and in a spot where the Knicks will likely want to get a win on their home court a night after dropping a heart breaker to the Sixers, I look for Carmelo to put up 55+ tonight. Call me crazy...
PF: Terrence Jones - $6,000 - Pelicans: As I mentioned, with Davis out, Jones was an insta-start. When he gets minutes he produces at a high fantasy level. He should see all of the minutes he can stand tonight without Brow in the lineup. At $6k, a pretty hefty price tag, Jones will have some work to do to reach value but I have a hard time imagining him not getting there.
C: Tyson Chandler - $4,900 - Suns: Ugh, this Mexico game... Chanlder has been playing at a high level at a very reasonable price. Len is questionable, so Tyson should see plenty of minutes if he can stay out of foul trouble. Bogut was scratched, so this should allow Tyson to have a little bit easier of a time grabbing some rebounds and of course there's the revenge factor of a player playing his former team.
G: Eric Bledsoe - $7,000 - Suns: Ugh, this Mexico game... Wait, I think I just said that? Bledsoe's price is very low for what he's been doing lately on the court. I'm thinking that DK factored in the travel along with a pretty solid DEF he's facing tonight, but I'll take his chances at that price for as long as they want to give it to us.
F: Harrison Barnes - $6,700 - Mavericks: Alright, I won't say it again. For tournaments only, I have several players in this game that I like. I can't trust them in cash games because there's no telling how playing in this different atmosphere will effect some of these guys - but for tournaments, I couldn't resist Barnes at a good price playing in an up-tempo game.
UTL: Rajon Rondo - $5,000 - Bulls: I had a small % of him in their last game and he played pretty darn well ... and DK noticed and bumped up his price. That being said, the team still needs offense and Wade can't do it all by himself. I really wanted to gamble with McDermott again tonight but decided to roll Rondo out there in the national TV spot that he likes to play in. Hopefully he gets some run and he continues to try and increase his trade value tonight.
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Wednesday 1/11 super early NBA DFS Picks -- and I will check before lock
After yesterday's disaster, I want to point out that I will be checking my lineups tonight before roster lock. This is just the early lineup I selected last night to lock in some entries into a few events.
Here we go:
PG: Mike Conley - Grizz - $6,900: I like Conley in this spot for a few reasons. First, Westbrook is not known for his defense, so Conley should have multiple spots to score the ball tonight. Also, with all of the media grief Conley received for his high dollar contract, wouldn't you think he'd want to stick it to one of the best PG's in the NBA? Lastly, Westbrook turns the ball over, a lot and Conley is a pretty strong defender so he should be able to "steal" some extra FPPs in that category as well. He would need 35 to reach 5x and I have a hard time believing he won't reach that value.
SG: Evan Fournier - Magic - $6,000: This may change once I hear if LaVine is playing tonight or not, as I love his spot tonight. As for Fournier, he's facing a Clippers team that you can attack at the SG/SF position and Fournier has been getting plenty of run since returning from injury. He has been taking double digits in shots since returning and likes to fill all of the spots in the score sheet. If LaVine plays I may slide Evan into the SF slot instead.
SF: Robert Covington - Sixers - $6,000: I can't help but worry because, after all, it's Covington and you know that 6 pt night is somewhere in the horizon. The way he's been playing lately though, he's worth plugging in at this salary. He continues to thrive with or without Embiid in the lineup so tonight is a solid night to run him out there vs the Knicks and the mess of a franchise they are right now (did I just say the Knicks were the worst franchise in this match up? Wow). Carmelo is dealing with a shoulder injury and has never been known as a lock down defender, so I like Cov tonight.
PF: Montrezl Harrell - Rockets - $5,300: I continue to run Montrezl out there and have rarely been disappointed. He may not flash the 50 upside some may want to look for in the tournament game, but he has been extremely solid lately and continues to hit 5x or 6x each night and I will take that. Facing Minnesota worries me a bit, as Towns is a big body, but I don't think it'll slow down Harrell enough to fade.
C: Mason Plumlee - Blazers- $6,000: Plumlee had been crushing heading into last night's game and then, for some reason, his minutes were cut way down. There have been some talking heads that have suggested that he was rested last night so that he'd be at full speed for tonight's match-up vs the Cavs. Cleveland, reportedly, did not get into Portland until around 5am today so they could be moving a bit slow tonight and that just increases my love of a few Portland guys tonight, as you'll see.
G: Patrick Beverley - Rockets - $5,600: Now this is one I will certainly be keeping my eye on in terms of health tonight. Beverley has been known to get rested and this is the Rockets 3rd game in 4 nights, so he may get this one off. If not, he's in a great spot against Ricky Rubio defense, or lack there of, as well as getting the opportunity to mix in some steals and cheap rebounds vs an opposing PG that turns the ball over at a high rate. I like Beverley to at least reach value tonight, if not crush it ... assuming he plays.
F: Al-Farouq Aminu - Blazers - $5,100: Aminu has been incredible lately and has been reaching 7x or 8x on a nightly basis. Squaring off with Kevin Love tonight should not slow him down by any means. Needing someone with a cheaper price point, I am not sure there's anyone better in this range than Aminu.
UTL: Damian Lillard - Blazers - $8,500: This one may change before lock, just because I never enjoy taking 3 players from the same team. That being said, Lillard has been firing at all cylinders since returning from injury and I do not see him taking the night off against the Cavs tonight. Lillard too 21 shots in just 31 minutes last night so I'm thinking he, like Plumlee, got a few minutes off last night in preparation for tonight's game. Kyrie defense is always a spot where you want to target an opposing PG and as mentioned previously, the Cavs had a late night last night so they could be moving a bit slow today and that just increases my love for Lillard more tonight.
There may be a few changes before roster lock as I'm sure there will be some people out, some people in and something that needs adjusting.
I had been playing Marcus Smart nightly while Bradley is out, but his price has skyrocketed and now I'm not so sure there's much value left.
Take that sentence and just rinse and repeat for Ersan Ilyasova. I have been plugging him into every lineup for a while now but his price has just reached levels that I am not comfortable playing him at this point.
If LaVine is a go tonight I will likely find a way for him into several lineups and, if he's not, I will be running Wiggins out in a few.
I'm intrigued by Carmelo tonight, as he had a big game following an ejection recently and I can see that happening again tonight vs the Sixers. Also curious to see how Rose bounces back after the mess from Monday night. I guess I have to put Brandon Jennings into a few lineups tonight, just in case...
Here we go:
PG: Mike Conley - Grizz - $6,900: I like Conley in this spot for a few reasons. First, Westbrook is not known for his defense, so Conley should have multiple spots to score the ball tonight. Also, with all of the media grief Conley received for his high dollar contract, wouldn't you think he'd want to stick it to one of the best PG's in the NBA? Lastly, Westbrook turns the ball over, a lot and Conley is a pretty strong defender so he should be able to "steal" some extra FPPs in that category as well. He would need 35 to reach 5x and I have a hard time believing he won't reach that value.
SG: Evan Fournier - Magic - $6,000: This may change once I hear if LaVine is playing tonight or not, as I love his spot tonight. As for Fournier, he's facing a Clippers team that you can attack at the SG/SF position and Fournier has been getting plenty of run since returning from injury. He has been taking double digits in shots since returning and likes to fill all of the spots in the score sheet. If LaVine plays I may slide Evan into the SF slot instead.
SF: Robert Covington - Sixers - $6,000: I can't help but worry because, after all, it's Covington and you know that 6 pt night is somewhere in the horizon. The way he's been playing lately though, he's worth plugging in at this salary. He continues to thrive with or without Embiid in the lineup so tonight is a solid night to run him out there vs the Knicks and the mess of a franchise they are right now (did I just say the Knicks were the worst franchise in this match up? Wow). Carmelo is dealing with a shoulder injury and has never been known as a lock down defender, so I like Cov tonight.
PF: Montrezl Harrell - Rockets - $5,300: I continue to run Montrezl out there and have rarely been disappointed. He may not flash the 50 upside some may want to look for in the tournament game, but he has been extremely solid lately and continues to hit 5x or 6x each night and I will take that. Facing Minnesota worries me a bit, as Towns is a big body, but I don't think it'll slow down Harrell enough to fade.
C: Mason Plumlee - Blazers- $6,000: Plumlee had been crushing heading into last night's game and then, for some reason, his minutes were cut way down. There have been some talking heads that have suggested that he was rested last night so that he'd be at full speed for tonight's match-up vs the Cavs. Cleveland, reportedly, did not get into Portland until around 5am today so they could be moving a bit slow tonight and that just increases my love of a few Portland guys tonight, as you'll see.
G: Patrick Beverley - Rockets - $5,600: Now this is one I will certainly be keeping my eye on in terms of health tonight. Beverley has been known to get rested and this is the Rockets 3rd game in 4 nights, so he may get this one off. If not, he's in a great spot against Ricky Rubio defense, or lack there of, as well as getting the opportunity to mix in some steals and cheap rebounds vs an opposing PG that turns the ball over at a high rate. I like Beverley to at least reach value tonight, if not crush it ... assuming he plays.
F: Al-Farouq Aminu - Blazers - $5,100: Aminu has been incredible lately and has been reaching 7x or 8x on a nightly basis. Squaring off with Kevin Love tonight should not slow him down by any means. Needing someone with a cheaper price point, I am not sure there's anyone better in this range than Aminu.
UTL: Damian Lillard - Blazers - $8,500: This one may change before lock, just because I never enjoy taking 3 players from the same team. That being said, Lillard has been firing at all cylinders since returning from injury and I do not see him taking the night off against the Cavs tonight. Lillard too 21 shots in just 31 minutes last night so I'm thinking he, like Plumlee, got a few minutes off last night in preparation for tonight's game. Kyrie defense is always a spot where you want to target an opposing PG and as mentioned previously, the Cavs had a late night last night so they could be moving a bit slow today and that just increases my love for Lillard more tonight.
There may be a few changes before roster lock as I'm sure there will be some people out, some people in and something that needs adjusting.
I had been playing Marcus Smart nightly while Bradley is out, but his price has skyrocketed and now I'm not so sure there's much value left.
Take that sentence and just rinse and repeat for Ersan Ilyasova. I have been plugging him into every lineup for a while now but his price has just reached levels that I am not comfortable playing him at this point.
If LaVine is a go tonight I will likely find a way for him into several lineups and, if he's not, I will be running Wiggins out in a few.
I'm intrigued by Carmelo tonight, as he had a big game following an ejection recently and I can see that happening again tonight vs the Sixers. Also curious to see how Rose bounces back after the mess from Monday night. I guess I have to put Brandon Jennings into a few lineups tonight, just in case...
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