An interesting opportunity for Ricky Rubio tonight against Philadelphia. Rubio missed two weeks of action with an elbow injury but has played three games since returning. He was eased back into the first game, but played 34 and 35 minutes in the last two. With those minutes, he posted 37 and 34 DraftKings points by scoring across all categories. Always a big time facilitator, Rubio also contibuted on the boards and scored in double-digits in both contests. The most surprising factor in this run is that he’s hitting from beyond the arc (4 of his last 8) which is very uncharacteristic. This is a great matchup with the Sixers for a guy who is going to play big minutes and appears to have the hot hand.
Today’s Projections | NBA Game Logs | Player Scoring Calendar
Here’s a chance to buy low on Rodney Hood who missed Monday’s game with the Grizzlies after coming down with an illness. Hood was a full participant in practice yesterday so expect him to return to his usual role in the offense, which is launching around 15 shots and playing 32+ minutes. Hood has scored 27+ DraftKings points in seven of his last eight contests, so he’s a near lock for 5x value. Missing a game gives us a small discount as this is the cheapest Hood as been all season.
Carmelo Anthony is doing a lot of really good things for the Knicks right now and it’s translating into major point for his fantasy owners. Melo has scored 38+ DraftKings points in five of six, including 42+ in three of those. He’s a little bit riskier than most of the upper tier players, but he’s likely to shoot the ball 20 times and contribute in a few other categories. To me, you know exactly what you’re getting from Anthony, he’s just slightly mis-priced right now. He’s only $7,400 on DK with potential top 5 upside.
[ess_grid alias=”NBA Packages”]
The Sixers get a lot of attention (both good and bad). There’s plenty of chatter around the industry on their handling of their bigs and whatever Joel Embiid is up to that night. The guy who’s flying under the radar is the newest member of the squad, Ersan Ilyasova. Ilyasova isn’t playing a ton of minutes, but he’s impactful when he does step on the court. His last four games have resulted in 35.75, 20.75, 21 and 22.5 DraftKings points. He poured in 16 real points last night in a win for Sixers. That’s a lot of upside for a guy barely over $4,000 on DraftKings. Ilyasova has also prospered with Joel Embiid in the lineup, which he will be tonight. In the last four w/o JoJo, Ersan has averaged 19.6 DK PPG. In the last four with JoJo, Ersan has averaged 24.75 DK PPG.
When Derrick Favors was injured on Monday, it was Trey Lyles who stepped up for 32 minutes, converting that time on the court into 18 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. That’s 31.25 DraftKings points for Lyles. Presumably Favors is going to miss a handful of games, so expect Lyles to be a big beneficiary of the uptick in minutes. There’s not much more you can ask for from a guy in this price range than minutes, a good matchup and multiple position eligibility.
That’s all folks! Be sure to follow me on Twitter for more player analysis as news and injuries break closer to tip-off! Commentary based on DraftKings strategy and scoring.