Anything Can Happen & It Frequently Does
Last night I just “knew” the Bobcats would dominate the Wizards and absolutely loved the $5,100 salary for Ben Gordon. He was on all eight of my teams in various leagues and tournaments, with no hint of an injury. Then he was called away to a family emergency, not long after the lineup deadline. I found a creative new way to lose $23, and was reminded for the umpteenth time that there is no such thing as a sure thing.
| FanDuel 15 | Nov. 14 |
| Stars | Over $7,000 |
| LeBron James | $9,900 |
| Jrue Holiday | $7,400 |
| Chris Paul | $8,500 |
| Kevin Durant | $9,500 |
| Andrei Kirilenko | $7,200 |
| Scrubs | Under $5,000 |
| Dante Cunningham | $4,600 |
| Carlos Delfino | $4,800 |
| Lance Stephenson | $3,600 |
| A.J. Price | $4,300 |
| Brandan Wright | $4,500 |
| Starters | $5,000 to $7,000 |
| Anthony Davis | $6,600 |
| Jose Calderon | $5,700 |
| Evan Turner | $6,000 |
| Kenneth Faried | $6,800 |
| Andre Iguodala | $6,600 |
That’s why my FanDuel experiments are cautious so far; no matter how much you might like your roster on a given night, there is always Lady Luck to deal with. I think the key to winning is playing every day, and waiting for those random bounces to even out. When you’re not as confident about your player picks, everything can go your way and a big win comes as a pleasant surprise.
Lineups can be edited until the 7:00 EST deadline. Here’s my ‘first draft’ that may change according to breaking news and sudden inspirations later in the day. Good luck — we’ll see you at FanDuel!
PG Jrue Holiday DET@PHI $7,400
PG George Hill IND@MIL $6,100
SG O.J. Mayo WAS@DAL $7,000
SG Lance Stephenson IND@MIL $3,600
SF LeBron James MIA@LAC $9,900
SF Al-Farouq Aminu NOH @HOU $6,300
PF Anthony Davis NOH@HOU $6,600
PF Andrei Kirilenko CHA@MIN $7,200
C Omer Asik NOH@HOU $5,900
The Fantasy Spin is here seven mornings a week. Jeff Nichols, who gave me a much-appreciated day off yesterday, previews the week ahead every Saturday afternoon. Follow us on Twitter — @SheridanFantasy — for updates.
That Pacers Raptors game resembled a hockey game with the referees putting away their whistles in the second half. Tyler Hansbrough, especially, noticed it and effectively ‘gooned’ it up by playing extremely physical without drawing any fouls. It was ugly to watch and near embarrassing for the league. I think it helps explain the low score.
It was not the first the time where I felt the referees decided (to use another hockey phrase) “to let the players decide the outcome”. And, one of the early statistical themes of the season is the league wide drop in the free throw rate. From a fantasy point of view, I see that a couple of high rate FT players are struggling so far this year not only getting to the line but also correspondingly shooting very low FG%. Off the top of my head – Danilo Gallinari, Rodney Stuckey, Ersan Ilyasova.
Anyone else noticing the same thing? Is this something worth exploring?
Jeff