It’s been a roller-coaster week in my daily fantasy hoops (mis)adventures. We start every Monday with $100, and seem to have alternated between winning and losing nights. A costly error on Friday (entering a $55 league when I thought I’d clicked on a $5 one) wiped out all of Thursday’s profit and then some. Saturday night, the bankroll made yet another timely recovery.
In the $2 Pick’Em tournament, joined mostly out of curiosity, I came 7th out of 330 teams to earn $20, and winning an $11 Snake against one opponent paid another $20. Every day, I enter three teams in the $2 Guaranteed Prize Pool contest. Two of them picked up small consolation prizes for finishing 30th and 46th among 550 entries. Altogether I spent $36 on nine teams in seven leagues and collected $66.67 for the night.
Now it’s the final day of the week, $15 in the black. There are only four NBA games, but I’ve had success before on these nights. There are still 100 players in the pool, a tremendous variety of possible 8-man lineups. Start by throwing out anyone who is unlikely to play significant minutes. Try to steer clear of doubtful and questionable starters, who rarely produce big numbers if they play through injuries. That narrows the choices somewhat.
| DraftStreet 15 | Dec. 30 |
| Stars | Over $13,000 |
| Chris Paul | $17,925 |
| Blake Griffin | $16,590 |
| Tony Parker | $15,340 |
| Tim Duncan | $17,110 |
| Brandon Jennings | $14,127 |
| Scrubs | Under $9,000 |
| Randy Foye | $7,711 |
| Danny Green | $8,905 |
| Mike Dunleavy | $8,968 |
| Jared Sullinger | $8,069 |
| Courtney Lee | $5,822 |
| Starters | $9,000 to $13,000 |
| Greg Monroe | $12,031 |
| O.J. Mayo | $10,443 |
| Jamal Crawford | $9,724 |
| Andre Drummond | $11,719 |
| Matt Barnes | $11,113 |
The chart each day offers five suggestions in each of three price ranges. It’s still a challenge to assemble the best roster without exceeding the $100,000 Salary Cap. You can change your lineups until 7:30 EST; for now I’m trying to use as many Clippers and Spurs as possible.
F1 Blake Griffin (LAC-F) $16,590
F2 Tim Duncan (SA-F) $17,110
G1 Chris Paul (LAC-G) $17,925
G2 Tony Parker (SA-G) $15,340
C1 DeAndre Jordan (LAC-C) $9,885
C2 Chris Kaman (DAL-C) $9,437
U1 Courtney Lee (BOS-G) $5,822
U2 Austin Daye (DET-F) $7,266
Loading up at F and G means I have to be thrifty at C and Util. If Rajon Rondo is declared fit to play, I’ll probably replace Courtney Lee, but the price is right if Lee gets another 40 minutes like he did last night.
In addition to a few Salary Cap games, I’ll enter at least one Double-Up (where everyone who finishes in the top half wins the same prize) and try my luck again at Pick ‘Em, which I’m enjoying more every time I play. The most fun of all is a live Snake Draft. Most days, there are 6-man Snakes, but today it’s limited to 2-man and 3-man versions.
If you want to get in on the action, click here to join DraftStreet. There’s no deposit required and they offer free leagues to help you become familiar with the various formats.
Today’s Fantasy Spin previews tonight’s games in more detail and looks at a wild Saturday, when Eric Gordon made his long-awaited debut a winning one.