Click on this banner to sign up for DraftStreet’s two-day NBA playoff fantasy leagues
As the headline asks: Who will win the $10,000 first prize?
And to answer, I will make a vow: If it is me, that 10 grand will be reinvested as a seat in the World Series of Poker. You have my word.
This is the best day of the playoffs at DraftStreet, because the $40,000 NBA Big Score is taking place tomorrow for games being played Tuesday night and Wednesday night. And you have come to the right place to get advice, because I am going to reveal to you how to put Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and LeBron James on your team.
First, the rules:
You pick three guards, three forwards, one center and one utility player using a salary cap of $100,000, and then you root for them to fill up the box score. You can sign up here, or by clicking on the DraftStreet banner at the top of the page.
Steals and blocks are worth 2 points. Rebounds are worth 1.25 points. Assists are worth 1.5 points. You lose 1 point for every turnover, and you lose 0.5 points for every missed field goal attempt or missed free throw attempt.
(ALL FIRST-TIME DEPOSITORS GET A FREE T-SHIRT OF THE PHIL JACKSON TAKEOFF ON THE OBAMA-HOPE CAMPAIGN. CLICK HERE.)
Because this contest has been promoted for several days, some of the prices (which were set late last week) are out of whack with the reality of what has transpired as each series has moved along.
For example, the Brooklyn Nets have been mixing up their lineups looking for a matchup edge, and there was a point during Saturday night’s Game 3 when the offense was running through Andrei Kirilenko. Anybody wh knows fantasy hoops knows that Kirilenko can be a monster when he gets enough playing time. But will Jason Kidd use him more extensively in Game 4? And the same question pertains to Andray Blatche, who was a plus-15 in 20 minutes (Kirilenko was a plus-10 in 19 minutes but produced only one bucket, three rebounds, an assist and a steal).
Well, if you think Kirilenko will be a bigger factor in Game 4, you can draft him for just $4,028, leaving you with roughly $96,000 for your other seven players. Blatche, who is center-eligible, costs a mere $7,838.
In the Washington-Indiana series, you can draft Al Harrington for a mere $2,00. Is this a good idea?
Well, in Game 4 on Sunday, Washington’s AARP unit of Harrington, Drew Gooden and Andre Miller played a combined 66 minutes, with Harrington posting 11 points, six rebounds and three steals (a DraftStreet score, with his four missed shots, of 21.5).
I have selected both Blatche and Harrington on one of my teams — the one that includes James, Paul and Durant. (I will call it the WSOP team from here on out).
The second thing to look at is the “secondary stars” — guys like Paul George and Tony Parker and David West. They do not carry superstar price tags, and they have been carrying winning teams in DraftStreet tournaments (especially Parker) since the playoffs began.
With Parker, however, there is a chance that he will not be available in this $40K tournament. If the Spurs complete a sweep on Monday night, here will only be one game on Wednesday night. If you pick Parker today and the Spurs win tonight, you still can sub him out all day Tuesday before the Pacers-Wizards game tips at 7 p.m. EDT.
Let’s have a look at the studs-and-duds price sheet for this big tournament …
| DraftStreet | Price |
| Stars | $$$ |
| Kevin Durant | $22,914 |
| Chris Paul | $21,948 |
| Russell Westbrook | $21,305 |
| LeBron James | $21,149 |
| Blake Griffin | $20,807 |
| LaMarcus Aldridge | $29,305 |
| Paul George | $17,535 |
| Value Plays? | Under $9,000 |
| Boris Diaw | $8,180 |
| Andray Blatche | $7,838 |
| Danny Green | $6,990 |
| Darren Collison | $5,991 |
| Andre Miller | $4,255 |
| Andrei Kirilenko | $4,028 |
| Al Harrington | $2,000 |
The best of those value plays would seem to be Collison, who was on the court for the entire fourth quarter in Game 4 Sunday playing matador defense against Russell Westbrook, who obviously did not get the memo about Kevin Durant being the NBA’s Most Valuable Player. Collison finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and an assist, scoring 26.25 DS points. If he has another one of those in him, he is a no-brainer pickup at less than $6,000.
But be careful what you do with the extra money you are saving my scrounging through the bargain bin. James has seemed like a no-brainer stud pick through the first three games of the Nets-Heat series, but he has yet to put up anything remotely resembling a monster line (yes, that means he is due, IMHO).
Paul George at less than $18,000 is a great pick if he comes through again the way he did Sunday, scoring 39 points.
As you can see from the team I am showing below, you can overcome one bad pick … but it is very hard to overcome two. If I had gone for Collison instead of Dorell Wright in this $22 entry fee contest, I would have won the $500 first prize. As it was, I finished 21st — just out of the money — out of 100 entrants.
Here is the winning team from that contest:
Of this week’s $100 bankroll, I am allotting $44 for a pair of entries in the Big Score tournament. I also have invested $22 from last week’s somewhat successful run, making for a total of three entries.
Again, the WSOP awaits if I win. If I finish second, I will pay the mortgage instead of scheduling a Vegas trip.
Here are the other prizes:
Good luck, everyone.