Fantasy Spin January 11, 2015

Congratulations if you keyed on Pau Gasol last night. A career-high 46 points came out of nowhere, along with 18 rebounds. Nikola Vucevic (34 PTS, 16 REB) was another brilliant play despite the ‘ankle injury’ that scared me away. D’oh!

So much for 20-20 hindsight; we’re looking forward to all five Sunday NBA games. DraftKings offers contests closing at 3:00 ET (All-Day), 6:00 (Late) and 9:00 (Later). That’s three opportunities to use DeMarcus Cousins $10800, the highest-salaried player on the board today for several good reasons.

Boogie has three straight double-doubles, the latest (32 PTS, 13 REB, 4 AST, 4 BLK, 3 STL) worth 66.25 FPTS. You can afford him, two other solid stars and five bargains for the $50K cap. There are other options at C in every price range, but nobody close to his expected production.

Open a new account and get a FREE entry for this afternoon’s $30K Layup — the highest score earns $5,000 and 4,000 of 17,250 teams receive guaranteed cash prizes. Your initial deposit ($5 or more) is matched 100% up to $600 with bonus money, earned a dollar at a time as you play.

The 6-sport, $2.7 MILLION January Jam costs $100 per team, but you can win tickets in Satellite contests for $5, $2 or even a quarter. The main target for basketball fans is the $500,000 NBA Slam Dunk on January 28, with its top prize of $100,000.

Kyrie Irving $8900 and Kevin Love $10100 are tremendous plays against Sacramento. Freed from that confusing triangle, J.R. Smith $4300 played a team-high 42 minutes last game and scored 27 points on 11-23 shooting. Darren Collison $6900 and Rudy Gay $8100 are affordable; we don’t care who wins in DFS, as long as scores are high.

Memphis still hasn’t plugged Jeff Green into their lineup, but Zach Randolph $7300 is back after missing nine games with a sore knee, and double-doubled in his first game. Marc Gasol $8700 can take Alex Len $4200 to school and Mike Conley $8100 may be a better play in DFS than any of the Suns’ guards. Both teams lost on Friday, the third defeat in their last four for the Grizzlies, who should prevail in an entertaining game. Isaiah Thomas $5400 and Gerald Green $4800 gain value when Phoenix is trailing, P.J. Tucker $4300 is a nice price and Markieff Morris $6300 can only improve off that 1-13 nightmare in San Antonio.

Wizards at Hawks is an excellent Eastern Conference playoff preview. John Wall $9600 vs. Jeff Teague $8400 is sure to be exciting, while both Marcin Gortat $6200 and Al Horford $6500 are coming off big games. Atlanta’s most obvious advantage is Paul Millsap $8400 over Nene Hilario $5000, but the often-injured Brazilian has been sharp lately. Assuming both teams ratchet up the defensive pressure, this one could be better in reality than fantasy.

Be careful about using the Blazers in this road back-to-back. LaMarcus Aldridge $10000 is a stud, and Wesley Matthews $5800 is affordable, but Damian Lillard $9800 is playing with back pain. Neither Chris Kaman $4600 nor Meyers Leonard $3000 has impressed at C, so Jordan Hill $5200 might surprise. Kobe Bryant $8600 is expected to play — though he was a surprise late scratch on Friday — and Wesley Johnson $4000 (hip) may also return, so that one-game spike for a few of their teammates could be a mirage. Jeremy Lin $4900 and Ryan Kelly $3500 won’t get as many touches. With 14 points and nine boards in 17 minutes on Friday, newcomer Tarik Black $3200 is the wild card.

The Clippers toyed with the Mavericks last night; the Heat have had two days to regroup after a 35-point second half in Portland. Dwyane Wade $9000 and Chris Bosh $8300 will again try to generate enough offense by themselves, and Hassan Whiteside $4500 is a possible bargain. The only concern with L.A. is that Chris Paul $9700, Blake Griffin $10000 and DeAndre Jordan $7900 will not be needed in the fourth quarter. I’m leaning toward less-expensive role players like Jamal Crawford $4800, Matt Barnes $4300 and/or Spencer Hawes $3500 to pay their way.

Pos	Premium	Midrange	Bargain
PG	Kyrie Irving $8900	Mike Conley $8100	Jeremy Lin $4900
SG	Dwyane Wade $9000	Wesley Matthews $5800	J.R. Smith $4300
SF	Rudy Gay $8100	Nicolas Batum $6000	P.J. Tucker $4300
PF	Kevin Love $10100	Zach Randolph $7300	Tarik Black $3200
C	DeMarcus Cousins $10800	Al Horford $6500	Spencer Hawes $3500