Fantasy Spin March 8, 2015

There’s a fine afternoon doubleheader for All-Day and Early-Only contests at DraftKings, but with Daylight Savings Time kicking in while we slept, they start an hour sooner than you may expect.

The 1:00 EDT game between the Bulls and Spurs is actually at noon local time, quite early for NBA players even if they didn’t “lose” an hour. San Antonio has had an easy schedule this week, with home wins over Sacramento and Denver, while the Bulls — missing three of their six best guys — split a tough back-to-back on Thursday and Friday. You can use Pau Gasol $8800, and Mike Dunleavy $4000 is a possible bargain, but Kawhi Leonard $7700 is in a groove and Tony Parker $5200 came to life against the Nuggets.

Plays of the Day

New to DK? They match your initial deposit 100% ($5 to $600) with bonus funds that convert to cash as you play, plus you get a FREE entry in the Early $20K Layup — the top score earns $2,000 and 2.300 of 11,500 teams win cash prizes.

The Fantasy Basketball World Championship offers a million dollar first prize, to be awarded March 23. There are only 40 seats in the Final; finish first in a Qualifier to win a spot, including a 5-day VIP trip to Las Vegas (worth $55,000) plus a minimum of $7,000 in cash!

Game of the day is a 3:30 EDT start with the Clippers (who haven’t played since Wednesday’s OT loss in Portland) visiting the Warriors. You know the big guns: Chris Paul $10600 vs. Stephen Curry $9500. Possibly tired the last couple of games, DeAndre Jordan $8800 is a threat, and both Klay Thompson $7000 and Draymond Green $7200 are good value.

Many of you will be reading this after the 1:00 contests close, so we’re going to focus on the other five games in today’s sample lineup and Short List.

The Celtics were overachieving for a while but seem to be wearing down. Orlando can beat them at home, though Nikola Vucevic $8300 (ankle) is questionable. Victor Oladipo $7900 and Tobias Harris are the best plays; in the absence of Vuc on Friday, Channing Frye came out of nowhere with a 22 & 10 and is still dirt cheap. Isaiah Thomas $6300 usually leads Boston and Kelly Olynyk $4300 will soon find the range.

Mired in a long slump, the Raptors will have a difficult time in Oklahoma City. Russell Westbrook $12000 is in refuse-to-lose mode, scoring 40+ every night and always a triple-double threat. To use him at that salary, you must find a few overachievers.

It’s last call for the Pistons if they want to make the postseason. Charlotte can almost bury them with a win tonight, and Kemba Walker (knee) will return soon. For now, Mo Williams $7500 is doing a great job, and Al Jefferson $7700 will figure out ways to score against Andre Drummond $7700.

Of all the teams with nothing to play for but lottery odds, Utah may currently be the best. However, this is their fourth road game in six nights. Meanwhile, the Nets are on a 10-day home stand with no back-to-backs, but dropped the last two, hurting their playoff odds. Gordon Hayward $7400 is a possibility, though most other games will produce higher scores.

The nightcap, on NBA-TV, sees the Mavericks playing their third west-coast game in four nights. The Lakers are tanking, but we can’t expect miracles from a Dallas squad that is long in the tooth. I like Jordan Clarkson $4800, Jordan Hill $4800 and their bargain-basement teammates — they don’t have to win the game, just keep it close, to be valuable.

Pos	Premium	Midrange	Bargain
PG	R. Westbrook $12000	Isaiah Thomas $6300	Jordan Clarkson $4800
SG	Victor Oladipo $7900	Joe Johnson $5400	W. Ellington $4400
SF	Gordon Hayward $7400	Tobias Harris $6500	Wesley Johnson $3600
PF	Serge Ibaka $8000	Derrick Favors $7300	Channing Frye $4000
C	Al Jefferson $7700	Brook Lopez $5800	Jordan Hill $4800