Fantasy Spin March 15, 2015

Typical for this time of year, an eight-game Sunday tips off at 1:00 EDT, when the national TV doubleheader features four terrific teams. Enter All-Day or Early-Only contests to use those players.

Russell Westbrook $12600 is a daily fantasy conundrum. Using him at that (well-deserved) enormous salary means that if he doesn’t triple-double, you’ve probably overpaid. In Chicago ten days ago, he scored 43 points. With Serge Ibaka $7700 (knee), Enes Kanter $6100 and Steven Adams $3500 all missing practice yesterday, Russ may have to score 60 for OKC to win. Gotta like the Bulls’ big men, especially Pau Gasol $8800 and Nikola Mirotic $6900, in a very interesting matchup.

Plays of the Day

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The 3:30 start is similar. James Harden $10800 has had a couple of days to recover from a difficult back-to-back and Chris Paul $10000 is playing through an assortment of minor injuries, but if you don’t use them, they can beat you with huge numbers. DeAndre Jordan $9000 has also helped carry the Clippers in the absence of Blake Griffin $9000 (elbow), who is finally nearing a return.

I’m going to “solve” those matinee puzzles by sticking to the action at 6:00, covering the other six games. That’s our focus in the sample lineup and Short List.

At PG, while Kyrie Irving $8100 can only regress from his career-high 57 points, he does have a great matchup in Orlando. Damian Lillard $8100 and a revitalized Kyle Lowry $7400 meet head-on in Toronto and Tony Parker $6400 is enjoying his best stretch of a disappointing season.

Top-priced SG Eric Bledsoe $7800 should be unstoppable against the road-weary Knicks; other options at a thin position include Eric Gordon $5800, Danny Green $5400 and Kyle Korver $5100. I’m going with a stars-and-scrubs approach, with former Laker Kent Bazemore $3400 a hunch play.

LeBron James $10900 tops the SF; whether he needs to be at his best for the Cavs to beat the Magic is the question. Kawhi Leonard $8500 might be better value and Danilo Gallinari $6000 just had two excellent games against tough opposition.

PF belongs to the amazing Anthony Davis $11000, who left Tuesday’s game after taking an elbow to the head. Fortunately, he avoided a concussion and has had four full days off. The Pelicans are in a dead-heat with the Thunder for the final playoff spot in the West, so the Brow will be highly motivated. Theoretically, Paul Millsap $7500 can rack up huge numbers against the Lakers, but why would Atlanta go all-out with their stars if the reserves can do the job? The bargain possibility is Brandan Wright $3600, expected to log extra minutes at C because Alex Len (ankle) is out.

At C, the same applies to Al Horford $6900 — coach Bud has the big picture in mind and won’t run up the score. I prefer Gorgui Dieng $5700, likely to be unleashed again because Nikola Pekovic $4700 (ankle) is hurt. We touted his teammate Justin Hamilton $4000 on Friday for the best game of his career — 17 PTS, 10 REB, 3 BLK — and the waiver-wire pickup might get 30+ minutes again tonight.

Pos	Premium	Midrange	Bargain
PG	Kyrie Irving $8100	Tony Parker $6400	Dennis Schroder $4800
SG	Eric Bledsoe $7800	Danny Green $5400	Kent Bazemore $3400
SF	LeBron James $10900	Kawhi Leonard $8500	James Johnson $3600
PF	Anthony Davis $11000	Markieff Morris $6100	Brandan Wright $3600
C	Nikola Vucevic $8300	Gorgui Dieng $5700	Justin Hamilton $4000