Fantasy Spin December 13, 2015

On a quiet NBA Sunday, there’s a matinee in Phoenix, included at DraftKings in All-Day contests. The visiting Timberwolves have lost five of six, mostly close games, while scoring a lot of points.

Minutes and stats for Karl-Anthony Towns $7100, Andrew Wiggins $6800 and Ricky Rubio $6900 have been slightly inflated by overtimes in the last two. A suddenly-hot Kevin Martin $4200 is the best value of all; Sam Mitchell had him out there in both extra frames.

The Suns collapsed in the fourth quarter on Friday as Brandon Knight $7500 couldn’t buy a bucket (0-for-12 on the night.) Eric Bledsoe $8400 tried to pick up the slack with 31 points. Whoever Kev-Mart tries to guard is the play. Prices are slowly adjusting upwards on Jon Leuer $5700 and Alex Len $5300 just as Tyson Chandler $4300 (hamstring) is set to return. Sharpshooter Mirza Teletovic $4600 should retain most of his value off the bench.

Plays of the Day

Do you like football? Today’s featured contest is the NFL Supersat to earn a spot in the NBA $1M Holiday Classic on December 25. It costs only $3 (or FREE with your first deposit at DK) to enter the Supersat; the top 100 finishers from only 766 teams will qualify for that million-dollar hoops contest. Better hurry, the deadline is 1:00 Eastern.

Kyle Lowry $8800 deserves to start the All-Star game in front of his home fans. John Wall is younger, taller and extremely talented, but Lowry is having the best season of any PG in the East. DeMar DeRozan $7100 is getting to the line — 19 for 20 over his last two — and the Sixers have nobody to stop him. Robert Covington $7000 costs twice nearly as much as Terrence Ross $3800, who might post a similar line as the starting SF until DeMarre Carroll (knee) returns. Cory Joseph $4300 will also benefit if (when) Toronto goes small.

Up front, Jahlil Okafor $6400 presents a challence for Bismack Biyombo $4900 or backup Lucas Noguiera $3000, still questionable with a sore ankle. Nerlens Noel $5800 is more athletic than the Raptors’ veteran PF tandem of Luis Scola $4700 and Patrick Patterson $3800, but they are crafty and have range.

On Friday, we gave the Jazz a chance at home, but Kevin Durant $10000 and Russell Westbrook $10300 did just enough down the stretch to ensure a 94-90 win. Back in OKC for this rematch after a day of rest, the Thunder will be even harder to beat. Enes Kanter $4500 and Dion Waiters $4100 are potential bargains. Trey Burke $4300 has become more consistent for Utah, while Gordon Hayward $7400 and Derrick Favors $7700 are shouldering heavy workloads.

Worst game of the day (though the DFS lens) is Memphis at Miami. The Grizzlies are in a win-one, lose-one pattern of late, with a couple of terrible efforts. The Heat have dropped three in a row. However, the salaries reflect that.

Marc Gasol $7300 is the best center on the board. Chris Bosh $7200 and Dwyane Wade $7000 will be extremely motivated. For bargain-hunters, it’s a revenge game for Mario Chalmers $4000 and Gerald Green $4200 is still in the 25-minute range as a sixth man.

The sample lineup and Short List is for All-Day action. In evening contests we can’t use Martin or Teletovic but there are solid options in that price range. While it’s a perfectly reasonable strategy to use both Westbrook and Durant, the dropoff from KD to next-best at his position is more extreme. If choosing only one of the superstar teammates, that scarcity becomes a factor.

Pos	Premium	Midrange	Bargain
PG	Russell Westbrook $10300	Kyle Lowry $8800	Mario Chalmers $4000
SG	Eric Bledsoe $8400	DeMar DeRozan $7100	Kevin Martin $4200
SF	Kevin Durant $10000	Gordon Hayward $7400	Mirza Teletovic $4600
PF	Derrick Favors $7700	Chris Bosh $7200	Patrick Patterson $3800
C	Marc Gasol $7300	Karl-Anthony Towns $7100	Enes Kanter $4500