Boomer’s Ballers 2.0 – We are testing a new format. If you would be so kind as to leave us which you like better, we would appreciate it. Ultimately, we are about giving you what you want and need to be successful.

After glancing at the Morning Briefing, I hope you have some targets picked out that appear to be in successful fantasy producing spots. Let’s roll out the position picks for each position, along with some bonus picks at the end. These are picks Keith likes for a variety of reasons. They are not necessarily the “top option on the board,” “chalk options,” “highest scoring,” “GPP only,” or whatever other moniker you want to assign. These are Keith’s favorite options when combining all of these factors….

The graphics you are looking at is a rolling 30-day snapshot indicating average performance above/below expected points along with a percentage of times said player has exceeded projections. The blue line indicates fluctuations in salary over the same 30-day time frame. The bar graph shows how far above/below a particular date resulted vs expected production.

– POINT GUARDS –

Damian Lillard – Playing against Golden State, Lillard is a great ping-pong play with or without Curry in your roster. In his last two matchups, Lillard went off for 53 and 63 fantasy points, respectively. I think Lillard has the chance at being higher owned that Westbrook, but that shouldn’t scare you off him.

Jrue Holliday – With Chalmers cut after blowing out his Achilles and Norris Cole doubtful to play, Jrue is the best ball handler on the Pelicans, and possibly the court, and everything should flow through his hands. The possibility exists he goes lower owned as deep as PG is and with these increased prices on FanDuel.

Goran Dragic – Dargic is a phenomenal core play for your roster tonight on a dollar for dollar basis. He gets the Derrick Rose #ZDP (Zero-Defense Policy) with an opponent +/- of 3.51 according to Fantasy Labs. With Wade questionable, if he sits, this is a great mid-level buy for value and differentiation.

CJ Watson – This one might look a punt, but with Elfrid Payton already ruled out, Watson is already named the starter. I’d really like to play Brandon Jennings because we’ve seen Jennings score 50 FD pts, but if you put the gun to my head I would have to go with Watson. I will have exposure to both, though, because you just never know what’s going on inside the head of Scott Skiles.

Curry and Westbrook go without saying on any given slate. And, Chris Paul no longer deserves my time after doinking Kevin Durant in the donkey-danglers the other night, and it’s NOT the only time he’s cup-checked a player’s family jewels. That’s all I have to say about tha’at…..

– SHOOTING GUARDS –

Victor Oladipo – With Payton and Vucevic both out, Dipo gets the usage bump and also happens to draw one of the best +/- matchups (DvP like stat) on the slate. The thing that’s even better is when he drives to the hoop, he won’t have the Boogie Man waiting on him since Cousins is serving his own suspension for doing something stupid (detrimental) to the team.

Lance Stephenson – MEM is literally running only an 8-man rotation. With no Chalmers and Conley left, Lance could be your defacto PG tonight for the Grizzlies. This should be an uptempo, fast-paced game. At this price tag, he is worth a serious look since he should draw close to 30 minutes tonight. MEM simply has no other choice.

Sasha Vujacic and Langston Galloway – You know the season is winding down when Vujacic is a viable play. With Lance Thomas and Aaron Afflalo both ruled out and Jose Calderon running against Chris Paul, Vujacic and Langston Galloway are actually both in play here. I would prefer Galloway, but you can’t argue with the minutes Sasha received last time out.

Make no mistake about it, Avery Bradley’s main job is going to be to put a lid on James Harden. However, he’s a shooter and also going up against the ultimate #ZDP in Harden. Lesser men have made nicer livings off targeting the #ZDP of Harden……Bradley is no different.

Zack LaVine is off my radar tonight since he isn’t cheap enough for me to like his upside. He’s cheap enough for his consistency, but it’s just not the cherry matchup I’d be looking for all things considered. Dwayne Wade is currently questionable and not worth the risk.

– SMALL FORWARD –

Rudy Gay – With Cousins sitting in timeout, Gay gets a significant usage bump at his more affordable price tag. You won’t be sneaking up on anyone, as he might be one of the highest owned players on the slate tonight. But, with the ability to go for 50+, our boy Rudy is kind of plug-and-play when he’s playing fairly well and Boogie sits.

Evan Fournier – Newly promoted by FanDuel to SF, Fournier will get great run with the Magic being short handed. He is a noted minutes monster, and as a 2-3 combo, he still gets run when Dipo mans the point. Fournier can slide to the 2 spot and let Super Mario man the 3.

Luol Deng – A secondary player currently, but if Wade sits, Deng immediately slides into the elite play category. Luol has been one of the most consistent players on the Heat since the ASB (All Star Break), and he is a near lock to get you 33+ minutes per game when Wade is riding the pine. He has 40+ point upside and in a great matchup could very well test his total ceiling of about 45 FD pts.

Jae Crowder – Jae has a great matchup tonight (Opp +/- over 4.5), perhaps one of the best at the position tonight. He has a balanced game and contributes in all categories. He also logs a ton of minutes.

Again, it goes without saying Kevin Durant is a fine play. Another to watch is Tony Allen (currently on minute restriction according to Twitter) if ZBo sits with Conley already out (statistically, he sees a nice bump in production). However, we can likely avoid Nicolas Batum at his price and inconsistent play.

– POWER FORWARDS –

Thaddeus Young – This is a revenge narrative playing a former team and will likely be a chalky play. In cash, we don’t care. In GPP, you might consider fading him to someone less obvious but also in a good spot.

Serge Ibaka – For his price and what he’s able to do on the court, he could be one of the sneakiest tourney plays of the night…..and not just at the PF position but across the board. Great matchup and could garner 35+ minutes in this game.

Aaron Gordon – This dude is a regular on our sheets. He is FAR more athletic than Willie Cauley-Stein and Koufus. This gives him a great matchup minus Cousins haunting the middle of the court. Vegas thinks this could be a run and gun sort of game and that just favors Gordon’s athleticism even more.

Draymond Green – Do we really need a reason to play Dray since his price is off it’s peak? I’m not a big fan of Anthony Davis on most slates, which gives me more reason to like Green. POR is not a bad matchup and Draymond is the type that scores so well without dropping buckets, if he gets loose near the hoop, the ceiling gets tested. Being he has done well vs POR in past games this year, I like that ceiling a lot.

Jared Sullinger – PFs for HOU are terribad…..it doesn’t matter which one is on the court. We attack that matchup tonight with Sullinger. Since FD is starting to raise pricing, Jared is one of the few underpriced players remaining. Get him while you can.

– CENTERS –

Hassan Whiteside – Chop was glad to see this man on top of Keith’s list because this just throws the gas on the fire now that we agree. Top play on the board tonight, imo. Whiteside draws that crappy rebound differential vs CHI which leads right into his specialty. Definitely going to be highly owned, but I just don’t see how you can fade this beast in this matchup. You see us mention Opp +/- from Fantasy Labs as our version of DvP now. Well, whereas 3 is a good number, how does Whiteside’s 8.3 strike you? Yeh…..me too.

Dwight Howard – Another matchup we like to exploit…..bigs vs BOS. We know what he’s capable of. We also know his price is cheaper than the truly elite. When suppressed pricing meets elite matchup, you have easy value.

Enos Kanter – Faster paced game, and I love this play. This game will be offensive in nature and that’s where Kanter gets his run. He is cheap and allows you to spend up elsewhere like Harden (if you choose that route) or Curry (probably my preferred route). Kanter is underpriced, underowned, has double-double potential in shorter minutes of work, and happens to be blowout proof.

Kristan Koufus – We have to mention Boogie’s replacement tonight. The numbers bear out that Koufus gets the run, and produces, when Boogie is missing. He won’t see a massive usage rate, but if he avoids foul trouble he can make a serious run at 30 FD pts.

Our overall play of the night just might be Stephen Curry. He plays fast. He usually plays hard. Don’t look at the game log because two of his last three were stinkers. Well, one was San Antonio and the other was honestly a wicked hangover from partying the night before in LA. Those are outliers. He might take the court with something to prove tonight……….and we know he’s in range the minute he gets off the bus.

Our Brass Balls fade is James Harden. Again, we won’t fault you for playing him. We just won’t be. Avery Bradley is no slouch defensively. This alone puts a lid on Harden. Harden can do whatever he wants to……..WHEN he wants to. With the plethora (yes, word of the day toilet paper) of options in the upper tier of players, why take the chance if you don’t need to? 40 pts? Sure. 60? I doubt it.

As always, Keith will be available in the Slack VIP Channel to update you on injury news, and how to pivot if need be….make sure to join in the conversation. He’s always open to answering questions, but if you are going to ask if you should play “Player X” over “Player Y” make sure you check the rankings on the cheat sheets before asking unless news has come out that could possibly change the situation. Thank you!

Cheat Sheets are condensed….remember, there will be players that are not on this sheet that go off. The goal here is to not overload you with a lot of combinations. Sure, I can put in 15 PG’s and 10 PF’s. And then say, “the winning lineup was on the Sheet” but that doesn’t help us. I’m giving you options at varying price points, so you can build varying types of lineup. I feel the last two months of the season, we will have better success by choosing from a smaller pool. Dismissed!

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Good Luck!