Before we get to player picks (those come later), we will take a look at which games and positions we may want to key on when we start our research. I hope you all had some success last night. I saw some nice scores posted again in our Slack Channels. Tonight offers a full slate of games leading into our All Star Break, where Keith and I will be digging into some player models and working on some projections to further back up our player recommendations with data. Again, focusing on the why’s along with the who’s to play for a specific slate. Our goal is to give you the best start possible for your day’s action.

This process isn’t intended to take long. It’s a skim, if you will. You are starting your research by quickly glancing over the day’s slate and gathering your early intel.

POINTED UP! – Teams on left, sorted by implied points total above their average points per game (ppg). I tend to focus on the top 10 or so teams, so whoever is in the green middle column is a likely target.

PACED UP! – Same basic chart to look at. However, sorted now for pace of play. Far right column, green teams are going to see the largest increase in implied pace.

From these first two graphics, we can start our research looking at players from the SAC @PHI game, the LAL @CLE game, and the GS @PHX game. We don’t worry about blowout risk yet. This is just the morning briefing. We are looking for games/positions to attack. We can worry about other factors when we dive deeper into our research.

TOTAL FPTS ALLOWED! – Here is a glance at which teams are allowing the most fantasy points, across the board, to opposing teams. We want players from the column marked “opponent” on the far right. I focus on the blue teams. I don’t often dip down into the green teams on this graphic. However, I do look across at the far left column to learn which teams absolutely suck on defense, as it speeds up my process even more when first glancing at a slate.

Should be no shock we are targeting the weak defenses of LAL and SAC. When you notice a team mentioned on both the right and left, however, it indicates a possible game to stack. Notice SAC is on both sides of the page. 2nd on the left and 4th on the right. Hmmmmm…..SAC @PHI is looking strong.

POINT GUARD – This is a DvP (Defense vs Position) table indicating the worst teams against point guards. Again, look at the right column to see which PG you should dive into and focus on teams in blue.

Shocker……Curry is in a favorable spot vs PHX tonight.

SHOOTING GUARD – Same as above, just sorted by a different column/position.

If you look here, though, we aren’t simply targeting the obvious games. 5th on the right column, we see UTA has a plus SG matchup today. Rodney Hood deserves a look when we get into player analysis……write that down.

SMALL FORWARD – Sorted by SF.

Nothing shocking here.

POWER FORWARD – Same again…sorted by PF.

We see the same teams over and over on this page, and those are the games/teams we should be lining up to attack. But, again, we can also spot some outliers with potentially good individual matchups like IND and LAC. Bonus points if you know from memory who to target from those two squads.

CENTER – Yup….same technique.

Another outlier shows up with UTA, CHI, and BOS. My mind immediately wants to research Pau Gasol. Does yours?

The trick from here, now that you have glanced at everything in one stop (Vegas Lines, team totals, DvP, matchups, weak teams to attack, pointed up and paced up for implied salary pricing, etc) is to be efficient with your time. Don’t overthink this stuff. Variance gets us all on any given night. The key is to target the best spots at the best prices and roll your LU out. Hopefully, this gets your day pointed in the right direction.

Keith and I will be back later with some player picks and further analysis. Now, go to the Mess Hall, grab some grub, and meet back here for our 10mi hike. And, as always, fire up the discussion in Slack! Dismissed.