NBA DFS Picks: FREE 1/8 Cash Building Blocks: Brandon Ingram, Value Plays and MORE

Wednesday, Jan. 8 has a hefty nine-game main slate for all the big daily fantasy sites. Before you lock in your NBA DFS lineups and NBA DFS picks on DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo and FantasyDraft, make sure to check out check out Awesemo’s NBA DFS rankings and projections. Let’s dig into some NBA DFS Picks, including Brandon Ingram, Michael Porter Jr. and more.

Hey! Check out our Twitter account for loads of FREE giveaways.


Don’t forget to check out the NBA Strategy Show featuring Josh Engleman and Sal Vetri as they break down the NBA DFS slate and give out their thoughts on injury news and other NBA DFS analysis.

Also, be sure to read Chris Spags’ Switch and Hedge for more NBA DFS picks and analysis.


NBA DFS Picks: Prime Time Players

Brandon Ingram: New Orleans Hornets vs. Chicago Bulls

DraftKings $8,800, FanDuel $9,300, Yahoo $40 Ownership Rating (preliminary run): DraftKings 25.5%, FanDuel 19.9% Yahoo Fantasy 25.6%

Yes, we should absolutely play James Harden tonight with Russell Westbrook sitting out the first game of this back-to-back set. Tomorrow he will be a full go (checks schedule) in his return to Oklahoma City.

Looking at the overall projections, Brandon Ingram is checking in as a top-five option. We know that Jrue Holiday is out with a bruised elbow, so the team will be relying even more on Ingram tonight. This season, the former Laker has been a model of consistency with 42.8 FraftKings points per game in 34.2 minutes for a 1.25 per minute rate. Over his last 10, he has 43.5 and 35.0 for 1.24 fantasy points per minute. When Holiday is off the court, Ingram ticks up to 1.34 fantasy points per minute.

Now, over their last 10 games we have seen Chicago’s defensive efficiency slip to 107.3 points per 100 possessions. They are still a top-10 team but much closer to the middle of the pack and they are just one possession per game away from being in that same spot from a pace perspective. Wendell Carter Jr. is going to be out for the next two weeks with an ankle injury which further weakens the Bulls defense. There will be plenty of value plays today with 18 teams in action so we want to start looking who to slot in next to Harden in our cash games and Ingram looks to be at the top of the short list. Josh Hart is also an intriguing option at a reduced price point.

On FanDuel, we may want to pivot away from Brandon Ingram at his slightly elevated price and move to teammate Derrick Favors who is nicely priced at $6,900 and we can earmark that salary cap savings for other positions.

NBA DFS Picks: Good Value

Michael Porter Jr: Denver Nuggets at Dallas Mavericks

DraftKings $3,800, FanDuel $3,900, Yahoo $10 Ownership Rating (preliminary run): DraftKings 36.6%, FanDuel 21.4% Yahoo Fantasy 28.2%

While we do not know his status with regards to starting, just know that Michael Porter Jr. has been the first guy off the bench along with Jerami Grant with the duo tending to replace Paul Millsap and one of the wings such as Gary Harris or Will Barton. Barton is out tonight on a personal matter, so that means we should see Porter approach 24 minutes compared to his recent 15-20 which is a nice boost for his price tag.

Houston Rockets Understudies

Keep an eye on the popularity, starting lineup and any other information we get regarding Eric Gordon, Danuel House Jr. and P.J. Tucker as they will be among the first to benefit from the minutes and production void created by Russell Westbrook taking tonight off.

Yahoo Discount Dandies

D.J. Augustin vs. WAS – $13

Michael Porter Jr at DAL – $10

Daniel Gafford at NOR – $10 (4.0 blocks per 36 minutes)

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson at CHA – $12 (if starting)

Bismack Biyombo vs. TOR – $10

NBA DFS Picks: Risky Value

New York Knicks

This is an interesting day as I do not have a strong opinion yet with regards to risky value. The early player popularity seems pretty appropriate and even the value is plentiful already so we can roll out players that meet our personal risk/reward preferences.

The Knicks lost last night in Los Angeles to the Lakers 117-87 in a disaster of a game where they were last even at 17-17 with just over two minutes left in the first quarter. Marcus Morris will likely be out again with a neck issue but after that, who the heck is going to get the minutes? And then we have a tough matchup, at altitude.

This is the final stop on New York’s four-game West Coast road trip and they will likely close it out with a fourth straight loss. Even on the late slate, this feels like a buyer beware situation.

FantasyCruncher Tip of the Day

Use promo code PRIMETIME to receive 50% off any one-week premium subscription (including FantasyCruncher options).

With the incredibly user-friendly FantasyCruncher, we can take our lineup construction to the next level.

Today, we will look at how to use the random feature and how it impacts projections. By going into Advanced Options > General Settings, we can set a global Randomness that will be applied to all players. In this case we will use 15%. This means that for each individual lineup that is produced by FantasyCruncher, each player will have their baseline projection randomized within a +/- 15% range.

So if our player had a projection of 20 points, FantasyCruncher would assign a range projection of 17-23 points. Again, this will occur with each different lineup that is created and with each player.

For those of you with FC Pro, you have a second option. The Normal Dist Randomness calculation will actually follow a standard deviation bell curve approach. This keeps the variations in a more realistic set of parameters. This can also be set by each play via the data upload process.

Final Thoughts

This looks to be a fun slate with a little something for everyone. Be sure to tune in to the Deeper Dive/Live Before Lock shows on YouTube,  Twitch and Periscope beginning at 5 p.m. EST tonight for all of the up-to-date information.

As always, you can reach out to me in Awesemo.com Premium Slack or on Twitter @EMacDFS if you have any NBA DFS questions about DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo or FantasyDraft.

Good Luck NBA DFS Gamers! ~ EMac


If you haven’t signed up for Yahoo Fantasy DFS, click this link and use the promo code Awesemo when making your first deposit and you will be eligible for $30 of free play, which Yahoo will match through the first $30 of your deposit (this bonus will be received in Yahoo Sports Rewards Points, aka YSRP which can be used to enter any paid contest immediately).

 

Eric "EMac" MacPherson won the 2007 Fantasy Baseball grand prize (trip for two to the MLB All-Star game) in the Roto format on ESPN. He won again in 2008, this time in the H2H format. As one of the early adopters of daily fantasy sports, EMac has been providing content for baseball and basketball as well as both professional and college football since 2012 for a variety of websites including DraftKings Playbook, FanVice, RotoWorld, Daily Fantasy Bootcamp, and RotoGrinders. He is well into his third decade of fantasy sports and has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Follow him on Twitter @EMacDFS or contact EMac by emailing [email protected].

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