 What's going on and welcome to the NBA DFS Q&A show. My name is Tom Vecchio. I'm here every Wednesday at 4 p.m. taking your questions about tonight's NBA Slates. Remember to follow Fane Dool on the YouTube, Twitter, Twitch, Facebook pages, taking your questions there. All the time you can follow me on Twitter at DFS underscore Tom. We have a good Slates. I think we are in for a higher scoring slate. We also have a number of injuries we need to be paying attention to across various different teams. We just got some news recently Nicole Jokic is on, is now listed as questionable. Obviously that changes things for what should have been a good matchup, especially against the Utah Jazz with no Rurigo Bear. So this is a big one. We know that LeBron is doubtful. Hardin is expected to play. Anthony Davis is probable. Deer and Fox's questionable has missed a number of games in a row. Nurkic is probable. And then we have a few secondary players, although I'm very interested in Robert Williams tonight. So we have a lot going on when it comes to this slate. I think that there are clearly a few top tier games that we want to be focusing in on when it comes to fantasy production. I think that there are a few that could be potentially falling a bit further behind. Brooklyn and Sacramento is shaping up to be a fantastic game. Portland LA also shaping up to be great. A group of teams between the four that don't play a whole lot of defense. They've certainly some great, viable fantasy options. OKC and Dallas with a 206 overrunder is just so, so low, combined with a 12 point spread in favor of the Mavericks just isn't super enticing compared to some of these, you know, one, maybe two possession games we have across the slate. So I know that I want to be limiting or eliminating the options from Dallas and Oklahoma City. Outside of a handful, of course, there's no porzingas for the Mavericks. So looking to Luca is always a great option, but don't want to be overexposing the lineups in that capacity. I think that Nick's certainly good spots a nice pace up environment for them, along with the Cavaliers, some weak defenses. It's a pretty good slate overall. Born to Laugh is asking Udoka Azabuki or Isaiah Jackson. Well, right now we have to technically, we would have to wait on the confirmed starting lineup because there's a chance that Eric Pascale is the starting center for Utah. Sure, Azabuki could still be in for some minutes, but we have to get some confirmation on the actual starting lineup. At this point, I would lean towards going to Isaiah Jackson for the Pacers, who's in line to be the starting center. Again, he's $6,000. Solid matchup for him going up against Orlando, bottom 10 in the league versus centers this year for the most famous points allowed per game to them. So right now, I would lean towards Isaiah Jackson. It's kind of a tough, also generally a tough question to answer because they're at such different salaries, where a Jackson is up at $6,000. Azabuki is down at $3,500. So that would change your line of construction overall in terms of where you're prioritizing the players and in terms of the salaries, the leftover salary where you would spend it. So until we get an update on the jazz starting lineup, whether it's going to be Pascale in there, I think that may change things for you. If you're looking for other options at those price tiers, let's see. I think Mobley is in a great spot tonight. He's a little more expensive at $6,900 compared to the $6,000 for Jackson. It's also potentially whether you're rostering that center or power forward. I'm big on Evan Mobley tonight. I took the over on the 29 and a half points rebounds assist combined for him tonight. It's a pace-up spot for Cleveland in a big way. They're 28th in the league. And Pace Houston is sitting up at third. That's great. We have a, what is it? Three and a half, four points spread in favor. Yeah, four and a half points spread in favor of Cleveland. Solid 2-18 over under and Houston dead last in the league against centers. This is a great spot for Cleveland. Obviously we'll be looking at Cleveland for some other value options, not just their high-priced big men. We know that Darius Garland is out, so this presents the opportunity for three value plays in their lineup. Yeda Osman, Isaac Acoro and Dean Wade. Osman is coming off a big game. They're most recent one without Garland. 38 minutes from him. Under one fated point per minute, but more importantly, he reads salary-based value, which is always something you want to be focusing in on. Brandon Goodwin, I'm high on him for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He also played, what was it, 28 minutes? 27 minutes in their most recent game? 27 minutes in their most recent game. He's the minimum salary, which is absolutely awesome. So starting off a build with going to some of the value potentially with Goodwin and going to Yeda Osman, leaves you with a lot of open salary. If we do see Pascale in there and we get Yochit ruled out, I think that's obviously an easier path for Pascale, scoring some fancy points. The three solid value plays to start things off. I'm big on Bob Donovich tonight. I just think that the extra shot opportunities will be there for him. I mean, we're working with 8,500 per player remaining, and you can go any which way. If you want to get up to Yochit, you want to get up to Anthony Davis, getting them both in your lineup at this point is very, very easy. I mean, 72 under left for three spots left. You can spend up for another star, find some salary relief in the $4,000 range, and you're pretty well-balanced lineup of players that should be seeing an increased amount of minutes, increased usage, whatever it might be, good game environments, all these sorts of things. So if Yochit does play, I think that's good. M.B. should actually be here, not Yochit. So if Yochit does play, I think he's actually in a good spot. No, we're to go bare for the jazz. I see this as a bounce back spot for Denver. What are they, four and a half point, three and a half point dogs on the road. If Yochit plays, I think this opened up a two. If Yochit plays, I'll have more interest in going to Denver at plus three and a half. I do like the Nets tonight. I took the Nets at minus four a little bit earlier. I think there's just a clear bounce back spot for them against the Kings. They've lost what now? Six in a row, seven in a row. Yeah, they lost last night to Phoenix. I think it's seven in a row now. Just a bounce back spot against the weak Kings team. This should be a spot that they should get back in shape, just beat the Kings. I like the Nets minus four. That's where I got them. Like I said, I took the over on Mobley 29 and a half. I also took the over on Alec Berks at, I think it's 14 and a half or points rebounds that's just combined. This is a really good spot for the Knicks. Do we have, no, Berks is not listed or he was taken off. So I like Berks tonight. I think it's at 14 and a half or 15 and a half. Pays up spot for the Knicks. They're dead last in league in offense. Pays Memphis is playing all the way up here at six. Good game environment overall. Close spread, two 17 and a half over under. I think it's modest overall. So I like Berks. I like some of those secondary players on the Knicks alongside Barry and going to Julius Randall. Obviously those are the two main contributors for their fantasy production. And I think, you know, going to Berks, a player that could often go overlooked. I like him in the betting market tonight as well. The Charlotte and Boston game is, I think one of the main games I want to be targeting. We've got a close spread. We have a high over under. We have extremely viable, fancy options on both sides. I think we can be looking here for many, many choices. Like I said on today's Daily ISO, the podcast, I am big on Rob Williams tonight. Love the production from him on a nightly basis. More importantly, I love the matchup. And I also don't think he's going to be too popular. We looked to Boston and obviously two main usage leaders for them, nothing surprising with Tatum and Brown. But 1.14, fan two points per minute is what we see Rob Williams, the time lord producing on a very modest 12.1% offensive usage rate combined now with a very favorable matchup against centers. I think he's in a great spot tonight. I think he's in a great spot to exceed value. I don't think he's going to be popular in tournaments. That's the spot I want to be going to him. Most people will likely be paying up for Joel and beat, especially if we see Yolkich ruled out. And I think that this mid tier is where we could see some players go overlooked. And Rob Williams is one of those players I want to be focusing in on at the mid tier. So the injury news on tonight's slate is always important. The Yolkich news we're not going to have, I assume at the 7pm lock. So look to have some spots open or have your roster swaps available just so you can pivot in and out of whatever it might be. That's always important. Going to Yolkich potentially swapping in for Davis and then having another option in one of the later games that's a higher salary to allow you to shift those things around I think will make things a little bit easier. DJ is asking, how do you feel about Kessler Edwards over Moe Harkless? How do you feel about playing Treman over Jalen Green? So I like Kessler Edwards overall, whether it's on this slate or just going forward as long as the salary stays roughly the same. I would be on him over Moe Harkless in this matchup. The minutes are there big time for Kessler Edwards. He's small forward, only 3,900 consistent production from him. He's only 3,900, he only has to do so much but it's more about the volume of minutes that he's playing on an unenightly basis going for over 30 in most cases. He can get the scoring going at times as he showed a little bit last night. We'd like to see the consistency when it comes to the rebounding, which boosts his floor points overall. So I'm on board with him over Moe Harkless slightly. Minimum salary for Harkless, which is a little bit better than the 3,900 but the role for Harkless and the lack of production I think is a little bit more apparent when he's not the primary score even with the Aaron Fox out. We're gonna see Halliburton, we're gonna see Heald, we'll see Rashawn Holmes taking up some of that usage for him. So I would lean towards Kessler Edwards and then Trey Mann over Jalen Green. That's a good question. Obviously the change in usage for the Thunder with SGA out presents a different story. So if we adjust for SGA being off the court. You know, the issue I have with this comes down to Trey Mann. Not the greatest production in the world but solid usage rate overall. The issue I have with this is that this game is a 206 overrunner, right? That's where I'm not loving it. Meanwhile, Jalen Green is producing roughly around the same but he's in a significantly better game environment. So the increase in usage for Mann is certainly better but if push comes to shove like I think I'll be going to Jalen Green I just wanna be buying in and buying in on that game environment overall rather than a 206 overrunner and Dallas has been super solid on defense as of late especially since Christmas. So I would go with Kessler Edwards and I would go with Jalen Green for those two questions. If you're looking to get some of those players in your lineup, my Kessler Edwards obviously very affordable go to Green at 45. I mean, this is super easy. Like I said, I'm big on Brandy Goodwin. If you also wanted to roll with Yedda Gossman. I mean, $8,700 per player remaining is absolutely fantastic. You wanna spend up for Harden. You can do so. You wanna spend up for Embiid. You can also do so and you're still left with 7,400 per player. You get some solid value in there. Players in great game environments with Cleveland playing up in pace. I've seen massive extra usage in minutes for Ospin and Embiid and Harden do their things. Then you drop in a few more players and again, lineup is looking solid. So as I said last week, what a lot of NBA comes down to what it comes down to for me is narrowing my player pool of values and then prioritizing the studs on the slate. So on tonight's slate, I think Embiid, Davis and Harden are my top three. Not necessarily in that order. I would maybe prefer, especially Anthony Davis on a point per dollar basis at 9,600, slightly ahead of Harden. And it's like Harden and Embiid are like 2A and 2B. I just like the salary on Davis a little bit more. So prioritizing the studs, prioritizing the value. We don't wanna be expanding the player pool too much. You can play everybody. So focusing in on the key value plays. I'm big on Ospin as well. Chamezzi Matu could be in there for a set of minutes against Brooklyn just because the Sacramento lineup is still a little bit thin. No Marvin Bagley for them as well. I'm not too big on some of these O.K.C. Dallas players although they do offer good value. I don't mind taking a few shares of them. Like I said, Trey Mann is fine. I don't wanna be overexposed myself to some of those value plays in a game with a 206 over and under. Cody Mann is a player that showed up a little bit in some of the initial roster, the Optimizer builds that I did a little bit earlier. His production per minute is a little bit lacking when it comes to Charlotte. Although this is a great game environment against the Boston Celtics, he's a step behind some of the players which is pretty clear. 0.65, Fane do points for me. He's a clear step behind even the fourth best option when it comes to Charlotte. So I like this game environment. I think I wanna limit my cat, my exposure on Cody Martin because I think he showed up a little bit too much in the Optimizer when I did it earlier. So a player like that is good but not great in my opinion. Like those are the players I have like very middling opinions on because they could certainly go out there and play 30 minutes in post, 19 Fane do points. Like that's not out of the question for a player that's ultimately fifth when it comes to usage and production on the Hornets because we know that there are several players ahead of them. I'm buying into this game environment pretty heavily. I like Charlotte and Boston to have plenty of points. This game between the Wizards and the 76ers I think ultimately falls into the mid tier for me. MB has obviously been unbelievably strong in the past month really. He just got named what's a Eastern Conference player of the month for January. He's been absolutely unbelievable. The 10 and a half points spread and modest overunder combined with the fact that we have the Wizards on sec day but back to back like I wouldn't be surprised to see the 76ers to just run them out of the gym. And if they're up by 15 at a certain point Embiid's not going to be playing a whole lot. So I think that's why Embiid combined with the salaries also just a half a step behind Anthony Davis at $9,600. So if push comes to shove I'm going to roster Davis a little bit more than Embiid. I still want plenty of shares of Embiid because as we've seen from some of these games 27 minutes and 77 feint two points, 36 minutes, 62, 31 and 63 like well over two feint two points per minute I think is what we could be in for tonight. Especially if we do see the 76ers kind of take care of business beat the Wizards as the spread would indicate 10 plus points. So I'm well aware that Embiid can only play like 28, 29, 30 minutes but he could certainly go for like 1.9 or two feint two points per minute again. So I'm taking plenty of shares of Embiid but he is just slightly behind Anthony Davis in terms of my prioritization. Do you like stacking Tyrus Maxi and Seth Curry over Keras Lever and Chris Duarte or should I look at Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner? So I don't like stacking an NBA. I'm I don't like call it stacking. It's just about like getting more exposure to a certain game. Chris Duarte and Keras Lever I think that's interesting overall when it comes to you know, this game environment because obviously a very, very soft matchup going up against the magic again, not worried about the matchup for Curry and Maxi. It ultimately comes down to like, will they be able to reach fancy value given the game environments? So, you know, if their salaries were 100% equal and they're pretty darn close to it, I'm going to choose Duarte and Lever just because this overrunters higher. It's a significantly closer spread Indiana. If you've been following the NBA, it's like Indiana is getting like a one possession game almost every night. It's like down to the wire. So I would choose Duarte and Lever out of that group. If you wanted to, you know, get some shares or some shares of Jalen Suggs as well, because we do have a strong overrunner and a close spread, like those that group of three players in one lineup, totally fine with that. That's the kind of way, you know, I look at like, quote unquote, stacking NBA, it's not like I'm going out of my way to stack a team. It's like, OK, I'm stacking them because of the game environment, because we're looking with like so many strong factors for X, Y and Z, the pace, the spread, the overrunner, the extra usage, whatever it might be. So that's how I kind of look at it. And I would say that Duarte and Lever kind of fit that mold. So if you're looking to go that route for Orlando and you want. Duarte is small forward, we want Lever as well. You mentioned Jalen Suggs. Sixty nine hundred per player remaining is obviously very easy to work with. Yet Ayosman, again, always looking to get some shares of him. Just thirty five plus minutes is what he really should be seeing tonight. I said I'm big on Bob Donovich for Utah. He was one of the one of the value plays I wrote up to on numberfire.com. All players in the midrange, none of them are like super, super devalued plays, but seventy nine hundred per player remaining is really, really easy to work with, even if you are prioritizing. You know, getting to what James Harden and you want to get in some Anthony Davis, like there are options out there that you can make this lineup work. There really are. And you're working with, again, all players that have solid minutes, solid usage, great game environments, you know, high or, you know, increase in pace, a pace up spot for Osman and the Cavaliers. All good stuff overall. So I would certainly look to that game. That's one of the games I'm looking to to prioritize. It's this game, Charlotte, Boston, Cleveland Houston, especially in the Cleveland side, just because there's so much value, big pace up spot for them. And then these two games, Brooklyn, Sacramento and Portland LA. These are games I want a lot of exposure to. Ultimately, four teams that don't play a whole lot of defense and, you know, teams that play fast, plenty of potential production on both sides for everyone involved. We can be looking to the high end stars with Harden and Irving. We can look into the value with Kessler Edwards, even going to Nick Claxton. If he's good to go, you know, I'm still going to be liking plenty of Tyrese Halliburne as I have for in the past couple of days or past couple of games with Deere and Fox out. Prioritizing Anthony Davison, as I said, one of my top stars on tonight's slate. Westbrook, I think, is fine. You know, as I mentioned before, or I mentioned, I should say, on today's podcast, The Daily ISO, I have almost no interest in Avery Bradley or Stanley Johnson. For me, it's about Davis, Malik Monk, Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony, like those are the players I'm going to probably in that order, I would certainly take Monk over Westbrook. At the point of our position, like I think Westbrook has certainly is a fine salary, but I think I can make a better case for the Malibol. We're going to Tyrese Halliburne, you know, a little bit more expensive, slightly less expensive when it comes to Halliburne. I think I can make a better case for those two players. I would have a little bit more exposure to. Obviously, we're dealing with a ton of injuries here in the mid tier. If Deere and Fox plays, he's been out, what, five games around six games? Five games in a row now? Like if Fox is good to go, the question would be how many minutes does like does he have a minutes restriction tonight? Because ultimately, it's a good game environment against the Brooklyn Nets. No important updates. It's a good game environment against the Brooklyn Nets. It's got a high overrun under the Nets don't play a whole lot of defense. They play fast, etc., etc. Like if Fox plays, I have some interest in him. It just comes down to how many minutes will he be able to play? So this is a game you absolutely want to be prioritizing. This game kind of in question right now because we're dealing with the Yokoch news. You know, that's obviously presents a massive change for Denver. Should I stay away from Trent Forrest and play Isaac Okoro? I think Trent Forrest is ultimately in a good spot. He's going to see plenty of minutes. Let's see what we have him projected for. If it's updated, let's see. Trent Forrest is projected for 17 right now. Still got the game time decision tag. So that might increase once he is listed as good to go. Isaac Okoro should be pretty chalky tonight. I think that's certainly a fine play. I know I have some good shares of Okoro in the first builds I did throughout my optimizer. So I would lean towards Okoro right now just due to the safety that Trent Forrest isn't technically he's not 100% confirmed to play. And especially because we have the Houston game starting before the Utah game. So, you know, if we do get some update prior to 8 p.m. when the Houston game starts and you want to shift to Trent Forrest, I think that is certainly fine. So again, on tonight's slide, I took the Nets minus four. Got him a little bit earlier at minus four. I think that's a good spot. Just realistically, just a very clear bounce back spot for them going up against the Kings. They've lost like six or seven in a row now, even if they hadn't lost six or seven in a row, like this is a game that they should still win. But even if they come in, you know, winning five games in a row, then they lose last night to Phoenix. This is still a bounce back spot for them against a very beatable Kings team. So I like that. I got Alec Berks at over 14 and a half points rebounds assist combined. I like the over on that. I also like the over on Evan Mobley, as I said, over 29 and a half points rebound assist combined for him. This is just such a good matchup for Cleveland. Houston dead last in the league against Senators. It's a pace up spot again. They're 28th in the league. Houston is sitting up at three. We have a good game environment overall with a four and a half point spread. Good over under, etc., etc. I'm big on Mobley tonight. I'm also going to be big on Jared Allen. Dre is asking, do I like Yolkich? I like Yolkich if he plays. He's obviously listed as questionable right now, right here listed as questionable. Like, I think this is a legitimately great spot for Yolkich against Utah because they have no Rudy Gobert. We obviously know the potential upside for Yolkich. So it's I do like Yolkich. Yes, you know, whether or not he plays is yet to be seen. So I know I have some like I'm planning on having some build set where I can swap Yolkich out for Anthony Davis, like that will be my swap. And then I'll try and shift some salary around, whether it be adding in hardening and dropping off someone else. Like that's the kind of swap I want to have set because I do want to have exposure to Yolkich, especially because he's A, he's in a late game and B, he's listed as questionable. Like if everyone's going to say, oh, I'm not going to play Yolkich, he's listed as questionable, it's happening after lock. I'm just going to roll with Embiid because that's the safer option. But that's a realistic scenario that a lot of people will prioritize and beat over Yolkich. And if that's the case, if Yolkich does play and Yolkich goes, you know, he's flying under the radar because of this and he's not popular in tournaments, Yolkich could go for 70. So I do really, really like Yolkich tonight. All things considered, but I'm prepared to make the swap if he does not play. So that's how you have to look at it. It's not whether or not I want to play Yolkich, it's whether or not he's actually going to be available for the Nuggets. And if he does play at that rate, I want to get the Nuggets at whatever line they're going to be sitting at, because if the Nuggets are fully healthy, like they can beat the Jazz with no Mitchell and no GoBear and no Joe Engels and their depth is going to be tested. And, you know, X, Y and Z and Hassan Whiteside has been ruled out. So it's shaping up to be a great Yolkich spot if he plays. So I am on board with the Nuggets tonight. I would ultimately, if Yolkich plays, like I would almost probably just take them on the Money Line, take them at the plus money, forget the points, just take them straight up. Like this is a matchup they should win. And realistically, like they need to bounce back after kind of an ugly game last night against Minnesota. So I will take the Nuggets on the Money Line if Yolkich plays. So again, that's a player, a big injury note on tonight's like, will Yolkich play? Darren Fox, I have a little bit less faith in that he will be playing just because he's missed so many games in a row. Harden has been removed from the end report, which is good to see. He should be out there for a full set of minutes, expecting the next again to bounce back. Jalen Brunson over Evan Fournier and how much value does Aaron Holiday have in the starting lineup? Jalen Brunson over Evan Fournier. That's a good question. So that's a good question. So I don't like the game environment for Dallas and OKC. Big spread, low over under. And then there's a case to be made against Evan Fournier simply just because he's not a high usage player in the Knicks. You know, under 20% usage or right at 20% usage. Producing 0.71 feint to points per minute is obviously not great. Brunson, better production, higher usage rate, easy match against OKC, but the game environment isn't good. Fournier versus Brunson. That's a tough, I think I would lean towards Brunson for the consistency. You know, if you're rolling with a cash game lineup, like I would take Brunson with the consistency, but if you are willing to obviously embrace the risk with Fournier and hope that he gets hot from three as he seemingly does, you know, in random games against minus against random games, he can do that against Memphis tight in a big pace up spot. I would go that route. I would go Brunson cash games and Fournier in tournaments. That's how I would approach it. If you have to choose one, I would 100% go with Brunson. If you're only choosing one. And then when it comes to Aaron Holiday, when it comes to Aaron Holiday in the starting lineup, I think overall it's fine. Why am I not finding him? He played what, 26 minutes the other night? If I remember correctly, 19 minutes. Who had played 26? It was Goodwin. I would pass on Holiday. I would take Goodwin. That's who I was debating today earlier. When I think, yeah, I wrote up Brandon Goodwin today at the $3,500 tier for Point Guard. I would take Brandon Goodwin at $3,500 over Holiday. That's what I was debating earlier. And I think I'm just going to lean with Goodwin 10 times out of 10, just based on game environments and his, at least consistency overall. So, yeah, that Brunson, that Brunson for me, a question is certainly good, but I would lean towards Brunson if you have to choose one. But if you're playing both cash games and GBPs, Brunson and cash for me in GBPs, you just hope that the three-point shot could be there for for me. As again, he gets it going in random games. And if he hits four or five threes, adds in a few rebounds or assist, like he will be exceeding value at that point in what is ultimately a better game environment compared to Dallas, which is a 12-and-a-half point spread with a 206 over-under, certainly not shaping up to be the best fancy environment on the slate. So, Yokoch news, super, super important on tonight's slate. We know that LeBron is listed as doubtful. We know that Davis is listed as probable. All these are pretty straightforward. If you are going to be playing Yokoch, remember, have your swaps set. Like be able to pull Yokoch out, drop in Davis and then use that almost $2,000 of salary differential to upgrade another spot. That is what you want to be prepared for. If Yokoch gets ruled in, will you be playing him? How much exposure you're going to have to him? If he gets ruled out, look to swap to Davis, make those necessary lineup changes. I'm here. Start over just kidding. Upside play Conley or Dinwoodie? That's a tough question. I mean, I would take Conley in just straight up head to head. Dinwoodie has really been struggling this year, specifically from the field. Like he just has these random inconsistency games, like not high volume of shots, one of 12, two of 10, three of three of 10, two of nine, like none of this is encouraging. I would just shoot for the upside with Conley with no Donovan Mitchell with no Ingalls. Jordan Clarkson's list as questionable. No go bare, no white side. Like at least he's getting up a few more shots. I would go with Conley 10 times out of 10 in that matchup. Like it may seem like a bit of a toss up, but better game environment, closer spread, especially if Yokic gets ruled in, go Conley 10 times out of 10 in that matchup. So just to recap, Yokic, big news on this on this slate. I took the Nets minus four. I took the over on Evan Mobley, 29 and a half points rebounds assist combined. I took the over on Alec Burke's points rebounds assist combined. He's been hitting this number like pretty regularly. He's hit it four in his last six games. Again, I like this matchup against Memphis. I like the pace up spot. So I'll certainly be looking to Burke's tonight, Mobley, Nets minus four. And if Yokic plays, I'll be looking to take Denver. That's yet to be seen. All right. So that does it for the Q&A. As always, every Wednesday, 4 p.m. It can be found here on the Faneville Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook pages. You can follow me at TFS, I'm Score Tom on Twitter. Until next time, good luck in your contests.