 What's going on and welcome to the NBA DFS Q&A show. My name is Tom Vecchio. I'll be here for the next 30 minutes taking your questions about tonight's five game NBA Slates. Obviously, there's a ton of information, injury news, players in and out of the league's COVID protocol that we have a lot of value and there's not a whole lot of top tier options on tonight's lead. I think that they should make roster construction pretty interesting tonight because we have a few very clear options we want to be targeting and then there's just a number of different value options. We have a lot to get through. I think we're in an okay spot. There's obviously some players we're waiting on when it comes to their injury information but the games themselves, I think are looking pretty good. Starting off, we have Grim on YouTube is saying on Yaka Akangu or Enus Freedom. That is the center position. We're obviously looking for a bit of value because Clint Capella is ruled out for Atlanta and just the Boston's pretty strong but we still should be seeing some minutes for Enus, Canter, Freedom. I like Akangu at $4,000. We know he's going to be on a minutes restriction. I just like the matchup overall going up against the Magic who we know we're shorthanded and the Madrid are one of the worst offensive teams this season against centers, allowing the fifth worst or the fifth most defended points for him opposing center. So we're going to see them, we're going to see them Yaka Akangu on another minutes limit. Hopefully it's more than 30. I'm expecting around 15 to 18 for him tonight and I'll be looking there ahead of Canter or should say Freedom, just because his minutes have been increasing. I don't think we're going to see the 40 that he did the other night but realistically we should be seeing the usage go elsewhere and the lack of bigs for Atlanta I think is going to be more prevalent than another 20 minutes from Enus. So that's the way I'm looking at it. If you want to be taking a bigger stand on him I think that's certainly fine. I just don't expect the 40 minutes we saw the other night. I think that's obviously an outlier game against Juel and Pete, especially against a shorthanded Cavs team. We could certainly see Tatum and Brown kind of take care of things for the Celtics and then it doesn't leave a whole lot of offensive usage for Freedom. So that's my kind of take on it. The center position tonight, in all reality, I think you should be trying to spend up for Joakic at the center position. I think that he is the clear top option on the entire slate regardless of position. I think you should be making him a priority. Spending down at center I think is fine in certain circumstances but really the best play is just to spend up for Joakic. I think going to Joakic, going to Drew Holiday and then one of Tatum or Paul George or both of them or Tatum plus Chris Middleton is really, I want to say a very viable roster construction path and it doesn't seem like a lot because there's only 4,200 per player remaining. There's just so much value on tonight's slate that you can realistically get up to three or four of the top stars on tonight's slate which really aren't that expensive. So if you want to be looking to, I'm going to say a lot of the value potential that we have from Atlanta, some of the value that we have from Cleveland, this is actually realistic to have three players above 9,000, three or four players above seven or so thousand. I think that this is certainly a viable path on tonight's slate. You know, Kevin Herter, 5,500, he's not super expensive but we should be seeing plenty of minutes for him. What's going on? What's the look for? We're in Lance Stevenson in my lineup, not sure if he's playing, that's what Sal on YouTube is asking. Yeah, that's something that we would need to get some clarification on overall. So Lance isn't even in the player pool as of now, if he gets updated that would be good whether you're playing on Fandal or other sites. You know, that's something we need clarification on like just because he's signed is he actually going to be available? That would be something like I don't have the information. I get that information at the same time as you. I would have some interest in him realistically if he will be active, if you know, we get some type of clarity on that. DJ is asking, I know the game is canceled but what can you tell me about Brandon Goodwin as a starter? If he's going to be there, I think it would be fine if his minutes are going to be secure but I mean, I'm not really, that's not like really something I'm focusing on because that game is done. Same on Arizona, Eliasova. Like again, if he's going to be available in the player pool set to play minutes, that's something I would consider. Eliasova is obviously a veteran, has been in league or in and out of the league for a number of times over the past few years. You know, we had seen him be a consistent value play especially when he was with Milwaukee when we saw Giannis out of the lineup for those seasons like Eliasova is a player if he would be minimum salary, 35, $3,800. That's a player I would be considering as long as we knew he'd be available and he'd be in the rotation at least. So the top tier, again, very straightforward tonight. I think the value is where things can get a bit confusing because there's so many different value options. You know, where should he be going on a given slate or on this slate, where should he be going? How many minutes are we going to be seeing from these players? I'm going to stick with the players that have been largely in the rotation at least for some capacity for some of these teams. We know that they are calling up G-League players and these emergency signings, the exemptions, but they're there because they have to be there. Like they need X amount of players. They need eight players to be available just because they are signed. Unless we have some type of clarity from the coach that they are going to be seeing 15 some odd minutes you should not necessarily be taking a shot with them. Grace now in 4,200, we know he's going to be playing going to some of those types of players is the ideal path. You want to be taking random shots with players that may or may not be in a rotation. Payton Prichard should be seeing minutes. So you're working with a good core of players that have a high volume of minutes along with players that we know have immense upside like Tatum, Middleton and Yoke, which obviously all things considered, especially for Middleton with a tense combo out of the lineup. So that is the kind of route that I'm going. I'm not just taking some random shot on G-League players unless there's like concrete information about them. Sal was saying I want some DeMarcus cousins. Yeah, DeMarcus should be in four minutes because Wood is out and they're still without Brook Lopez, et cetera, et cetera. You know, if he doesn't play a whole lot of minutes which is what is ultimately concerning to me or is, you know, what has me a little bit hesitant about DeMarcus cousins like he's never going to be out there for 35 plus minutes. Probably run things small. And we've seen the NASA's tense combo play at the center position. We've also seen Sandro Mamu Kelashvili see some minutes for them at the center position. The 42 minutes again, I'm going to say is something that is a bit of an outlier. We should not be seeing 40 plus minutes from him again. I would say 18 to 25 is a bit more realistic, splitting time with DeMarcus cousins. Again, the issue I have with cousins, I have with Yoke, what I have with Enus freedom is that it just blocks you from playing Yoke-itch, which is he's just the best player on tonight's lake. He's going to have the highest projection. He's going to have the, you know, he has one of the best matchups, all those things. You should just be looking to play Yoke-itch. Like I get the idea of trying to be different, but it's Yoke-itch. You should just play him and trying to just lock up center and go elsewhere from there. Sal was saying the same thing with Kevin Love. It's like, yeah, Kevin Love should be out there for a considerable amount of minutes if he's going to be playing. But obviously he popped up earlier today with this questionable tag. Like if he's out there, I want some shares of him at the power forward position, but knowing that his ceiling is going to be limited because he doesn't play a whole lot of minutes. I'd rather take a little bit of savings and come down to Dean Wade. You know, Luke Hornet in theory could be a player that sees minutes if we see Kevin Love ruled out. But again, a player that I'm not looking to very, very heavily. DJ is asking, are you more in favor of playing John Collins or saving salary for a guy like Derek Habers? John Collins is a player that I'm big on today. I already bet the over on his points, rebounds, assist prop, which was sitting at 33 and a half. I bet the over on that. I think that this is just a spot where two things. One, we know that Klinkerbell is out. Two, Gallinari is out. And three, Aneka Kongu is on a minutes restriction. So there's a good possibility or a very high possibility that we're going to see times when John Collins is the acting center for Atlanta, right? And they're going to be running things small where he'll be out there alongside, let's just say it's right, Bogdanovich, Kevin Herter, Cam Reddish, and then John Collins. Like it'll be that five. And the match against Orlando is a spot that we want to be attacking. Like I said, Orlando is super weak on defense against the center or the power forward position. So no matter where he's lining up, that's the spot I would be going. So it's John Collins, but it's John Collins at the power forward position tonight. If you want to be going to favors, I think the dual position eligibility is just one. Yeah, so favors is a fine option. We know that Mike Moskala is ruled out due to rest, but again, only putting him at the power forward position. Jeremiah Robinson Earl should also be in there for some minutes. So, you know, you want to split some, they're going to be splitting minutes. So if you want to split up your shares, that's fine. But again, only for the power forward position, you don't want to be blocking center tonight. Like that's the main takeaway is like for me, it's Yokic, it's true holiday. And then it's mixing in Paul George Tatum Middleton. Like it's, those are my two cores of holiday and Yokic and then three of the other top stars or two of the other three top stars on tonight's slate. SGA, I think is also going to be in the mix just because players, or you know, DFS players have so much salary available that getting up to him or Halliburton is obviously very easy. So that's where I go. Yes, Sal is saying Lou Wills out. So Lou Wills is out, Trey Young is out. It's going to be a lot of DeLon Wright for Atlanta. We should also be seeing, like Jalen Johnson, they just called up. They could in theory, you know, put him out there at the shooting guard position depending on how they run their lineup. Like that's not something I'm anticipating like a whole lot of minutes for him. They would have to have some other player like ruled out between now and TIT for me to consider it. Like a lot of these G league players like Hassani Gravett played up some big minutes the other few days for the magic just because they're so short-handed. But again, if Cole Anthony is going to be healthy and starting, you know, this is not a player that I'm necessarily going to be considering. Like again, it would have to take some extreme circumstance with all of these players or a number of them ruled out for me to considering some of these secondary G league call-ups. So that's really like the main takeaway for tonight's slate. You want to be sticking with the players that have already have established roles, you know, just because a player is recently signed doesn't mean that he's going to be out there for 30 minutes. You know, some of these players are signed because they have to have the minimum, you know, these sorts of situations you want to be paying attention to. So I would start with Jokic. I would start with Holiday. You want to go to Halliburton. You want to go to SGA. You want to go to Middleton, Jalen Brown, Paul George, Tatum, John Collins. Like these are the players I'd be mixing in alongside Jokic and Holiday. Like this is really where like the core of my lineup build is going to be. These players, John Collins, Tatum, 4,300 remaining, there's a ton of value at the guard positions tonight. Like that's where we should see a lot of like popular lineup combinations. Forward position, the value here I think is fine. Get Ayosman, not super cheap. He could obviously be in for plenty of minutes, especially if we see Kevin Love ruled out. That's something I would keep my eye on. Like Vanessa's Tentacumpo should be in for a good amount of minutes tonight. See if we have him projected high. I mean, 17, yeah, 17 to 20 minutes is realistically where we should be seeing him on tonight's slide. I will say the game that I have probably more interest in than any is probably L.A. Sacramento. The four and a half point spread is obviously nice, but we also have two teams in the top 14 of the league when it comes to offensive pace. Clippers here playing a little bit pace up. Then for the Sacramento side, we should just be seeing their main guys all playing 30 plus minutes, if not 35 plus minutes, especially for Buddy Heald, Halliburton, Harrison Barnes. That's what we should really be seeing. Heavy, heavy minutes for them. Rashawn Holmes is still listed as questionable. He's still dealing with his eye injury. So if he is not going to be in the starting lineup, then it should be Tristan Thompson. So Halliburton, Heald, I have to say Buddy Heald is still very, very affordable for Sacramento. He's only $5,800 and he's playing heavy minutes for them because they have so many players ruled out. So, and with his three-point ability, taking five, six, eight, nine, threes per game, this is always a player I'll look to for some scoring upside that can exceed value very, very quickly. You know, I know some people could be looking to Justice Winslow or Terrace Mann. I think these are all fine options on tonight's slide. I don't have like a super strong take on any of them. Getting up to the top stars is, again, going to be my priority. You want to get somebody healed into your lineup, you're gonna have to take some real minimum salary players. But again, I think it's still doable overall on tonight's slate. I also took, let's see, the over on Eric Gordon. His threes prop was two and a half, I want to say it was. Got it earlier in the day. Hopefully it hasn't changed too much. Yeah, two and a half made threes for him. I think it was at plus 138 earlier in the day, plus 140, going up against Milwaukee. They're on the third most made three-pointers from their opponents per game. So, plus money for Eric Gordon, who's gonna be out there for a good amount of minutes. He's taking a consistent amount of threes on a nightly basis. We'd like to see him back to that, you know, six, seven, eight range compared to four. Obviously just giving him a, you know, better chance to, you know, reach that. But the plus money on over two and a half is the spot that I took for Eric Gordon. And then Gordon Collins and, forget the other one that I took. I have to double check that. Sal's asking Cavs and Orlando Moneyline. Cavs and Orlando Moneyline, let's take a look at that. So, I said this morning on the podcast on the daily ice so that I liked Orlando. I think it was plus eight or plus eight and a half at that point, just because the Atlanta's so shorthanded that Orlando could cover and still lose this game. That's ultimately, I wouldn't care for Orlando at plus eight, I think is where I got them. The Cavs, I don't have a ton of interest in on the Moneyline. The magic is a spot that I would consider going on the Moneyline. We just want confirmation that Cole Anthony will in fact play because he is listed as questionable. Let's give this a quick refresh just because the injury situation is always changing. So just an update on the Clippers player available. Players available is always good to see. So I would say Orlando ahead of the Cavs. I know the Cavs have been this like covering machine as of late. They're covering like, was it like 12 straight games? They've covered and it's like 15 out of their last 18 or something like that. They've been covering and winning a lot of games. But shorthanded now, no, let's see no Evan Mobley, no Jared Allen, potentially no Kevin Love. That could mean a big game for Darius Garland, a player that's really stepped up, especially after Colin Sexton went out. What's his line at? 33 and a half, only minus 106 for Garland. See how, I know he's been obviously doing consistent lately, but 30, was it 33 and a half, 36 and a half? 33 and a half for Garland. Like that's a spot he could get to tonight. That's a realistic spot. Garland at minus 106 is a spot. Thoughts on our Money Brokes, Pat Connington, Josh Christopher DeLon right and Buddy Heald. So big fan of Buddy Heald has already spoke about our Money Brokes for Houston as a player that I've written about a number of times over the past few weeks. And I'll be on board with him tonight. I know he's already in my player pool. Some of the first lineup runs I did through the optimizer. He's in there just because the minutes are gonna be strong for him. Like it's a pretty solid matchup against Milwaukee. Like I said, there's probably a lot of threes this year. They're also playing very fast. So Milwaukee and Houston, both in the top 10 of the league when it comes to offensive pace, our Money Brokes is yes, gonna be involved for me because Jalen Green and Kevin Porter are both still out. Pat Connington, I think is a fine option. You know, the minutes should obviously be there for him and Grayson Allen. Pat Connington doesn't necessarily move the needle for me a whole lot tonight. I prefer Grayson Allen over Pat Connington simply due to the salary. That's all it comes down to. Grayson Allen 4,200 compared to Connington at 57. So I think, again, Pat Connington should be playing 28, 35 somewhere in there when it comes to minutes. I just prefer Grayson Allen simply due to the salary. Josh Christopher, I think is okay. I would prefer going to Gordon and our Money Brokes in that lineup. Obviously Christian Woods, I was not the same question because Wood is much more expensive, plays different position, but the long right. So of that group, if I have to rank this group, Buddy Heald, I think is number one just because he's gonna be playing 35 plus minutes, takes a ton of three pointers. I would say Heald, Wright, Brooks, Connington, Christopher in that order is the way I would be targeting them. Just based on everything, their salaries, their minutes, what their usage and their potential production it should look like. That's really where I'd be going. Definitely Buddy Heald number one. I still think he's like very affordable at $5,800 for playing 36, 39 minutes in some of these racing games. Again, that's the spot I'd be looking number one overall. So as we get more injury information, what I'll say is be ready to pivot based on anything. If some player gets ruled out, know who your core guys are and then know where you're gonna be pivoting off of them. So by chance, just this is pure speculation, if you were gonna be heavy on Chris Middleton and all of a sudden he gets ruled out, whether it's the knee injury or it's the health and safety protocols, be ready to shift your shares to Jalen Brown, like someone that's in the same salary tier. If you were big on, I don't know, Garrison Matthews or Dean Wade, be ready to shift them to another player. So have your pivots ready. Are Georgia Man your favorite clippers tonight? Well, Paul George is always gonna be my favorite clipper just based on his usage. He's back in the lineup. I mentioned him on the podcast this morning. He only played 30 minutes in his first game back. Obviously we have to take that with a bit of a grain of salt because it was his first game back. Hopefully we see his 30 minutes go to 35-ish tonight. Obviously this is phenomenal point per minute production. If Sacramento is able to keep this game close, which is what's expected to be, I think the four and a half is a good indication that we should be seeing more minutes from Paul George. So Paul George is always going to be my number one option when it comes to the clippers. Man, based on his salary, you can make an argument he would be number two. Yeah, I think we can make the argument that Man is number two for me, especially with Reggie Jackson out. Eric Bledsoe, like, eh, it's fine. That is, it's fine. I would actually, yeah, I'd definitely take Man ahead of Bledsoe. Any Q's to the O.K.C. prop bets you like tonight. Yeah, I said I already took the Eric Gordon over two and a half main threes, which is sitting at plus 136, right? Plus 132 for Eric Gordon. I already took that earlier in the day. O.K.C. props. Let's take a look at those. I haven't seen, or I haven't taken any of those today. I took Gordon Collins and I took one other. I can't remember. You looking for like three point props or let's just look at some of these lines overall. Josh could be 26 and a half, minus 120 is a little bit. Monty Morse, 20 and a half isn't bad. Okay, I think these are all pretty spot on. I don't like the juice on Josh Giddy there. Threes, SGA, two and a half, he's not taken a ton. Six and a half minus 102 for Josh Giddy. Is that a spot that we could, I mean, if they keep this game close, like that's well within his range of outcomes to have over six and a half assist for Josh Giddy at minus 102. So that's certainly one that is probably at the top of my list right now at like the first glance. Like none of these are, like none of these are jumping off the page significantly for me as of right now, but Josh Giddy would be number one. Over six and a half at minus 102 would be the spot to look. 13 and a half points for Josh Giddy. Let's see, because some of these are obviously, 13 and a half is not bad with his volume of shots he's been getting up lately that's sitting at plus 102. So two Josh Giddy props plus 102 and minus 102 over 13 and a half points over six and a half assists. That is those are the two spots I would look for. Okay, see like I said over two and a half main threes for Eric Bledsoe. Garrison Matthews could also be in the conversation for over threes for the Rockets just because we know he does take a lot at times. Let's see what his line is at plus 110 for Garrison Matthews for over two and a half. Like I said Milwaukee third most three pointers allowed per game to their opponents. Sitting at 14.2, we want to look to Garrison Matthews. He's taking, you know, four, nine, seven, six, eight, 11, like he's taking a lot of threes and it's only at two and a half and it's plus money. Garrison Matthews also on the table. Just joined, how do you feel about Yochich? Yochich is number one options nicely. So between Jerry on Facebook and Michael on YouTube you're both asking about Yochich. Michael is saying only playing one GPP lineup. I feel like I have to roster Yochich and Jerry is asking, how do I feel about Yochich? Yes, so I said at the top like Yochich is just the best player on tonight's slate. And this is because, you know, someone was asking about, you know, some of the value options at center, which I think are fine, whether it be DeMarcus Cousins, whether it be Tristan Thompson, he should be in for minutes, Freedom, or Onyeka Akangu, like those are all fine options if it were a little bit of a different slate but Yochich is just the best option on tonight's slate. So I've said it before, just roll with Yochich tonight. Yochich and Holiday, as you can see here, are like the two players I'm locking into a lot of lineups. And then after them, it's going to Tatum, Paul George, Chris Middleton, Hallibur in Brown, like those sets of players that are just a little bit less expensive, but we can get to them because there's so much value. So to answer your question, yes, go with Yochich. He's realistically, like he's the only player that could like conceivably get to 70 points and it not be a surprise. Like Tatum's great and all, like I love Ross from Tatum, but he's not a player that like gets up to 70 points. Like 55 points is like a big game for Tatum or like 60 points, but like Yochich going for 60, 65, 70, like really isn't that crazy. And he's basically the only player on the slate that can do it. So I'm not fading Yochich tonight. I am rostering him in as many spots as I possibly can. Again, there's some spots that I'll look to just differentiate a little bit, but he is going to be in the overwhelming majority of my lifestyle. And my nuts for taking Cleveland or Orlando on the Moneyline at Grimm on YouTube is asking, someone asked that already or a variation of that. Like I said, I would be much more comfortable with going to the Magic at plus 260 just because Atlanta is very shorthanded. And especially if Cole Anthony gets ruled in, he's listed as questionable. Let's just give this a quick update. So nothing new on that. Like going to Orlando plus 260 makes sense. I said this morning that, you know, I like him at plus eight, but I have much more interest in going to Orlando on the Moneyline compared to Cleveland. Like Boston is fully healthy or essentially fully healthy. All right. And Cleveland shorthanded missing Mobley and Jared Allen and could be missing Kevin Love and they're missing who else? Just flip to the cabs, just the cabs. Mobley, Allen already out. Kevin Love could be out, Okoro is out. Like they're shorthanded. I don't have any interest in them on the Moneyline or Orlando would be the spot that I'm going. Jared is asking, do you think Smart and Garland will hit their value tonight at price for GBPs? So I have more interest in Garland than I do for Marcus Smart. And I think Garland is just because they're going to be so shorthanded. Like their usage really should be concentrated around him and Ricky Rubio, right? Like no Jared Allen, no Mobley, especially Kevin Love is ruled out. See if I can do this real quick. Allen is out, Mobley is out. We have to account for Colin Sexton. Let's just say Kevin Love. I don't think too many of the role players matter that much. Like Garland, high usage rate, you know, nearly 30%. If we adjust for every single player, maybe you'd boost him over one fan new point per minute. But he's been playing well as of late. I like Garland more than Marcus Smart in that specific circumstance. Mike, Michael Starr on YouTube is asking, Robin Lopez could give me 35 or so at 5K, but Yokoch could go for 70 and the lowest, you know, 35 cents. I agree with that. There are fine options at center in the mid tier, whether it be Robin Lopez, whether it be like Robert Williams. Like there's nothing wrong with Robert Williams tonight, especially going up against a depleted Cavs team, but Williams isn't going to go for like a massive ceiling game that's going to offset the cost of, you know, or like the opportunity cost of not rostering Yokoch. Also, if you're not rostering Yokoch, there's really not a whole lot of stars that you like can pay up for. So it just comes down to that. Like the Time Ward should eat tonight. And I totally agree with Sal. Like very depleted frontline for the Cavs. And I'm not doubting that. I'm not doubting the Celtics ability to win this game or Robert Williams to reach and exceed value. It's just the opportunity cost of not rostering Yokoch when you're not like transferring that salary to someone else that can give you equivalent upside, right? Like Drew Holiday is great tonight. And I love Drew Holiday. And I told you I'm going to be rostering him a ton, but there's no like other player that's going to have as high of a projection as Yokoch. That's what it comes down to. Jerry's asking what are some of the guys we should want to target dealing with all the COVID protocol injuries? So the long right for Atlanta, he's going to be in for just a ton of minutes because they are so shorthanded at the guard position. That's very clear. We could be seeing extra minutes for Laurie Markinen, Dean Wade, because they are shorthanded to begin with, especially if we see Kevin Love ruled out, that's not going to be a surprise. That game's canceled for Sacramento. I still think Buddy Heald is very affordable at $5,800. Going to be in like 35 plus minutes because they are still shorthanded, like 39 minutes in each of the past two games. He's taken a ton of shots, a ton of three pointers. That's always good. Grim is asking, do you like SGA or Drew Holiday tonight? If I have to choose between them, I'm taking Drew Holiday with no attention to Goompo going up against the Houston Rockets. Obviously not worried about that. That matchup like at all. That's why like Drew Holiday and Jokic, again, where I'm starting the overwhelming majority of my lineups tonight. After those two, it's mixing in shares of Tatum, Paul George, John Collins, Halliburton and some SGA. But if I have to choose between Holiday and SGA, it's going to be Holiday, literally like nine and a half times out of 10. Just because his usage has been phenomenal with attend to Goompo off the court. Yes, some of those games were without Chris Middleton, but we still should be seeing him absolutely feast tonight against the weak Rockets defense. You have Halliburton and Heald, and Heald mixed up tonight. I like them both. I'm going to be on board with both of them. Halliburton because he's been unbelievably consistent running the offense for the Kings with no deer and fox. And then Buddy Heald, I think his salary is too cheap and he takes plenty of shots. Michael Starr is asking, do you like Josh Gideon? I do. I just went over some of his player props. I think that's a spot I'd be looking as well. For his assists and his points. All right, so that does it for today's Q&A. I'll be back next week at 4 p.m. right here on the Fandle YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Twitter pages, taking your questions about the Knights NBA DFS. You can follow me on Twitter at DFS underscore Tom. Until next time, good luck in your contests.