NBA

This isn’t a reactionary take because I’ve held this opinion for months at this point. Tatum is obviously a very good player. No one in their right mind can deny that. His stats are impressive, he’s been on deep playoff runs but something just seems off whenever I watch him. People always call him an elite player but what exactly is he elite at? He’s not really an elite offensive player nor is he one of the 10 best defenders in the league. He’s a jack of all trades who is good to very good in most areas but not really top 3 or top 5 in the league at any. Luka, Jokic, LeBron, Giannis, Embiid are ELITE offensive players and Tatum is just not on their level. You can even make a case he’s not as good as SGA or even KD on offense. Defensively, he’s really good but again I don’t think he’s top 10 in the league at that. I’ve seen Celtics fans argue that once Tatum gets going and the 3 ball starts falling, he’s the most unstoppable player in the league but you can literally say that about any star player. Also if you’re relying on a star player to get hot to prove that he’s a superstar then your argument just falls flat. A superstar should be able to make his presence felt every game and he should be able to take over in clutch situations. Tatum again fell short in the 2nd half today, he only scored 8 points in the entire 2nd half of a playoff game against a heat team that’s missing 2 of its 3 best players. Players have bad games/quarters in the playoffs that’s true, but it just seems amplified with Tatum.

Yes he’s had deep playoff runs before but how much of that is on him and how much is of that on the team he’s had around him? Would it really make a difference if you replaced Tatum with another star wing? I don’t know at this point.

As a Kings fan we had played Keegan a ton with Harrison Barnes. Both aren’t super lengthy or have a lot of girth but seem like 3’s to me. One of them is playing out of position. Keegan spent a lot of time guarding the perimeter but also would get switched onto bigger players. In college he was a 4 who posted up a lot on smaller players. During his career he spent a lot more time on offense running through DHOs or getting catch and shoot shots. It’s hard to imagine what the perfect 4 is in today’s NBA. Is it a stronger player Zion or Aaron Gordon? A lengthier player like Mobley, maybe even Chet who willingly shoot perimeter shots and attack the basket? A mix of the two like JJJ as a weakside defender? There isn’t many perfect solutions and the Kings have a hole to fill between Domas and Keegan. What are your thoughts on the perfect or ideal 4?

Got owned on all fronts today so that was fun :). i mean could of had a really good night if the late game just didn't blow out since i full stacked it in pretty much every single lineup i played tonight and most of my fanduel lineups were at least close to the cash so pretty brutal. Hope you all avoided the mayhem with this slate.

If discord is something you are interested in, Will have a link below where i have in-depth content going over each slate, player pools for cash/gpps. cores and much more.

Edit: WCJ starting, love him. mo/isaac much riskier now. just gpp plays

On tonight’s episode, the guys recap Wednesday’s doubleheader of Game 2s and preview Thursday’s tripleheader of playoff action.

Or is it more sliding doors?

Tonight the OKC Thunder became the first team in NBA history to have all of their points in a playoff game come from players 25 or younger.

They are a very young, and talented team. They were a young and talented team when they won the Western Conference 11-12 years ago, with KD, James Harden, and Westbrook. Let's see if they can keep this cast together.

Source:

There’s a new clip of Joakim Noah talking to Udonis Haslem on his podcast, talking about how essentially if you want to get past the hump, you need to, at some point, beat LeBron James.

Aside from 2019 and 2022, where LeBron missed the playoffs entirely, every single team that has made the finals (that has LeBron in their conference) has had to either beat him, or has lost to him in order to reach the finals.

In other words, if LeBron James is in your conference, and you want to make the finals, you have to beat him, at some point. In the last 17 years, not a single in-conference opponent has beaten LeBron James in the playoffs and not made the finals.

2007: LeBron makes the Finals

2008: ECSF, LeBron loses to the Celtics in 7, Celtics win NBA Finals

2009: ECF, LeBron loses to the Magic in 6, Magic lose NBA Finals

2010: ECSF, LeBron loses to the Celtics in 6, Celtics lose NBA Finals

2011-2018: LeBron makes the NBA Finals (8 in a row, 3 wins)

2019: LeBron misses the playoffs

2020: LeBron wins the NBA Finals

2021: WCQF, LeBron loses to the Suns in 6, Suns lose NBA Finals

2022: LeBron misses the playoffs

2023: WCF, LeBron loses to the Nuggets in 4, Nuggets win NBA Finals

LeFinalBoss

I didn't score a takedown yesterday, but I had the right approach. I was all over the unowned Heat guys, and Tyler Herro specifically smashed. I also highlighted Jaylen Brown as my favorite Celtics player in my video (@TheDFSBuild) on YouTube and he also went off.

Hopefully you found some success. I'll run through my favorite plays for this three-game slate and push out another video with a more detailed breakdown later in the day.

Let's get to it!

Top NBA DFS Picks for Thursday

• PG: D'Angelo Russell ($6.4k)

• SG: Kyle Lowry ($4.7k)

• SF: LeBron James ($9.5k)

• PF: Josh Hart ($7.3k)

• C: Jarrett Allen ($7.4k)

Lot's of good PG options. Unowned Brunson is very appealing, but he's not cheap for the slate. He's great and I have a lot of interest in Maxey, Spida, and Jamal Murray, too. But D'Lo is too cheap to ignore. He's getting monster minutes and ranks 3rd at his position as a points per dollar play.

Kyle Lowry might be washed, but Philly is shoving him out there for 34+ minutes per game in this series. He still can get assists and steals, and he can hit threes. He offers nice savings on this small slate and is simply too cheap for his role right now. SG is an awful position, so I love just punting with him right away. His own % is really light, and I'll be way over-weight.

Gary Harris ($4k) could be a necessary evil, but you're playing russian roulette with him (8 pts in game 1, 28 in game 2). Which Harris will show up? He's cheap enough to not give a shit, but if he's going to be uber chalk again I will entertain looking elsewhere.

James is my favorite stud of the slate. That isn't to say we can't just play a lower owned Brunson or pay up for Jokic, etc. But he isn't that owned (16%) at the moment, isn't crazy expensive, and still owns the 4th best projection of the entire slate. The ceiling was on full display in game 2 (64 fantasy points) and of the four dudes projecting for 50+ fantasy points he's the most contrarian.

Hart basically plays the entire game. This guy just does everything when he's out there, too. He can hit a bunch of threes, he can swat shots, get steals, and he cleans the glass as well as anyone. He is literally averaging 14 rpg in this series, which is just insane. His price has come up, but he still feels like a value when you look at how much he's playing and how productive he's been.

Allen is also really hard to deny. He has crushed so far in this series (56 and 47 fantasy points) and Orlando simply doesn't have an answer for him. He's rebounding everything and scoring very efficiently. If the blocks+steals are there, he can break the slate. He has a nice floor and a solid ceiling; too cheap right now.

Center is loaded, so it's certainly difficult to just go get Allen and ignore Embiid/Brow/Jokic. He's matching those guys outside of Jokic right now and is super under-priced by comparison. I'd start with him and if I have to spend I'd just go all the way up for Jokic. It's the playoffs, though, so all these studs are in play.

My Strategy for 4/25

Keep in mind that my strategy is my strategy. You can certainly roll with my picks and you can use my YouTube video advice as you see fit. But if you follow my exact strategy, it's a narrow path that won't always work. It is often better to either 1. apply it to single entry tourneys or 2. use it lightly across multiple entries.

For example, last night I was very high on low-owned Herro/Bam. If you paired them, maybe you did OK. If you only used Herro, you had a chance to crush. If you paired them and also used CJ (who I liked) and faded JV (who I wanted to be under-weight on) you may have struggled to cash.

It's still up to you to mix my picks/analysis with your own process, and I'd also highly suggest using a lineup tool of some sort. Of course, lean on projections and ownership to help you make tough calls, too.

That said, this feels like a good slate to live in the mid-range. LeBron gives me a guy with 50-60 pt upside and he doesn't figure to be that owned. Maxey is too cheap, so I will very likely be using him or Jamal Murray. I also think Allen is too cheap, so he's my preferred center.

Lowry/Harris/D'Lo are also a too cheap or look too good to fully fade. That all likely makes up my core, and I can close things up with guys like OG and Rui, who I know will get 35+ minutes.

Don't like Allen? Not into LeBron? You could pay up for Joel or Jokic and drop from Bron ot Strus or Oubre. Or maybe you just pivot from LeBron to Brow. How you adjust based off of my initial process, again, is up to you.

My hope is these early morning breakdowns help set the stage for a successful night. My video a bit later in the day offers another medium to digest this slate and allows me touch touch on every play and how I might look at them from an ownership and lineup building perspective.

Give me a follow here on Reddit, subscribe to my YouTube channel (@TheDFSBuild) and upvote this post if I help you in any way. Feel free to share any successes or near-hits you've had, too. Thanks and good luck!