NBA GPP Green Light 1-17-18

Happy hump day, everyone! After an interesting four game slate last night, we have ten games on tap, for what should be another fun slate. We have a few games that should be incredibly high-scoring, with three games that are projected over 220 points, and not a single game projected below 200! Injuries are abound today, so there will be plenty of news to keep an eye on, and we will have to wait and see if any punishment is handed down from the league office for Blake Griffin's involvement in the backdoor fiasco on Monday night. All in all, it should be a good night of basketball!

DK Salary: $7,900 / FD Salary: $8,400

Things haven't gone to plan for Whiteside and the Heat, as injuries have decimated the team, but that doesn't mean Whiteside has to be a disappointment tonight. Minutes, of course, are a concern for the big man, as he has only played 30 minutes in one of his last ten games, but he has produced some solid outings in limited minutes over that span. Whiteside notched 15 points and 10 rebounds against the Bucks over the weekend, and had 15 rebounds in back-to-back games prior to that outing. Without Dion Waiters and Tyler Johnson in the lineup for Miami, Whiteside will see a much larger role, and he has posted a 26.1 percent usage rate with 1.21 fantasy points per minute in 56.5 minutes with those two off the floor this season.

This is an outstanding matchup for Whiteside, as the Bucks have struggled against big men all season long. They rank 24th in fantasy points allowed, giving up 50.3 fantasy points per game, to centers, have allowed 42 rebounds, 44.1 points in the paint, and 11.9 second-chance points per game. Over the last ten games, they have ranked 23rd in overall defensive efficiency to the position, surrendering 22.5 points and 13 rebounds to centers. If you are overlooking Whiteside here, consider James Johnson and Goran Dragic as excellent options to attack the Bucks with tonight. In addition to those two, Bam Adebayo makes an interesting big man pivot.

DK Salary: $6,600 / FD Salary: $7,300

When the Warriors are completely healthy, they are a tough team to target, but we may get a banged up Golden State squad taking the court tonight. I have more conviction about this pick should Draymond Green sit out, as Thompson has a 28 percent usage rate with Green off the floor, however, he still makes an excellent tournament target tonight even if Green suits up. Klay torched the Cavaliers in the first half of his previous outing, before fizzling out and ending with 17 points, but he has shot 47.2 percent from the floor, including 37 percent from beyond-the-arc, over his last five games. He has connected on 45 percent of his attempts beyond-the-arc this season, which is important to note with the Bulls allowing opponents to shoot 37 percent from three this season. The Bulls are especially weak against the shooting guard position, as evidenced by the 44.3 fantasy points per game they have surrendered to the position this season, and they have ranked 30th in defensive efficiency to the position over the last ten games. They have given up 33.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, 6.7 assists, while allowing shooting guards to connect on 51.3 percent of field goal attempts and 48.6 percent from three-point range, over that span. Thompson is outstanding in transition this season, averaging 5.5 points per game, and the Bulls are allowing a league-high 1.19 points per play in transition. This will be a fast-paced, high-scoring affair and Klay Thompson will have plenty of chances to put up a big game.

DK Salary: $5,200 / FD Salary: $5,100

The Clippers were involved in one of the most interesting games of the season on Monday, with lots of pushing and shoving, some secret tunnels, and a Trojan Horse, and will look to put that behind them tonight as they face off against the Denver Nuggets. Teodosic was outstanding in that outing, posting 12 points with six boards and six helpers, and looks to be heavily involved in the offense tonight as DeAndre Jordan is likely going to be sidelined by an injury, and Blake Griffin could be serving a suspension. Teodosic has double-digit points in three-straight games, five or more assists in each of those three game, and has at least six field goal attempts in those games. Now, there is a little risk associated with Teodosic tonight, as he could see limited minutes due to a lingering foot issue, so I absolutely would not consider using him outside of GPPs but he has plenty of upside at his price in this matchup.

The Nuggets have posted a 107.7 defensive rating over their last ten games, rank 24th in defensive efficiency to point guards over that span, and have given up the second-most fantasy points per game (48.68) to point guards this season. They struggle to defend the pick-and-roll, allowing .87 points per play, and Teodosic is operating as the ball handler in the pick-and-roll on over 30 percent of his possessions this season. The Nuggets are giving up the fourth most assists (9.6) per game to opposing point guards and the seventh-most rebounds (6.8), making this the type of matchup to attack with Teodosic.

DK Salary: $4,500 / FD Salary: $5,300

The New Orleans Pelicans are on the second-half of a back-to-back and that generally concerns me when it comes to rostering shooters like Moore but I am willing to overlook that tonight, as he has shown to be a solid performer this season on zero days rest. In six games on zero days rest this season, Moore is shooting 63.1 percent from the floor, compared to the 53.3 percent he is averaging this season, and while the percentages are much smaller comparatively last season, he proved to be a better shooter on zero days rest last year as well. Now that we have all that out of the way, I will dig into the other reasons why I like Moore. He has been playing heavy minutes of late, with at least 35 minutes in five of the last ten outings, and has eclipsed 30 fantasy points in three of those games. He has double-digit field goal attempts in three of the last four games, as well. Of course, as a player who rarely contributes in anything other than scoring, he makes for a volatile option, which is why I am only interested in him for tournaments.

Moore has an excellent matchup against the Hawks tonight, and it is a matchup that I have enjoyed exploiting the majority of the season. Not only is the Hawks defense terrible, posting a defensive rating of 108.0 on the season, and they have struggled against wings and spot-up shooters all season long. They rank 23rd in fantasy points allowed to small forwards, giving up 41.8 fantasy points per game, have allowed 1.05 points per play to spot-up shooters, have allowed opponents to shoot over 37 percent from beyond-the-arc, and have allowed opposing small forwards to connect on 54.4 percent of field goal attempts over the last ten games. Everything lines up for Moore to crush his salary tonight, and he is going to be one of my heaviest owned members of this team tonight.

DK Salary: $4,300 / FD Salary: $4,400

I saved the best (LOLOLOL) for last with Marvin Williams. Honestly, it feels gross writing him up, but there are some interesting angles to attack with him tonight. First off, Williams seems to be bouncing back from a rather rough stretch of games. The big man has played at least 27 minutes in four consecutive outings, which is promising, and has been over 30 fantasy points in three consecutive outings. He has found his shooting stroke, of late, as well, connecting on a staggering 65 percent of attempts over the last five games and he has shot 59.3 percent from beyond-the-arc during that span. When the man gets hot, he gets HOOOOOTTTT. Williams performed admirably the last time these teams faced off, putting up 12 points with four rebounds, four assists, one steal for 26 fantasy points, and this is a matchup he loves to take advantage of. Over the last three seasons, Williams has averaged 25.3 fantasy points against the Wizards. Obviously, context is key with that statistic, as the Hornets did not have Dwight and both teams have looked slightly different over the past few years, but it is still good to see him perform extremely well against this team.

While the matchup against Washington isn't terribly appealing on paper, they have shown a weakness against frontcourts of late. They rank near the bottom of the NBA in fantasy points allowed to power forwards on the season, but they have actually ranked 25th in defensive efficiency to the position over the last ten games. They have given up 23.8 points, 11.5 rebounds, 4.4 assists and have allowed opponents to shoot 46.2 percent from the floor over that span. With the increased minutes Williams has played of late, and a chance that he could play more if Kaminsky sits, he is a guy I am heavily targeting tonight.