If you're playing daily fantasy basketball on Monday, read on to find out the players we're building around and the ones we're avoiding when constructing our lineups.
Players to build around
Renee Miller -- Marcin Gortat, Washington Wizards
I'm using Gortat as a building block tonight not only because he seems to have flipped that scoring switch he has to "ON" lately, but to illustrate a bigger point about the slate. Gortat has been wildly consistent for much of the season but is operating in high gear over the past two weeks without much price increase. The game tonight in Washington against the Cavaliers should be close and high scoring, a good one to target for DFS. Gortat also represents the kind of player I want to build around on this big and variable slate. A core of three to four midrange, solid-with-upside guys like Gortat, Jeff Teague, Gordon Hayward, Kevin Love, Dwyane Wade, and/or Eric Bledsoe (on DK) might be boring but allows you some flexibility in shooting for a star/scrub combo or two. In other words, I'm favoring a mainly solid lineup with some risk/reward plays sprinkled in rather than going strictly high/low as one might be tempted to do tonight.
Kyle Soppe -- Eric Bledsoe, Phoenix Suns and D'Angelo Russell, Los Angeles Lakers
When I look up and down the price sheet on DraftKings, I find it hard to ignore Bledsoe. His combination of aggression (11 FTA per game over his last nine games), deep shooting, and a well-rounded skill set make him a high-floor option who has tremendous upside against the third-worst fantasy defense against point guards. On FanDuel, I like Russell, as he had tallied 59 points, 17 assists, and 13 rebounds in his three games since returning from a calf injury that kept him out of action for the better part of two weeks. He matches up with an inefficient Knicks defense that will trust either a banged up Derrick Rose (ankle, probable) or Brandon Jennings (two of the 22 worst defenders in terms of defensive Real Plus-Minus) to guard him. Russell will be in every one of my FanDuel lineups, and while the price isn't as favorable on DraftKings, he is still viable.
Joe Kaiser -- Seth Curry, Dallas Mavericks
Denver's inability to slow down shooting guards makes Curry extra appealing on Monday, and he's priced in a range (right around $6,000 on both sites) where he'll only need 30 DFS points to reach value. That's a mark Curry has hit in three of the last six games, and he finished in the mid 20s in two of the ones where he missed it. He offers a fairly high floor and an opportunity to shoot his way towards 40 DFS points in this favorable matchup against the Nuggets, which have allowed more DFS points to shooting guards than any other team in the NBA this season.
Players to fade
Renee Miller -- Paul Millsap, Atlanta Hawks
This 11-game slate includes two games I don't really want much exposure to, and this is one of them (Memphis-San Antonio is unsurprisingly the other). Utah players may be alright, given the pace bump and turnover-proclivity of the Hawks, but there isn't much to get optimistic about for Atlanta players. Millsap in particular has had more bad games than good lately, and severely underperformed vs. the stifling Utah frontcourt the last time these teams met. With Vegas' lowest point total, and other viable PF options in the salary neighborhood, Millsap's risk outweighs his reward.
Kyle Soppe -- Hassan Whiteside, Miami Heat
If you rostered him on Saturday, you probably just recently stopped printing money, but I'd advise against going back to that well tonight. The price adjustment makes him tougher to fit into your lineup tonight, especially when you consider that this matchup is far from favorable. The Timberwolves rank fourth in team rebounding rate, a little different than the Joel Embiid-less Sixers that Whiteside destroyed over the weekend. I also fear the personnel in this matchup, as Whiteside figures to see plenty of Gorgui Dieng on both ends of the floor. No, he's not overwhelmingly talented, but he grades out as a top 10 defender and doesn't have a big offensive role, thus making defensive stats a bit more difficult to come by for Whiteside. You also have to weigh potential for foul trouble in this spot, as Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins are combining to attempt over 11 free throws per game this season. You're going to need the in the neighborhood of 35 points-plus-rebounds to return value tonight and I don't think it happens in this spot (not to mention he will likely be over-owned due to recency bias).
Joe Kaiser -- Dwight Howard, Atlanta Hawks
So much of Howard's DFS production centers around rebounds, and that is a problem tonight in the matchup against Utah's Rudy Gobert, who is right behind Howard with 12.6 rebounds per game this season. With Howard needing to reach the high 30s in DFS points to match his salary value tonight, I'm eyeing other centers with a better matchup.
