NBA playoff action is underway, and there is NBA DFS on DraftKings and FanDuel. Greg Ehrenberg looks at some NBA DFS Picks to build around for the Wednesday, Sept. 23 slate.
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NBA DFS Picks: Value + Stud for Sept. 23
NBA DFS Value Pick: Jae Crowder
DraftKings $6,000, FanDuel $8,000
Cheap plays are nearly impossible to come by in this game. Enes Kanter is OK if you are looking to go dumpster diving, but his minutes are in jeopardy. After entering the rotation again, he only played five minutes last game. Similar issues exist for Brad Wanamaker. Once a top value play in this series, he played just nine minutes last game. As we get into critical games for Boston to keep its season alive, the rotation is getting tighter.
With Crowder, we get a guy at a reasonable price with an extremely high floor. He’s scored at least 27 DraftKings points in seven consecutive playoff games. Crowder plays over 30 minutes every night and contributes in multiple categories, which is what creates such a high floor. Since we are starved for value, Crowder is a player to build around. Building lineups in the midrange make a ton of sense for this slate.
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 NBA DFS Stud Pick: Bam Adebayo
DraftKings $9,600, FanDuel $16,000
The Celtics have no answer for Adebayo in the paint. It almost looks like they are acknowledging they have no solution on the roster and are willing to play small. If none of Daniel Theis, Kanter or Robert Williams can guard Adebayo, it makes sense for Boston to pivot and play its best guys. This is what we saw last game when the Celtics played their small lineups. They had a ton of success on offense, but in turn, Adebayo smashed. He hauled in 16 rebounds and scored 58.5 DraftKings points. Since the Celtics won the game, I expect them to run similar rotations. They are willing to sacrifice some defense for offense, and Adebayo is the main benefactor.
NBA DFS Contrarian Pick: Gordon Hayward
DraftKings $7,200, FanDuel $9,500
There isn’t one player with incredibly low ownership that stands out, but Hayward looked great coming back from his ankle injury. I expected limited minutes although Boston stretched him to play 30.5 minutes in a game they needed to win. After the workload he handled and the extra time off, I think we see normal minutes from Hayward today. In the regular season, he played 33 minutes per game and averaged 34.2 DraftKings points. This makes him worth rostering with his price a bit down from the levels we normally see. The real thing to Hayward returning is the amount of minutes he takes from role players.
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