Sunday, Dec. 15 provides a four-game main slate for all the big daily fantasy sites. Before you lock in your NBA DFS lineups and NBA DFS picks on DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo and FantasyDraft, make sure to check out check out Awesemo’s NBA DFS rankings and projections. Let’s dig into some NBA DFS Picks, including Al Horford, Kyle O’Quinn,  and more.
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Don’t forget to check out the NBA Live Before Lock with Fast Eddie and Your Ol’ Pal EMac as they break down the NBA DFS slate and give out their thoughts on Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid injury news and analysis.
NBA DFS Picks: Prime Time Players
Ben Simmons: Philadelphia 76ers at Brooklyn Nets
DraftKings $9,300, FanDuel $8,600, Yahoo $38 Ownership Rating (preliminary run): DraftKings 24.3%, FanDuel 43.1% Yahoo Fantasy 30.4%
It sounds like Joel Embiid is going to miss this game with an illness as he is currently doubtful and Al Horford is going to be a game-time call with his knee and hamstring injuries that have kept him out of the last two games. As long as one of them is out, Simmons is a phenomenal option.
We are not getting much of a discount with Ben Simmons, but with just eight teams in our player pool, that should not be too much of a surprise. This game has Philadelphia installed as 3.5-point road favorites. Brooklyn is a middle-of-the pack team for pace and defensive efficiency, so this is all about the responsibilities that Simmons will be assuming on offense.
The game in Atlanta with the Hawks hosting the Lakers is intriguing as we know that Atlanta can be frisky at home. LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Trae Young are all worthy of being tournament building blocks.
NBA DFS Picks: Good Value
Jerami Grant: Denver Nuggets vs New York Knicks
DraftKings $4,700, FanDuel $4,400, Yahoo $11 Ownership Rating (preliminary run): DraftKings 5.5%, FanDuel 10.5% Yahoo Fantasy 12.2%
While Paul Millsap (quad) is a game-time decision, I am not too worried about his status. Even if he does give it a go, I suspect that Jerami Grant will see more minutes as this game should be a walk in the park for the Nuggets. The Knicks actually have done well on this road trip winning in Golden State in overtime on Wednesday and the again on Friday in Sacramento. Denver is much better than those squads and a game at altitude is never fun for the visitors.
NBA DFS Picks: Risky Value
Kyle O’Quinn: Philadelphia 76ers at Brooklyn Nets
DraftKings $3,200, FanDuel $3,600, Yahoo $10 Ownership Rating (preliminary run): DraftKings 31.5%, FanDuel 16.5% Yahoo Fantasy 24.2%
Oh boy, this is going to be nerve wracking. If both Joel Embiid and Al Horford are out, I have no problem going to Kyle O’Quinn. If only one of that pair is out, then it becomes a little dicey. O’Quinn has played in 15 games this season and just three of the last 11. In those games, he has topped 10 minutes just six times.
This truly is all about the minutes where O’Quinn can break a slate wide open with 20-ish minutes at his 1.3-plus fantasy point per minute rate. He can also torpedo your squad. There are storm clouds on the horizon my friends… what should we do?
FantasyCruncher Tip of the Day
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With the incredibly user-friendly FantasyCruncher, we can take our lineup construction to the next level.
Today we will look at how to use the group feature within FantasyCruncher to facilitate a pairing of key opponents.
For this example, we will use the Atlanta Hawks versus Los Angeles Lakers game today.
First, we will create a group with Anthony Davis, LeBron James and Trae Young.
Next, we will set Young as the key player by clicking the key icon next to his name.
Then we adjust the settings so we must include one from the remaining players in the group, which of course are LeBron and Davis.
This way, if Young is having a good game, we can take advantage of the assumption that LeBron and/or Davis are going to be playing extra minutes in order to secure a Lakers victory.
By giving this group a unique name, we can easily find it and tweak or disable it as necessary. Keep in mind that all of your other settings will apply so there may be unintended consequences. Be sure to play around to see if you are getting the desired results.
Final Thoughts
There is quite a bit of news still up in the air as of this posting, so be sure to tune in to Live Before Lock at 5:00 p.m. EST with Fast Eddie Fear.
As always, you can reach out to me in Awesemo.com Premium Slack or on Twitter @EMacDFS if you have any NBA DFS questions about DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo or FantasyDraft.
Good Luck NBA DFS Gamers! ~ EMac
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