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🏀 NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks for Friday, March 19th | Luka Doncic

🏀 NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks for Friday, March 19th | Luka Doncic
EMac gives his favorite NBA DFS picks for Yahoo + DraftKings + FanDuel daily fantasy basketball lineups Luka Doncic | Friday 3/19/21

NBA DFS action on Friday, March 19, locks at 7:30 p.m. EST with a 10-game main slate on Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel. SuperDraft is locking 30 minutes later at 8:00 p.m. EDT with an eight-game slate. Before you lock in your lineups on Yahoo, DraftKings, FanDuel and SuperDraft, make sure to check out Awesemo’s daily fantasy basketball picks, rankings and projections. Let’s dig into some daily fantasy basketball picks, including Luka Doncic, Delon Wright, Damian Lillard and more.

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NBA DFS Picks: Building Blocks, Friday, March 19th

Yahoo Play of the Day – Delon Wright: Detroit Pistons at Houston Rockets

  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 34.71 | DraftKings: 34.49

  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 45.2% | FanDuel 27.3% | DraftKings 26.0%

  • DFS Salary: Yahoo $21 | FanDuel $5,600 | DraftKings $6,000

After missing seven games with a groin injury, Delon Wright now has four games under his belt. In his last three outings he is averaging 33.5 minutes, which is actually 3 minutes more than his average playing time for the season. Recent trade acquisition Dennis Smith Jr. missed two games in the health-and-safety protocol and in his return Wednesday he was a DNP-Coach’s Decision. Who knows what will transpire with his playing time tonight during this lost season for the Pistons? Wayne Ellington (adductor), Rodney McGruder (elbow) and Detroit’s other acquisition, Hamidou Diallo (groin), have all been ruled out.

Houston is another team that is in shambles, and they are in the midst of an 18-game losing streak. In this stretch they are ceding 119.5 points per game while managing just 102.4 points per game. Wright will be the primary facilitator and the second or third offensive option going forward, contributing across the board. Using his last three games feels like an appropriate proxy for tonight’s production. In that stretch he is averaging 13.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 3.0 combined blocks/steals. At just $21 on Yahoo, he is an absolute gem. Teammates Jerami Grant ($29) and Mason Plumlee ($25) also stand out on Yahoo.

Luka Doncic: Dallas Mavericks at Portland Trail Blazers

  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 50.71 | DraftKings: 54.65

  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 8.2% | FanDuel 25.3% | DraftKings 15.7%

  • DFS Salary: Yahoo $53 | FanDuel $10,400 | DraftKings $10,700

Since the All-Star Break, Portland is allowing 117.7 points per 100 possessions, which is the second worst in the league. While Luka Doncic is coming off heavy minutes (40.6 average over the last two games), he has had 48 hours to recover. In those games against a defense far more substantial that the Trail Blazers, Doncic averaged 33.5 points, 5.0 made 3-pointers, 8.0 rebounds, 12.5 assists and 3.5 combined blocks and steals. Considering all of the injuries across tonight’s player pool, we should have no issue rostering two superstars.

Damian Lillard: Portland Trail Blazers

  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Point Projections: Yahoo and FanDuel: 45.69 | DraftKings: 48.98

  • Awesemo’s Preliminary Rostered Projections: Yahoo 0.4% | FanDuel 6.9% | DraftKings 1.1%

  • DFS Salary: Yahoo $50 | FanDuel $10,300 | DraftKings $10,900

While this will be the third game in four nights for Damian Lillard, it is an excellent matchup for his skillset. There is also a chance that C.J. McCollum will not play on consecutive nights after only two games back since his long layoff. Last night, for the first time in his career, Lillard failed to record an assist. In fact, as a team the Blazers only had a handful heading into the fourth quarter and ended the night with 11 total. Lillard still dropped 36 points on 12-for-22 from the field and chipped in with 6 rebounds. Portland has now won six of their last eight games and is looking to stay ahead of the Mavericks, who are one of the many Western Conference teams in the playoff scrum.

Good Value

Dallas Mavericks at Portland Trail Blazers

On Friday Dallas will be without James Johnson and Willie Cauley-Stein, who are both in the health-and-safety protocol. Dorian Finney-Smith (personal) is also unavailable. Kristaps Porzingis and Doncic are the top two options. There will be value plays here in the frontcourt and on the wings, with Porzingis likely to see most of his minutes at center. Maxi Kleber is my first target, as he will likely see some minutes at center and in his usual role as power forward.

Jalen Brunson, Josh Richardson and Tim Hardaway Jr. will see the trickle-down effect of additional shots. On the late slate we can even consider Dwight Powell, who projects for 17 to 18 minutes. While I cannot trust any sort of playing time, we could indeed have a Boban Marjanovic sighting in the Pacific Northwest tonight. These two teams square off again on Sunday.

Risky Value

Golden State Warriors at Memphis Grizzlies

Currently Stephen Curry (lower back) and Kelly Oubre (foot) are doubtful, though they not expected to play. James Wiseman and Eric Paschall are both in the health-and-safety protocol. This means we will see more of the Warrior understudies than usual. My main concern here is that there may not be enough replacement-level options for the Warriors to run an effective offense. While they are still projected for 107.5 points, there are quite a few question marks.

Tossing out one 13-minute stinker, over his last eight games Draymond Green is averaging nearly 42 fantasy points. In his normal fashion he is contributing across the board, with 9.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 10.5 assists and 3.0 combined blocks/steals. However, with Curry and Oubre likely out, who is going to be on the receiving end of his passes that can consistently convert them into buckets? Also, we are all painfully aware that a disinterested Draymond is a fantasy disaster.

Andrew Wiggins seems to be the most reliable option, but he will be drawing the attention of the Memphis defense. Jordan Poole actually interests me as a discount dandy. Coach Steve Kerr has recently spoken favorably about Poole, who is relatively competent on offense and can chip in with steals and assists.

Brad Wanamaker has not played since before the All-Star Break, and he has been mediocre when on the court, with 0.75 fantasy points per minute. That is the same rate as Damion Lee, but at least we saw last season that Lee could produce when the Warriors were short-handed for long stretches. After that it is going to be a complete guessing game as to who will see minutes. Kevon Looney should at least start and see 20 minutes. Then there is a grab bag of Mychal Mulder, Nico Mannion, Juan Toscano-Anderson and Kent Bazemore, two of whom will start.

Yahoo Daily Fantasy Basketball Discount Dandies

  1. P.J. Dozier: DEN vs CHI – $10

  2. Maxi Kleber: DAL at POR – $10

  3. Cameron Payne: PHX vs. MIN – $10

SuperDraft Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks

  1. Jerami Grant: DET at HOU – 1.45x multiplier

  2. Delon Wright: DET at HOU – 1.60x multiplier

  3. Nikola Vucevic: ORL vs. BKN – 1.20x multiplier

Final Thoughts on the Friday, Mar. 19 NBA DFS Slate

There will be a lot of moving parts heading into lock tonight with 20 teams in action. We also have twin late-night hammers that boast the top two projected point totals for Friday. Keep in mind that salaries and scoring formats differ across the various fantasy sites, and a slam-dunk play on Yahoo may be a below-average NBA DFS pick on DraftKings or FanDuel.

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