$10K Lineup Breakdown
@Thehumnraindlay December 5
Hey everyone @thehumnraindlay here with a lineup breakdown for the Thursday $27 Crossover GPP on DraftKings. I was fortunate enough to finish second and thought I would provide some insight on how I went about constructing my lineup. I am not a big mass entry tournament player, but I did have two total entries into the tournament.
This was an interesting slate for a Thursday. Usually we get two or three games but this slate offered us six games to choose from. There were multiple high end players to choose from including DeMarcus Cousins, Paul George, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Kyle Lowry and Damian Lillard. There were also popular value plays to choose from including Cory Joseph, Rodney Stuckey,Gerald Green and Trevor Booker. Green and Booker were the two most popular value plays and put up total duds which helped eliminate a lot of the field. I will go through my lineup in order from top to bottom and provide my thought process for each selection.
PG - Isaiah Thomas ($7500) Thomas was the first player I put into all of my lineups. In my eyes he was the best dollar for dollar play on the slate. I loved his matchup against the Kings in a game with the highest over/under of the night. I also took into account the revenge factor after IT2 got run out of Sacramento. Even though the Celtics were up 20 early in the third quarter and beat the Kings badly, Thomas still logged 34 minutes of action leading to 51 DK points.
SG - DeMar DeRozan ($7100) Derozan was the first place I differentiated my lineup. Gerald Green was the popular play in this spot. He was 37.2% owned and only scored 9.5 DK points. DeRozan always has a high ceiling since he and Lowry are the bulk of Toronto’s offense. He came through in a big way with 47.75 DK points at less than 10% ownership.
SF - Gordon Hayward ($6600) Hayward was a fairly popular play and one I felt had a high floor with good upside. Rudy Gobert got hurt in practice earlier in the day and that opened up more opportunities for the rest of the starters. Hayward is averaging 35 minutes per game for the season and I thought he might get a few extra minutes with Gobert out. He ended up logging 38 minutes and put up a very nice 39.25 DK points.
PF - Derrick Favors ($7200) Favors was the chalk play at power forward at 43.1% ownership. Again with Gobert out, Favors was guaranteed more space and time on the court. For what I was expecting he was a disappointment, but I rostered him for his very high floor as well as his tremendous upside. He logged 38 minutes, posted a double-double and 32.5 DK points.
C - Nikola Vucevic ($6600) Vucevic was another player I really liked once Gobert was ruled out. Gobert is an elite defender, but without him on the court I felt like Vuc had a great chance of outperforming his salary. He was not great, but put up 35 DK points which was more than the very popular Cousins who only posted 31.75 DK points at 46.3% ownership.
G - Dwyane Wade ($6800) Wade was another player I thought was too cheap for the upside he provided in a pace up game against the Thunder. For the year Miami averages 96 points per game but Vegas predicted them to score around 100 against OKC. Wade is an elite scorer and always plays a little harder against good competition. He did not disappoint on this night and posted 40 DK points.
F - Darrell Arthur ($4200) This was another huge differentiation spot for me. I knew most of the field was going to roster Trevor Booker. Once Faried was ruled out and Arthur was named a starter I locked him in. Booker went on to disappoint 47.9% of the field by putting up a very bad 8 DK points. These contrarian plays are a must if you ever want to have a high finish in a GPP. They don’t always work and you rarely feel good about it when doing it, but when they hit they make a big difference. Arthur made the most of his spot start and posted 39 DK points smashing value.
UTIL - Joffrey Lauvergne ($3900) I went back and forth between Stuckey and Lauvergne in this spot. Ultimately I settled on Lauvergne because he was starting and Stuckey was not. I always prefer rostering starters over bench players when I can make it work. Lauvergne posted a double-double and finished with 31.5 DK points. Ultimately Stuckey outscored Lauvergne so it wasn’t the optimal choice, but was I was happy with my process and decision.
There are a lot of different ways to go about constructing a GPP lineup. On a night where I thought most people would go stars and scrubs I decided to differentiate by going with mostly mid-priced players. All but two of my players were priced between $6600 and $7500. This thought process and approach paid off in a big way and gave me my biggest cash to date in DFS.
Feel free to hit me up on twitter with any questions @thehumnraindlay.
This was an interesting slate for a Thursday. Usually we get two or three games but this slate offered us six games to choose from. There were multiple high end players to choose from including DeMarcus Cousins, Paul George, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Kyle Lowry and Damian Lillard. There were also popular value plays to choose from including Cory Joseph, Rodney Stuckey,Gerald Green and Trevor Booker. Green and Booker were the two most popular value plays and put up total duds which helped eliminate a lot of the field. I will go through my lineup in order from top to bottom and provide my thought process for each selection.
PG - Isaiah Thomas ($7500) Thomas was the first player I put into all of my lineups. In my eyes he was the best dollar for dollar play on the slate. I loved his matchup against the Kings in a game with the highest over/under of the night. I also took into account the revenge factor after IT2 got run out of Sacramento. Even though the Celtics were up 20 early in the third quarter and beat the Kings badly, Thomas still logged 34 minutes of action leading to 51 DK points.
SG - DeMar DeRozan ($7100) Derozan was the first place I differentiated my lineup. Gerald Green was the popular play in this spot. He was 37.2% owned and only scored 9.5 DK points. DeRozan always has a high ceiling since he and Lowry are the bulk of Toronto’s offense. He came through in a big way with 47.75 DK points at less than 10% ownership.
SF - Gordon Hayward ($6600) Hayward was a fairly popular play and one I felt had a high floor with good upside. Rudy Gobert got hurt in practice earlier in the day and that opened up more opportunities for the rest of the starters. Hayward is averaging 35 minutes per game for the season and I thought he might get a few extra minutes with Gobert out. He ended up logging 38 minutes and put up a very nice 39.25 DK points.
PF - Derrick Favors ($7200) Favors was the chalk play at power forward at 43.1% ownership. Again with Gobert out, Favors was guaranteed more space and time on the court. For what I was expecting he was a disappointment, but I rostered him for his very high floor as well as his tremendous upside. He logged 38 minutes, posted a double-double and 32.5 DK points.
C - Nikola Vucevic ($6600) Vucevic was another player I really liked once Gobert was ruled out. Gobert is an elite defender, but without him on the court I felt like Vuc had a great chance of outperforming his salary. He was not great, but put up 35 DK points which was more than the very popular Cousins who only posted 31.75 DK points at 46.3% ownership.
G - Dwyane Wade ($6800) Wade was another player I thought was too cheap for the upside he provided in a pace up game against the Thunder. For the year Miami averages 96 points per game but Vegas predicted them to score around 100 against OKC. Wade is an elite scorer and always plays a little harder against good competition. He did not disappoint on this night and posted 40 DK points.
F - Darrell Arthur ($4200) This was another huge differentiation spot for me. I knew most of the field was going to roster Trevor Booker. Once Faried was ruled out and Arthur was named a starter I locked him in. Booker went on to disappoint 47.9% of the field by putting up a very bad 8 DK points. These contrarian plays are a must if you ever want to have a high finish in a GPP. They don’t always work and you rarely feel good about it when doing it, but when they hit they make a big difference. Arthur made the most of his spot start and posted 39 DK points smashing value.
UTIL - Joffrey Lauvergne ($3900) I went back and forth between Stuckey and Lauvergne in this spot. Ultimately I settled on Lauvergne because he was starting and Stuckey was not. I always prefer rostering starters over bench players when I can make it work. Lauvergne posted a double-double and finished with 31.5 DK points. Ultimately Stuckey outscored Lauvergne so it wasn’t the optimal choice, but was I was happy with my process and decision.
There are a lot of different ways to go about constructing a GPP lineup. On a night where I thought most people would go stars and scrubs I decided to differentiate by going with mostly mid-priced players. All but two of my players were priced between $6600 and $7500. This thought process and approach paid off in a big way and gave me my biggest cash to date in DFS.
Feel free to hit me up on twitter with any questions @thehumnraindlay.