Strategies
The NBA action is limited on Thursday but Damian Lillard looks to carry the fantasy production for owners. In all the NBA has only three contests in place on Thursday with the first game getting underway at 7:30pm Et between the Charlotte Hornets and Toronto Raptors.
The second game features one of the top fantasy scorers in the entire NBA, James Harden as he leads his Houston Rockets into New York to take on a New York Knicks team that continues to lose. Harden posted his third straight 30 plus fantasy performance on Wednesday Night against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The final game of the trio has the Miami Heat traveling out west to take on the Portland Trailblazers. This game features two of the top fantasy options on Thursday including Lillard along with power forward LaMarcus Aldridge. The Trailblazers point guard is coming off a big time performance against the Lakers finishing with 58.7 fantasy points.
Here is our FanDuel NBA Lineup for January 8th.
Point Guard – Damian Lillard, Portland Trailblazers: The toss up at the point guard position between Lillard, Kyle Lowry and Kemba Walker. In the end we decided to go with Lillard at home against the Miami Heat. The Trailblazers point guard has posted six games with over 40 fantasy points over his last ten games.
Point Guard – Shane Larkin, New York Knicks: We elected to go with the hot hand and take Larkin with our second point guard slot. Larkin has posted back to back games with over 23 fantasy points and that success should continue against a Raptors team allowing nearly 46 fantasy points a game to opposing point guards.
Shooting Guard – Tim Hardaway Jr, New York Knicks: The Knicks organization made a few key decisions this week and that included trading away JR Smith. That move not only opened up some payroll for next season but also increases Hardaway’s value for fantasy owners.
Shooting Guard – James Harden, Houston Rockets: The end result is all about building a fantasy team that can put up fantasy numbers. Harden enters the night as the top fantasy scorer of all the players in action on Thursday Night. Add that with his ability drop over 50 fantasy point in any given night makes him a must start.
Small Forward – Terrence Ross, Toronto Raptors: Ross is a strict salary cap move at only $4,500 opening the door to land a few other big time player at other positions. Despite low cost, Ross has posted five fantasy games over the last month with over 21 fantasy points.
Small Forward – Gerald Henderson, Charlotte Hornets: A proven scorer on any night but his inconsistency has hurt his fantasy value. That being said Henderson has posted back to back games with over 32 fantasy points. The Hornets face a Raptors team that is allowing the third most fantasy points to the opposing small forwards at 38.86 per game.
Power Forward – Donatas Motiejunas, Houston Rockets: Motiejunas has been averaging a little over 22 minutes a game over the past 10 games including three straight 27 minute performances. This has helped his fantasy production including finishing with 30.7 against the Chicago Bulls on January 5th.
Power Forward – LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland Trailblazers: We like the stack of Lillard and Aldridge against the Miami Heat. Aldridge is also the only power forward averaging over 40 points with his next closest coming with a struggling Josh Smith.
Center – Chris Kaman, Portland Trailblazers: Kaman could see his fantasy value increase with Joel Freeland and Robin Lopez both out. This opens up the door for Kaman to get the start on Thursday against the Miami Heat. Over his last four games Kaman has averaged 23.13 fantasy points per contest.