Matchups are an essential part of fantasy sports, particularly in daily formats and busy slates on Wednesdays and Fridays. Which teams have been the most lenient vs. point guards? The answer (it’s the Wizards) could determine which players you’ll start in DFS. If position eligibility restrictions mean you must bench one of your centers on a hectic Friday, who do you bench – Enes Kanter or Steven Adams? Again, matchups could be a deciding factor. If they’re up against the Raptors or Heat, who have locked up opposing centers this season, you’ll probably want to avoid them.
Mike Gallagher’s weekly ‘Matchups’ column goes in-depth for games on Tuesdays, so be sure to check that out each week!
Going forward, this matchup data will be exclusive to the Rotoworld Season Pass! There’s a ton of data contained in these charts and a single performance (good or bad) can re-align the matchups, so it’s worth checking back every week or two. As mentioned above, matchup data is critical for DFS lineups. You can get a huge advantage with the Season Pass and Rotoworld’s DFS Toolkit, which provides optimized lineups, next-man-up projections for injuries, and a host of customizable tools. It’s truly awesome.
Point Guards
Prior to the 2017-18 season, Kobe Bryant challenged John Wall to make “1st team All-Defense” and Wall accepted, saying, “Say no more!!” That didn’t quite pan out, of course, and thus far this season the Wizards have been hemorrhaging value to opposing PGs. The Pelicans haven’t been much better, but that’s due partly to their lightning-fast pace which results in tons of counting stats. The Suns, Bulls, Hawks and Cavs round out the top-six teams to target with PGs, and they’re going to be fantastic opponents for the rest of the season, regardless of position.
Shooting Guards
The Mavs are giving up a ton of free throws to opposing shooting guards, who are also making a ridiculous 56.3% of their shot attempts vs. Dallas. They have easily been the best team to target with SG matchups this season, with the Lakers in a distant second. I was surprised to see the Knicks as the stingiest team vs. SGs thus far, but hey…the numbers don’t lie. No team has given up fewer points and 3-pointers to opposing SGs, which is a critical factor since most swingmen need to score to hit value. Plan accordingly.
Small Forwards
Avoid the Bucks! They’ve held opposing small forwards to a ridiculous 29.4% shooting this season, which is reason enough to run in the other direction for DFS. Interestingly, the Knicks go from the worst team for SGs to the best team for SFs, who have been racking up huge scoring totals with 55.3% shooting and plenty of 3-pointers and rebounds. The Nuggets have also been very generous for opposing SFs, with OKC and Brooklyn rounding out the top four.
Power Forwards
Power forwards have averaged 16.0 rebounds vs. the Sixers this season, easily the most in the league – Minnesota is second with 14.4 boards given up to PFs. That includes both starters and reserves, of course, but it’s still a noteworthy bonus if you’re starting Danilo Gallinari or Tobias Harris vs. Philly on Thursday. They also draw the Pistons on Saturday, and I’m penciling in Blake Griffin as an easy 20 & 10 guy in that matchup.
Centers
The Kings have been blocked more times by opposing centers than any other team, and they’re also giving up the most rebounds to centers. They don’t come out as the best value overall but that’s assuming all categories are treated equally, which they shouldn’t be – clearly, more weight should be given to boards and blocks when discussing centers. I’m still figuring out how to weight categories for each position, to produce an even more accurate picture of overall matchups.
It’s Halloween and I wasn’t willing to burden this column with spooky-bad puns, so in lieu of that...here are some amazing images of NBA players in Halloween costumes throughout the years!
Steven Adams as the Joker and Russell Westbrook as...Steven Adams:
This was Damian Lillard last week, in full Stone-Cold Steve Austin regalia:
Shaquille O’Neal as a daffy vampire:
Marco “Mario” Belinelli and Tony Parker as a generic pirate:
Aaron Gordon as look-alike athlete Aaron Judge is fantastic:
Dirk Nowitzki as ‘Lurch’ from the Addams Family might be my all-time favorite:
There are infinitely more, of course, but I’ll leave it there. Happy Halloween!
