5 NBA FanDuel Value Plays for 12/19/17

Marcin Gortat, C, Washington Wizards

FanDuel Price: $4,300
Projected FanDuel Points: 25.2
Projected FanDuel Value: 5.86

One of the most straightforward ways to get an overall glimpse of a player's value is to look at their season-long fantasy average versus their nightly price. Any player that approaches five-times value by that metric should instantly be on your radar. Players that approach six-times value should be close to considered a lock. And yet, despite a value -- by that measure -- of 5.9-times his price of $4,300 tonight, Marcin Gortat still gives one pause.

Gortat's minutes are all over the place. It's not because of something as straightforward as foul trouble (Gortat hasn't had more than three fouls in a game since November 9th), but rather because Scott Brooks likes to play him longer against bigger, more physical bigs. For instance, against the center merry-go-round in Brooklyn, Gortat only saw 18 minutes; the next night against Marc Gasol he saw 29. This type of usage can be frustrating, but it's an ideal situation to exploit, especially against the athletic front court of the Pelicans.

In fact, since New Orleans became the "Pelicans," Gortat has produced consistently against them. In those eight games, he has played no fewer than 27 minutes, has double-doubled six times, and has scored at least 25.6 FanDuel points in every game, including two 35-plus FanDuel point outings last spring. Expect that type of output to continue once again as Gortat's size will be needed against DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis. We project him to return the highest value of any player on the slate on Tuesday night.

Ian Goldsmith is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Ian Goldsmith also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username zoidbergs_revenge. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.