NBA

NBA Daily Fantasy Helper: Wednesday 4/17/13

Everyone's in playing-time flux on the final day of the regular season, but James Harden is among the stars you can still rely upon.

We know that people play all sorts of fantasy platforms, not just from from our friends at StarStreet but on other platforms such as DraftStreet, FanDuel, and Draft Kings as well. So once again, we have four optimized rosters, all for you, the numberFire reader. One is for free here; the others can be found in our Premium section.

As always, the full tables for today's action are available at our Daily Fantasy Projections page. Make sure to check it out to see where the best values are for your team.

StarStreet Optimized Roster

PlayerPositionProjected FPCostValue
James HardenG40.08$15,7002.55
Dwight HowardC38.25$15,0002.55
Blake GriffinF35.38$13,6002.60
Tobias HarrisF32.05$10,8002.97
John HensonF31.33$10,2003.07
Jeremy LinG26$10,1002.57
Wilson ChandlerF26.1$8,6003.03
Will BartonG24.03$8,1002.97
Reggie JacksonG22.7$7,5003.03

Fan Duel, Draft Kings, and DraftStreet Optimized Rosters

For the optimal rosters for the other main players, be sure to check out our brand new Daily Fantasy Optimized Rosters for our Premium members. We know that you're killing it with our picks; maybe now you'll help us continue to help you win each night, every night.

Access to the optimal rosters is immediate, and you'll have it constantly updated for the latest injury news and updates from around the league. The best news of all? For new subscribers, you can use the promo code WELCOME and get it 50% off what was already the reduced price. Think of the savings!

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The Best of the Best

James Harden - The Houston Rockets desperately want a win to avoid the Thunder in the first round. The Lakers are desperately looking for defensive help at guard with Kobe out of the lineup and Meeks and Blake (both 109 defensive rating) as their only two options. It's a match made in heaven. Harden's 117 offensive rating may be down from previous seasons, but sitting in the top eight in both FGA and 3PA makes this a case of both quantity and decent quality.

Dwight Howard - No Nash, no Kobe, and a playoff spot on the line? It's all on Howard's broad shoulders to carry the Lakers tonight, and we think he's going to take advantage. Playing the Rockets' No. 1 ranked pace should mean more opportunities overall, and the Rockets' No. 17 offensive rebound percentage means many of those opportunities will be defensive boards. Omer Asik may be comparatively tough inside with a 103 defensive rating, but Dwight's 29.8 percent usage rate from the San Antonio game is a good indicator that they'll keep feeding him anyway.

DeMarcus Cousins - The Clippers/Kings game may mean a lot more to Los Angeles than Sacramento (you know, other than that potential "last game as a Sacramento team" deal), but Cousins still sits as one of our best values on the board. With so few centers taking the floor (Lopez, Hibbert, Noah, and Sanders are all limited), Cousins and Tim Duncan If He Plays represent the only viable high-mid range center options tonight.

Top Mid-Range Values

Jrue Holiday - Ehh, maybe not exactly "mid-range", but he's slightly cheaper than Cousins across most formats and appears on a majority of our optimized rosters, so I'm going with it. Picking a player to go against the Pacers in fantasy is like running head-first into a buzzsaw, but at least this time the buzzsaw is coated in pillows: the Pacers are resting four of their five starters. Now-starting point guard D.J. Augustin's 104 defensive rating is the highest on the team, meaning Holiday will hold a distinct advantage of trying to break through tonight.

Reggie Jackson - Looking for a deep sleeper? With Russell Westbrook seeing limited minutes tonight, Reggie Jackson takes over the primary role as ballhandler for a team playing the defensively-average guards of the Milwaukee Bucks. And if that wasn't enough to get you salivating already, Jackson's .498 eFG% and 108 offensive rating are right in line with the other Thunder players on the floor tonight (many starters sitting), meaning that he would be just as likely to get scoring opportunities in an average game, let alone this Milwaukee one.

John Henson - Larry Sanders is technically "questionable" for tonight's game, but if that means he'll play anything other than a backup's role, I'd be absolutely shocked. That means it's time for the John Henson show once again. The Henson Show has averaged 11.5 points and 14.8 rebounds over his past four starts (although that's slightly skewed by one 25 rebound game against the Magic), and he has played at least 26 minutes in every single one of those starts.