NBA Preview: The San Antonio Spurs realize they may be coming out of the gate slower than usual this season.
Minnesota Timberwolves (0-0) at San Antonio Spurs (0-0), Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. EST
Line: Spurs -2. Total 205.5.
With Kawhi Leonard out indefinitely and no timetable for a return due to a right quad, the Spurs know the early part of the 2017-18 may be a struggle. Manu Ginobili said that the team’s expectations have been lowered to start this season. The Spurs will ease into the season and hope to finish strong.
While the Spurs are dealing with lowered expectations to start the season, the Timberwolves are coming into the season with high hopes. The Vegas prognosticators project 46 wins for Minnesota this season.
Joining Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Wiggins in Minnesota’s starting lineup this season are Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson from the Bulls along with Jeff Teague from the Pacers. The Timberwolves also picked up Jamal Crawford from the Clippers.
This is an opening night statement game for Minnesota to let the Spurs and the rest of the league know that the Timberwolves are going to be a team to deal with this season.
NBA Fantasy Information
Best values: Dejounte Murray (Spurs), PG, $3800. Murray played well in the preseason and therefore is a steal for this price. He will be a starter and get a lot of minutes. Tony Parker will not be back until December at the earliest.
Rudy Gay (Spurs), SF, $5500. Gay will split the minutes with Ryan Anderson in the absence of Leonard. Gay will come off the bench for now. He will probably be the #1 scoring option off the bench.
LaMarcus Aldridge (Spurs), PF, $7000, Aldridge had a monster preseason and was rewarded with a 3-year $72 million contract on Monday.
Taj Gibson (Timberwolves), PF, $4400. Gibson was solid in the preseason and could be a fantasy play if you are down to your last pick at PF and have about $4500 left to spend.
Denver Nuggets (0-0) at Utah Jazz (0-0), Wednesday, 9:00 p.m. EST
Line: Jazz -3. Total 204.5.
This is an interesting matchup. The Vegas prognosticators have set the over/under for wins for Denver at 41.5 games and at 36 games for Utah this season.
The Jazz won 51 games last year and beat the Clippers in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. However, they lost Gordon Hayward to Boston and George Hill to Sacramento during the offseason. That hurts in a rough and tumble Western Conference. The Jazz added Ricky Rubio, but the Vegas forecasters apparently are not impressed.
The Nuggets had 40 wins last year and finished one game out of the playoffs behind the Portland Trail Blazers. Denver has a very young and athletic. The Nuggets also added veteran Paul Milsap from Atlanta for this season.
Utah finished 5-0 in the preseason, but that was very deceiving. The Jazz beat two International teams, the Phoenix Suns twice and Lonzo Ball-less Los Angeles Lakers team. Denver finished 3-2 and sure, they beat the Lakers twice (with Ball), but they also beat Golden State at Oracle Arena before losing at San Antonio and then at home against Oklahoma City.
The Nuggets would seem to be more battle tested coming into the regular season. Denver is a deeper squad, so it is just a matter of whether Mike Malone can find the right combinations on the floor as he has a lot talent to mix and match.
NBA Fantasy Information
Player to watch: Nikola Jokic (Nuggets), C, $8700. Not a lot of value with that price. Last year the offense ran through Jokic when he was on the floor. After Jusuf Nurkic got traded to Portland, Jokic got more minutes and consequently put up some big fantasy numbers. However, I wonder if some of the offense will be run through Milsap at times now that he is on the team. I would lay off Jokic the first couple of games and see how he fares with Milsap in the lineup. Jokic’s assists and rebounds were down in the preseason.
Best values: Joe Ingles (Jazz), SF, $3800. A lot of value here potentially as he will start for Utah. However, I would wait a game or two to see how many minutes he gets.
Will Barton, (Nuggets), SG, $4800. Barton reminds me of the “Microwave”, Vinnie Johnson, formerly of the Detroit Pistons from the late 1980’s. Barton can score points in bunches. Not just “regular” points, but fantasy points, too. He comes off the bench, but when he is hot, Malone leaves him for starter’s minutes.
Rodney Hood, (Jazz), SG, $4500. Hood should be s bigger part of the offense with the departure of Haywood, hence getting a lot more shots. A lot of value at that price to start the season.
Note: It is now 5:47 p.m. EST and I will have my NBA selections within the hour.
Edit: 6:35 p.m. EST: My selections. Going to be conservative with bets the first week, especially with totals. I will be stalking for 2H bets tonight. If I have an official bet, I will post it. Would love to post some reasoning for some of these selections on the sides, but ran out of time. I will do better as the season goes. I do not have much confidence at all right now on the totals. That will change as the season progresses.
Sides: (1) Den, (2) Bkn, (3) Phi, (4) Dal, (5) Min, (6) Pho, (7) NO, (8) Mil, (9) Det, (10) Orl, (11) Sac.
Totals: (1) Bkn ov, (2) Phi ov, (3) Pho ov, (4) Min ov, (5) Det un, (6) Orl un, (7) NO un, (8) Mil un, (9) Den ov, (10) Sac un, (11) Dal un.
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