We truly believe here at FantasyLabs that we have the most unique tools and data available to DFS users. However, we also realize that those tools and data are only as awesome and helpful as our ability to effectively communicate how to use everything. As such, we will continually listen to feedback of what you need and try our best to teach our subscribers how to use all of the cool things we have to offer.

With this in mind, we’ve begun a “Trend of the Day” series. Every weekday we’ll walk our subscribers through an important trend for that day’s slate of games.

For years now, we have considered @MEM to be about as bad a matchup as a player could have in NBA DFS. The Grizzlies are typically sound defensively and play at a snail’s pace. The team Memphis is putting on the court these days, however, has been missing two of their top defenders in Marc Gasol and Tony Allen. Tonight, the Kings will visit Memphis and one of the decisions we’ll have to make tonight is what to do with DFS darlings DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo. At the time of this writing, Rudy Gay and Tony Allen are both questionable, so I’m going to just ignore that matchup completely.

Trend: Kings @ Grizzlies

Step 1: Player Filters > Salary > Set “$4000-$13200”

Step 2: Time Filters > NBA Season > Select “2015-2016”

 

First, let’s set a baseline by making sure we are looking at results for this season only and that we are filtering out end-of-bench-type players by applying a salary filter. To accomplish the second item, you could also use a “Projected Minutes” filter, but I think the Salary filter is going to be a better option in this case.

If you use a Projected Minutes filter with no salary filter, the results could become skewed by punt players who are getting a minutes bump in a game (Examples: Shaun Livingston last night, Langston Galloway the night before). When these players do well, it’s not because of their matchup, it’s because they are playing 15-20 more minutes than normal, and that’s not really what I’m looking for here.

Getting back to the trend we’re creating, let’s start applying some specific filters.

Step 3: Team Filters > Opposing Team > Select “Memphis Grizzlies”

 

The results are pretty unimpressive when we look at players who cost more than $4,000 on DraftKings at all positions in games against Memphis this year. Since around two-thirds of the results include Marc Gasol and another two-thirds of the results include Tony Allen, I don’t know that the data is that meaningful for tonight’s game.

Step 4: Time Filters > Game Number > Set “52 to 60”

Marc Gasol got injured in Memphis’ 52nd game of the year. By looking at games since then, we’ll have a good idea of how teams have fared against the Grizzlies since Gasol’s most recent injury.

 

Now we’re getting somewhere! In the past few weeks, Memphis has allowed over two more fantasy points per player per game and there is a huge jump in Consistency as well. Also, keep in mind that these 61 matches also appear in the previous result set (325 matches), which means that although the difference we see is already large, it should be even larger.

When I use the Game Number filter to look at games 1-51 (to exclude the 61 results with Gasol), the Plus/Minus moves to -0.16. That means we are really getting 2.65 fantasy points per player per game when you compare the Grizzlies pre- and post-Gasol injury.

 

Step 5: Player Filters > Click on “Position”

 

Within the result set, centers have performed better, but surprisingly, the biggest games have come from opposing point guards. Keep in mind though, Brandan Wright helped to replace Marc Gasol and he’s going to be out as well. The lone “true” center who will be standing in Cousins’ way tonight is Chris “Birdman” Andersen.

BONUS:

– Player Filters > Player Name > Select “DeMarcus Cousins”

– Trend Filters > Opp Position +/0 > Set “-5.59 to -1”

 

Let’s throw in a bonus filter for good measure. Even if the Grizzlies were still the challenging matchup they once were, we still probably shouldn’t be that concerned about Boogie. When he has faced an opponent whose positional Plus/Minus allowed is -1 or worse, he has still averaged a little over 50 fantasy points per game.

 

If you want to play Cousins tonight, feel free to do so, and give Rondo (probable) a look too, assuming he plays.