clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Best lineup strategy for Heat vs. Timberwolves NBA Simulation Showdown

We go over how to approach lineup construction for Friday’s simulated basketball contest between Miami and Minnesota.

Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler looks over at the bench during a timeout in the game against the Milwaukee Bucks at American Airlines Arena. Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

We close out another week of quarantining and social distancing with some simulated basketball for ya. DraftKings has been offering sim hoops all week long, so be sure to get your fix! Friday night it’s the Miami Heat vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves. Here’s the link to the contest and be sure to check out the rules before entering a lineup.

Captain’s Picks

This isn’t your average Showdown chock full of superstars to pick from at Captain. We’ve got Karl-Anthony Towns ($16,200), D’Angelo Russell ($15,000), Jimmy Butler ($14,400) and Bam Adebayo ($14,100). Of that group, KAT and Bam are the most appealing to me. We could roll a weak box score from both D’Lo and Butler. Both are more reliant on scoring for heavy fantasy performances. KAT and Bam are safer given the rebounding upside. If I wanted to get a bit off the grid, Malik Beasley ($9,900) isn’t a bad Captain. He had been averaging 20.7 points in 14 games with the Timberwolves since being traded at the deadline.

FLEX Options

This is where the fun begins. We can actually get a ton of trade deadline value on the T-Wolves side. With KAT out for most of the past two months, the T-Wolves have used Naz Reid ($1,800) and Juancho Hernangomez ($2,800) have picked up the slack in the front court. Both are very appealing value options and I’m even OK stacking them to fit in 2-3 of those studs I mentioned above. Beasley ($6,600) also not a bad FLEX option if you decide to go with a high-priced All-Star there. I’ll mention Jae Crowder ($5,600) here mostly because he’s another player who was traded and was getting more minutes while with the Grizzlies.