Fantasy Basketball

Depends on your league scoring system. Obviously, if you have first pick you take LeBron, but my guess would be to draft guys who get in done in more categories that just one. This is my first year doing it too.

 

wrong forum.

check out the fantasy section in the index.

besides durant is the obvious #1 pick, followed closely by lebron.

 

I tried fantasy basketball twice... finished dead last in both tries. I had Yao too.

So I've moved on to another fantasy basketball. My fantasy.

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WARNING, Long Read Ahead!

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What I've learned through the years:

Leagues:
Understand that the two types of leagues (Head-to-head or Roto) favor certain players/ stats over others. I play exclusively in H2H, so I can't really comment on roto.

Stats:
Understand that some stats are much more rare and valuable than others (points are the cheapest whereas blocks are the rarest). In the same respect, be aware of which stats are actually being scored in your league (Typically PTS/REB/AST/ST/BLK/FG%/FT%/3PTM/TO, commonly referred to as "9 category") and if any stat is awarded more/less "fantasy points" than the rest.

This is important because if your league scores something atypical like offensive boards and awards two fantasy points for winning it vs one point for total rebounds, a combination of Tristan Thompson and ZBo would dominate and shoot up in value.

*Note that in H2H if each category is weighed the same, it is not necessary to dominate across the board to tally a win. Thus, winning 5-4 is worth the same as 9-0. What this translates to is being able to "punt" certain categories in favor of complete dominance in others (I usually ignore TO's as long as FG% is high).

Player Rankings: Critically important!

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Don't fall for the trap of valuing a player based upon his "actual" value/potential/impact to a team. For example, Ibaka finished last season ranked higher than Melo. This was due in part to Melo only playing 67 games and Ibaka dominating in blocks.

In the same vein, ESPN/Yahoo fantasy rankings must be taken with a huge grain of salt because they are predicting A LOT (potential injuries, missed games, team dynamic, trades, breakout stars, etc.) The best way to use rankings is to get a good feel for who the experts expect to breakout and who they expect to flop.

A player's eligibility to play a specific position matters a lot, in fantasy. This is important because even though you may be deep at a specific position, you are limited to a certain number of each position. For example, in a 2 C league you can't play Bogut, D12, Hibbert and Marc Gasol at the same time unless you stick them in your Utility/flex spot. Thus, being able to get Lebron's PG+C-like production at the SF/PF spot or Harden's PG+SG-like production at the SG/SF is very valuable.

How Rankings Should/Should Not Be Used:
Scenario: In the 10th round of your Yahoo 12 team 9 cat H2H draft you see Oladipo (Y! rank#133), Bogut (#104), Crawford (#113), Kirilenko (#112) and Jarret Jack (#160). You have two SG's and one SF with one guy averaging over 1.0 STL per game and have three C's contributing 8+ REB and 1.3 BLK on your roster already. With the 11th pick of the round, you select...

DON'T: Bogut because he is ranked so much higher than the other available guys. Nothing wrong with doubling down on REBS and BLK, but you aren't winning anything by dominating only two categories. Crawford because he is a proven sharpshooter for the high scoring Clippers. While he fills your need for a SF, he may see a drop in opportunities with a new defensive minded coach and his only rare contribution is 3PM.

DO: Kirkilenko because he is a potential defensive stat stuffer + has SF AND PF eligibility. Oladipo because he is a SG/SF, possibly the best player on a terrible team, can contribute across the board, has the potential to blossom into a top 50 fantasy player.

Draft:

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I strongly encourage you to do at least one live mock draft before the real deal (I know Yahoo offers them every 15 min or so against real people). This will help you prepare for scenarios like when the clock is ticking and the player you had been eyeing was just snagged. Also, you will get a better feel for the draft interface and how other participants may value players.

Even if you know about all the potential sleepers, busts and draft strategies, you can be overwhelmed by information. The key to a successful draft is to develop and stick to a simple one-sentence mantra. In my H2H 9-CAT weekly league: Build on strengths, prefer multi-category contributors and aim for PG-like and PF-like players. (Strategy Explanation and Season Primer)

Here's what I did with the 2nd pick, and what you can expect:

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1st round: No surprises, everyone's top 12 looks something like Durant, LeBron, Harden, Curry, CP3, Love, Rose, Kyrie, Davis, Melo, Aldridge and George. Don't lose sleep over these picks as everyone looks similar after Harden. Also, all is not lost if your 1st pick gets hurt: I remember a league in 2006, the guy who drafted Wade (51 games played) finished 4th. Finally, don't be the guy who wastes everyone's time deciding between Durant and LeBron.

2nd-5th: This is the meat of your draft and will dictate how the rest of your draft should go. Don't worry about drafting too much/little of a specific position and focus on taking the best player available. After Lebron, I snagged Dirk, Conley, Hibbert and Favors. Going into the 6th round, I was confident in BLK and STL, comfortable in PTS, 3PM, FG% and weak in AST, FT%, TO. In addition, I kept in mind that I was deep at SF + PF, solid at C and very shallow at PG + SG.

6th-11th: Here is where you can shore up your squad and find some quality contributors. The focus should be on addressing your shallow positions rather than taking the "best" player available. What this translates to is ignoring player rankings and choosing Danny Green over Danny Granger because you need the FG% + 3PM. In my case, I aimed towards 3PM and FG% while continuing to add BLK and STL. So I went with stat stuffers like Jimmy Butler, Gordon Hayward and Oladipo, trey bombing assist man Brandon Knight and big men like Monroe and Valanciunas. A key was focusing on high FG% and FT% guys while being willing to sacrifice TOs.

12th-13th: If you drafted well, these last two rounds shouldn't really matter. There is no right or wrong strategy, but I like to go for my favorite sleeper or potential breakout candidate, regardless of if he fits my overall team strategy. The key here is to take a guy who you will be willing to drop without a second thought for a hot waiver-wire pickup. So I ended up with Nick "feast or famine" Young and Andrea "Novak" Bargnani.

Post draft waiver-wire watch: I can't resist making additions/subtractions, so this step is critical in my book. I take a look at the undrafted guys with potential and add them to my watch list. The easiest way to do this is to keep an eye on guys owned by a high percentage of other leagues (% Owned). In my case, I am watching Isiah Thomas, Collison and Reggie Jackson.

Playoffs:

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This is unique to H2H leagues and is a favorite of mine. I love that regular season juggernauts can be exposed due to poor foresight; no one remembers the regular season champion*. The key here is to understand where in the regular season the fantasy playoffs occur and what that means. In my league, the playoffs run from wk 21-23 (NBA reg season ends wk 25). The waiver wire becomes a potential gold mine as borderline playoff teams begin tanking, rest their starters and give heavy evaluation minutes to unproven talent. For example, Jan Vesley came on strong at the end of 2011-12 to put up 8.5PTS 7REB ~1STL ~1BLK on 55% shooting at the SF spot.

* In that 2006 league I mentioned earlier, the regular season champion finished 4th after the playoffs, while the 5th place guy won everything.

Conclusion:
I know this was a long read so I thank you if you stuck with me. There are many iterations of fantasy Bball, thus many strategies and approaches. The most important thing is to just try it out and stick with your squad through thick and thin. You'll learn a lot about what works best for you and see tangible improvements through the years. I look forward to joining you guys in groaning every time Lillard shoots a long jumper instead of a three pointer. Have fun and good luck!

 

This is the only thing I hate about playoffs in fantasy basketball.
Playoffs during fantasy basketball = last few weeks of reg. season.
Which means your best players are resting for the playoffs. BOOO.

 

the playoffs should be pushed back 1-2 weeks, and the season should start on the 2nd week of the nba season.

 

AFAIK, those are the standard Yahoo settings for the playoffs.

Also, you can change most of the settings and create a league more to your liking.

 

Haha, go for it man!
I wouldn't do it, but it isn't a totally unrecoverable move.

After years of struggling to separate my fandom from fantasy, I have been able to contemplate taking Kirilenko and Boozer...yet I still end up stashing TJones :grin:

 

Though your fandom is admirable, don't be silly. KD3 or Lebron should always go #1 & #2, respectively.

If you take Harden at 2, you'll be making the day of whomever picks 3rd.

 

Please don't take Harden lol. LeBron and Durant are on another tier in fantasy basketball.