How to Win in Fantasy Basketball

The League

Fantasy basketball is a great way to get engaged in the sport, making the entire NBA season a more entertaining experience. It’s fun to create a league with friends or office-mates, and even to join online leagues.

The first step is to decide what type of Fantasy Basketball you would like to play. The two types are roto (rotisserie) and H2H (head to head). In roto, the stats for all the players are cumulative. They are split into categories, and relatively ranked (if there are 10 players in the league, the person with the highest total in the stat gets 10 points). Whoever has the highest overall total at the end of the season wins. Head to head is very different, in both structure and strategy. Each team is matched with a different team every week, and it's a one on one battle for each statistical category. The team gets a point for every stat they win at the end of the week, and they're tallied up.

Draft

Next, prepare for the draft by printing out an updated list of players ranked by average pick. Label players into two categories – overrated players and sleepers. The first includes injury prone and one-dimensional players; they usually have inflated average draft values. If somebody has a history of being injured for more than 20 games a season (e.g. Andrew Bynum), or only excels in one or two stats (e.g. Kevin Martin), hesitate before drafting him. The second group to label is the players who may out-perform their projected values, known as “sleepers”. These players usually either come from up-tempo teams or teams who have just gone through major changes (high draft picks/trades).

When draft day comes, the goal is strictly to maximize on value, not to finalize your team. Don’t ever sacrifice value to fill a certain position on your team – you can always make trades to do that. Just stay loyal to your draft-list. Also, contrary to popular belief, you can bomb in the draft and still trade your way back up the rankings, especially with this next strategy.

Trading

Here is the last tip that can give you a huge advantage over your fellow league-mates – trade quantity for quality. Look to trade two or three mediocre players for an elite one. You can pull this off if the team you’re targeting has sub-par players. Then, after the trade, pick up role players off the free agents list. It’s always full of underrated role players who can help fill most of the stat-voids of your team. Any injury to major players around the league always results in these players picking up the slack, so if you trade well and act quickly, you could end up with an elite player AND a role player with a lot of potential.

Lastly, remember to be courteous to your fellow league managers. If you’re overly pushy, the chances of agreeing trades usually decrease. Good luck, and have fun!

• 2011-2012 Top Fantasy Sleepers - Power Forwards/ Centers

• 2011-2012 Top Fantasy Sleepers - Small Forwards

• 2011-2012 Top Fantasy Sleepers - Point Guards

• 2011-2012 Top Fantasy Sleepers - Shooting Guards