Fantasy basketball has been growing in popularity over the past few years. There’s less luck involved than in fantasy football and it’s not nearly as long a season as fantasy baseball. For these reasons, fantasy basketball has become my favorite fantasy sport to play.
When you are drafting a team in fantasy basketball, there’s definitely luck involved, but usually the general manager who has the most well-balanced team will be in good positioning for the season.
- I would say the two most important stats to after are blocks and assists. There are only a handful of players who do either very well and if you have someone who is top 5 in either category, you are in good shape.
- A quick note if you happen to be lucky enough to have first pick and Lebron James is available, don’t think about it twice. He is your guy. If you have second pick, I would go Kevin Durant.
- So when it comes to assists, here are the top 5 players to go after. Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo, Deron Williams, Steve Nash and Chauncey Billups.
- When it comes to blocks, some of the better options out there include Dwight Howard, Gerald Wallace and Marcus Camby. While Camby doesn’t score much, he does everything else well and there’s a reason he’s been a top 15 fantasy player for the past 5 years.
- Rebounding is also very important, but you want to be careful not to get someone who will tank your free throw percentage. Big men who rebound a lot tend to be mediocre at the line (ahem..Dwight Howard). So if you can get someone like David Lee or Pau Gasol, you will be in good shape.
The other popular format is sponsored contests provided by the website. These contests usually have thousands of entries with huge guaranteed prize packages in the offering for a relatively small entry fee. The larger the participation in these contests, the higher the number of places that will get paid. The prize packages might include large cash prizes, consumer goods or special event prize packages where something like a Super Bowl weekend might be on the line. Many times, managers can earn a free entry fee by winning smaller satellite contests along the way.
The contest rules and scoring parameters are provided by the website. Each manager gets a salary cap (normally $50,000) to use when selecting players. Each player that is scheduled to play on a given night will be assigned a salary cap value. Obviously, the better the player, the higher the value. The team structure is usually PG, SG, SF, PF, C, G, F, and UTIL player.
Now that you have a general idea how to play Online Fantasy Games, it’s time to join in the fray. If you choose to play in daily contests, you need to remember that a lot of managers have a significant amount of experience, which might leave you at a disadvantage. The bottom line is you should never put more money on the line than you can afford to lose.