We are running another free fantasy basketball contest tonight ($350 prize pool), and with 24 NBA teams in action there will be plenty of players to select from.
A piece of advice. Choose wisely.
I made one bad choice last night in a tournament, and it cost me a chance to finish in the money.
I have been playing fantasy hoops for 15 years, the type of league in which you pick a team at a live auction, then spend the season trying to make trades with other owners, make a score on the waiver wire and finish in the money.
It is fun, but you are more or less stuck all season with the decisions you make on draft night. What we are doing in tonight’s contest is much, much different. A treat for the impatient. And it is free.
For the past couple weeks, I have occasionally been playing in DraftStreet’s nightly fantasy contents, sometimes paying a $2 or $5 entry fee, sometimes splurging and dropping $11 as I did yesterday.
And when selecting my team Thursday afternoon, I was faced with a choice: Do I go with Monta Ellis, who had been en fuego all week, or do I select his teammate, Stephen Curry, and his always-risky bum ankle.
I chose the former instead of the latter, and it was a bad choice.
Curry dropped bombs on the Denver Nuggets all night, finishing with a line of 36 points, seven assists, seven rebounds and two blocks. He attempted 17 shots and made 13 of them, and he had only one turnover. (Ellis was 6-for-14 for 14 points with two rebounds, three assists and four turnovers.)
Curry’s line added up to 54.75 points (in the fantasy challenge, you get one point for each point a player scores, 1.5 points for each assist, 1.25 points for each rebound, and two points for each block and steal. You lose a point for every missed shot and turnover). Ellis’ line produced a point score of 16.75. (I got nearly as much from Kosta Koufos, who posted a 15.75 in 17 minutes off off the bench for the Nuggets).
The winner of last night’s tournament was a player with the username “Vince,” who had Curry and also made the deft selection of Goran Dragic (11 points, 11 assists, four rebounds and two steals off the bench for the Rockets), whose salary for the night was a mere $7,840.
For those new to these fantasy challenges, here is how it works:
You sign up for free, you are given a salary cap of $100,000, and you use that funny money to select eight players — two centers, two forwards, two guards and two utility players. Last night, Kevin Durant was the most expensive player on the board, with a salary of $21,226. Tonight, LeBron James has the highest salary: $21,800; and Brian Scalabrine is the cheapest, at $1,646.
If you make the right picks, you win real cash money (the prize pool is $350 for the top eight finishers).
And if you so choose, you can play in the Draft Street cash games that are held every single night. (This is a game of skill, not a game of chance, and it is perfectly legal for anyone in Canada or the United States with the exception of residents of Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, Vermont and Puerto Rico).
For newcomers, DraftStreet will send you a follow-up e-mail offering a $25 bonus if you make a deposit.
The aforementioned “Vince” won $350 with his lineup of Curry, Dragic, Russell Westbrook, Arron Afflalo, DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Marcin Gortat and Pau Gasol. The second-place finisher, “Kbears,” won $270 with a lineup that also included Dragic and Curry, along with my guy, Koufos. (Rajon Rondo’s six missed shots and three turnovers kept him out of first place). Third place paid $200, 4th was worth $145, 5th was worth $110, 6th was worth $85, 7th paid $65, and spots 8-15 paid between $50 and $20.
There were 150 entrants, and 10 percent of them cashed.
Tonight’s contest will be the fifth we are conducting at SheridanHoops.com, and there are already 98 players signed up as of 7:30 a.m. EST as I type this post with two fingers. Shame on Fordham Prep for not offering a typing class when I was in high school.
The feedback I have received on Twitter from those who have played in our four previous contests has been tremendous. If you consider yourself a good fantasy hoops player, or if you just love the NBA and want to try something new, I implore you to give it your best shot.
Again, it is free.
You have nothing to lose, and with 12 games on the slate, you have plethora of players to choose from.
Also, if you select a team and then find out that one of your players has been scratched, you can change your lineup up until 7 p.m. EDT.
The top seven finishers get paid. DraftStreet will send you the money via electronic funds transfer, snail mail or PayPal.
My team tonight is Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, Greg Monroe, Mo Williams, Tayshaun Prince, Kendrick Perkins and Steve Novak. I will be monitoring them from Madison Square Garden, where I am attending the Lakers-Knicks game (FYI: Jeremy Lin was priced at $11,384, a higher price than that of Serge Ibaka, who had another 10 blocks last night. And yes, I had him on my team last night).
Linsanity is everywhere. Good luck!