Last week’s Freeroll was so much fun for all 404 people who joined — especially the 15 who shared $300 in cash prizes — that we’re doing it again on Friday. It’s a private league for Sheridan Hoops readers, with no entry fee and $100 to the winner; you can enter right here. It’s always free to sign up with DraftStreet, with no deposit or credit card required. In addition to the Dec. 21 Freeroll, there are other free leagues every day to learn how easy it is to play. If you want to get started immediately, click the DS logo.
While daily leagues are exciting, especially the Salary Cap and Snake Draft games, I’m dabbling in weekly leagues as well. A $2 league entered last Monday paid $9.35 for finishing first out of 10; there were consolation prizes for second and third. You can enter weekly leagues any day. I think of them more as a Monday thing, because that’s when Head-to-Head weeks start, and joined two more yesterday. So far so good, as I’m leading both a $5 3-man league and another 10-man for $2. The weekly salaries are quite different, fluctuating as they adjust for each player’s number of games over the next seven days.
I also cashed in two Monday-only leagues — finishing 39th of 550 was worth $5 for my $2 entry fee in the $1,000 GPP (Guaranteed Prize Pool) and second out of ten in a $5 Double-Up earned me $9. The $100 weekly bankroll is up $14 after one day, so I’ll be entering a few extra leagues tonight.
You may think of the $100,000 Salary Cap as a math problem, but for me it’s an eight-piece jigsaw puzzle. The LeBron James piece is the largest, more than 21% of the board. If you use LBJ and the Kobe Bryant piece (20%) your other six pieces must be small, averaging less than 10%, or $10,000. The DS user interface does all the arithmetic and lets you know how much you have left. The simplicity of the rules is elegant. The complexity comes from the millions of possible combinations that might “solve the puzzle” — especially on a night with ten NBA games.
| DraftStreet 15 | Dec. 18 |
| Stars | Over $13,000 |
| Kobe Bryant | $20,034 |
| LeBron James | $21,128 |
| David Lee | $18,619 |
| Stephen Curry | $16,110 |
| Kyrie Irving | $15,742 |
| Scrubs | Under $9,000 |
| Courtney Lee | $5,331 |
| Nick Young | $6,834 |
| Nando De Colo | $8,309 |
| Tyler Zeller | $7,636 |
| Sam Young | $5,346 |
| Starters | $9,000 to $13,000 |
| Danilo Gallinari | $12,015 |
| Jeff Teague | $10,518 |
| Carl Landry | $9,350 |
| Brandon Jennings | $12,949 |
| Metta World Peace | $11,876 |
The chart makes five daily suggestions in each of three price ranges. (This is for Tuesday contests, not the Freeroll.) All leagues close at 7:00 EST, and you can make unlimited changes until then. My 15 ‘picks’ fit together in many different ways, and of course, you might key on other players.
F David Lee (GS-F) $18,619
F Danilo Gallinari (DEN-F) $12,015
G Stephen Curry (GS-G) $16,110
G Jeff Teague (ATL-G)$10,518
C Al Horford (ATL-C) $16,335
C Chris Bosh (MIA-C) $13,914
U Courtney Lee (BOSL-G) $5,331
U Nick Young (PHI-G) $6,834
That’s one lineup I’m planning to use. It begins with the hope that Curry and Lee will continue to play great at home. Next I looked at the C position, where a rested Bosh is up against a guy with a sore back from playing last night. Horford (or Anderson Varejao) is likely to be worth $16,000 and change; I usually try to save money there, but am not ‘feeling’ any bargains. Then it’s puzzle-solving time. I fill in the two cheapest guys at Util and the best available (and affordable) at F2 and G2.
DraftStreet is great. While tending to my season-long keeper leagues, daily (and weekly) contests add a spark of excitement. Click here to get started immediately, or if you want to wait until Friday, when the winner of our zero-entry-fee Freeroll gets $100 cash, here’s the signup link.
Today’s Fantasy Spin previews all ten of tonight’s NBA games in detail and looks at what happened on Monday, when Linsanity returned to Manhattan.