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It usually takes about 250 DraftStreet points to win a two-day fantasy contest. You get 1 point f0r each point your players score, 1.25 points for every rebound, 1.5 points for each assist, and 2 points for every blocked shot and steal. Turnovers cost you 1 point, and missed shots take away a half-point.
I have been playing heavily and writing about it for the entire month of May, and over the weekend I saw something I had never seen before — the winner in my $22 league took home the $1,500 first prize with a grand total of just 202.5 points. He was the only one who eclipsed 200.
This gives me great hope heading into this week, as the Eastern and Western Conference finals will eventually draw to a close and we’ll have our matchup for the NBA Finals. I still think it’ll be Spurs and Heat, but I have been wrong before.
For the purposes of these columns, which will run each day until we are down to two teams, the trick will be staying one step ahead of the competition. And cashing.
Yes, you gotta cash to truly feel a sense of accomplishment when playing in these contests. Since taking over this fantasy writer gig on a temporary basis at the beginning of May, I have cashed 10 times — the most recent coming Sunday night when I finished in a three-way tie for 25th place. (I had two teams in the $22 entry fee contest, and the other finished 36th out of 244.)
Let’s take a look at the 25th place team, stacked up alongside the winning team and its 202.5 points.
I was all about the Birdman in drafting for this contest, but I should have been all about the young Kiwi.
Steven Adams (from New Zealand) was picked by a mere 12 percent of the participants, but he came through with 22.75 DS points thanks in large part to his four blocked shots. In the above case, those 22.75 points were enough to lock up the $1,200 prize and help Micfly overcome the 6 points produced by Danny Green.
Notice how 58 percent of the entrants got stuck with Tony Parker on the night of his worst playoff game of this postseason.
That’ll happen from time to time, and it is especially painful if you have built all your teams around him as I did.
Check out my entry in the Sunday-Monday $22 contest:
That Parker pick is going to hurt me again, even if LeBron James goes off in Game 4 tonight. I am quite surprised more people did not draft LeBron despite his astronomical price tag, which carries over into this week (more on that below).
We are at a point in the postseason where three guys — LeBron, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook — are priced unbelievably high, but you can still get two of them and fill our your roster with productive players if you choose wisely.
Taking from the lessons we learned over the weekend, I am still touting Andersen but I am adding Adams in as well. By taking both, you use up your utility spot (the requirements include drafting 3 guards, 3 forward, 1 center and 1 utility player). But if Adams and Andersen can come off their benches at home and provide an infusion of energy, the DS points should pile up rather quickly.
One of the big conundrums looking forward is whether to take another chance on Parker.
The Frenchman does not do back-to-back bad games, or at least he hasn’t up until this point of the playoffs.
Let’s have a look at some of the prices as we prepare for another studs-and-duds draft.
| DraftStreet | Price |
| Stars | $$$ |
| Kevin Durant | $24,934 |
| LeBron James | $24,609 |
| Russell Westbrook | $22,198 |
| Paul George | $17,824 |
| Tim Duncan | $15,994 |
| Value Plays? | Under $9,000 |
| Ray Allen | $7,899 |
| Steven Adams | $7,776 |
| Boris Diaw | $7,325 |
| Chris Andersen | $6,702 |
| Marco Belinelli | $5,605 |
| Norris Cole | $3,882 |
| Derek Fisher | $3,556 |
Although I have only been writing about DraftStreet contests since the beginning of this month, I have been playing for three years — and I’ve never seen a price as high as the one Durant is carrying today.
And LeBron is not far behind.
Is the MVP worth all that money? I think so. And so I have gone ahead and drafted not only Durant, but Westbrook and James, too.
Yes, I will need quite the night from at least two players who do not normally make big contributions, but I want to be there when Westbrook, Durant and James all have monster performances on back-to-back nights.
Drafting Westbrook and James worked for me over the weekend, so why not stick with it as the week begins?
That is my scheme as Monday morning dawns, and I will be back tomorrow to let y’all know whether my way was worth any money.
Good luck, and remember … you can join DraftStreet by clicking on the banner at the top of this post.