Accruing talent for your fantasy hoops squad is a threefold process: draft, trades and free agent acquisitions. A combination of guile (waiting on that player you covet to drop in the draft; buying low, selling high with trades) and good fortune (grabbing Ricky Rubio in the 13th round) is necessary in each. Hopefully you spent ample time preparing for and had a successful draft, as it is the foundation for an owner with hopes of finishing “in the money.” Don’t hold your
The foremost reason fantasy league owners are typically challenged making trades is due to the varying opinions of player values. Everyone loves his or her own guys, most notably following the draft. League drafts have now long since passed and at this point, so too have pre-draft valuations and player expectations. That guy you drafted in the second round might not be more than a Top 70 player at this point (that would be you, Amare Stoudemire!) and that late round
The random luck of picking league owner names out of a hat for draft positions has always been the bane of my fantasy basketball existence. Each year upon receiving the e-mail with the draft order results from one of my two leagues’ commissioners, you’ll typically read my team’s moniker, “Krewtime”, between sixth and ninth in either nine-team league. Lebron James was the first selection in both our 8-CAT and 9-CAT league drafts, and he’s more than lived up to that status.
To win your fantasy basketball league, or at least finish “in the money,” you must have a successful draft on a number of levels, including deciding when the right time is to select a particular player. Through the first eight rounds of a draft I tend to go for value picks, players who dropped lower than my projections dictate. In our 9-CAT league, which includes Assist/Turnover Ratio, point guards are valued at a premium. I projected Kyle Lowry as the #7
PHILADELPHIA – Highlight Performance: Kyle Lowry, Houston Rockets – Once again Kyle Lowry dominated a basketball game, last night’s victim being the Portland Trailblazers. Against Raymond Felton and his backcourt mates Lowry had 33 points on 13 – 26 field goal attempts, 4 free throws made and 3 three-pointers, as well as 8 rebounds and 9 assists (and a 2.25 Ast/TO ratio). He’s flirted with a triple-double numerous times this season; should only be a matter of time. Performance to Forget: Tyreke Evans, Sacramento
Highlight Performance: Deron Williams, New Jersey Nets – The talk of Williams typically encompasses either his displeasure of being a Net or his possible future with Dwight Howard. Whatever his motivation last night, D-Will put up a stellar fantasy line, scoring 35 points on an efficient 11–for-18 from the field, six 3-pointers and 7 free throws made, not to mention dishing out 14 assists while turning the rock over only two times. In our 9-CAT league in which Assist/Turnover Ratio is
Highlight Performances: Dwight Howard, ORL – For those in leagues with Free Throws Made, let’s all give thanks to Warriors coach Mark Jackson for hacking D12 so much that Howard set an NBA record with 39 free throws, of which he hit 21. Howard shot 12-of-21 from the field, totaling 45 points, and also had 23 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 blocks. That is one huge fantasy line! Given the Magic only had two games on their schedule this week, I
PHILADELPHIA – A successful draft is the essential element to fantasy basketball success. Do you have your own system for ranking players, or do you rely on a Website to do your pre-draft prognosticating? In most standard 8-Category leagues (with free throws made rather than free throw percentage) the consensus “Big Three” were LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Dwight Howard in no particular order. I ranked Dwyane Wade a solid #4 and traded up to secure one from this quartet. Though