You love basketball. You follow the NBA, root for your favorite team and watched in amazement as Stephen Curry led the Golden State Warriors to another championship.
And you still haven't played fantasy basketball?!
If that sounds a lot like you, this is the perfect season to give it a try -- there is just so much exciting stuff happening around the league. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic can do everything on the court. Luka Doncic and Trae Young have moved into the MVP discussion. Zion Williamson is coming back from a missed season. And superstars LeBron James and Kevin Durant continue to put their teams on their backs like they did 10 years ago.
There has never been a better time to jump right into the fantasy game.
Create or join an ESPN Fantasy Basketball league for the 2022-23 NBA season.
Sign up for free!
Imagine having Curry on your team when he gets on a roll from 3-point land and carries you to victory. Or what it feels like to have LaMelo Ball on your squad when he stuffs the stat sheet in his third NBA season.
These are the moments you remember as a fantasy manager!
In fact, many of those who've played fantasy basketball over the years can recall specific games that certain players had for them. An epic scoring night by James Harden or Damian Lillard, or maybe a timely triple-double by Russell Westbrook.
So fun. So, so fun!
If you're not an expert, don't worry -- we have everything you need to know about how to enter a league and draft a winning team. Even if you're a total beginner, you will still have the tools to experience the joy of fantasy basketball like millions do every year.
Make the league your own
Every fantasy basketball league is different. While there are basic rules and settings that apply across the board (you will learn about those below), each league takes on its own identity based on settings like roster size, injury spots, stat categories and other specifics.
We encourage you to join or start a league that fits what you're looking for. If you want to be more casual and set your lineups once a week, find a league that uses weekly lineup changes. If you're a little bit more diehard with all this and want to be able to add and drop players and craft new lineups on a daily basis, that's the type of league you should enter.
The bottom line is to do what's fun for you. Find a league that keeps you tuning in to watch your players every night.
With that in mind, we've put together ESPN Fantasy Basketball 101 to give you an overview of how to get started, how to prepare for your draft and how to play during the season.
Now it's time for you to sign up and join the fun!
Getting started
ESPN Fantasy Basketball FAQ
Click here for a quick reference for basic game-related questions.
How to sign up on the ESPN Fantasy app
Were you invited to an ESPN Fantasy Basketball league? Do you want to create your own as a League Manager? We have complete instructions for you right here.
How to sign up online
Whether you were invited to join an already-existing league or want to create your own as a League Manager, you'll find everything you need to do so right here.
League settings
If you created your own league, you'll need to make sure all of your league's rules and settings -- including roster size, scoring, regular-season schedules and playoff schedules -- are to your liking. We have all of the details of how to do that right here. Note: This season
You've signed up, now what?
Check out your league and team pages
It's time to learn more about your league and team pages, so you know where everything is. We've got you covered with a detailed tour right here.
Know your rules
This might seem incredibly basic, but even veteran fantasy basketball players often assume they know their league rules even when they don't. The result of overlooking a rule can be costly, so be sure you know the rules before your draft.
Go to your fantasy basketball league page, click on League, then Settings. Here, you'll be able to find all the rules that are in place for your league this season. This includes roster construction, scoring, schedule, playoff structure and more.
Take the time to carefully go over every section. To make sure you understand the thinking behind each rule, check out our League Settings overview.
Draft prep
A good draft will put you in position to have a successful season, and taking time to prepare beforehand is key. That includes formulating strategies and printing out rankings that reflect your league's scoring format.
Don't worry, we have you covered with customized expert rankings and draft strategies in the ESPN Fantasy Basketball draft kit.
Autodraft prep
If you don't plan to take part in a live draft, that's OK. Our system will automatically draft for you.
Still, you have the option of guiding how our system will draft your team. Go to your Team page and click "Edit Autopick Strategy." Here, you can decide which player positions you'd like to pick in which parts of the draft and how many players at each position you want to select overall.
Mock drafts
Mock drafts are simply practice drafts that don't count for anything. It's a terrific way to get used to the ESPN draft software, make sure you know how everything works and test out different strategies. For example, that might mean drafting a point guard in the first round versus drafting a small forward in Round 1 and waiting on a point guard until the fourth round.
These practice drafts also let you see which players are going higher than expected and which are routinely slipping down a round or two (or more). This is extremely useful knowledge that you can take with you in your real draft and use to your advantage, avoiding those "sliding" players until later rounds when you have a good idea that they will still be available.
For an overview of how everything in the ESPN draft room works, click on this link.
The draft
Draft day is the most exciting day of the season, because it's when your team goes from a plan to a reality. It's when you finally get the chance to assemble the group of players you get to root for all season. Of course, you can always add and drop players throughout the year, but the draft is still the most fundamental part of your roster and you want to make sure you don't miss on your top players.
If you have prepared for your draft by reading up on players and strategies, and by participating in several mock drafts, you're on the path to success. Believe in your hunches and don't look back.
To make everything go as smoothly as possible, be sure to follow these handy rules.
The season is starting, let the fun begin!
Trading
In most leagues, there are at least a few managers who enjoy the art of the deal. If you're one of those people, trading is going to be one of the most fun aspects of fantasy basketball. When done well, it's a great opportunity to improve your roster while unloading someone you perhaps no longer want or need.
There are several important factors to keep in mind. You must look at the roster of the team you're trading with and understand which, if any players, that manager might be willing to part with. For example, it'd be unwise to make a trade offer for a point guard on a team that is battling injuries and down to one healthy point guard. Also, while you may never want to send your best trade offer with your first proposal, be careful not to offer up too little. That can be offensive to the other manager and can lead to that person not only declining your offer but ending all future trade talks with you.
In-season strategies
Beyond trading, there are other factors to consider during the season like how to manage your games played in roto leagues, how to approach head-to-head playoffs, and how best to work the waiver wire. Check out the in-season strategies section of our draft kit.
Fantasy basketball etiquette
Every few years, no matter what type of league you're in, you'll run into someone who causes problems. Sometimes it name-calling on the message board and being a bully. Other times it is a constant stream of wild trade offers and questionable transactions. Whether you are in a hyper-competitive league or just trying to have some casual fun, you want to avoid being this way or having others in your league who conduct themselves like this.
Generally speaking, that just means following the golden rule: Treat others the way you'd want to be treated in your league.
Fantasy basketball -- ESPN Fantasy Basketball 101: Mock drafts
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Sep 16, 2021
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Mock drafts are simply practice drafts that don't count for anything. They provide a terrific way to get used to the ESPN draft software, make sure you know how everything works, test out your draft strategies and get any mistakes out of the way before the real draft -- when it really counts!
We encourage you to see where your favorite draft targets are being selected, with a special eye toward which players are being selected higher than expected and which are slipping to later rounds. This is the type of knowledge you can gain only by participating in mock drafts.
Remember, practice makes perfect.
So after you've done some thinking about which strategies you may use in your draft, take your rankings cheat sheet and head to the ESPN Mock Draft Lobby. If you're on the ESPN Fantasy App, go to the football section and click "Mock Draft."
Look through the League Format column to find a league that matches your league's settings (auction or snake draft; category or roto scoring; 10-,12-,16- or 18-team league). Once you've found one, click the Room Name then click the blue "Join This League" button. Once the clock hits zero, your mock draft room is ready. All you have to do is click on the blue "Launch Draft" button.
From here, it's smart to take a look around the draft app and to test each button to see what it does. This is your chance to get used to the layout of the draft app.
Draft order: At the top, you'll see the draft order; the team on the left will draft first. The teams will cycle through as each pick is made, so whoever is drafting next will be shown on the top left, and the team on deck will be to the right of that team. Take a look to see where you are drafting -- you are highlighted with a yellow square -- and begin preparing for who you think will be there for your first-round pick.
Players: You can sort them by position, NBA team, our projected stats and bye weeks. More importantly, you can use the search box to quickly find a specific player you want to draft -- even someone who may be way down in the default rankings and off the radar of most managers in your league.
Nomination Queue: Drag and drop players you might want with your next pick into the Nomination Queue in the order you rank them. If your clock runs out -- be it because you took too much time thinking or had a computer glitch -- the system will pick the top player in your queue for you. It also helps you avoid forgetting about a player you want during the draft.
Making your pick: When it's your turn, the clock at the top left will start ticking down toward zero, at which point it will take the top player in your queue or (if there is no one in your queue) the top-ranked player available. To make your pick and avoid the automated selection, click on the player you want and make sure his image and stats appear in the Selected Player section. If you want him in a specific position, use the dropdown to choose the position before you finalize your pick. Then click the bright red Draft Player button to finalize your pick.
Draft Summary: As each pick is made by your league, they will show up above your queue. You can also click Draft Summary to see the full draft and which team took which player.
Draft Results: On the right, you'll see your roster, so you can see which positions you still need to fill (you'll need to fill each of those positions by the end of the draft). You can also use the Select Team dropdown to view other teams and see which positions they have filled.
League Chat: Use this area to talk smack, ask questions or beg your league manager to pause the draft if an emergency comes up.
League Manager: This section allows your LM (if you are in a league that uses that system) to pause the draft and roll back picks, in case someone made a mistake.
To improve your chances of draft day success, we highly recommend participating in as many mock drafts as possible before your draft. That way, you'll enter your real draft with a leg up on the competition and feel more confident knowing you are fully prepared.
Why am I playing fantasy on ESPN? - World of Fantasy Basketball
Introduction (you can skip it if you're lazy)
Many times in my articles and speeches, I have said that the Yahoo engine is the best option for a dreamer and all other engines are simply not worth using. I had to play on other engines in the past years. NBAcom, PASPN and the same ESPN. I swore off playing on any other engines except Yahoo. But in vain. Twelve years ago, on the NBAru forum, I had the signature "Never say never." Time passed, other thoughts and signatures appeared. And the first signature, the meaning of which concerns many issues, remains true.
Before the start of this season, I was going to play in four leagues: EDL, SLS, BUGAY'7wl, AEL. As a last resort, the fifth league was to be AEL-2. And all these leagues were planned, of course, on the Yahoo engine. As a result, I play in seven leagues, and two of them are on ESPN. How did it happen?
It all started with Ansverman - a man known for a large number of leagues. He is an EDL commissioner and one of his ideas was to introduce a two-week matchup into the playoff setup. Indeed, everyone knows the probabilistic nature of shoot-out games in a fantasy game. These games take place at the end of the NBA season and are characterized by unpredictable player performance. The top players on some teams are gaining strength before the NBA PO and don't play at all, while the permanent residents of the pool put out incredible statistical performances. Plus, the brevity of the matchup in the software makes the result more random and unreliable. One of the interesting partial solutions to the problem was offered by the ESPN engine - a two-week matchup in software. Ansverman wanted to include it in the EDL, but Yahoo does not provide such a setting. As a result, Ansverman cursed the Yahoo engine a lot and removed software from the EDL altogether, which adversely affected the league. But most importantly, this is the first time I've heard that some engine gives some useful customization that Yahoo doesn't have. It used to be said about PASPN that it allows you to build a dynasty from season to season, in terms of player cost and using many of the player management rules in the NBA. But I tried to play there. With all the pluses, this is a serious departure from fantasy, almost a different game. And ESPN offers a progressive setting just for the classic fantasy. By the way, when I tried to play on ESPN before, it was an “only points” league, also “not that fantasy”, so I naturally didn’t like it. Now the situation has changed, ESPN organizes classic fantasy games quite well.
Knowing the new cutting edge setup on ESPN didn't move me to play there. All off-season, I was solving another question: how many AEL leagues should I play in? Last season, there were 12 applicants who did not want to be divided into two leagues. The system was not built. Then we played in one league for 12 participants, with the expectation that in the new season only the best 8 will get into the AEL. So four had to fall off. Eight of the best have been identified, but where are the rest? Do all the same the second league? With transitions or not? Do you play it yourself? Recruiting 16 willing participants for two leagues so that they are ready for transitions between leagues at the end of the seasons is not so simple. Not in the mood to do it. Nerves, the years are not the same. At the same time, it is quite possible to fill two leagues with active volunteers, non-unique, capable of playing at least three leagues at the same time with such settings. I myself am one of those. But does it make sense? And then Ansverman shows up again and says that if I created a league on ESPN, then new members who do not play on Yahoo would join there. Why not try? Moreover, to study the new engine, so as not to overgrow with moss at all. So I created a league on ESPN with AEL settings. In the meantime, people who didn't get into AEL-1 and didn't play on ESPN signed up for AEL-3, on Yahoo. As a result, three AEL leagues came out unpredictably, two on Yahoo and one on ESPN. And I got 6 leagues.
It would seem that the season has begun, the number of leagues is determined. But new acquaintances playing on ESPN invited me to one of their leagues, where the participant dropped out. That's how I got 7 leagues, two of which are on ESPN. So, why did this happen, what good did I find in the new engine?
ESPN Engine Advantages
As I said earlier, the ability to set two-week fights in the software. To enable this option, in the "Weeks per Playoff Matchup" setting, select the value "2 weeks per round". In the AEL league for 8 participants, it is convenient to make 4 teams enter the PO and go through both of its rounds in 4 weeks. In a long personal meeting, they decided who was stronger. This, of course, does not completely solve the problem of “sluggish fantasy software”, but makes the results more reasonable.
The ESPN engine opens a season earlier than Yahoo. For those who are in a state of rest from fantasy until the middle, or even until the end of September, this does not matter. I belong to the category of fantasy people who are looking forward to the start of the new season. In the last days of August, I check daily to see if leagues are open on Yahoo. Moreover, in the EDL league, drafts are already underway in August. So in September there is already a desire to make the first moves, to correct the mistakes of the draft. Even to those who don't play in a league with an early draft, information that comes out early can be important and welcome. ESPN, with an early opening, satisfies the primary informational hunger of active fantasists.
Among the information appearing on the engine, a special place is occupied by "Projections" - predictive statistical indicators of players compiled by the site's specialists. Fantasists often struggle with the universal formula for the utility of players, forgetting that it should be applied not to last year's statistical indicators, but to expected ones. Modeling predictive statistics yourself for each player is extremely troublesome. You can use paid resources, such as the notorious BM, but everything here is free. And the Yahoo engine uses projections very carefully, and already during the season.
After the opening of the season on the engine, usually everyone looks at what rating this or that player has. I like ratings. Different, all. The rating is a ready-made guideline for the order of choice in the draft. Of course, one should not take any rating as the ultimate truth. Among fantasists, it is customary to scold ratings. It `s naturally. Scolding LeBron, as if towering over him, at least mentally. By swearing at the ratings, you rise above all the site's analysts (ESPN, Yahoo or whatever) and above all other fantasy people. And you don’t even have to prove something with personal victories. The principle "Oh Pug, know she is strong, that she barks at the elephant" applies. I like ratings. And the more of them, the better. You can compare, analyze the difference, find the average, or otherwise form your rating. So, the ratings of Yahoo and ESPN differ. Not so globally that Wiggins was number 1 on one of the engines. But still, there is a difference. And both sites are respected, so there is something to think about, there is something to compare.
In continuation of this paragraph. Recently, online drafts have become more commonplace. The engines analyze all the drafts going through and helpfully offer an average, which is a good guideline for newbies. By the end of October, these numbers are such that you can draft them without thinking about anything at all and without preparing at all. That's why I started liking the draft auction. He's less predictable. Although now there are average and forecast prices from the engine at auction prices. However, the real prices depend on the course of the draft and the tactics of the participants. But the main thing is that these prices differ on the engines! When drafting auctions at the same settings on Yahoo and ESPN, I took into account which players were given a lower forecast (and boldly traded for these players), and which ones were higher (and bypassed them). And it wasn't the same players on different engines.
The ESPN site, I don't know how to put it, "easier." It loads faster, there are no such heavy components that slow down the work. Previously, the NBA sinned this. I stopped going there. Now it's Yahoo's turn. It is clear that the authors are counting on the increasingly accelerating Internet in developed countries and are trying to interest the client as much as possible with beautiful graphics. But for me, those days are long gone when a new game is described by rave reviews like "Everything is drawn in detail, everything is like the real thing." In any toy, playability and functionality are important. Heroes of Magic and Might 3 remains a model game for me. Everything that happened before and after is not so interesting. And I still play it with pleasure. As for the design of the fantasy engine, it certainly wasn't perfect twelve years ago. Rearranging the players in the roster by selecting a position from the drop-down list, then you press the confirm button and it turns out that two players were mistakenly sent to the same position by you, and all over again. Over time, the procedure for transferring the player was facilitated, and it became good. But now all the innovations only make the site heavier. In contrast, ESPN's design looks like the old Yahoo design, minus the mess.
What a fantasy engine! Even the Scores / Schedule tab on the site, and when you go to the box score of a particular match, it loads the video. At home I'm still fine, but at work it even hangs right. Either the speed of the Internet is limited, or the farwall fights off any encroachments from the site, but the fact remains that it is loaded reluctantly. Recently, the Daily Fantasy ads have been getting more and more. It's also on ESPN, but again, not as intrusive.
The simplicity of displaying information, I repeat, does not affect its quality. Even more than that, in some cases, ESPN has seen a great deal of thoughtfulness in the display.
An additional "+/-" column has been added to the Players and My Team tabs. The value there shows how much the percentage of owners of this player has changed. A cheap and effective replacement for the Research function, while retaining these functions for the need for deeper analysis.
Similarly, when watching friendly, alien or free players, you can see news - the latest available news on the player, but in one short line. Yahoo highlights when there is fresh news for a player. But usually, there is a lot of news and all of them are too lazy to read. Sometimes someone is interesting, and you start to select everything according to him. And so, to shortly and quickly, for all players at once, and it doesn’t matter if the news is old or new, but the latest one is available, and everything is in front of your eyes at once on one page, this is convenient.
Another trick for viewing players is in the Player tab on ESPN. You can select and sort those who play on a specific day. Why is this needed? It's no secret that one of the reasons for moves can sometimes be cheating human games. Even if this is not a specific goal, it can still be a decisive factor for the move. Why do you need a pool player who plays on the same day as most players on your roster? On Yahoo you can see who has matches on the next day, you can also look at the calendar of all players for the week. But if you start sorting, then there will be porridge. On ESPN, you can safely select any day, remove non-players on it, and then sort by any column.
On Yahoo, the current account change can be viewed on StatTracker. I remember the times when it was paid, almost no one used it and everyone either counted the account change manually, or waited for noon when the stats were updated in the main part of the engine. Now StatTracker is free and everything seems to be fine. But on ESPN, the Scoreboard tab lets you see the current score update across all of the league's matchups on one page.
You can also look in more detail for your matchup.
At the same time, there is also Launch FantasyCast - an analogue of StatTracker, with no less, even greater functions. And it loads faster.
When I created the league, I did not find the setting for who makes the decision on the trade. Yahoo has this setting: either the commissioner decides, or the "league veto" rule is used. At one time, I promoted the “league veto” rule, for which I was scolded by everyone. But really, is a commission agent always able to be both impartial and competent enough to evaluate any trade? I, as a commission agent, simply would not even want to spend such a responsibility on myself. There were cases when strong, authoritative managers had absolutely opposite opinion on any trade. And no matter what decision you, as a commission agent, would make, you would remain guilty. So I was upset when I didn't find "league veto" on ESPN. However, it turned out that the engine gives the commission agent the right to decide in each specific case whether he is ready to take the decision on this trade on himself, or he gives this trade at the mercy of the league. That is, if the commission agent is sure that the trade is exactly equal, then he can easily conduct it himself. If he is sure that the trade is unequal, he can reject the trade himself. And if he doubts, then press one button, and the trade will go to the vote of the league. It seems nothing new, on Yahoo the commission agent can also manually carry out any manipulation with the lineups. Or arrange a golosilku on the forum. But it will look like an interference with the compositions, like an artificial adjustment to the engine. And ESPN does it naturally. Indeed, it's been a long time since I've seen accepted unequal trades in my leagues. A league veto has one unpleasant feature - the loss of time. By accepting good trades quickly, we save time. By submitting incomprehensible trades to a vote, we do not allow an act of voluntarism and deceit to be committed.
Another plus regarding exchanges. True, subjective, and perhaps controversial. I'm generally wary of exchanges. But many say they love them. However, any fantasist, with an honest answer to the question of when there were more trades, will say that in the first season, when everyone was young and inexperienced, there were a lot of trades. For some reason, in the first year or two of the game, everyone is somehow more frivolous towards the players, they think less, it is easier to agree to trades. As it were, youth is characterized by significant and thoughtless actions. With age, everyone becomes smarter, tighter, meaner. This applies not only to age, as such, but also to fantasy. It is not uncommon for leagues where there is not a single trade at all during the season. There are talks, many express a desire to trade (as a hidden desire to hurt someone), but the negotiations do not bring results. So, I don't know what the experience of those I first encountered on the ESPN engine was, but it turned out that a bunch of trades went through at once. That is, new people, new experience, more opportunities for trading and an interesting game.
Well, from the little things, I will note the presence of a chat on the engine. This is also a debatable advantage. It would be more useful for a forum when all communication is within itself. And so that everything written is preserved, increasing a certain intellectual capital of the forum. Therefore, chat, even within the forum, impoverishes the forum itself a little. A bunch of beautiful statements and smart thoughts can disappear in the chat and no one will see them, except for those who were in the chat at a given time. However, the presence of a chat facilitates the process of negotiating trades, making other operational negotiations. Therefore, those new acquaintances that I have made also communicate in Skype chat, which has its pluses and minuses.
Speaking of cons.
Cons of the engine ESPN.
One of the factors that prompted me to write the article is the statement that the ESPN engine is inconvenient.
Perhaps this is out of habit. I quickly managed to figure out the engine. If you remember what was unusual, then I note that in the league on ESPN I am not a commission agent, but a "League Manager", abbreviated as LM (almost like cigarettes). Therefore, I did not immediately find the “LM Tools” tab.
But this, of course, is a trifle.
The main, and the only serious disadvantage of ESPN, like any other engine, is the lack of history. I have not yet found a list of leagues for past seasons on ESPN at all. I didn't play last season though. But there must be some page. Maybe there is. In any case, it (when available) will not compare with the similar one on Yahoo, where I have been playing for 13 years. And even taking into account that I had two more accounts, and not all leagues were included in the current one, there are many of them, there is something to remember and something to be proud of.
Fantasy basketball is the best way to follow the NBA. The main thing is to add a commissioner, a lottery, fake news and a ring - PRO Basketball - Blogs
American fantasy basketball is a great way to follow the NBA, your favorite players and get the latest news.
I only discovered this thing last year and immediately made a league of friends. Among them are amateur basketball players, a VTB United League player, coaches and just fans. Age of participants from 20 to 36 years. Someone has been following basketball since childhood, and someone started thanks to fantasy. The main thing is that everyone is equally interested. And in this article I will tell you why.
You will be interested in the article:
if your idea of fantasy ends with a tournament on Sports.ru;
if you don't know what fantasy is;
if you don't play because you don't speak English;
if you want to know more about the NBA;
if you've been playing fantasy for a long time, but you don't have enough real NBA attributes: draft lottery, news, commissioner or ring, for example.
What is fantasy
Let's take the ESPN.com tournament as an example.
Fantasy is a virtual game for basketball fans. They recruit real basketball players from the NBA to their team and act as a general manager: they carry out the draft, form the starting lineup for the week, expell, sign and trade players.
The essence is the same - every week to score more points than the opponent in the league, to win, to rise in the standings and at the end of the season to become the strongest in the playoffs.
This is the result of a match from last season and two fantasy squads
Fantasy basketball is based on the statistics of players in real basketball matches. It is important for the manager to gather the most effective players in the squad. After all, besides the fact that the effective action of a player in a real match brings points to the fantasy team. His losses and misses take away these points. Therefore, Russell Westbrook, with his triple-doubles and trash throws, is not the best option for fantasy.
Fantasy site or application counts players' fantasy scores in real time. Therefore, it is convenient and easy to follow. For example, a 3-pointer scored by Luka Doncic earns the team manager five fantasy points, and a Miles Turner block gives four points at once.
The table shows all the scoring actions of players who score in fantasy:
And this picture shows how the statistics of a player from a real match are translated into fantasy points:
As you can see in a single confrontation, the center and point guard can be equally valuable.
The most important thing about fantasy on ESPN is the interface and the possibilities. Everything resembles the official NBA website and helps to feel involved in the basketball world. And each real basketball player can only be on one team. Therefore, the number of teams in the league is limited - from 4 to 20.
Why play fantasy
Understand the NBA. Fantasy Tournament is a great introduction to the NBA. Even for those who played basketball only on the console and most of the players do not know at all. Such fans begin to deal with fantasy, select lineups and develop their own tactics. And they organically immerse themselves in the NBA: they start watching matches, find out the names of the players, understand the difference between role players and the main team, and gradually understand the rules.
At the start, managers will definitely make mistakes and learn. For example, in our league, a basketball rookie gave away Drew Holiday and got Buddy Hill. This trade jeopardized the fantasy rookie season and helped the opponent win the championship.
Keep a close eye on the regular season. Fantasy motivates you to follow all regular season matches. The manager of a virtual team must know everything about the players of his team and a little about the players of the opponent: who was injured and how much, who is on fire now, and who fell on the bench.
At the same time, the manager monitors free players, reads the news and understands who replaces whom in real matches in order to sign the most valuable free agent. Therefore, every morning the fantasy manager checks the results of the matches, sometimes watches the games, finds the best players and changes his roster.
Watch matches with excitement. The manager gathers players from different teams. Therefore, he can always choose a match with his players and worry about them. For example, the outcome of a fantasy duel is decided by the match between Indiana and Chicago. The manager in the Sabonis team, and the rival Lavigne. Whoever plays better will win. The manager turns on the match, worries about every productive action of Sabonis and gets angry from every hit of Lavin.
Learn English. The site and app offer an English interface: main tabs, news, injury reports, statistics and forecasts.
At first it is difficult to navigate, but then the manager begins to understand basic basketball terms, watch broadcasts with his players and understand American commentators.
7 Tips for Making Fantasy Interesting
To make fantasy exciting, you need to create an entourage of the real basketball world around it.
1. Come up with a legend. When I launched the PRO League, I invited members through a letter from the NBA. The letter contains the date and time of the draft, highlights of the organization, and the commissioner's name and signature. Legend has it that Adam Silver appointed Kobe Bryant our heavenly commissioner. But a legend is nothing without live reinforcements.
2. Appoint a secret commissioner. In real life, one of the league members or an outside observer is hiding behind the commissar's mask. Kobe Bryant was commissioner last year and Wilt Chamberlain this year.
The commissioner explains the rules to the participants, conducts the draft lottery, helps with the application, resolves conflicts and takes comments from the managers.
3. Create a Telegram channel and chat for discussions
The commissioner writes to the league members on Telegram and asks them about tactics, trades, player injuries, match results and draft expectations. He turns it all into stories and publishes it in the closed Telegram channel "Office PRO League". And he makes it all look like cards from the NBA on ESPN Instagram account.
Chat managers discuss each other's comments, matches, injuries and agree on exchanges. Sometimes they gather for a joint viewing. But most often they swear and tease each other in a comic manner. Therefore, the most reckless atmosphere can be created only in a chat with friends and acquaintances.
4. Hold a draft lottery. One of the most important attributes of fantasy basketball. By default, the computer distributes spades randomly. But in our league, the commissioner runs the draft lottery two weeks before the draft. Managers have time to swap picks if necessary, prepare a draft strategy, draw up a list of desirable players and complain a little about bad picks.
The commissioner runs the lottery backstage and then shoots a video of the draft order. It looks spectacular because the participants do not know the place in advance and do not know the person under the mask.
This is how the lottery went this year:
5. Call and conduct a draft. One of the most exciting parts of the fantasy tournament. The draft takes place on a certain day and a certain hour. So everyone should join. To make it more interesting, we arrange a video conference, because the participants live in different cities. This is how we show emotions when we take away other players or take away someone very desirable. At the same time, we have time to discuss our thoughts on teams and players. You can also get together live and assemble lineups face to face.
6. Place bets and forecasts. This is optional. We play fantasy for fun and have not yet connected the financial part. But they began to think about paid participation and the purchase of various valuable prizes with the money raised. You can also add weekly motivations. For example, advance bets on the outcome of fantasy fights. Or a weekly cash transfer from the manager of the worst team to the manager of the best.
7. Give the champion's ring. Fighting for such a prize is much more interesting than just playing for money.
We've got you covered with a detailed tour right here.
This is extremely useful knowledge that you can take with you in your real draft and use to your advantage, avoiding those "sliding" players until later rounds when you have a good idea that they will still be available.
Take a look to see where you are drafting -- you are highlighted with a yellow square -- and begin preparing for who you think will be there for your first-round pick.
To make your pick and avoid the automated selection, click on the player you want and make sure his image and stats appear in the Selected Player section. If you want him in a specific position, use the dropdown to choose the position before you finalize your pick. Then click the bright red Draft Player button to finalize your pick.
I had to play on other engines in the past years. NBAcom, PASPN and the same ESPN. I swore off playing on any other engines except Yahoo. But in vain. Twelve years ago, on the NBAru forum, I had the signature "Never say never." Time passed, other thoughts and signatures appeared. And the first signature, the meaning of which concerns many issues, remains true. 
The top players on some teams are gaining strength before the NBA PO and don't play at all, while the permanent residents of the pool put out incredible statistical performances. Plus, the brevity of the matchup in the software makes the result more random and unreliable. One of the interesting partial solutions to the problem was offered by the ESPN engine - a two-week matchup in software. Ansverman wanted to include it in the EDL, but Yahoo does not provide such a setting. As a result, Ansverman cursed the Yahoo engine a lot and removed software from the EDL altogether, which adversely affected the league. But most importantly, this is the first time I've heard that some engine gives some useful customization that Yahoo doesn't have. It used to be said about PASPN that it allows you to build a dynasty from season to season, in terms of player cost and using many of the player management rules in the NBA. But I tried to play there. With all the pluses, this is a serious departure from fantasy, almost a different game.
And ESPN offers a progressive setting just for the classic fantasy. By the way, when I tried to play on ESPN before, it was an “only points” league, also “not that fantasy”, so I naturally didn’t like it. Now the situation has changed, ESPN organizes classic fantasy games quite well. 
Not in the mood to do it. Nerves, the years are not the same. At the same time, it is quite possible to fill two leagues with active volunteers, non-unique, capable of playing at least three leagues at the same time with such settings. I myself am one of those. But does it make sense? And then Ansverman shows up again and says that if I created a league on ESPN, then new members who do not play on Yahoo would join there. Why not try? Moreover, to study the new engine, so as not to overgrow with moss at all. So I created a league on ESPN with AEL settings. In the meantime, people who didn't get into AEL-1 and didn't play on ESPN signed up for AEL-3, on Yahoo. As a result, three AEL leagues came out unpredictably, two on Yahoo and one on ESPN. And I got 6 leagues. 
So, why did this happen, what good did I find in the new engine? 
So in September there is already a desire to make the first moves, to correct the mistakes of the draft. Even to those who don't play in a league with an early draft, information that comes out early can be important and welcome. ESPN, with an early opening, satisfies the primary informational hunger of active fantasists. 
I like ratings. Different, all. The rating is a ready-made guideline for the order of choice in the draft. Of course, one should not take any rating as the ultimate truth. Among fantasists, it is customary to scold ratings. It `s naturally. Scolding LeBron, as if towering over him, at least mentally. By swearing at the ratings, you rise above all the site's analysts (ESPN, Yahoo or whatever) and above all other fantasy people. And you don’t even have to prove something with personal victories. The principle "Oh Pug, know she is strong, that she barks at the elephant" applies. I like ratings. And the more of them, the better. You can compare, analyze the difference, find the average, or otherwise form your rating. So, the ratings of Yahoo and ESPN differ. Not so globally that Wiggins was number 1 on one of the engines. But still, there is a difference. And both sites are respected, so there is something to think about, there is something to compare. 
Recently, online drafts have become more commonplace. The engines analyze all the drafts going through and helpfully offer an average, which is a good guideline for newbies. By the end of October, these numbers are such that you can draft them without thinking about anything at all and without preparing at all. That's why I started liking the draft auction. He's less predictable. Although now there are average and forecast prices from the engine at auction prices. However, the real prices depend on the course of the draft and the tactics of the participants. But the main thing is that these prices differ on the engines! When drafting auctions at the same settings on Yahoo and ESPN, I took into account which players were given a lower forecast (and boldly traded for these players), and which ones were higher (and bypassed them). And it wasn't the same players on different engines. 
Previously, the NBA sinned this. I stopped going there. Now it's Yahoo's turn. It is clear that the authors are counting on the increasingly accelerating Internet in developed countries and are trying to interest the client as much as possible with beautiful graphics. But for me, those days are long gone when a new game is described by rave reviews like "Everything is drawn in detail, everything is like the real thing." In any toy, playability and functionality are important. Heroes of Magic and Might 3 remains a model game for me. Everything that happened before and after is not so interesting. And I still play it with pleasure. As for the design of the fantasy engine, it certainly wasn't perfect twelve years ago. Rearranging the players in the roster by selecting a position from the drop-down list, then you press the confirm button and it turns out that two players were mistakenly sent to the same position by you, and all over again. Over time, the procedure for transferring the player was facilitated, and it became good.
But now all the innovations only make the site heavier. In contrast, ESPN's design looks like the old Yahoo design, minus the mess. 
But if you start sorting, then there will be porridge. On ESPN, you can safely select any day, remove non-players on it, and then sort by any column. 
At one time, I promoted the “league veto” rule, for which I was scolded by everyone. But really, is a commission agent always able to be both impartial and competent enough to evaluate any trade? I, as a commission agent, simply would not even want to spend such a responsibility on myself. There were cases when strong, authoritative managers had absolutely opposite opinion on any trade. And no matter what decision you, as a commission agent, would make, you would remain guilty. So I was upset when I didn't find "league veto" on ESPN. However, it turned out that the engine gives the commission agent the right to decide in each specific case whether he is ready to take the decision on this trade on himself, or he gives this trade at the mercy of the league. That is, if the commission agent is sure that the trade is exactly equal, then he can easily conduct it himself. If he is sure that the trade is unequal, he can reject the trade himself. And if he doubts, then press one button, and the trade will go to the vote of the league.
It seems nothing new, on Yahoo the commission agent can also manually carry out any manipulation with the lineups. Or arrange a golosilku on the forum. But it will look like an interference with the compositions, like an artificial adjustment to the engine. And ESPN does it naturally. Indeed, it's been a long time since I've seen accepted unequal trades in my leagues. A league veto has one unpleasant feature - the loss of time. By accepting good trades quickly, we save time. By submitting incomprehensible trades to a vote, we do not allow an act of voluntarism and deceit to be committed. 
As it were, youth is characterized by significant and thoughtless actions. With age, everyone becomes smarter, tighter, meaner. This applies not only to age, as such, but also to fantasy. It is not uncommon for leagues where there is not a single trade at all during the season. There are talks, many express a desire to trade (as a hidden desire to hurt someone), but the negotiations do not bring results. So, I don't know what the experience of those I first encountered on the ESPN engine was, but it turned out that a bunch of trades went through at once. That is, new people, new experience, more opportunities for trading and an interesting game. 
A bunch of beautiful statements and smart thoughts can disappear in the chat and no one will see them, except for those who were in the chat at a given time. However, the presence of a chat facilitates the process of negotiating trades, making other operational negotiations. Therefore, those new acquaintances that I have made also communicate in Skype chat, which has its pluses and minuses. 
I have not yet found a list of leagues for past seasons on ESPN at all. I didn't play last season though. But there must be some page. Maybe there is. In any case, it (when available) will not compare with the similar one on Yahoo, where I have been playing for 13 years. And even taking into account that I had two more accounts, and not all leagues were included in the current one, there are many of them, there is something to remember and something to be proud of. 
The main thing is that everyone is equally interested. And in this article I will tell you why. 
This trade jeopardized the fantasy rookie season and helped the opponent win the championship. 
The manager in the Sabonis team, and the rival Lavigne. Whoever plays better will win. The manager turns on the match, worries about every productive action of Sabonis and gets angry from every hit of Lavin. 
But a legend is nothing without live reinforcements. 
But most often they swear and tease each other in a comic manner. Therefore, the most reckless atmosphere can be created only in a chat with friends and acquaintances. 
The draft takes place on a certain day and a certain hour. So everyone should join. To make it more interesting, we arrange a video conference, because the participants live in different cities. This is how we show emotions when we take away other players or take away someone very desirable. At the same time, we have time to discuss our thoughts on teams and players. You can also get together live and assemble lineups face to face. 
