ESPN Fantasy is always looking for new ways to improve our game experience, and in 2020 we debuted a new default fantasy basketball scoring system for head-to-head points leagues. Not only did it increase overall scoring, but it better represented modern NBA action.
Here you can compare the new and old versions:
New default system*
Point = 1
3PM = 1
FGA = -1
FGM = 2
FTA = -1
FTM = 1
REB = 1
AST = 2
STL = 4
BLK = 4
TOV = -2
Old default system
Point = 1
FGA = -1
FGM = 1
FTA = -1
FTM = 1
REB = 1
AST = 1
STL = 1
BLK = 1
TOV = -1
We used advanced analytics to flesh out the best way to reflect NBA scoring -- especially in this age of 3-point shooting -- and kept it simple to understand.
We'll do the math** for you, so it's easy to follow as you watch NBA games. Here's how many fantasy points your player will score when he does the following:
3-pointer made = 5
2-pointer made = 3
Free throw made = 1
Field goal or free throw missed = -1
Simple. Make shots, get fantasy points. Hit 3s, get even more fantasy points. Miss shots, lose some fantasy points. The more volume and efficiency your scorer has, the better, but neither is a necessity.
That's because if your player hits the glass, dishes passes, swipes balls or rejects shots, he will be appropriately rewarded:
REB = 1
AST = 2
STL = 4
BLK = 4
TOV = -2
We gave more weight to the stats that are tougher to come by, so dimes are worth more than rebounds, and steals and blocks are worth the most. And, of course, players are penalized a bit for turnovers.
In the end, NBA stars will be amongst the elite in ESPN Fantasy's new default points scoring, but there is also room for lower-volume players to shine. That includes those NBA glue guys you love for their hustle, double-double bigs, and players who share the rock and hit 3s.
New leagues will automatically default to the new system, which is the format our experts will refer to in their content going forward.
Speaking of which, take a look at André Snellings' 2022-23 points-league draft rankings to see where he ranks the top 200 players with the new scoring system -- then sign up and get ready for your fantasy basketball drafts!
*Glossary
Point = each point scored
3PM = 3-pointer made
FGA = field goal attempt
FGM = field goal made
FTA = free throw attempt
FTM = free throw made
REB = rebound
AST = assist
STL = steal
BLK = block
TOV = turnover
**Scoring math:
3-pointer made = 5 (3 for three points scored, 1 for a 3-pointer, 2 for a field goal made, and -1 for a field goal attempt; 3+1+2-1=5).
2-pointer made = 3 (2 for two points scored, 2 for a field goal made, -1 for a field goal attempt; 2+2-1=3)
Free throw made = 1 (1 for one point scored, 1 for a free throw made, -1 for a free throw attempt; 1+1-1=1)
Fantasy basketball - Points league strategy
Andre Drummond's free throw woes can sink your roto teams, but he carries more value in points leagues. Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images
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Nov 16, 2020
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There are many ways to test your fantasy basketball acumen, but head-to-head (h3H) points leagues provide a truly unique experience. It's essentially the same type of game used in fantasy football. You use a scoring system that rewards a certain amount of points for each stat accumulated (e.g., one point for a rebound, four points for a block). The total points generated by the players on your roster are tallied each week, and you get a W or an L based on whether you outscore your weekly opponent. At the end of the regular season, the top grouping of teams makes the playoffs and battles it out in an elimination bracket until there is a champion.
The 2020-21 NBA season may have already started, but you can create or join an ESPN Fantasy Basketball league at any time and start your season from when you draft your team.
Sign up for free!
h3H points basketball leagues have some advantages over football. To begin with, the season is longer and there are dozens more games played by each team. That means most weeks, your players will play three or four games rather than one game like in football. An extra two months of games help make the regular season a little more forgiving too. With a longer season, a slow start doesn't mean your team is dead by Week 4 like fantasy football teams often are. Plus, players have time to develop over the course of the season, unlike the sprint approach we have in football.
Scoring systems
What really makes fantasy points games fun is that you can add weight to different scoring stats to stress different parts of the game. You can make blocks more valuable than steals to give more value to big men. Or you can stress assists and turnovers to increase the value of point guards. This season ESPN is introducing a new default scoring system, which you can read about here. I love this new format, because it gives well-rounded players extra value but still has room for other good players to shine if they score, play defense or hit the glass well.
In other words, players such as Dennis Schroder and Domantas Sabonis might be be around the same per-game value despite the different ways they generate those stats (point guard vs. big man). It doesn't matter that Schroder racks up dimes and swipes but sports a shaky FG%, while Kanter double-doubles with great percentages; all that matters is that they should generate a similar weekly score.
With that in mind, you'll see that the beauty of this type of system is that instead of focusing on certain stats like you do in roto leagues, you are simply trying to draft the best overall player each round.
A side effect of points scoring is that it diminishes the value of one- or two-stat wonders such as Ricky Rubio, while forgiving, to an extent, the poor free throw shooting of someone like Andre Drummond. His issues at the line can sink your free throw category in roto games, but in some points systems, he could be a top-10 player due to his overall dominance when he is on top of his game.
Pre-draft: Do the math
Once you have your scoring system in place, it's time to do the math. Copy and paste your projections into a spreadsheet and create a formula based on your scoring system to generate a season total and per-game average for each player. The per-game average is the key to look at when ranking players. You'll need to factor in the risk of missing games, but when a player is healthy and active in your lineup, you'll want him to crank out as many points as possible.
The draft: Constructing your roster
The primary factor to consider when building your team on draft day is to be sure your starting lineup is filled with players with little downside. I have a strong habit of taking risks in roto hoops leagues, but it doesn't work as well in this format. In roto -- where you are concerned only with season-long totals -- you can invest in an up-and-comer, knowing that the totals he'll generate over the course of an entire season will be fine, so you can afford to wait for him to get going.
You can't wait around in h3H leagues, though. You know how frustrating it is in fantasy football when you have an injured player or a guy who doesn't show up for weeks. You end up having to fill that hole with some underachiever you picked up off waivers. Now imagine that player missing three or four games each week. Now imagine filling that hole for months on end while you battle teams that have decent players in every spot in their starting lineups. It's a recipe for a long, painful basketball season. I know; I've been there before and learned my lesson.
That doesn't mean you should ignore upside. I like to say that you earn a spot in the playoffs by having steady players in every roster spot, but you win the title because of your breakout players. So focus on adding players who have guaranteed, steady roles on their teams over players who are prone to injury or have volatile roles. Between two steady players of similar value, take the one with the most upside.
Consider the position requirements of your roster and position scarcity. This can play a big role in your efforts to make sure you have quality players at each position each week, especially in leagues that require two starting centers. Because getting the best value with each draft pick is so critical to this format, I don't recommend reaching to fill out your position requirements. Instead, it's important to plan ahead to avoid ending up in a bind later on. In other words, if your league starts two centers and you have an early choice between a center such as Rudy Gobert and a guard such Ja Morant, you should consider taking the center so you don't end up having to use JaVale McGee as your second center later.
Once your starting roster is set and you're filling out your bench, it's a good time to consider injured guys or younger ballers who might pay off weeks or months later. Again, you don't want to waste an early pick that will leave a hole in your starting lineup, but as a long-term bench investment, they can make sense. The same goes for rookies or guys who might have a chance to shuttle from the bench to the starting lineup as the season progresses.
Post-draft: Check the schedule grid
In fantasy football, it's prudent to see which teams your players will face in your league's final week. You don't want all of your players facing the top defenses. Considering your players' opponents in the final weeks of the season is a bit of a factor in h3H hoops, but the number of games played during your finals is even more important, so be sure to use our handy fantasy NBA schedule grid. Consider that a player half as good as LeBron James will match LeBron's stats in two games. So, in essence, a fantasy team could generate James' points value by plugging in a guy half as good but who plays twice as many games.
Ideally, you'll want to have the top players also playing maximum games over that stretch. It's something to consider during your draft if you have the time, but you'll definitely want to address it as the season progresses.
This season in the Parimatch Championship of the Nizhny Novgorod region we are again waiting for the fantasy league, which has already managed to catch the fancy of many fans over the past year.
How fantasy league works :
1) A user registers on fantione. com. You can register through Vkontakte with one click, or you can use an email address, but then the mail will need to be confirmed - without confirmation it will not be possible to play fantasy.
2) Then the user searches for the league he needs (the list of active leagues will be on the main page). In our case, this is the Major League of the Championship of the Nizhny Novgorod Region.
3) After selecting a league, the user goes to its page, clicks "Play" and becomes a member.
4) Next, you need to open the card sets to find out which players can be fielded for the upcoming fantasy tour. You will have 15 sets of cards. Each set contains 5 cards (for each position - point guard, attacking defender, small forward, heavy forward, center).
5) After opening all the cards, ideally, you need to look at what has fallen. There will almost certainly be duplicate cards - duplicates can be removed, leaving only 1 card of the same cards available. When deleted, the user receives points, which can then be exchanged for new sets of cards (1000 points for 1 set). Removal of a simple card - 100 points, removal of a silver card - 200 points, removal of a gold card - 500 points. The difference in the color of the card is the bonuses that are awarded for each useful action by the player. Regular cards have no bonuses, silver cards have 1 bonus, gold cards have 3 bonuses. Bonuses and which cards drop out are all randomly generated. There will always be 1 silver card in one set. Possibility of getting into the gold card set - 10%. You can delete not only duplicate cards, but also cards of players that, in the user's opinion, will not be useful in fantasy, and he will not put them on upcoming rounds. It is impossible to remove a previously played card in one of the rounds. It is also not recommended to delete everything in a row - a situation may occur that there is no player in the position, and then 0 fantasy points will be awarded to the user for this position.
6) When all the cards are open, you need to go to the selection of the composition in the menu. The choice of the composition is 5 players for the next games, one player for each position. You just need to scroll down and choose from among the available cards those that, in the opinion of the user, will be most useful in the next tour. The choice is simple - scroll down, find a card from the available ones, click on it, and it should automatically appear at the top. Click "Save", etc. no need. Everything is saved. Changes to the selected five can be made before the start of the first game in the upcoming round. You can replace an already issued card if the changes are not blocked yet.
7) After choosing the composition, you can go to the prediction league. The League of Predictions is an additional opportunity to earn points for new sets of cards. There you need to guess the outcomes of matches and some random events. Correct predictions go to the overall standings, as well as to the standings of points that can be sprayed.
At the end of all games, the results for the round are processed, and the site in the "Leaders" section displays user data with their five players by fantasy points. And in the section "Statistics" - indicators of fantasy-points of the players of our Championship. By default, summary indicators are opened, but you can switch to a specific tour.
Please note that one round in the Parimatch Championship of the Nizhny Novgorod region lasts 2 weeks, but in the fantasy league we play for a week, so points are calculated every Monday.
You can play the Fantasy League here - https://fantione.com/
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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 have been playing fantasy for a long time, but you do not 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 a rival 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 squad
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.
The fantasy site or application calculates players' fantasy points 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.
That includes those NBA glue guys you love for their hustle, double-double bigs, and players who share the rock and hit 3s.
Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images
At the end of the regular season, the top grouping of teams makes the playoffs and battles it out in an elimination bracket until there is a champion.
You can make blocks more valuable than steals to give more value to big men. Or you can stress assists and turnovers to increase the value of point guards. This season ESPN is introducing a new default scoring system, which you can read about here. I love this new format, because it gives well-rounded players extra value but still has room for other good players to shine if they score, play defense or hit the glass well.
I have a strong habit of taking risks in roto hoops leagues, but it doesn't work as well in this format. In roto -- where you are concerned only with season-long totals -- you can invest in an up-and-comer, knowing that the totals he'll generate over the course of an entire season will be fine, so you can afford to wait for him to get going.
So focus on adding players who have guaranteed, steady roles on their teams over players who are prone to injury or have volatile roles. Between two steady players of similar value, take the one with the most upside.
Again, you don't want to waste an early pick that will leave a hole in your starting lineup, but as a long-term bench investment, they can make sense. The same goes for rookies or guys who might have a chance to shuttle from the bench to the starting lineup as the season progresses.
It's something to consider during your draft if you have the time, but you'll definitely want to address it as the season progresses.
com. You can register through Vkontakte with one click, or you can use an email address, but then the mail will need to be confirmed - without confirmation it will not be possible to play fantasy. 
When deleted, the user receives points, which can then be exchanged for new sets of cards (1000 points for 1 set). Removal of a simple card - 100 points, removal of a silver card - 200 points, removal of a gold card - 500 points. The difference in the color of the card is the bonuses that are awarded for each useful action by the player. Regular cards have no bonuses, silver cards have 1 bonus, gold cards have 3 bonuses. Bonuses and which cards drop out are all randomly generated. There will always be 1 silver card in one set. Possibility of getting into the gold card set - 10%. You can delete not only duplicate cards, but also cards of players that, in the user's opinion, will not be useful in fantasy, and he will not put them on upcoming rounds. It is impossible to remove a previously played card in one of the rounds. It is also not recommended to delete everything in a row - a situation may occur that there is no player in the position, and then 0 fantasy points will be awarded to the user for this position.
The main thing is to add a commissioner, a lottery, fake news and a ring - PRO Basketball - Blogs 
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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. 
Therefore, every morning the fantasy manager checks the results of the matches, sometimes watches the games, finds the best players and changes his roster. 
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. 
