How fantasy basketball is scored

Fantasy basketball - Points league strategy

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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.

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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.

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How Fantasy Basketball Scoring Works

If you are interested in joining a fantasy sports team, and your sport of choice is basketball, then the first thing you will need to understand is how to properly score your players at the end of each game. Three factors determine how you will score your players: league format, player allowance, and what scoring system your league uses.

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Fantasy basketball scoring determined by league format

The league format determines what categories are being scored and what players are eligible to be used in each of the categories. For example, your league might score on only four categories: assists, blocks, steals, and turnovers. You then would check each of your players to determine whether they qualify for each of those categories.

If the player has some form of stat in each category, the stat then is compared to the previous game's stat or player's average stat and decided to be either positive or negative. If the stat is determined a positive one, the player receives the point or win for that category and vice versa for players who receive a negative stat.

You can always contact your league commissioner(s) (person(s) who created the league) to ask what format your league uses.

If you are considering a league that does daily scoring and rotations, keep in mind that each team plays 3–4 times a week, and this can be quite time consuming. Try talking your league into adapting rules that are more in the realm of fantasy football in which you would score and rotate players weekly instead of daily.

Fantasy basketball scoring determined by player allowance

Some leagues use the standard 15-player per team format, and others use 12 or fewer to keep things more simplified. If your team uses the standard format, then you need to follow each player in all categories your league scores on. If your team uses fewer players, you need to check with the league rules to see whether they dictate that only one player be scored in each category and so on.

For example, if your league allows a 12-player roster and scores on four categories, with the stipulation that only one player can be scored in each category, then 4 players will be active in each game. The remaining 8 players will be included in your player pool from which you choose when performing the daily or weekly player rotation.

Fantasy basketball scoring determined by scoring type

The most important of all the scoring factors is the scoring type your league uses:

1. Win/Loss

   In a win/loss league, you score your players in each category with a win or loss for that category. Then add up all the wins and losses at the end of the season and compare each team's win/loss record.

   To determine whether a player gets a win for the category, you compare that player's stats for the day to either his average or to the previous game's stats. If the player does better than the predetermined stat, he gets the win point.

   In a couple variations on win/loss, you can either tally all categories and use all totals at the end of the season, or a more popular way is to tally all the categories at the end of the game day or week and if the wins outnumber the losses, you get 1 win for the day. At the end of the season the wins and losses are still added up, and the person with the best win/loss record takes the win.

2. Point System

   With the point system, essentially the scoring is done in the same manner. You score the player in each applicable category; however, some categories are worth more than others. At the end of the season, you then total your points, and the person with the highest point value wins that league's season.

Categories that are worth more than others are often based on stats that are rarer for players to get scored on such as 3-pointers and blocks.

How to choose a site where to play fantasy basketball (NBA)?

You are now pretty well prepared to start playing fantasy basketball. You know the basic rules of the game, refreshed your memory of the strategy, and received complete information about all the existing DFS sites where you can play NBA daily fantasy. It remains only to choose one or more, make a deposit and enter the game. Here are some guidelines to help you choose the right DFS site for your needs:

• Look in what language is the platform interface . If you are uncomfortable playing on a site where most of the information is in English, pay attention to the DraftGaming site, which has a Russian-language interface. There is also Zweeler, where the main part of the site is machine translated. The rest of the sites presented in this review are created for an English-speaking audience, so you will need at least a superficial knowledge of English to play there.
• Read the reviews of our members of the forum in the Daily Fantasy Sports Sites section. You can ask for advice or take an interest in their opinion about this or that DFS site, as well as leave your feedback, which will help other players.
• Chat with the site's support team. Ask a few questions that interest you and wait for an answer. If the support service answers clearly, politely and quickly, this is a big plus.
• Learn the daily fantasy basketball rules on the websites and the scoring system. When it comes to fantasy NBA, there aren't as many differences across sites as there are, for example, in fantasy football. However, certain details in the scoring system can significantly influence your choice. If you are a beginner, choose the simplest scoring system to make it easier at first.

That's all we wanted to tell you about where to play NBA Daily Fantasy. Now you can register on the selected site and start playing fantasy basketball for money or for free. We hope that this review was useful to you, if you want to know about something in more detail, write about it in the comments, and we will supplement it.

Now stop reading! It's time to start playing!

Choose a site and play NBA daily fantasy!

Fantasy sports - what is it, how to play and earn in fantasy in Ukraine / HB

Author: Kirill Chebotarev

How can you play a virtual game with real sports stars and earn money from it? HB Azart talks about a new trend in the world of gambling.

Fantasy sports is a relatively new wave that has not yet swept over Ukraine, but has long been gaining popularity in Europe and especially in the USA.

In short, fantasy sports is a way to get even closer to the game than regular bookmaker bets. If in the second case you simply select the teams or players you want to bet on, then in the first case you recruit a team of players, becoming its virtual manager.

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This betting history can be called a thousand years old, and its market is long agreed and established, but this cannot be said for sure about fantasy football. Now he is actively entering new niches and getting into a new sport for himself, gradually increasing his potential market.

How popular is fantasy sports?

Fantasy sports came from the USA - and it is there that it is the most popular in comparison with other countries.

According to the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association, the only national organization in the world that represents the interests of fantasy sports, the popularity of this game and betting is about the same. All the main figures are almost identical - up to the annual income of players (45% of bettors and 47% of fantasy managers earn more than $75 thousand per year).

19% of Americans aged 18+ participate in sports betting. And the same 19% are engaged in fantasy sports - therefore, it can be argued that this is practically the same audience - there are practically no those who exclusively bet or play exclusively in fantasy.

At the same time, the fantasy sports market has increased by 6% since 2014, and in 2017 - the latest available information of this kind - 59.3 million people played it in the US and Canada.

And how did he even appear?

Fantasy history begins at 1962 in New York. Businessman Wilfred Wickenbach, co-manager of the Oakland Raiders American football team - now known as the Las Vegas Raiders due to a recent move - worked with colleagues and journalists to develop the rules that became the basis of modern fantasy.

A year later, the first league was created, in 1969 a public league appeared, which anyone could join, and in the 1980s the game spread throughout the country. At the same time, football is its basis all over the world.

Fantasy sports came to Europe thanks to the British, who adapted the rules of the game from American football to European.

Now you can compete in any way - for money, just for the sake of greater immersion in sports, against friends - there are a lot of options. The most popular fantasy game is the English Premier League, which has over 8 million teams from all over the world.

What are the ground rules?

The essence of fantasy football is quite simple - you recruit a team of players, choosing them from 20 real teams.

Scoring actions in real life are credited to the players in the game - goals scored, assists, saves from the goalkeepers and the match played without conceding goals add points in the game, while negative actions - earned cards and penalties - take them away.

Whose team scores more wins.

Now you can compete in any way - for money, just for the sake of greater immersion in sports, against friends - there are more and more options and venues.

In some applications, you can even create your own league and set rules for it - for example, use only players from agreed teams or a certain price category - and compete with other people.

Recently, fantasy sports have become more interesting, in comparison with gambling, the format of games for money. There are more and more strong venues every year, and the prize money on them increases every year, sometimes reaching six-figure amounts for one tournament.

Where and what can I play?

Tournaments can be divided into seasonal and daily tournaments.

Season games are tournaments that last throughout the year. Here, the player must be able to look not only at the upcoming matches, but also calculate their moves several rounds in advance; he must also keep a close eye on the league to keep up with the best players and respond to possible injuries.

Daily is a shorter format in which players compete for one in-game week. Typically, such tournaments last from one to three days - here the player must correctly assess the balance of power in the upcoming matches and take into the team those who will play better than the rest here and now.

It is important to note that fantasy sports are not only football.

Increasingly, this direction is beginning to cover other sports as well — basketball, hockey, tennis, esports, Formula 1, handball, cricket, and so on.

The fact that fantasy is just starting to expand its audience shows that the potential of the game definitely exists. Moreover, the entry threshold here is near zero - in many leagues, you do not need to pay anything to participate.

The best place to get acquainted with fantasy is undoubtedly the official game from the English Premier League.

Participation is free, people from all over the world play it, you can create your own leagues to compete with friends, and any question can be answered in detailed rules.

As a last resort, you can find one of the thousands of communities dedicated to fantasy nuclear submarines and clarify your questions there.

Basketball fans can recommend fantasy on Yahoo. Of course, you can register on the official NBA website, but according to reviews, this site is not very convenient. Playing in the NBA as a whole is more difficult due to the higher number of matches, but we think American basketball fans do not need to clarify this, and they will be ready for such a schedule.

Of the sites where you can play for money, it's hard to find something better than Fanteam. The prize money here increases every year, new sports are constantly appearing (recently added e-sports - CS: GO, Dota 2, LoL - and even baseball with cricket), and administrators actively respond to comments.

The only drawback is that in order to deposit/withdraw money, you need to use money transfer services that eat up a certain percentage of their commissions.

See also:

• Seven simple tips to help you not lose at online casinos
• Five of the most unusual underground casinos in the world. One of them is in Kyiv
• Slot machine hall or online casino? Testing the Myth of Winning Online and in Real Life
• These people are not allowed in casinos.

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