How many teams do you need for fantasy basketball

ESPN Fantasy Basketball 101 - How to play

Sep 26, 2022

• ESPN Fantasy

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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 today and draft your league any time before the first game tips off every Monday. Your league starts fresh with 0-0 records for the new matchup period.

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!

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 - Beginners Guide on How it works? How to Play?

Expanding your views on fantasy sports sounds like a great idea.

Learning the ropes around fantasy basketball will only help.

My guide’s primary goal is to educate you about how to take the right approach to fantasy basketball.
 
 
With that in mind, this beginner’s guide will lead you through:

• How fantasy basketball works
• How to play it
• Where to place bets
• How NBA fantasy works
• How Yahoo fantasy basketball works
• How to draft in fantasy basketball
• Fantasy basketball tips
• Fantasy basketball FAQ

Learn how to create strategies to win your fantasy contests and leagues and achieve ultimate success.

Construct a serviceable team and win a league even if you haven’t been an active NBA fan. Fantasy basketball strongly resembles the real sport. The rules are almost the same.

Let’s delve deeper into the world of fantasy where the never-ending adventure awaits.

How Does It Work?

To play fantasy basketball, you need to draft real players from the National Basketball Association, but more importantly, you’ll need to pay special attention to earning points with those players.

To earn points, you need to analyse the performance of each player on the court. That aside, the game pretty much follows the same basic principles as all other fantasy sports games.

Fantasy basketball requires you to form teams from the respective league. The players earn points based on their performances, and eared points determine losers and winners on a daily, weekly, and seasonal basis.

Since the regular format of the game includes drafting fewer players than in other similar fantasy games, it’s safe to say that getting into fantasy basketball is a lot easier than getting into any other fantasy game.

How to Play Fantasy Basketball

To play fantasy basketball, you first need to understand your format. All fantasy sports follow the same patterns – the most valuable players are determined based on the league format.

How Players Score Points

Typically, there are four ways to score in fantasy basketball:

• Points
• Head to head Points
• Head to head Roto
• Roto

Points

For Points, it’s all about simple math – the team with the most points wins. The scoring system determines which team has accumulated the most points. This is determined weekly, and there is also a lineup deadline. The winner is the team that collects the most points for the season.

Head to head Points

The Head to head Points game is almost the same as the Head to head Roto concept except for one detail. To achieve victory, you have to total the most fantasy points. This is the main difference between HTD Roto and HTH Points – rather than separating the statistics by categories, the preset value determines the total for each statistic.

The values are:

• Points (+1)
• Rebounds (+1.2 or 1.25)
• Assists (+1.5)
• Steals/Blocks (+3)
• Turnovers (-1)

The Head to head Points game follows the format that’s more similar to fantasy football. It’s essential to keep in mind the way your commissioner assigns values. Understanding this will help you achieve success.

Head to head Roto

Head to head roto includes games weekly, where you’ll be required to play against other members of your league. You have only one winner and one loser, but it can also be a tie. It depends on your commissioner. The losses and wins determine who makes it to the playoffs, just like in real basketball.

To determine who is a winner or a loser, you’ll need to take a look at each of the statistical categories – steals, assists rebounds points, etc. Those players who accumulate the most statistics in each of the categories are the winners.

Let’s take a look at the following situation: your team accumulated 100 assists, 200 rebounds, and 300 points compared to the other team’s 99 assists, 150 rebounds, and 450 points. The victory is yours because you’ve won the matchup by two categories. This is the format that is mostly associated with fantasy baseball.

Rotisserie or ROTO

Roto includes each category receiving a unit each time your players contribute to that event in the game. If a player scores a rebound, the rebound category gets one point more. To score points, you need to compare your categories with all other teams in the league.

The number of teams in the league determines the number of points. The more teams there are, the more points there will be. It works like this:

The team with the best statistics for a category in the league receives points based on how many teams there are in the league.

If there are 10 teams, the winning team receives 10 points while the second-best team receives 9 and so on. To determine the team’s position in the league, you can total all points in all categories.

Head to Head Scoring

In fantasy basketball, teams compete against each other to receive points. These points are based on the on-field performance of the NBA players. The team that amasses the most significant score every week is the winner.

There are two methods of deciding which team is the winner:

• Most categories: depending on the number of categories taken into account, fantasy basketball teams receive points. The team that scores the most points for each of the categories is the winner.
• One category: here, fantasy basketball teams can also be winners in a particular category. All they have to do is collect the most significant number of points for that category. At the end of the season, all weekly results are totaled to set the seasonal results.

Fantasy basketball teams that use the head-to-head scoring method usually aim at the playoffs through which losers are eliminated till a champion emerges.

Scoring through Fantasy Points

Fantasy points are awarded for specific statistics and decisions regarding awarding of points are taken by the commissioner alone. For example, the commission may say that a steal will get two fantasy points. In this way, fantasy points are earned every night on the basis of NBA players’ performance on the field, and the team that earns the largest number of fantasy points at the close of the season becomes the winner.

Season-Long Leagues and Keeper Leagues

Keeper leagues refer to multi-year leagues where you’re allowed to stick with players from season to season. Typically, each league comes to a close at the season’s end, with the only exception being keeper leagues.

Your commissioner determines the number of players you’re allowed to keep. When it comes to this, there is no one-size-fits-all solution as each commissioner is different. Some might let you keep all your players from the previous season. Some might allow you keep a few or just one.

The strategy is seldom the same, and it varies the most during the draft. If it’s a season-long league in question, only a player’s performance in the current season is considered. This is somewhat a standard in season-long leagues.

Things look a little bit different for keeper leagues, as this is where future production matters the most. In keeper leagues, well-established, older players are quickly replaced by younger players in the making.

Rule Variations

There is no specific set of rules in fantasy basketball. Instead, there is a range of rule variations. The most common variations include:

Number of Categories: there are three to eleven categories in fantasy basketball leagues. Three-category leagues only include points, assists, and rebounds. This is a basic form of a fantasy basketball league. In some leagues, the commissioner is the one who sets the terms of how many categories will be taken into account.

Number of Teams: fantasy basketball leagues can be public or private. Private leagues are invitation-only and can consist of any number of players. The players are usually already well-established, seasoned, and experienced. Public leagues, on the other hand, consist of either 10 or 12 teams.

Draft Types: there are two methods to draft players in fantasy basketball players – the snake draft and the auction draft. The snake draft includes two rounds of NBA players – the first one is drafted in a particular order while the second one is reversed.

• Snake Draft – In case of a snake draft, the first round of NBA players is drafted in a particular order, which is reversed in the second round. The GM who had the opportunity to make the last pick in the previous round will be making the first pick in the next round. The order is reversed so that the GM who gets the chance to make the first pick in a certain round will not get this advantage in the next round.
• Auction Draft – In case of auction drafts, each GM starts with a pre-determined budget, which is the same as that allotted for fantasy baseball. GMs must use this budget to draft the entire roster. GMs auction off players and the GM willing to pay the largest amount for a player gets the chance to draft that player.

One of the biggest advantages of auction drafting over snake drafting is that all GMs have equal access to all players in case of the latter. On the downside, it takes long and may scare off beginners.

The commissioner who made the last pick in the second round gets to choose the first pick in the next one and vice versa. The auction draft is the case where each commissioner has a predetermined budget to start with, just like in fantasy baseball.

This budget allows GMs to draft the entire roster. The commissioner willing to pay the most for a player on the auction is the one who gets to draft that player. In auction drafting, all commissioners have equal access to the players in the snake draft. There’s a downside to this drafting type – it takes too long, and that’s the biggest reason why beginners avoid it.

Where to place bets

Just like with real basketball, you can bet on fantasy basketball if you love mixing entertainment with an excellent opportunity to earn some extra cash on the side. There are so many fantasy basketball sites on the net, offering a wide variety of free and paid contests.

These contests include 50/50s, guaranteed prize pools, and heads-up. That means that you got everything covered from NBA games to college basketball games. This is more than enough betting opportunities to go home with incredible amounts. To make it a bit clearer – you can earn from a few hundred up to a few million from betting on fantasy basketball contests.

Some of the professional fantasy basketball players play fantasy basketball games for a living daily. So, you can figure how much potential there is in betting on fantasy basketball. Pay a visit to Fantasy Sports, where you will find many different rooms for betting on fantasy basketball.

How Does NBA Fantasy Work?

The basics of NBA fantasy include selecting players from the NBA league with the primary goal of creating your super team. Based on their on-field performance, your fantasy team will score points.

To play NBA fantasy basketball, get your fantasy NBA dream team through the fantasy basketball season and set a real challenge for all who have the guts to stand up to your selection. To create your team, you’ll need one coach, 2 centers, 4 forwards and 4 guards.

Your budget is 95 credits. Each matchday has several game rounds, which are groups of matches that are played daily. You need to manage your roster in between the game rounds by making substitutions from and to the bench.

You can also buy and sell players but only at the end of the matchday. Aside from creating your own NBA team, you can step your game up and create your own NBA league or even leagues and become the champion. One of the newest and simplest ways to play Fantasy NBA is by giving a try Dunkest Fantasy Basketball.

Pick your favourite NBA players, create a team of winners that will win the championship, and use private or public leagues to become the best of the best. The glory is waiting, so take it.

How does Yahoo Fantasy Basketball Work

To score points in Yahoo fantasy basketball, you need to set a points-scoring format that pretty much follows the primary form of NBA fantasy. Based on their performance on the basketball court, your selected players score points.

These points accumulate and determine which team is the winner. In Yahoo fantasy basketball, there are a couple of ways to distribute the accumulated points:

• One real-life point scored equals one fantasy point
• Every rebound grabbed is 1.2 points
• Every assist registered is 1.5 points
• Every steal swiped is 3 points
• Every shot blocked is 3 points
• Every turnover committed is -1 point

You need 13 players to form a standard Yahoo fantasy team with three players on the bench and ten active players in the game. Those players who are active need to give their best to help your team win a total score for the week. Only points accumulated by active players are taken into account.

Fortunately, it’s possible to move players from the bench slot to the active slot during the week, but you have to be smart about it. The main goal is to make every player so that they give their best to maximize the total of fantasy points scored.

There are matches during the whole week, and you’ll get a chance to show your quality against other teams led by other managers. The team that scores the most fantasy points at the end of the week will take the matchup as the winner.

Structure Your Fantasy Team Like a Pro

There are 13 sports on a standard Yahoo fantasy roster – three reserve positions and 10 active slots. Each of the ten active players can be chosen from the positional designations. Each fantasy basketball player can play up to three positions in an NBA game. An NBA court includes five positions:

• Point Guard
• Shooting Guard
• Small Forward
• Power Forward
• Centre

Each roster has to fulfill the following requirements to make sure your drafting is approved:

• 1 Point Guard
• 1 Shooting Guard
• 1 Small Forward
• 1 Power Forward
• 2 Centers
• 1 shooting guard or point guard
• 1 power forward or small forward
• 2 flex player who can play on any position

To complete your drafting successfully, you need to make sure you pick the right candidates for every position required. Once you’ve filled your 10 active slots, your roster is ready. Now, all that’s left is managing your fantasy team. You’ll be required to change your team during the season. There are two ways to do that:

• Trade negotiation
• The waiver wire

Trade negotiation allows you to set the terms of the trade with another league member. You choose to send one to three players to another team of your league and get the exchange players in return. While you’ll have to work on your negotiation skills to make this work, a successful trade can change a lot for the better.

The waiver wire

The free-agent list or the waiver wire allows you to trade any player who didn’t pass the initial selection in the draft. You can trade, exchange, or drop your players to add another from the free-agent list, but there are limitations.

You can only make a restricted number of moves weekly. So, use the waiver wire only in situations when your player is under-performing, gets injured long-term, or a surprise player is performing better than you’ve expected.

Here is a great and useful tip: if you want to win a fantasy league, the key to success is in making sharp-witted moves on the waiver wire.

If you want to win a fantasy league like a real champ, there are three things you need to keep in mind – always look for players who can contribute to your team on the waiver wire, make trades with other managers, and switch players in your active slots.

Fantasy playoffs

There are always 4-6 teams that are at the top of every season. At the end of each season, these teams earn their playoff qualifications. They play in matchups, and the teams that lose, go home. This goes on until there are only two best teams left.

These top teams get a chance to play for the fantasy championship. This is the summit of fantasy basketball, and it should be your primary goal. To get to the finals, you need to learn the ins and outs of fantasy NBA. This is where the real action is.

How to Draft Fantasy Basketball

Think of the draft as of the core of your fantasy league. You’ll need to form 10-12 teams, each team consisting of 13 roster spots or players.

Each fantasy owner or general manager has 13 roster spots available. They select their players to fill in the spots, and they can do it using the waiver wire, a trade, or the draft.

Each manager can select up to 13 players. Drafting takes place before the beginning of the season. The league varies in size, and it can consist of 10 or 12 teams. The teams in the league are selected on a random basis, or some predetermined method can be used.

The selected teams take participation in the drafting, where they can pick players from the NBA that will play for them.

Standard drafts

Drafting is all about flexibility. Depending on your strategy, whether you plan to focus on blocks and rebounding categories, you can draft three players for the same position in a row.

Let’s say you draft three centers. Your goal is to dominate the blocks and rebounding categories. To do so, just play all three of them every night. However, things look a bit different when it comes to leagues.

The rules vary from league to league. Some leagues allow you to include just one player at a traditional position with a deep bench and a utility while others allow for one bench spot and all utility players. These things depend on two things – league management and fantasy contest systems.

Fantasy Basketball Tips

Let’s share some words of advice for you to ensure that you make the most of it. Here are some tips to make sure you master fantasy basketball like a true professional.

1. Check the ranking and know the rules

   If you fail to make the right choice with your rankings, you’re doomed to fall. Never forget that a players’ ranking is his value that he brings to your team.

   The rules of your league, or shall we say, the format determines a players’ ranking. Always check the league rankings and make sure you understand the rules.

2. Go for the best players in your drafting

   Draft only the top choices available. Why? Because they excel at every position. The key to finding the best players is in analyzing the teams that make it to the championship.

   Pay attention to the draft rankings in your league to find out what the positional availability is as this will give you a clear insight into an oversupply or shortage of good players.

   Here’s an excellent tip – start your drafting as early as possible as this will allow you to draft the best players before they’re already taken.

3. Pay attention to roster movements and offseason trades

   Keep an eye on roster movements and offseason trades. There are two things you need to worry about in fantasy basketball – usage, which is a statistic, and opportunity, which is a characteristic.

   The more time the player spends with the ball, the more he produces the much-needed stats. The players that moved to a new team get more opportunities for increased usage.

   You need higher fantasy value in terms of blocks, steals, threes, rebounds, assists, and points to win. The more usage, the more stats, which means more value.

4. Take injury risk into consideration

   Players get injured in fantasy basketball, just like in real life. NBA basketball is a game of high impact, and the risk of injury is not only high but always present.

   Some players are prone to injury, and you’ll want to avoid those because you don’t want to end up drafting players who will miss games every season due to being injured. You need fresh players, so avoid players with high injury risks.

Conclusion

As you can see, playing fantasy basketball and betting on it can be a lot of fun. I can tell you from my personal experience as a professional gambler that betting on fantasy basketball can be more exciting than placing bets on real basketball.

This guide is aimed at all those who are willing to give fantasy basketball a try and discover how immersive it can be.

Have you ever placed a bet on fantasy basketball? Have you ever played it? What is your strategy for creating fantasy basketball teams? Are you a passionate gambler like myself? Leave the answers in the comments, and let’s discuss useful tips that can help become better at fantasy sports.

Fantasy Basketball FAQs

Q1. What is daily fantasy basketball?

Answer:

Daily fantasy basketball is similar to traditional fantasy basketball. In case of daily fantasy basketball games, players have to build a team of NBA players and earn points based on their performance on field. As mentioned above, a variety of scoring rules and methodologies are used to award points. While traditional basketball lasts throughout the season, daily fantasy basketball games last only for a day.

Q2. Are free fantasy basketball games available?

Answer:

Yes, there are plenty of free basketball games available. You can learn the various aspects of playing fantasy basketball without taking risks. However, you must note that you will not win any real money prizes if you are playing for free.

Q3. Is it safe and legal to play fantasy basketball for real money?

Answer:

Fantasy basketball is 100% safe and legal as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 does not mention fantasy sports in its list of prohibited games. The fantasy websites we recommend are safe and legal as they do not even operate in the handful of US states that consider fantasy sports to be illegal.

Q4. Where do I find fantasy basketball games?

Answer:

You can find fantasy basketball games at any of the fantasy sports websites we recommend. Major sports portals such as NBA.com, ESPN.com, CBS Sportsline, and Yahoo! also offer free or affordable fantasy basketball.

Q5. Can I play fantasy basketball on my mobile?

Answer:

Yes, you can play fantasy basketball on mobile devices as all fantasy sports sites are mobile friendly.

Q6. How does scoring work in fantasy basketball?

Answer:

In fantasy basketball, scoring is determined by scoring type. If your chosen format is a win/loss league, a win or loss for each category allows you to score players. Then you total the points at the end of the season, and the player with the highest point value takes the victory for that league’s season.

Q7. Is there a way to win NBA fantasy?

Answer:

Yes, but it takes skills and practice. Know your league well, make sure you understand the rules, know which players to choose and when. Pay special attention to positions, don’t waste efforts trying to win every category, avoid rookies, and never think like a fan.

Q8. Is there a position I should consider first when drafting?

Answer:

Yes, of course. I always advise you to start your drafting as early as possible and go for the power forwards. If you’ve chosen a 10-team format, every other position will do fine for the starting slots. If you have to choose between other positions that hold equal value to the power forward, your choice should be a power forward.

Q9. How to start my NBA fantasy league?

Answer:

Find the fantasy basketball tab and select Create League. It’s essential to pick the desired league name that’s easy to remember and attention-grabbing. Aside from the title, enter your draft date and time, draft preference, scoring preference, and the number of teams.

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. Make 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. The ring is canonical and unique. After the first season, the champion received a 100 gram artifact with the inscription Fantasy Champion and a basketball hoop on the surface. He came from the USA exactly the size of the winner. Next year, the champion will receive an even more custom ring with their fantasy team logo and, ideally, the final score.

That's it. Thank you for your time.

Tell us in the comments what is interesting about your fantasy leagues. Leave questions here or in my Telegram.

3v3 Basketball: official rules of the game in brief

3v3 Basketball is a team sport that involves two teams playing against each other. Fights take place on 1/2 of a standard basketball court. A mandatory requirement is the presence of only one basket. A distinctive feature of this discipline is the accessibility and simplicity of its rules. Amateur competitions can be held in parks and gyms. Official tournaments require a more professional approach to organization.

General provision

Matches of this basketball format are played on one of the halves of the basketball court, that is, in a 14 by 15 m rectangle. Opponents must throw the ball into the same basket, so theoretically two fights can take place in parallel on the same classic court.

The field marking for 3x3 is traditional, that is, it has a free throw line of 4.225 m, a semicircle under the ring for fixing collision fouls and a 2-point shot line (line of 6.75 m).

In 3v3 basketball, each team must have 4 players: 3 outfield players and 1 substitute. The coach is not allowed to be in the playing area. Substitutions are allowed at any time without additional permission from referees or other officials. A substitute may enter the court at the moment when his partner has crossed the center line (opposite the front line at the basket). Player contact is optional, but is accepted in 3v3 basketball.

Each team is allowed one 1-minute time-out, but only when the ball is dead, i.e. not in possession of one of the players or in flight. At major international competitions among national teams, according to the regulations, 2 time-outs of 30 seconds are possible for each team. This is done for the sake of television channels, which during the pause show ads of the main sponsors of the tournament.

Basic Rules

Seeding of teams before the start of the tournament and specific matches is performed taking into account the current rating of the participants. The corresponding rating table is maintained by representatives of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). If the number of points for several teams is the same, then seeding is carried out randomly (by lottery). National federations often maintain their own team rankings when it comes to local tournaments.

If the competition is held in a round robin system, then an equal number of points scored by several teams is possible. In this case, to determine the final places of the participants, the total number of victories is taken into account first, then the judges take into account the result of the personal meetings of the opponents. If there is a draw in terms of the number of victories and face-to-face matches, then the distribution of places takes place according to the rating.

There is a warm-up before every official match in 3v3 basketball. All declared players of both teams are released onto the court, who warm up on one half of the classic basketball field.

The first possession of the ball in a match is determined by a coin toss. In this case, the side that won the lot has the right to choose possession of the ball at the initial stage of the game or in the event of overtime. By the time the match starts, each team must have 3 basketball players on the field.

This discipline has one important feature, which concerns playing time. The game period in a match can last up to 10 minutes. Playing time stops when the ball is considered dead. After that, the timekeeper again counts the time, and the opponents must complete the exchange of the ball.

The first team to score 21 points or more wins the match. This rule applies if playing time has not been completed. If the period ends in a draw, then overtime is played. Before him, a break of 1 minute is assigned. In overtime, the first team to score 2 points wins.

If at the start of the match or during it, for some reason, the team remained in the minority, taking into account the substitute player, that is, there were less than 3 basketball players on the field at the same time, then it is considered a forfeit loss.

Get new predictions: Vkontakte and Telegram .

Rules of the ball game

In 3v3 basketball, there is a slightly different scoring system, different from the classical one in big basketball. For hitting the ball into the basket from inside the arc, one point is awarded. A similar number of points are awarded for throwing a free throw. For hitting the basket from the team's 2-point zone, 2 points are awarded. If a player successfully throws a projectile from outside the 2-point line, then his team is given 3 points.

The game always starts after the ball has been thrown. The player of the team that conceded the ball has the right to restart the game by making a pass or dribbling. For 3v3 basketball, the space behind the arc doesn't matter. After throwing the ball, the team must not interfere with the players in the semi-circle area under the basket, as there is no collision foul.

After the free throw has been taken, the team in possession of the ball may proceed with the tackle. In this case, the team in possession of the ball must take it out of the arc. This procedure must be done after each selection of the ball, that is, when changing the side of possession.

If the ball was declared dead, the referee orders the resumption of the game with a check. This involves the exchange of the ball by the players of the defending side. The drawing must be performed at the top point of the arc. In this case, the point guard must not come into contact with the arc with his feet or other part of the body, and also be within the restricted area. In controversial situations, the ball is given to the defender.

In 3v3 basketball there is such a thing as a "passive attack". FIBA rules it qualifies as a violation. Each team is given 12 seconds to carry out an attack, which must end with a throw on the ring. If during this time no such actions were committed, then a violation with the transfer of the ball to the opponent is recorded. The counter is always located under the ring so that players can look at it at any time.

Violations and penalties

A 3v3 basketball game is traditionally served by 1 or 2 referees, as well as secretaries and timekeepers. If a team has committed 6 fouls, then it is in the "team penalty fouls" position. In this case, for each foul a free throw is awarded to the opponent, which is taken from the center of the arc. If the foul was committed outside the arc, the referee awards 2 free throws. There are no individual fouls in 3v3 basketball.

For the seventh team foul and each subsequent foul, 2 free throws are awarded. An important difference is that after free throws, the team reserves the right to hold the ball (without the need to bring it out of the arc).

Technical fouls are punished with only one free throw, and for unsportsmanlike conduct the referee may award 2 throws.

For double fixation of an unsportsmanlike foul, as well as for verbal aggression or physical rudeness, the referee has the right to disqualify the offender, leaving the team with virtually no substitutes, that is, with 3 field players. A disqualified basketball player must leave the playing and technical areas. Similar sanctions may apply to substitute players and coaches.

The team may appeal the referee's decision before the end of the match. If, in the opinion of the representatives of the team, its rights were not respected, then the captain has the opportunity to make comments in the protocol by putting his signature opposite. It is allowed to do this before the chief judge signs the relevant document. Within half an hour after the end of the match, the team must explain their claims in writing. If the protest is accepted, the judges resort to watching the video of the episode.

The history of the appearance of the game

P.E. teacher James Naismith is considered the father of basketball. In 1891, in one of his classes, he hung peach baskets on the railing of the balcony of the gym and told the students to divide into 2 teams. The students had to take turns throwing the balls into their basket. The team that scored the most goals won. This idea was so popular with students and other educators, if the game was quickly adopted by other colleges and universities in the United States.

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