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How to create a fantasy basketball league
Ten Rules To Follow When Building a Successful Fantasy Basketball Team | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
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Dan Schultz@DSchultz89Twitter LogoContributor IOctober 22, 2010
Ten Rules To Follow When Building a Successful Fantasy Basketball Team
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Although not as dominant the fantasy sport that football is, fantasy basketball leagues have been able to acquire a relatively loyal following throughout the years. While football will always be number one due to its gigantic fan base and almost excessive coverage from various mainstream media angles, fantasy basketball will always be an undeniable, lesser force which will attract many NBA fans.
Fantasy leagues are basically heaven for stat geeks, where points are assigned to different statistical categories for sports gurus to breakdown in hopes of putting together the master team.![]()
What makes fantasy sports so compelling, like sports in real life, is the unforeseen changes that occur throughout the duration of the season, such as injuries (sometimes nagging, other times season-ending), players struggling to find their groove, or random figures emerging from obscurity to become coveted chips for any fantasy owner.
Here are ten rules to follow for putting together a team that should have an undeniably solid chance at being awarded champions of their league at year’s end.
No. 10: Staying Confident In Your Team
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Sure, there will be times when your guys have off nights or show signs of regression, but you should attempt to stay confident with who you pick, even if they suck for more than a few games. I cannot even tell you how many times I have benched a player after a bad game and he goes off for 30 points and seven boards on my bench.
This is what happens in fantasy sports.
You have these guys for 82 games and most of the time, they do a great job. So I would stress having confidence in your guys. Only when you are one hundred percent certain that a player will not return to original form or is going to be out for a while due to a nagging injury—waiving him might be a good decision.
Otherwise, stay patient, no matter how hard it might be sometimes.
No. 9: Don't Overvalue Scoring
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Sure, scoring threats inside and outside are ones to be desired, but never underestimate other categories such as rebounds, assists, and blocks. That’s why guys like Gerald Wallace and Rajon Rondo are such awesome players to have on your fantasy teams, because even when they do not light up the scoreboard, it is still very important to have players that will fill up each category (except for turnovers) each night.
I am not saying that scorers who do not really do much else besides hit threes are horrible (Kyle Korver), but I would definitely advise against taking players who just specialize in scoring in a high round, since they will be around on waiver wire or during the last rounds most likely.
No 8: Beware Of The Rookie Wall
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Sure, guys like John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and Derrick Favors look like they are going to be very nice NBA players. However, one must always take into consideration the dreaded “wall” most first-year players run into during the later part of the season. Since all of these players are not as well adjusted to an 82 game schedule as other veteran players in the league, this might make for an erratic season for some.
Take for example Brandon Jennings or DeJuan Blair, who were both phenomenal to start the year and had overall good years for their respected squads, but both players crashed hard into the rookie wall last year. It happens to most rookies, it takes a special talent to hop over it (maybe Wall fits in here? We’ll see…).
No 7: Make Sure At Least One Of Your Big Men Is a Nightly Double-Double Threat
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Pau Gasol, Dwight Howard, heck even Zach Randolph are names that pop to mind when one is searching for that coveted double-double nightly threat.
Maybe one of your forwards or centers is a rebounding/shot-blocking machine, but make sure one of the guys you pick in the draft will at least be a consistent menace on both the low-block and glass.
It is important to have a low-post scorer with a high field goal percentage on any team if you have to be successful.
No 6: Aim to Have Atleast One All-Around Player
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Take for example my team—I made Rajon Rondo fit into this category. He does everything generally well and can be a triple-double threat any given night. However, he is not alone in this category. Guys like Andre Iguodala and Gerald Wallace also possess the ability to fill up the stat sheet on random nights.
If you can, try to get a guy who is balanced across the board, since double-doubles and triple-doubles are definitely desired by anyone who is enamored with fantasy basketball.
No 5: Make Sure Your Guards Are Not Turnover Machines
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Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Just like in real life, turnovers in fantasy suck and cost your team.
Since guards handle the ball considerably more compared to the rest of the positions, it is absolutely important that your guards have a firm grasp on ball-control.
Although you might be able to get away with guys like Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry since they make up for their high turnover rate with impressive scoring, most of the time over three turnovers is where I draw the line. If you can get Steve Nash, a guy who can shoot from outside as well as have some ridiculous games from an assists perspective, I’d say you’re in good shape.
No 4: Never Discount Veteran Players
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Yes, guys like Jason Kidd, Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, and the like might be getting old and this potentially means they will not be as effective. That still does not mean they are not worth picking in early rounds.
With the current infatuation with young talent and potential, most old vets get tossed aside when it comes to draft time, as one would rather get a player that could really expand during the year instead of an aging star in the league.
Sometimes veteran players are the most driven to put up big games in order to get their team wins and to the playoffs, since their days as a professional athlete are numbered and they want to make the most out of what they have left. I am not saying that you should take a guy like Marcus Camby with your first pick or anything, but just keep in mind that there’s nothing wrong with picking an older player who still has star qualities attached to his name.
No. 3: Try To Predict Breakout Stars
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It is not easy, I know. I would suggest going through teams’ rosters and picking players that will probably slide through many rounds, despite being projected to get a fair amount of playing time through the upcoming year. These guys emerge every year, and almost nobody sees them coming.
My best guess as of this year would be that Jrue Holiday has the biggest chance to shine, seeing he will be given the starting point guard duties in Philadelphia and he has already recorded a triple-double in preseason action.
These types of players are usually selected in the later rounds where no one sees anything special in them other than an average contributor.
No 2: If You Are Going to Take One of The Big Three Early, Make It LeBron
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Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
No offense to Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, but LeBron has to be the favorite when it comes to picking between the three of them. Unlike Wade, who has to be satisfied in assisting with the huge off season haul, and Bosh who everyone knew was leaving Toronto after the season, LeBron has been doing a lot of talking back to his critics ever since he made the choice to “take his talents to South Beach”.
Let’s face it, if he does not win as many titles as Jordan and Kobe did/does, he is going to be eternally looked as a cheap-shot artist who robbed Cleveland of their pride and identity – all on national TV.
He claims that he is motivated to prove his doubters wrong, and I for one believe him.
Despite being surrounded by two other huge talents, LeBron will bust out more than a few huge games that will make his owners proud.
No 1: Your First Pick Is Your Most Important One
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I know, it sounds obvious and cliché, but your first pick in the draft really is your most crucial one. It is hard to define who the best player for this particular setting might be, since names like Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, and LeBron James all have very distinct skill sets.
Personally, I would suggest going with Kevin Durant, who is feeling secure after just signing an extension in Oklahoma City and who has the purest stroke in the league. He rebounds at a nice clip and has the ability to run the floor like Lamar Odom. He is without question one of the league’s strongest talents who can score in bunches and take over games when he wants to.
With your first pick, eye a guy who can just flat out dominate in one area, such as scoring, rebounding, or assists.
If you are looking for defense right off the bat, Dwight Howard is definitely the favorite there.
Like Durant, Kobe Bryant will still be a force to be reckoned with. Whatever your first pick is, make sure you get a guy you know can put up big games in certain statistical categories, as this could propel you victories at key stretches in the season.
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A guide to making the perfect fantasy basketball league
It’s that time of fantasy football season where the haves and have-nots are apparent. Only a select number of teams still have a realistic shot at winning the league, and sorry, your 1-5 team isn’t among them.
Luckily for you fantasy losers out there, another season has just begun.
That’s right people, fantasy basketball is back.
OK, I understand fantasy basketball isn’t very popular. Heck, even many NBA fanatics can’t stand fantasy basketball. Whether it’s the tedious scoring system or the long season, sometimes joining a basketball league just isn’t worth the time commitment.
Not anymore.
Here are some tips on how to make your fantasy basketball league enjoyable.
Ditch the standard format
Most standard fantasy basketball leagues utilize a scoring system based off categories. The winner of a head-to-head matchup is determined by whoever wins the most categories. Those categories include points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, 3-pointers, field goal percentages and free throw percentages. The problem with this format is that players, such as Serge Ibaka, emerge as top-10 players because they thrive in one category (in Ibaka’s case, he was the only player to average more than three blocks per game last season). A scoring system more similar to fantasy football is much more ideal.
Fantasy football combines multiple categories while ignoring efficiency. Passing yards, rushing yards, receiving yards, field goals, defense and, of course, touchdowns are combined into a point total. Yards per carry, completion percentage and yards per reception don’t matter.
Fantasy basketball should be the same.
Throw out field goal percentage, free-throw percentage and turnovers. This way stars such as Blake Griffin and Dwight Howard won’t kill teams by bricking free throws. This also limits the effectiveness of pure dunkers, such as DeAndre Jordan, who sport ridiculous field goal percentages.
Stick to the essential categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and 3-pointers made. Points, rebounds and assists are worth one point each, while the rarer categories — steals, blocks and 3-pointers made — are worth two points.
This points format is not only easier to understand, but it also allows for the best players in real life to be the best players in the fantasy realm. For example, Ibaka finished eighth on ESPN’s player rater last season based on standard scoring while Howard ranked 65th. Ibaka dropped to 66th overall when adjusting for the simpler scoring system while Howard surged to 11th. The Houston Rockets wouldn’t have signed Howard to a four-year $88 million contract this offseason if he was the 65th best player in the league.
Simplify the lineups
Fantasy football, once again, is the inspiration for this idea. Few people are going to keep up with daily lineups during an 82-game season. That’s why it’s best to switch to a weekly format.
I know an NBA team can play 3-4 times a week, but it makes a lot of sense. Even the most avid fantasy basketball owners are unlikely to remember to change their lineup every day. A weekly lineup allows the owner to set a rotation once a week without having to worry about checking the daily statuses of players. In addition to the weekly setting, owners should switch to a more traditional lineup.
ESPN standard leagues include each position, point guard through center, and then a guard spot, a forward spot and a utility spot. The guard and forward spots are too confusing. Is Andre Iguodala a guard or forward? What about Paul George? By eliminating this confusion, you can only play Iguodala at positions he plays — shooting guard and small forward — and can’t interchange him with point guards or power forwards in your utility spots.
Keep a starting lineup consisting of a point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward and center. Maybe add three utility spots to the starting lineup, but keep the roster at 12 players max. Fifteen-player rosters are unnecessary in a star-dominant league. (If you own Kirk Hinrich, you’re doing it wrong.)
Put it all on the line
This may seem obvious, but fantasy sports are not enjoyable unless something’s at stake. With basketball it’s even more important since the long season can tune out fantasy owners. There needs to be some incentive to keep fantasy owners active throughout the season. Sometimes rewarding the first place finisher isn’t enough. Once the bottom teams realize they don’t have a chance, there’s little reason to continue trying. Well, unless your league penalizes the stragglers.
Think of it like the relegation system in professional soccer leagues. If you finish last, you have to pay for it. Some ideas include being dropped from next year’s league, paying an additional sum of money, or my personal favorite; showing up to Olive Garden in a suit with a blow-up doll as your date.
(Yes, this actually happened in a league I was in.) Handing out fines for forgetting to set your lineup or starting Andrew Bynum every week is another option. Don’t be that guy.
Michael is a senior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected]
what is the essence of fantasy, how to assemble a team, when and how to make substitutions
There is very little time before the start of the World Cup - now is the best time to assemble a team in fantasy.
This post is for those who have heard something about such entertainment, but have not yet figured out the details, and for those who have not even heard, but want to make the 2022 World Cup even more interesting for themselves.
Believe me: thanks to fantasy, even the most boring and meaningless tournament match (suddenly there will be such) turns into an exciting one if someone from your squad is on the field.
Very briefly - what is the essence of fantasy?
You assemble a squad of real World Cup participants, they perform real actions on the field - and you get points for every score.
Points are conveniently divided into basic (for an exit and a full match) and bonus points. Bonuses for each position are different: goalkeepers and defenders receive for dry matches, keepers also for repulsed penalties; for goals and assists they add to everyone, but the goals scored by midfielders and forwards bring a little less.
You make a team by the beginning of the tournament, then before each round you can change several players, and before the playoffs and the final at the World Cup - in general, all of them.
Important! If you are reading this post from the Sports.ru application, read the instructions on how to find the World Cup fantasy inside the application at the end of the material.
Composition - how to assemble it? Buy only stars? And who exactly to ignore?
You have 100 virtual millions for 15 players - an average of 6.5 for one, but if you take everyone at that price, you will have a strong defense with a dubious attacking midfield.
Let's go through the key principles when putting together a composition. Of course, everyone can have their own tactics, but these are general recommendations to start not from scratch.
• Start by picking two or three superstars, the players you have the most confidence in. Most likely, they will be among the most expensive: for example, Benzema, Mbappe, Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar and Kane are forwards who cost 9. Then it will be possible to transfer captaincy (doubling points) between them. But do not get carried away: the more you spend on tops, the more difficult it will be to get the rest and the greater the imbalance when no one brings more points.
• Appreciate the penalty takers, especially if they are a midfielder and even more so a defender. Because for fantasy points there is no difference whether they scored from the field or from the penalty spot.
• Don't take defensive players - this is probably the most disadvantageous position for fantasy.
They rarely participate in attacks, they get only +1 for a dry match, there is always a big risk of nullifying this bonus with a yellow card.
• Look for adjacent positions with an emphasis on attack - defenders who often connect and midfielders who play directly in front. There are always those. Often in successful lineups there are only full-backs constantly running forward along the touchline - it doesn’t matter to you how the players combine with each other, only personal achievements matter.
• Carefully take risks with a weak margin - three fielders and the goalkeeper always remain on the bench (their points are counted if someone from the base did not come out), you can take the cheapest ones there, but even so look which of the defenders for 4 ,5/5 plays, usually these are people from weak teams. Especially before the first round, when lineups are not completely predictable and your main players in life may suddenly be in reserve - it is more reliable to keep those who bring safety 2-3 points for a full match in the fantasy lineup.
• Captain an attacking player against a weak team - who you think has the best chance of making multiple hits. Defensive captain is a more cautious tactic if you are sure of a clean sheet. The goalkeeper's armband is not very logical, because the risk of conceding is high, and it is strange to count on a saved penalty, and even more so a goal / assist from the keeper. The selection of the vice-captain is insurance in case the captain does not play at all. If he played even a minute, his points will double, and the status of "vice" will not matter.
• Remember the rule of three defenders - if three of the main players did not play, the first defender will be considered from the reserve first, and not the midfielder/forward. This is a measure against imbalance and the recruitment of only expensive attacking players at the expense of defense.
• Avoid matches between your own players - if your forward captain plays against your own goalkeeper (or defender), you will definitely not get the maximum from two: either the attacker will leave without a goal, or the defense without bonuses for a dry match.
• See who's playing without substitutions - for a full 90 minutes, even without useful action, the midfielder and forward will have +1, so you need a little less players who are constantly changed in the middle of the second half. And also, after all, there is a risk of substitution before the 60th minute, then the exit will be +1, not +2 (“the coach hates fantasy” is a favorite thing about those who make substitutions at the 59th minute).
When - and most importantly - how to make replacements?
The key is to meet the deadline, it comes an hour before the first match in the new round. In the case of the World Cup, everything is already scheduled: the teams gather until 18:00 Moscow time on Sunday, the first substitutions - until noon on November 25.
• Substitutions for the second round can be made right during the first (there are only 12 hours between them at night and in the morning), especially if someone is injured and definitely will not return for the next match.
It is not necessary to use all three at once, and you can also cancel the ones already saved if you come up with better moves.
• To change the formation, it is enough to pick up a player of another position from the reserve - the scheme adapts automatically. But less than three defenders at the start will not allow, this is again about balance and rapprochement with reality.
• The further in the tournament, the more players from one team can be taken : two in the group, three in the 1/8 finals and so on until the unlimited for the final and the match for third place. Before the playoffs and before the final, you can completely update the line-up, five replacements will be available for the quarter-finals, and six for the semi-finals. You can bet on one or two teams, but with the risk that after 1/4 you may need to replace many at once (and there may not be enough replacements).
• Substitutions before the deadline are not only dangerous because of the rush : If you save changes at 12:01 with a deadline of noon, they will only be taken into account in the next round.
And if this suddenly happened, it is important to discard these substitutions, because there are other matches in the new round, and the choice may also be completely different.
• If it's hard to trade one player for another at once for the price, you might consider double : dumping someone else, taking the player you want, and getting a second one with the right money (similar to real NBA trades). True, two substitutions out of three in the group stage will be spent this way.
We have shared with you what is easier for you to start playing fantasy and understand at first.
Ask questions in the comments about what else you would like to know about fantasy .
And if you yourself have been playing for a long time, share your life hacks so that the community grows and it is only more interesting for everyone to play!
If you're reading this on the Sports.ru app, make sure it's up to date so you can build a team and play right there! For this:
- Exit this material by clicking on the arrow at the top left
- Go to the news section by clicking on the three horizontal bars on the top left
- Go down the menu to section Fantasy .
- Assemble your team quickly, make substitutions, compete with your friends in your own league and compete for prizes!
Photo: Gettyimages.ru/Daniel Apuy / Stringer, Juan I. Roncoroni – Pool, Carlos Rodrigues / Stringer, Aurelien Meunier / Stringer
How to play fantasy league?
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 the fantasy league works : 1) The 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 see 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.
