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Yahoo fantasy basketball how many players
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yahoo Fantasy Sports & Daily on the App Store
Description
Yahoo Fantasy Sports is the #1 rated fantasy sports app to play Fantasy Football, Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Basketball, Fantasy Hockey, Daily Fantasy, Tourney Pick’em Best Ball & more. The Voted the Best Fantasy Sports App, Best Season Long Fantasy Sports Game, & the Best Daily Fantasy Sports Game by the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association, Yahoo Fantasy Sports has you covered every day, year-round. Yahoo Fantasy Sports App is your one place stop to play, draft, & manage all of your favorite players and teams from the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, PGA & tourney. Draft fantasy football teams, manage fantasy basketball rosters, set fantasy hockey & baseball lineups, & create your brackets for tourney pick'em: we have it all right here on the Yahoo Fantasy Sports App Easily switch between fantasy games & focus on what really matters: drafting your team, setting your lineup, & winning your fantasy contests! Get live scores, player news, & fantasy analysis whenever & wherever you want. Sign up now to play Fantasy Football, Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Basketball, Fantasy Hockey, Daily Fantasy, Best Ball, & more! 3 reasons you’ll love Yahoo Fantasy Sports:
1. Fantasy sports right at your fingertips - Manage your fantasy teams, leagues, & commissioner settings right from the app
2. Get live updates that work for you - Set alerts for your favorite sports & get instant updates on fantasy scoring updates & trending player news
3. You’re always in the loop - Live updates, stats, & fantasy analysis mean that you will be on top of your fantasy games & contests no matter where you are
Simply sign in with your Yahoo account to get the best experience across all devices. Whether you want to play Fantasy Football or Daily Fantasy - check out everything Yahoo Fantasy Sports has to offer:
• Fantasy Home Access all the different fantasy sports & games from the fantasy home page. Sign up for your choice in fantasy sport & easily view the latest updates in your fantasy leagues & games.
• Manage Set & manage your roster, pick up & drop players, & make trades right in the app. Visit our players' tab to see the latest in transaction trends & the top available players in your league.
• Draft Mock draft & actually draft right from your phone. Whether it be your Fantasy Football, Fantasy Hockey, or Fantasy Basketball league, you never need to miss a draft again as you can draft your whole team from the app. With Draft Together, you can talk to your friends with built in video chat
• Alerts Be at the top of your game with instant scoring updates & player news. Set alerts for & get live updates & fantasy analysis on every scoring play, roster changes, player injuries, & much more.
• Play Daily Fantasy Sports Not interested in playing season-long fantasy? Check out Yahoo Daily Fantasy Sports & draft a new roster every day for a chance to win money. Check out the Quickmatch function to get started or join a Yahoo Cup to test your knowledge.
• Expert Analysis Edge out the competition with our Yahoo Fantasy experts, now accessible in the app. Read rankings, recommendations, fantasy analysis & reactions from our experts on the latest news to help you make your next fantasy decision.
• Fantasy Messenger Smack talk your league-mates, friends, & competition in the fantasy messenger available in the Yahoo Fantasy App. Send them gifs, images, & emojis & let the trash talking begin.
• Betting News and Odds Get the latest betting news and odds in the Sportsbook tab. NBA, MLB, NCAAB, Soccer, MMA bettings lines and odds are now available in the app.
Version 10.42.1
New Features:
Fantasy Plus added a Draft Scout to Basketball and Hockey. It's free in mock drafts and for subscribers only in real drafts. Added last 7 days ADP change for Fantasy Plus subscribers.
Notable Fixes:
Performance updates and bug fixes.
Ratings and Reviews
464.9K Ratings
As Great As They Come.
I wish they had one app for Yahoo Sports & Yahoo Fantasy. I understand why they created two separate apps like the other Big Names in the Game, ESPN, CBS, etc. But those apps don’t overlap information like the Yahoo Sports Apps do. I wish they either didn’t cross over info from app to app or simply had all sports related info on one individual app. because all the overlapping information between the two apps. is just too much sometimes, especially when they roll out something new. Almost everyone I speak to about Yahoo Sports & Yahoo Fantasy say the same thing which is exactly what I’m saying. There are so many other options available so they just gave up on Yahoo Sports period. I tell them they’re missing out and they joke back and tell me I’m wasting my time figuring everything out because once again the info is A+ but the web design is lacking. Lucky for myself I had patience so now I can take advantage of the A+ info that’s not available on ESPN, CBS Sports, etc. IF THEY MODIFIED THE APP TO MAKE IT SIMPLE TO NAVIGATE THRU THEY'D HAVE MUCH MORE TRAFFIC AND THE “CLIENTS” WOULD STICK AROUND FOR LONGER THAN THE USUAL 10 MINS AFTER THE SIMPLE SIGN IN PROCESS. After all that they’re still the best and I’m a pro gambler & pro fantasy football player just to give you an idea of where I’m coming from. Thanks guys.
Yahoo Fantasy on the decline
I have been a user of Yahoo Fantasy since 2003. It has been my preferred way to fantasy sports because of how easy it is to use and honestly, nostalgia. But recently, I have been disappointed with my experience on Yahoo Fantasy. There have been instances where players in fantasy baseball have not been listed in a starting lineup when they were and vice versa. As commissioner of my fantasy baseball league this has caused me many headaches due to the complaints of other in my league. My second point of concern would be the fact that it is so hard to get in touch with support. I understand that this time of year is difficult with the volume due to fantasy football but it took me 5 days to get the ruling on a tiebreaker scenario for the playoffs. I love Yahoo Fantasy and will continue to use it because it is superior to ESPN, CBS, etc. but I would like to see some internal housekeeping from time to time. Two more suggestion: can we have more than 20 characters for team names and the option to switch players out of doubleheader’s/rain outs. Thanks again!
Hi Matt, we appreciate your feedback. We are aware that there were some issues with players not being listed in the starting lineup when they actually were and this has been resolved. In regards to contacting customer support, we aim to respond to your requests for support as quick as possible. Due to the large number of contacts with football, we were answering our members in the order they were received which may caused delays in the response time to our members. If you do need more of an immediate response, we are available to contact on Twitter @YahooFantasyCC. We will get your suggestions to our product team but if you want to leave any additional comments about these suggestions, that can be done at our UserVoice page by going to https://help.yahoo.com/kb/SLN6580.html.
Good fantasy app BUT trading needs some updates
The app overall is great. They are always updating and adding new features. Current problem I have been having in multiple leagues which has caused me to have to contact multiple managers along with the commissioners to fix is the trading. If trades are accepted while a manager has enough roster spots to take a 2 for 1 trade it will allow the trade to go through. If that same manager picks someone up in the following 2 days before the trade is processed, that trade basically becomes vetoed/unsuccessful because now they would have needed to drop someone and that wasn’t in the original trade. Because of this, on game days I am having to scramble with managers and commissioners to go back thru and have them push the trades through. These teams basically can have buyers remorse and do this PURPOSELY to void trades they no longer agree with. This NEEDS to be fixed by app developers as it has caused many headaches throughout the year. Again, this is one of the best fantasy apps minus this loop hole for buyers remorse. Make it so the person getting two players has chances or options to have someone dropped before the entire trade ends up in the toilet and managers with buyers remorse don’t get a chance to back out of deals unfairly.
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Why am I playing fantasy on ESPN? - World of Fantasy Basketball
Introduction (you can skip it if you're lazy)
Many times in my articles and speeches, I have said that the Yahoo engine is the best option for a dreamer and all other engines are simply not worth using. I had to play on other engines in the past years. NBAcom, PASPN and the same ESPN. I swore off playing on any other engines except Yahoo. But in vain. Twelve years ago, on the NBAru forum, I had the signature "Never say never." Time passed, other thoughts and signatures appeared. And the first signature, the meaning of which concerns many issues, remains true.
Before the start of this season, I was going to play in four leagues: EDL, SLS, BUGAY'7wl, AEL. As a last resort, the fifth league was to be AEL-2. And all these leagues were planned, of course, on the Yahoo engine. As a result, I play in seven leagues, and two of them are on ESPN. How did it happen?
It all started with Ansverman - a man known for a large number of leagues. He is an EDL commissioner and one of his ideas was to introduce a two-week matchup into the playoff setup. Indeed, everyone knows the probabilistic nature of shoot-out games in a fantasy game. These games take place at the end of the NBA season and are characterized by unpredictable player performance. The top players on some teams are gaining strength before the NBA PO and don't play at all, while the permanent residents of the pool put out incredible statistical performances. Plus, the brevity of the matchup in the software makes the result more random and unreliable. One of the interesting partial solutions to the problem was offered by the ESPN engine - a two-week matchup in software. Ansverman wanted to include it in the EDL, but Yahoo does not provide such a setting. As a result, Ansverman cursed the Yahoo engine a lot and removed software from the EDL altogether, which adversely affected the league. But most importantly, this is the first time I've heard that some engine gives some useful customization that Yahoo doesn't have. It used to be said about PASPN that it allows you to build a dynasty from season to season, in terms of player cost and using many of the player management rules in the NBA. But I tried to play there. With all the pluses, this is a serious departure from fantasy, almost a different game. And ESPN offers a progressive setting just for the classic fantasy. By the way, when I tried to play on ESPN before, it was an “only points” league, also “not that fantasy”, so I naturally didn’t like it. Now the situation has changed, ESPN organizes classic fantasy games quite well.
Knowing the new cutting edge setup on ESPN didn't move me to play there. All off-season, I was solving another question: how many AEL leagues should I play in? Last season, there were 12 applicants who did not want to be divided into two leagues. The system was not built. Then we played in one league for 12 participants, with the expectation that in the new season only the best 8 will get into the AEL. So four had to fall off. Eight of the best have been identified, but where are the rest? Do all the same the second league? With transitions or not? Do you play it yourself? Recruiting 16 willing participants for two leagues so that they are ready for transitions between leagues at the end of the seasons is not so simple. Not in the mood to do it. Nerves, the years are not the same. At the same time, it is quite possible to fill two leagues with active volunteers, non-unique, capable of playing at least three leagues at the same time with such settings. I myself am one of those. But does it make sense? And then Ansverman shows up again and says that if I created a league on ESPN, then new members who do not play on Yahoo would join there. Why not try? Moreover, to study the new engine, so as not to overgrow with moss at all. So I created a league on ESPN with AEL settings. In the meantime, people who didn't get into AEL-1 and didn't play on ESPN signed up for AEL-3, on Yahoo. As a result, three AEL leagues came out unpredictably, two on Yahoo and one on ESPN. And I got 6 leagues.
It would seem that the season has begun, the number of leagues is determined. But new acquaintances playing on ESPN invited me to one of their leagues, where the participant dropped out. That's how I got 7 leagues, two of which are on ESPN. So, why did this happen, what good did I find in the new engine?
ESPN Engine Advantages
As I said earlier, the ability to set two-week fights in the software. To enable this option, in the "Weeks per Playoff Matchup" setting, select the value "2 weeks per round". In the AEL league for 8 participants, it is convenient to make 4 teams enter the PO and go through both of its rounds in 4 weeks. In a long personal meeting, they decided who was stronger. This, of course, does not completely solve the problem of “sluggish fantasy software”, but makes the results more reasonable.
The ESPN engine opens a season earlier than Yahoo. For those who are in a state of rest from fantasy until the middle, or even until the end of September, this does not matter. I belong to the category of fantasy people who are looking forward to the start of the new season. In the last days of August, I check daily to see if leagues are open on Yahoo. Moreover, in the EDL league, drafts are already underway in August. So in September there is already a desire to make the first moves, to correct the mistakes of the draft. Even to those who don't play in a league with an early draft, information that comes out early can be important and welcome. ESPN, with an early opening, satisfies the primary informational hunger of active fantasists.
Among the information appearing on the engine, a special place is occupied by "Projections" - predictive statistical indicators of players compiled by the site's specialists. Fantasists often struggle with the universal formula for the utility of players, forgetting that it should be applied not to last year's statistical indicators, but to expected ones. Modeling predictive statistics yourself for each player is extremely troublesome. You can use paid resources, such as the notorious BM, but everything here is free. And the Yahoo engine uses projections very carefully, and already during the season.
After the opening of the season on the engine, usually everyone looks at what rating this or that player has. I like ratings. Different, all. The rating is a ready-made guideline for the order of choice in the draft. Of course, one should not take any rating as the ultimate truth. Among fantasists, it is customary to scold ratings. It `s naturally. Scolding LeBron, as if towering over him, at least mentally. By swearing at the ratings, you rise above all the site's analysts (ESPN, Yahoo or whatever) and above all other fantasy people. And you don’t even have to prove something with personal victories. The principle "Oh Pug, know she is strong, that she barks at the elephant" applies. I like ratings. And the more of them, the better. You can compare, analyze the difference, find the average, or otherwise form your rating. So, the ratings of Yahoo and ESPN differ. Not so globally that Wiggins was number 1 on one of the engines. But still, there is a difference. And both sites are respected, so there is something to think about, there is something to compare.
In continuation of this paragraph. Recently, online drafts have become more commonplace. The engines analyze all the drafts going through and helpfully offer an average, which is a good guideline for newbies. By the end of October, these numbers are such that you can draft them without thinking about anything at all and without preparing at all. That's why I started liking the draft auction. He's less predictable. Although now there are average and forecast prices from the engine at auction prices. However, the real prices depend on the course of the draft and the tactics of the participants. But the main thing is that these prices differ on the engines! When drafting auctions at the same settings on Yahoo and ESPN, I took into account which players were given a lower forecast (and boldly traded for these players), and which ones were higher (and bypassed them). And it wasn't the same players on different engines.
The ESPN site, I don't know how to put it, "easier." It loads faster, there are no such heavy components that slow down the work. Previously, the NBA sinned this. I stopped going there. Now it's Yahoo's turn. It is clear that the authors are counting on the increasingly accelerating Internet in developed countries and are trying to interest the client as much as possible with beautiful graphics. But for me, those days are long gone when a new game is described by rave reviews like "Everything is drawn in detail, everything is like the real thing." In any toy, playability and functionality are important. Heroes of Magic and Might 3 remains a model game for me. Everything that happened before and after is not so interesting. And I still play it with pleasure. As for the design of the fantasy engine, it certainly wasn't perfect twelve years ago. Rearranging the players in the roster by selecting a position from the drop-down list, then you press the confirm button and it turns out that two players were mistakenly sent to the same position by you, and all over again. Over time, the procedure for transferring the player was facilitated, and it became good. But now all the innovations only make the site heavier. In contrast, ESPN's design looks like the old Yahoo design, minus the mess.
What a fantasy engine! Even the Scores / Schedule tab on the site, and when you go to the box score of a particular match, it loads the video. At home I'm still fine, but at work it even hangs right. Either the speed of the Internet is limited, or the farwall fights off any encroachments from the site, but the fact remains that it is loaded reluctantly. Recently, the Daily Fantasy ads have been getting more and more. It's also on ESPN, but again, not as intrusive.
The simplicity of displaying information, I repeat, does not affect its quality. Even more than that, in some cases, ESPN has seen a great deal of thoughtfulness in the display.
An additional "+/-" column has been added to the Players and My Team tabs. The value there shows how much the percentage of owners of this player has changed. A cheap and effective replacement for the Research function, while retaining these functions for the need for deeper analysis.
Similarly, when watching friendly, alien or free players, you can see news - the latest available news on the player, but in one short line. Yahoo highlights when there is fresh news for a player. But usually, there is a lot of news and all of them are too lazy to read. Sometimes someone is interesting, and you start to select everything according to him. And so, to shortly and quickly, for all players at once, and it doesn’t matter if the news is old or new, but the latest one is available, and everything is in front of your eyes at once on one page, this is convenient.
Another trick for viewing players is in the Player tab on ESPN. You can select and sort those who play on a specific day. Why is this needed? It's no secret that one of the reasons for moves can sometimes be cheating human games. Even if this is not a specific goal, it can still be a decisive factor for the move. Why do you need a pool player who plays on the same day as most players on your roster? On Yahoo you can see who has matches on the next day, you can also look at the calendar of all players for the week. But if you start sorting, then there will be porridge. On ESPN, you can safely select any day, remove non-players on it, and then sort by any column.
On Yahoo, the current account change can be viewed on StatTracker. I remember the times when it was paid, almost no one used it and everyone either counted the account change manually, or waited for noon when the stats were updated in the main part of the engine. Now StatTracker is free and everything seems to be fine. But on ESPN, the Scoreboard tab lets you see the current score update across all of the league's matchups on one page.
You can also look in more detail for your matchup.
At the same time, there is also Launch FantasyCast - an analogue of StatTracker, with no less, even greater functions. And it loads faster.
When I created the league, I did not find the setting for who makes the decision on the trade. Yahoo has this setting: either the commissioner decides, or the "league veto" rule is used. At one time, I promoted the “league veto” rule, for which I was scolded by everyone. But really, is a commission agent always able to be both impartial and competent enough to evaluate any trade? I, as a commission agent, simply would not even want to spend such a responsibility on myself. There were cases when strong, authoritative managers had absolutely opposite opinion on any trade. And no matter what decision you, as a commission agent, would make, you would remain guilty. So I was upset when I didn't find "league veto" on ESPN. However, it turned out that the engine gives the commission agent the right to decide in each specific case whether he is ready to take the decision on this trade on himself, or he gives this trade at the mercy of the league. That is, if the commission agent is sure that the trade is exactly equal, then he can easily conduct it himself. If he is sure that the trade is unequal, he can reject the trade himself. And if he doubts, then press one button, and the trade will go to the vote of the league. It seems nothing new, on Yahoo the commission agent can also manually carry out any manipulation with the lineups. Or arrange a golosilku on the forum. But it will look like an interference with the compositions, like an artificial adjustment to the engine. And ESPN does it naturally. Indeed, it's been a long time since I've seen accepted unequal trades in my leagues. A league veto has one unpleasant feature - the loss of time. By accepting good trades quickly, we save time. By submitting incomprehensible trades to a vote, we do not allow an act of voluntarism and deceit to be committed.
Another plus regarding exchanges. True, subjective, and perhaps controversial. I'm generally wary of exchanges. But many say they love them. However, any fantasist, with an honest answer to the question of when there were more trades, will say that in the first season, when everyone was young and inexperienced, there were a lot of trades. For some reason, in the first year or two of the game, everyone is somehow more frivolous towards the players, they think less, it is easier to agree to trades. As it were, youth is characterized by significant and thoughtless actions. With age, everyone becomes smarter, tighter, meaner. This applies not only to age, as such, but also to fantasy. It is not uncommon for leagues where there is not a single trade at all during the season. There are talks, many express a desire to trade (as a hidden desire to hurt someone), but the negotiations do not bring results. So, I don't know what the experience of those I first encountered on the ESPN engine was, but it turned out that a bunch of trades went through at once. That is, new people, new experience, more opportunities for trading and an interesting game.
Well, from the little things, I will note the presence of a chat on the engine. This is also a debatable advantage. It would be more useful for a forum when all communication is within itself. And so that everything written is preserved, increasing a certain intellectual capital of the forum. Therefore, chat, even within the forum, impoverishes the forum itself a little. A bunch of beautiful statements and smart thoughts can disappear in the chat and no one will see them, except for those who were in the chat at a given time. However, the presence of a chat facilitates the process of negotiating trades, making other operational negotiations. Therefore, those new acquaintances that I have made also communicate in Skype chat, which has its pluses and minuses.
Speaking of cons.
Cons of the engine ESPN.
One of the factors that prompted me to write the article is the statement that the ESPN engine is inconvenient.
Perhaps this is out of habit. I quickly managed to figure out the engine. If you remember what was unusual, then I note that in the league on ESPN I am not a commission agent, but a "League Manager", abbreviated as LM (almost like cigarettes). Therefore, I did not immediately find the “LM Tools” tab.
But this, of course, is a trifle.
The main, and the only serious disadvantage of ESPN, like any other engine, is the lack of history. I have not yet found a list of leagues for past seasons on ESPN at all. I didn't play last season though. But there must be some page. Maybe there is. In any case, it (when available) will not compare with the similar one on Yahoo, where I have been playing for 13 years. And even taking into account that I had two more accounts, and not all leagues were included in the current one, there are many of them, there is something to remember and something to be proud of.
What is fantasy sports? The essence, history and principles of the game
Fantasy sports is an online game where participants (the so-called fantasy managers) assemble virtual teams of athletes whose prototypes are real professional players.
Teams compete with each other based on the performance of athletes in actual competitions.
For each goal, assist and other positive actions of an athlete in a real match, the fantasy manager receives points, and points are taken away for negative actions (for example, fouls, dangerous play), explains the sports publication SportClan. ru.
The participant with the most points wins.
This is what the famous Norwegian chess player Magnus Carlsen's fantasy football team looked like:
In English-speaking countries, variant names rotisserie or roto may be used to refer to fantasy sports.
Fantasy sports
Baseball and American football, which became the original main fantasy sports, have recently been significantly supplemented by various other sports, among which football is the most popular. However, modern offerings for fantasy managers are not limited to this only: there is also fantasy hockey, fantasy basketball, and even fantasy biathlon.
The essence of fantasy sports
1. Recruitment of players into a virtual team The game begins with the recruitment of a team by various athletes from real-life clubs. The process is complicated by the fact that the purchase of each player requires a certain amount of money, and the budget is limited.
2. Game process violations, penalties) they are taken away.
The player whose team scores the most points wins the fantasy tournament.
3. Prize money
Recently, fantasy sports have been predominantly a game with cash prizes, which, combined with a significant degree of immersion in real sports, makes fantasy more and more popular. Prize pools in fantasy tournaments are growing every year, and players' winnings often reach six figures.
Seasonal and daily fantasy sports
Depending on the duration of the game, fantasy sports can be divided into seasonal (season) and daily (daily) competitions.
Long tournaments spanning national or international competitions, which are divided into many rounds and require a specific game strategy from the fantasy manager, are called seasonal fantasy.
Competitions with one round or one-match tournaments, where there is a need to recruit a new line-up for each of the matches - this is daily fantasy.
Where can I play fantasy sports?
There are platforms targeted at players from different regions and countries, including Russian speakers. These are, for example, FanTeam, Fanaments, FantasyBet and DraftOn services. For beginners who want to test themselves in fantasy football, Sports.ru is perfect.
International venues with great popularity among American and European fantasy managers, unfortunately, most do not accept players from Russia. These are DraftKings, StarsDraft, Yahoo Fantasy Sport and others.
How did fantasy sports come about?
For the first time something similar to fantasy sports appeared in the second half of the last century in the United States. Initially, such games were held with the help of newspapers: the participant sent the lineups of his teams by mail to the editorial office. It is generally accepted that the first fantasy was devoted to baseball.
In 1962, New York businessman Wilfred Wickenbach developed the rules that became the basis of modern fantasy football. They no longer dealt with baseball, but with American football. In 1963, the first fantasy league was created.