Lessons Learned From Year One Of Playing Fantasy Basketball

Lessons Learned From Year One Of Playing Fantasy Basketball

I played fantasy basketball for the first time ever this past year. I guess it didn’t go terribly, but credit to Matt Hanifan for beating me in the finals. I guess it was only fair that Hanny would win this one after what happened with fantasy baseball. You would think the goons in the Vendetta NBA chat would have some sense of pride and take some accountability for talking trash all year, only to finish worse than the hockey guy did, but I guess we can’t ask for too much out of that group. Anyway… I’m going to go over the lessons learned from year one of playing fantasy basketball so we can be better the next time I play.

1: Don’t Wait To Take Your Centers

I guess I should have known this when you look in the rule book, and the league restricts how many centers you can roster on your team. Clearly, the bigs who grab rebounds and block shots are totally overpowered. It’s like having prime Jimmy Graham in tight end premium leagues, except it’s more than just a handful of tight ends. Grab all of the premium centers you can get your hands on. Bottom line, end of story. If you look up and it’s round five already and you don’t have a center… You already lost.

2: Demand That Your League Installs Ten IR Spots

I made this switch in hockey, and it needs to be done for fantasy basketball, too. The rate at which these guys miss games is absurd. I’m pretty sure I blew a gasket when I used one of my bench moves only to have that player ruled out with injury 15 minutes later. It’s just absolutely absurd how no one wants to play in these regular season games.

Demand that the commissioner max out the IR spots. If you have a guy go down, you should have the option to cheese that IR button in all leagues. It just has to be implemented with the way the game is today.

3: Avoid Injury-Prone Players Like The Plague

I made this mistake loading up on too many players from Utah (Markkanen and Kessler). Tanking teams and guys who you just know are injury-prone category. You just can’t take them. Pick someone else whom you feel more confident in actually suiting up for the games. Late in the season, the number of guys who just don’t play, if you have too many of them, it’s curtains for you.

4: Defense Matters

Get yourself guards who pick up steals and block shots. Ditto for the bigs who do that too. Gotta have guys who play defense. You don’t want guys who turn the ball over like noobs on the flip side of that statement. Defense might not be important in every sport for fantasy, but steals in this sport add up big time.

Lessons Learned From Year One Of Playing Fantasy Hockey

5: Some Players Are Unfair

This is more of a snake vs. auction draft discussion, but it’s worth pointing out the obvious that some of these dudes are so overpowered. If Giannis Antetokounmpo has one of those nights, he might outscore the other team in fantasy by himself. The top of the tier superstars are so overpowered it’s insane. Picking at the back of the back in your draft seems incredibly unfair to the point where making your draft an auction draft seems like a must. I have no experience in this department for basketball, but it’s worth exploring.

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