Fantasy Basketball

Understanding the format

The scoring in fantasy basketball is typically done in four ways: Roto or categorical, head-to-head Roto, head-to-head points as well as points. To understand this better, we must take a look at these methods one by one:

Head-to-head Roto: In this format, you are pitted against a member of your league every week with one of the two competitors being just as a winner as well as a loser. These wins and losses determine who makes the play-offs, the way it is done in real life basketball. The winners of losers are basically determined by the fact that who accumulates most statistics in each category including points, rebounds, assists, steals et cetera. For example, if your team had 300 points, 100 rebounds and 100 assists, compared to the other players with 200 points, 150 rebounds and 50 assists, you would have won the match-up two categories to one. This is the format which is most associated with fantasy basketball.

Head-to-head points: This format follows the same concept, barring the fact that victory is achieved by calculating most fantasy points which is determined by a preset value for each statistic. Typically, points get +1, rebound gets +1.2 or +1.25, assists get +1.5, steals or blocks get +3 and turnovers get -1.

Roto or Categorical: Understanding this is pretty simple: a user receives a unit every time one of their players contributes to a certain event in the game. For example, if the player gets a rebound, the rebound category for the fantasy player is increased by one. Following this process, all your rebounds are compared to the other teams in the league and eventually, points are awarded. The number of points which a team gets in each category is dependent on the number of teams that are there in the league. For example, if there are 12 teams in the league, the team with the best statistics for a category will receive 12 points. Basically, points in this system, in all categories are totalled for each team to determine their standing in the league.

Points: This involves a straightforward calculation of points that a team has accumulated based on the scoring system. Usually, points leagues have weekly lineup deadlines as the winner is the one who has amassed the most total points for a season.

The game of fantasy basketball also involves an interesting element which we can term as a long haul as well as a short-term go. The long-haul here is basically a multi-year league which allows you to continue with the players you have selected in your fantasy basketball team from season to another. This is also called Keeper Leagues. The short-term goal is not really short since it involves a fantasy basketball player to compete for a season-long league.

There are also something called Dynasty league which allows you to keep players for an unlimited duration while frequently acquiring or doing away with college or high school players.

Another way of playing fantasy basketball is through daily fantasy contests wherein you can use a salary based system to pick and drop real-life players and compete against other fantasy players.

It is important to remain updated

The world of fantasy sports including fantasy basketball is expanding exponentially all around the world. There are new players arriving in the market in frequent intervals which also includes new media, websites, content providers as well as blog writers who tend to provide new information as well as fresh perspectives. These outlets also tend to influence decision-making processes which might or might not work for an individual fantasy basketball player. But for this fantasy basketball player, the challenge remains the same: he or she must be completely aware of all that is happening related to his team as well as the players that he has selected.

What are the tips and tricks to play fantasy basketball?

Like in other fantasy sports, knowing tips and tricks to succeed in fantasy basketball is also imperative. First of all, a sound understanding of the rules, the league rankings as well as understanding of the format is extremely important for a fantasy basketball player to succeed in it. In case if you fail to make the right choice with player rankings, it Will get difficult for you to succeed — always remember that a player’s ranking is basically the value that he is bringing to your team.

As it is the case with real-life basketball, draft is an extremely important process of fantasy basketball as well. You must draft only the top choices players that are available because they are the ones who succeed at every position. And in order to analyse who are the best players, you must follow the teams that make it to the championship. Also, paying attention to the draft rankings in your league in order to find out the positional availability of players, will give you a clear idea about the number of players that you are carrying. A trick here is to start with the drafting process as early as possible so that you get the best players before they are taken by the competitors.

There are also a couple of things that a fantasy basketball player should be constantly worried about. The roster movements as well as off-season trades are something that can cause long-lasting effect since ultimately it is the real-life player who earns the points after all. It must be remembered that a player who spends most time with the ball produces the most statistics. Also, players who move to new teams are likely to get more opportunities on the court as well as increased usage. A fantasy basketball player must not forget that he must have great fun to see value in terms of blocks, steals, rebounds, assists as a response to win. The more a real-life player is used, the more points you earn, which translates into more value.

It is also important to keep an eye on injuries that real life basketball players suffer. Players, in fact, get injured in fantasy basketball as well. There are always some players who are injury prone and as a prudent and pragmatic fantasy basketball player, you would want to avoid these candidates since you would not want to draft in players who eventually miss matches due to injuries. A fantasy basketball user requires fresh players who are less prone to injuries.