I may be biased but fantasy basketball is the porridge of the small bear from Goldilocks and the Three Bears — it’s just right. While fantasy football is the most popular fantasy sport, it is only once a week, 18 times a year and is strictly played in a points format (more on that later) — too hot. Fantasy baseball is a grueling 162-game marathon with layers of strategy due to categorical needs (more on that later too) — too cold. Fantasy basketball is 82 games, has the least amount of variance and can be played in a multitude of ways. In this piece, I will describe the basics of fantasy basketball and highlight some of the different ways one can play.
Advertisem*nt
Scoring Format
You, my mother and Susie from accounting know how to play fantasy football. There are certain positions that need to be rostered, usually one quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, one tight end, a kicker and a defense. You get a certain amount of points for each touchdown, reception and yard gained. Each team is matched up against a different team each week and the team with the most points notches a win and moves up the standings. Pretty straightforward.
Points league formats for fantasy basketball are identical to fantasy football. Each point, rebound, assist, steal, block and 3-pointer provide a certain amount of points depending on the league settings. At the end of the scoring format, whichever team has the most points wins. Easy, peasy.
The more prevalent format for fantasy basketball is category scoring. In this format, whoever scores the most points for each category wins. In a typical league, there are nine categories: Points, Rebounds, Assists, Steals, Blocks, 3-Pointers, Field-Goal Percentage, Free-Throw Percentage, Turnovers. If your team scores 100 points and your opponent scores 90, then you win the Points category. If you get 50 rebounds and your opponent has 75, then you lose the Rebounds category.
Some leagues provide 1 point if you win at least five categories — in other words, a majority of the nine categories. If a league runs 20 weeks and you win five-plus categories every week, then your record would be 20-0.
Other leagues keep a running tally of every category won. For example, say you win five categories and lose four categories every week and your league runs 20 weeks. Your overall record will be 100-80 because you have won 100 categories and lost 80 categories. There will be ties, though, so the overall record could be something like 95-80-5.
Advertisem*nt
Category leagues provide an element of strategy that points leagues don’t offer. Some players are elite in grabbing rebounds but may be poor free-throw shooters. Is boosting the rebound category worth it due to the hit in the free-throw category?
As mentioned above, there are differences in category leagues which adds another element of strategy. If a league provides just 1 point for a cumulative win, then the goal is to just win five categories each week because you don’t get extra points for winning all the categories, going 9-0. On the flip side, if a league provides a point for each category win, then it pays to be more balanced because each category win can affect the overall standings and playoff positioning.
That’s the basic primer for scoring formats. Now let’s get into the nitty gritty of what makes fantasy basketball and fantasy baseball Sudoku on steroids.
Roto vs. Head-To-Head (H2H)
Roto is short for Rotisserie — no, this section is not brought to you by Kentucky Fried Chicken. These leagues are based on category scoring and are the accumulation of stats for the entire season. If there are 12 teams in a league, then each category has 12 points up for grabs. Whichever team has the most total points at the end of the season is the winner.
For example, if a team nets the most steals in the league, that team is awarded 12 points for the Steals category. If that same team finishes right dab in the middle for the remaining eight categories, then 60 total roto points would be the score — 12 points for the points category and 6 points for each of the other categories.
Since the goal of Roto leagues is to finish with the most overall points, strategy usually dictates taking a balanced approach. Every point counts. As a result, there are certain players who are downgraded or elevated in this format. For example, Rudy Gobert is elite in field-goal percentage, rebounds and blocks, so he makes a tremendously positive impact in three categories. Unfortunately, the free-throw shooting isn’t great and he doesn’t contribute much in 3-pointers and assists.
Advertisem*nt
Decisions need to be made with players such as Gobert and roster construction becomes of paramount importance.
On the flip side, a player like Mikal Bridges gets elevated in Roto formats. He does not excel in any one category like Gobert but he contributes a bit of something across the board without hurting you in any category. In addition, he hasn’t missed a game in his career (I just kiboshed him, huh?) so his total numbers are extremely valuable.
Head-to-head formats take that roided up Sudoku puzzle and inject it with Ritalin. The amount of strategy and divergent paths that one can take make my head hurt just thinking about them. Instead of worrying about season-long stats like for Roto, H2H leagues are usually weekly matchups.
How your league allocates win points will alter the strategy, but the basic premise is to just win more categories than your opponent. Winning all nine categories on a weekly basis is not only difficult but probably a fool’s errand. Therefore, since there is no overall component to worry about, you can just focus on your weekly matchup.
Punting
Going back to the Gobert example above, he is elite in three categories and has obvious weaknesses. Those weaknesses are heightened in Roto leagues, but in H2H leagues they can be ignored.
This is where punting categories come into play and, if you’re not punting in head-to-head leagues, you’re probably not winning because most of your competitors will likely be doing so.
The basic premise of punting is to accentuate your strengths and allocate all your resources towards those strengths. Remember, the goal isn’t to try and win all nine categories. The goal is to win at least five every week.
You can punt any category and multiple categories if you so choose. Which path you take will be dependent on your first few picks. Say you draft Giannis Antetokounmpo in the first round. His main weakness is free-throw shooting but he is awesome in points, rebounds, field-goal percentage and provides a decent amount of defensive stats. Remember that Rudy Gobert guy we talked about earlier? He’s not so good at free-throw shooting but is elite in rebounds, blocks and field goal percentage. Pairing those two players makes your team unbelievably strong in rebounds, blocks, field-goal percentage but weak in free-throw shooting, assists and 3-point shooting. You’re punting free-throw percentage, so there are no longer any concerns with drafting poor free-throw shooters in the ensuing rounds, but how you choose to proceed depends on your vision.
Advertisem*nt
You could go full punt on four categories (free-throw shooting, assists, points and 3-pointers) and just strengthen rebounds, blocks and field goal percentage. If going that path, you will likely win turnovers because you are not drafting high-usage guards so then you can focus all your attention on steals.
If you choose not to go full punt, you could focus on free-throw shooting and assists. Is your headache as bad as mine now? There are just so many paths to take and each path is dependent upon which players you draft.
Another beauty of punting is that the value of players dramatically changes depending on which punt path you take. Therefore, the player pool becomes more tunnel visioned and you can bypass many players in the pool, which means less competition for the players who fit your build.
8-CAT vs. 9-CAT
9-CAT (category) leagues consist of Points, Rebounds, Assists, Steals, Blocks, 3-Pointers, Field-Goal Percentage, Free-Throw Percentage, Turnovers. In 8-CAT leagues, the Turnover category is eliminated.
Let’s think about the categories. Points, Assists, Steals, 3-Pointers and free-throw percentage are dominated by guards whereas rebounds, blocks and field-goal percentage are big man stats. I see a disturbance in the Force. That is why turnovers were introduced into the equation, to balance things out as guards handle the ball often, therefore turn the ball over more often.
Most Roto leagues are 8-CAT while most head-to-head leagues are 9-CAT.
If playing in a 8-CAT head-to-head league, you will likely want to side more with the guards because of the inherent advantage built in. In 9-CAT head-to-head leagues, I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on turnovers but it is a category and can be used to your advantage. It all comes down to roster construction.
Typical League Settings
Most leagues consist of the following:
- Point Guard (PG)
- Shooting Guard (SG)
- Guard — point or shooting (G)
- Small Forward (SF)
- Power Forward (PF)
- Forward — small or power (F)
- Center (C)
- FLEX — any position
In addition, there are 4 Bench slots, and 2 IR (injured reserve) slots
This is harped by all but it truly is the greatest piece of advice out there: know your league settings!
If a league requires two centers, that elevates the position, especially since the drop off comes hard and fast.
How many bench slots are available? The deeper the bench, the more room to stash players. In more shallow benches, lottery tickets (players who could pay off handsomely if everything breaks right, but the odds of that happening are long) are tougher to hold onto.
Advertisem*nt
Daily vs. weekly lineup changes are one of the most important settings. If you can set lineups on a daily basis, then it becomes about maximizing minutes and games played, making sure all available guys are playing on each day. In weekly leagues, mapping out schedules ahead of time is important because you cannot adjust your lineup after you set it for the week ahead.
How many pickups are allowed each week? Most leagues put a cap on pickups so that the impact of streaming is negated. Streaming is the concept of inserting/churning players off the waiver wire who are in a good matchup or provide a particular statistical category that you need. For example, if you are a little light in the blocks category in a weekly matchup, then finding a blocks specialist off the wire becomes palatable.
Drafts
This is how the player pool is allocated before a league starts. Most leagues utilize a snake (serpentine) draft with draft order determined randomly. So drafts begin with the manager who lucked into the No. 1 pick spot and proceed chronologically. When the last manager makes a selection in Round 1, he or she then gets the first pick in Round 2. When the draft returns to the No. 1 spot, that manager gets to select first in Round 3. This serpentine process continues for the remainder of the draft.
Recently, the inclusion of Third Round Reversal (TRR) has been implemented in order to balance things out. Nikola Jokic is head and shoulders above the rest of the player pool so, in a typical snake-style draft, the manager with the first pick gets to select Jokic then the chance at the 24th and 25th overall players (assuming a 12-team league) when the draft returns to that manager.
To balance this out, TRR flips the third round on its head. Instead of the Jokic manager selecting 24th and 25th, that changes to 24th and 36th. The manager at the end of the draft selecting 12th now gets the 12th, 13th and 25th picks instead of the 36th.
Snake drafts are fun and all, but the best and most fair way to distribute the player pool is via auction drafts. In this format, every manager is given a set budget to spend however they wish in compiling their roster. This way, every player is available to every manager. Let free markets reign!
If you have never participated in a fantasy auction draft, then you have not lived. They are so much fun, especially in the beginning when many are making it rain like James Harden in the club. As a result, many pursue a Stars and Scrubs strategy, which consists of paying a premium for a few studs and filling in the rest of the roster with lower-priced players.
Advertisem*nt
This strategy is risky because it relies on a few players to carry the entire squad. If one of those star players gets hurt, it’s tough to make up. That said, if the stars perform up to expectation and the lower-priced players hit, then this team construction is awfully tough to beat.
The flip side to Stars and Scrubs is taking on a more balanced approach. Rather than allocating a significant portion of the budget on a couple of stars, the auction dollars are spread out across the whole squad. The floor is high and injuries can be weathered easier, but the ceiling is often lower.
An important caveat to which strategy should be employed is determined by the size of the league. In shallow leagues, Stars and Scrubs is more forgiving because of the options available on the waiver wire. The deeper a league gets, the risk/reward ratio becomes less favorable. For example, I participate in multiple 30-team leagues, and let me tell you, the waiver wire is not for the faint of heart. If a player has a pulse and played five minutes last week, it’s as if gold was discovered.
Redraft vs. Dynasty
Redraft leagues are for one season only. At the draft, the entire player pool is available and allocated accordingly. At the end of the season, all the players get placed back into the pool until the following season.
There are keeper leagues that allow for a certain number of players to be kept from year to year while the rest of the player pool is available the following season. The duration and amount of keepers is dependent on each individual league.
Dynasty leagues have an initial startup draft in which every player is available. In subsequent seasons, though, none of those players get thrown back into the player pool. Instead, they remain with the team that initially drafted them forever, or until they get traded or released. The only draft that occurs each season consists of the incoming rookies.
Conclusion
Fantasy basketball is an ever evolving puzzle, which is morphing and shifting when new information arrives. That said, it’s not something that should be viewed as overwhelming. No one has more information than anyone else. As with most things in life, it comes down to having a vision and executing it. Hopefully, this primer laid a foundation for this beautiful game. To take that next step, read and consume all that my colleague Eric Wong writes. He’s a fantasy basketball Hall of Famer for a reason!
(Top photo: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports)
