NOVICE LEAGUE POINTERS: Courtesy of DarthTater
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The Draft.

NOTHING is more important than the draft. It is your foundation. If you draft poorly, it will be extremely difficult to make up ground.

How to draft:
(1) Be very careful if you are thinking of drafting a guy with a history of health problems. Injuries can kill your season.(e.g. Andre Kirilenko will put up outrageous numbers but only if he is playing. You really need to consider whether you are willing to gamble a first round pick on him. If he stays healthy he is golden, but will he?

(2) Centers are very rare. With rare exceptions, they don't really put up great numbers. Their value comes from the fact that there aren't many good ones.

(3) Players who can play more than one fantasy position are very flexible and therefore valuable. They can help you squeeze an extra guy into your lineup some days. If you can't decide between a guy who plays forward and a guy who plays guard & forward, I would suggest giving added value to the player with multi-position eligibility.

(4) The league will be based on 9 categories. To beat someone you only need to win 5 of them (explained below). So if your team has Shaq and Big Ben, forget the free throw category. Your strengths are in rebounds, etc. Don't waste time getting a good free throw shooter if you will lose that category most weeks anyhow. Same thing with turnovers. If you have a team with great guards, you'll probably win assists every week, but just forget about winning turnovers. Points scored are only ONE category of nine. Your team has other needs too, so draft accordingly.

(5) Invest five bucks in a fantasy basketball magazine. "Study" it. Learn. (But don't take everything they say as the gospel). Make your own decisions. Also, look at online info. It is more up to date and covers trades and injuries that can affect everything greatly.

Here is an addy. Fantasy Basketball Forums - Fantasy Basketball Cafe 2006
It is called the "Fantasy basketball Cafe". It's just people like us. Tons of bad advice there but some good advice also. You can ask people questions about trade offers, drafting, vetoes, etc.

(6) It's fun to have a Piston on your team, but don't break the bank acquiring him.


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League basics

Basically the league is set up with 9 categories. The categories are fg%, ft%, pts, 3pts, rebs, asst, to's, blks, and stl.

If you win at least 5 of 9 categories in a given week , you have defeated your opponent. However, losing 4-5 is no big deal. (Unless you wanna talk trash, of course...more on that later). You still get credit for your 4 wins in the standings even if you lost the overall match.

The league is head to head and probably will consist of 12 teams. There are 21 fantasy weeks in the regular season. So everyone plays everyone else twice (with the exception of playing one of your opponents only once).

The playoffs are three (3) weeks long. There is the upper bracket (teams who ended up between first & sixth place compete for the championship), and a consolation bracket (teams 7 through 12 compete for those positions). The top two teams in each bracket get a playoff bye the first week. (i.e. teams 1&2 and 7&8 get byes).

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Trades

This is a VERY touchy subject regardless of the particular league you belong to.

First of all, show INTEGRITY when you trade. Don't try trading a guy who you know just suffered a severe injury but you also know that the other General Manager has not yet heard the news. It's just wrong. People will not make any deals with you and believe me word gets around fast.

Do NOT make insulting offers. Try to look at the other sides needs and then make the offer. The best trade is the one that helps BOTH teams. Don't be afraid to make an offer if you believe it is fair.

You can make a trade through private messages to individual owners (usually the preferred method). Sometimes people advertise by posting their needs in a more general manner (e.g. I need a small forward and have too many Centers).

Promptly answer all trade offers. Don't leave someone hanging. Let them know you received their offer and are considering it or declining it. Don't be afraid to make a counter offer.

It's always a good idea to ask a neutral owner advice before pulling the trigger on a deal. It helps you avoid trades you may later regret.

It's ok to back out of a trade after long negotiations. People get cold feet or sometimes just change their minds. Just show integrity and keep people informed. Negotiate in GOOD FAITH!

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Trade Vetoes

First, understand in advance that this is probably the source of more bad feelings and arguments than anything else in fantasy sports.

Here is how I personally decide whether or not to veto a trade:
Before voting to stop a trade ( it takes 4 votes to veto) try really hard to look at the deal objectively. Don't look only at how it affects your team. (i.e. just because a guy makes a pickup that will likely catapult him into the playoffs and leave you standing in the lurch does not make it an unfair trade). People sometimes make bad deals. That's life. They can ask advice. Besides, sometimes what we perceive as dumb is actually a very good trade.
Distinguish these "dumb" deals from trades that are made to help out a buddy who is in contention because the other person has essentially thrown in the towel and doesn't care about ruining his team and making the league unbalanced. Veto these trades where an owner purposely destroys his team to help another. (Hopefully nobody pulls this).

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Commissioner

The Commissioner is the person in our league who is in charge of things. They decide what rules we will use and settle any disputes that may arise.

Please understand that being the Commissioner of a fantasy league is a thankless job. No pay and owners are looking out for their own teams benefit more than the overall good of the league. Sometimes owners have a certain perspective on things and it is not always the same as that of the other owners or of the Commisioner. When things go wrong people jump on the Commissioner because his decisions to act or not act are not usually something everyone agrees on. Give the Commmissioner a break. He has a tough job.

Last year, the Commissioners of both leagues showed integrity and did a great job under very trying circumstances (new league growing pains). We are in good hands. Let's support our Commissioners.

Note: Some things are best left to private messages rather than posts. Use your best judgment.

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Other stuff

DON'T QUIT!!!! By joining the league you are making a commitment that you are in it for the long haul. There is no guarantee you will have a top team. Lots depends on hard work, but luck is a HUGE factor. It seems like one team every year is killed by injuries. You can't change that. Hang in there. Next year may be your year. Nobody wants quitters to rejoin the league, and you likely will be banned the following year if you quit.

Set your lineups in advance. You never know when something will come up so I suggest setting it a week in advance. You can change it as many times as you like up to the time that particular game begins. You do not get credit for what your bench players do unless they are playing on that particular day. Set your lineup every day. If the Pistons don't have a game that day and you have Chauncey Billups, take him OUT of your lineup and put in a lesser guard who IS playing that day.

Every day you get to activate 3 guards, 3 forwards, 2 Centers, and 2 extra guys (any position). So depending on what NBA teams play, you may have 8 guys playing while your opponent only has 6 that day.

Once an NBA game begins (e.g. Miami vs. Orlando at 7:00 pm) you cannot add a player or remove one from THAT game. If another game starts later (e.g. Portland vs. Sacramento at 10:00 pm), you can still adjust your lineup for that later matchup. So be sure to watch for players that received injuries the night before and will not play that day.

Check out the free agent lists. If extremely fortunate, you'll get a Boris Diaw, but more likely, you'll usually find somebody who can at least fill in and help you out for a bit. If a regular (whether on your team or not) gets injured, look to see who will replace him for that week.

Guys sometimes push the wrong button and release a good player to waivers. Jump on it. Also, be careful not to push "accept" when you want to "reject" a trade. There is no taking it back.

"Free agents" are players who nobody owns. You can pick them up immediately by dropping one of your own players.

"Waiver" players are available when another team decides they don't want somebody. It takes a couple of days for a player to clear waivers. The waiver list is initially set up in inverse order of the draft order. (e.g. a person drafting 4th will get the 9th waiver choice). After you use your pick you drop to the bottom (12th) of the priority list until another person claims someone. So if you have the 9th waiver pick, the people with picks 1 through 8 get priority over you if they want someone.

For ten bucks you can get stat tracker. It shows you every basket, rebound, etc. as it is happening. Well worth the money and I highly recommend it.

Yahoo updates their stats every evening after all games are complete. Usually around 3:00 a.m. Michigan time (EDT).


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Trash Talk

Smack talk makes the league loads of fun. Try not to take it personally. It's all in fun. Just don't mess with people who you think may be sensitive or who you don't know very well. If in doubt, poke fun at Linwood... even if he isn't in your league.

Questions?

Don't ever hesitate to ask questions. Usually, if you have a question several other people are also wondering the same thing.

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Important

The league is what we make it.

Have fun and Good Luck everyone!

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I would like to add: Pay attention to the %'s categories. Getting both of those gives you a serious edge so watch those guys that brick a lot of shots!

You kind of want to minimize your weaknesses so give up turnovers, FG% OR FT% but not all three at once

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Great article. It's an excellent primer for new players, and those who want to improve on last year's performance.

Agreed. Nice job Darth!

After re-reading this, I have to disagree. I'm mediocore in drafts and terrible in trades, but if you work free agency, you can be very competitive.

I'll post my FA tips once the leagues have drafted. They are applicable to every fantasy sports league.

You were the exception to the rule.
You drafted ok, but had a sixth sense in the free agent market. I'm always right on top of the market but you seemed to know what a guy would be doing the next week even before the coach knew!!!!

If you would really like to succeed in this league, just follow me around during the season. If I drop a player, pick him up. You are almost guaranteed that he will have a breakout week.

Honest, it's just a technique, anyone can do it, and when I show you, it will help you in any fantasy league.

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They are the archetype for dominance. They are the gatekeepers of the conference. They are the Detroit Pistons.

Excellent Job you guys. The young apprenctice has become a Jedi. Tater, I can't wait to test those skills out this year. I still got some tricks up my sleeve. Are you ready for the challenge?

I'd relish the thought of taking you out jedi master Obi Wan, but as things stand, I think I am going to be helping commissioner Yoda run his Novices around in circles.

Hans Jammer is going to have to kick your butt for me!

(But maybe we can do a side thing each week comparing our teams totals?)