Punting Cat's H2H

[deNIEd]

In a normal 9 cat H2h league (pts, 3's, stl, astl, blk, reb, FG%, FT%, TO)

Which categories are good fits to target and which are good to punt?

Of course I realize this has a lot to do with draft positioning, but I would like to have some general gameplan going into the draft.


Pts, Stl, Blk, Reb, FG% ???

Pts, 3ts, stls, ast, FT% ??

What's the best complimentary 5 to target?

[F1uxCapacit0r]

i usually flop turn overs, and ignore % while drafting. shooting can change from game to game so stick with what you know they will get.

an easy way is to flop FT. in that case target players like rondo, howard, josh smith, okafor who all shoot high 50 low 60% for FT

or you could flop FG. target players like granger, kevin martin (risk), baron davis, jennings, JR smith.

[delfam]

FT% is the easiest so most people will try doing that. Because of that I'd focus more on 3%, it'll give your bigs a huge boost and opens up a lot of guards that wouldn't be good choices(Westbrook for example) if you weren't punting 3's.

Just to note, don't go into the draft thinking your going to punt a category, it'll usually depend on your first round pick, so build it around them.

[andyo]

Punt either FG% or FT%. These are the most variable categories and also happen to be categories that specialized teams are weak in. I.E a big ball team with Dwight and Rondo gets amazing defensive stats but crappy FT% and no 3's. Punt FT%'s and 3pm, T.O's will also be bad.... points will likely be variable, you should be #1 in the league in every other category though. Rebounds, blocks, steals, FG%.....thats 4 categories you should be #1 in and have down. Points will be a bit variable so depending on how deep your league is, high scorers like Stephen Jackson or Monta that can score and get high steals should be prime targets.

[delfam]

the problem is most people will try that same strategy, so if your in a league with good players they'll probably take some of the players your targeting.

Also if you draft at the end of the first round it's easy to punt FT% cause you can get 2 of Kidd/Rondo/Jsmoove/Howard, put if you draft in the top half of the draft it's difficult cause those players are good at FT% and kidd/smith/rondo will all be gone by the time you pick again. It depends who your first pick is.

[deNIEd]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Luckily I am in a league with some buddies who have either zero fantasy bball experience or only roto (I for example normally only do roto).

If you are in a draft, and you see teams punting for specific categories, would that change your drafting strategy? Would you go and try to dominate categories they are weak in, or should your game-plan not change (the game plan you decide upon pending your first few picks)

[delfam]

it definetly changes since they'll be taking players your targeting. It's difficult to tell what their punting though until their second pick. If they go Howard and Nash you know there just bad, but if they go Howard/Rondo you know their punting FT% so you go and draft Nash.

[andyo]

the problem is most people will try that same strategy, so if your in a league with good players they'll probably take some of the players your targeting.

That's only one strategy....I see your point, but it's just one strategy. There are so much more, I just gave one example to help the guy out. That's the beauty of fantasy..

Anyways, I find only a few managers are strong fantasy players, and those that are, don't always have the right pick range to go for the big ball, FT% punt (You need a late first for it or you won't be able to combo pick the right players...based on yahoo rankings.

This was just one example I gave, obviously, there are other viable strategies, where-ever your draft selection is. You can build a hybrid big ball team which has good FT% and tanks 3's. Brook Lopez, Gasol (assuming no one drops down of higher value) would be your early targets. Point is, there are so many strategies you can implement, just be prepared.

There isn't one go-all strategy in fantasy. If other teams follow suit, there are several other stragies you can implement

If you are in a draft, and you see teams punting for specific categories, would that change your drafting strategy?

Usually not, you have to adjust on the fly. But small-ball strategies and big-ball strategies with certain punts can be adjusted all the time. For example, if someone is going big ball and picks Dwight before you, and big ball is the only option to go, you can get Josh Smith and Rondo. He doesn't get to combo Rondo with Dwight. And Josh Smith is arguably equally good for a big ball team as Dwight.

I also realize I'm using big ball as the main example, but small ball teams can be equally effective. In fact, I was hoping to build a small ball team but got the worst pick I could have had in my league.

[mikero]

It really depends on your draft position.... I usually try not to punt either FT% (unless you get Dwight/Rondo) or FG% though.

This year I've made an interesting hybrid team with good pts, reb, 3s, FT%, to and decent blks + FG%.