Draft strategies

[theBlackMagic]

Okay, i'm playing in a Fantasy league for the second time this fall.

Last season I got terrible results and ended up second last place.

I was wondering what your strategy is when drafting?
Do you go for the best available player and then try to build your team via trades?
Or do you draft a player relative to your positional needs?

[drejeronfire]

Trades are very difficult to make in competitive leagues (especially if they're non-keeper leagues), I wouldn't go into the season anticipating making any trades.

There really is no one draft strategy. You need to be fluid. In a larger (16+) head-to-head league you can probably get away with constructing a team that is good all-around in a smaller league you may want to pick a handful of categories that you want to strengthen early on and then fill in the holes from there.

The one thing I will say is this though, don't get suckered into drafting big name players in the middle rounds. I've seen many people draft players like Tim Duncan, David West, etc. well before they should have been drafted with better FANTASY players still on the board.

As a last bit of advice (I have found that) wing players who score a "ton" of points but do not contribute much in steals or three-pointers are always overvalued in the draft (Gerald Henderson, Demar Derozan). Tread carefully when drafting players of that ilk, they're useful but not the game changers many make them out to be...

[fraanciiscoo]

Hello

You forgot to say if it was h2h or roto

Regarding to the standart h2h 9cats 13players remember 1 thing to win you only got to be good in 5-6 cats and just tank the others. With pick 1,2,3 just go with BPA after that try to fill your spots. Draft PF/C or PG with the 3 first picks.

For exemple
DHoward its a tank in FT% 3pts and to
Rondo it´s also a tank in FT% 3pts and to
But both have good FG and both rebs alot + rondo is a machine in ast

by tanking 3 cats you can still win 6-3 or 5-4 all weeks and the po also

other thing you can look @ it´s po games they going to play

Well there´s tons of thing but if you stick with the plan tank 2-3 cats you will have a stong team imo

[Hypnotoad]

Not a big fan of tanking, it gives you no margin for error in the other categories and affects how you have to draft the rest of your team. Like the example above: you haven't won any categories taking those two yet, all you did is basically guarantee you lose FT and TO (unless you have way fewer games played than your opponent). You've got a damn good start in FG, REB, AST, STL and BLK, but you're not so good that you can ignore those stats the rest of the way and you still need a ton of points and 3's. If you're not careful, you lose 5-4 a lot and you can't rally late in the year with a bunch of 8-1's because you tanked stats. It can be viable if done properly, but it's not a good idea for a beginner and you should probably tank 2 categories tops. It's also a horrible idea in roto scoring.

The easiest way I can word what I do is to start by taking the guy that helps you in the most categories early in the draft. I try to avoid taking guys that are average in a lot of categories (Dirk, Aldridge, Griffin, virtually any SF) early because it leaves a lot of holes to fill later.

You basically want to get two types of players:

1) "point guards"- you want perimeter players that can get assists, steals and 3's, and your earlier picks should get points or good percentages as well (or very rarely, blocks). You really need your guards to get assists and to a lesser extent steals and 3's because a lot of big players don't.

2) Centers that hit all of the big man stats. If you get bigs that can't block shots or rebound, you're in a bit of a hole since your perimeter players generally won't do that. Early-round bigs should average like 18-9-1 steal-1.5 blocks and 50% from the floor (FT's or assists help too).

There are guys that don't fit those that contribute in a bunch of stats (Durant, Love, Smith to name 3), but you have to be careful.

Two other things:

1) Try to lay off the small forwards. Most of them aren't going to help you too much in assists, rebounds or blocks and may hurt you elsewhere as well. It's not that hard to find guys late that can post something like 12-4-a steal-1.5 3's.

2) Try to avoid paying a ton for bigs that average something like 14-9-1 or less. It's not that hard to find big men that can average 10-8-over a block late, so you're paying a ton for what might amount to little more than name recognition. I generally have good success grabbing one (maybe two if things fall right) elite big and then snagging 3 or 4 sleepers.

As for sleepers, a couple of things to look for:

1) Guys that are suddenly stepping into bigger roles. Make sure they can get 3's, assists, steals or blocks since those are usually harder to find. Bonus if they've produced well in limited time or spot starts.

2) Young players with talent and a chance at PT. It's generally better to target 2nd or 3rd year players than rookies, most of them struggle (though you can sometimes get huge bargains if you guess right)

[Raptor_Guy]

Ive had much success with the philosophy to build a team of players that will never hurt you in a category, with the exception of perhaps turnovers. If you have a team of efficient players who are versatile and put up good percentages, youre always in position to win a head to head matchup.

ALSO, if you are allowed players adds, heres a huge tip. Keep 1 or 2 spots on your team open every week so you can assess your opponent and what you might need. If youre well balanced and see your opponent has good bigmen, then add 2 bigmen for that matchup.

Anyway, back to draft strategies. Early on I stock up on efficient bigmen. For example, I killed last season because I had Al Jefferson, Alridge and Bosh all on my team. Theyre all efficient and help in a number of categories. I dont care much for drafting wings early on because I find them pretty interchangable throughout the season. Obviously point guards are important too but I find star bigmen are gone within the first few rounds while you can still find useful point guards later on.

[patentboy23]

Ive had much success with the philosophy to build a team of players that will never hurt you in a category, with the exception of perhaps turnovers. If you have a team of efficient players who are versatile and put up good percentages, youre always in position to win a head to head matchup.

ALSO, if you are allowed players adds, heres a huge tip. Keep 1 or 2 spots on your team open every week so you can assess your opponent and what you might need. If youre well balanced and see your opponent has good bigmen, then add 2 bigmen for that matchup.

Anyway, back to draft strategies. Early on I stock up on efficient bigmen. For example, I killed last season because I had Al Jefferson, Alridge and Bosh all on my team. Theyre all efficient and help in a number of categories. I dont care much for drafting wings early on because I find them pretty interchangable throughout the season. Obviously point guards are important too but I find star bigmen are gone within the first few rounds while you can still find useful point guards later on.

You couldn't be more spot on. I aim at very elite guards and bigs who are extremely efficient: Paul, Jefferson, Pau, etc. in the 1st three rounds. This serves as your solid base of your team and helps balance out your team, when players have bad shooting nights or sometimes high TOs. You can get decent guards later in the draft although assists can be pricey. I've gone Bynum, Pau, and Demarcus and grabbed a PG later. A great technique is to draft dynamic, unconventional players that give you help in categories that isn't common for their particular position: e.g. Monta gives you about 4-5 assists which is good for a low end PG or Milsap is bound to give you at least 1.5 steals, very uncommon for a big man.

[Fenris-77]

I don't think it needs to be complicated. Draft the best players available for the first two or three rounds and then see where you're at. In those rounds preference PGs and good bigs if value is even. After that you'll have a team with strengths and weaknesses which you can then proceed to fill on a scarcity basis. Every draft is different and needs to treated organically. You can't decide too many hard and fast rules going in because it may not pan out that way.

For HtH you can punt (and with most drafts probably should at least semi-punt one or maybe two cats). Punting categories lets you re-valuate the remaining players and find value where others don't. For roto you need a clean line so it's about efficiency and avoiding players who are huge negatives in certain categories especially if you don't have a strong foundation there.

I;d recommend reading as much as you can about various sites' ranks and sleepers as it relates to whatever main site you're drafting on. The rankings from your home site that get used in the draft application always have an effect on peoples drafts, and it;s good to know if there are some guys you value a lot more than your home sites rankings do. Looking at a lot of rankings also gives you an idea about tiers of players, For example, if you know there's a glut of bigs in the 5th through 7th rounds (and there is this year) you can maybe pass on a big in the fourth to fill a harder to find position, or to draft a player that falls into your lap.

[Apathy]

I'm assuming 9cat roto.

You need to come away with at least two elite PGs/PFs. Avoid drafting wings early unless their FG% is good, they don't turn it over non-stop and they provide a lot of steals, 3s, and/or FT%.

Basing your team around a Carmelo Anthony, for example, is the quickest way to lose.

Focus on FG%, low turnovers, assists, and 3s. If someone is terrible in any one of these categories he better be damn good in everything else. If someone is terrible in two of the categories avoid them. They are always overrated.

The stats you need to prioritize: games played, FG%, assists, turnovers, 3-pointers. Personally I always like drafting a Gallinari type. A decent all-around player who will get you 2+ 3s per game, easy, whose role is unquestioned. They are very rare and should be prioritized. Don't settle for trash like Ben Gordon.

You'll get blocks/boards by getting your big men early. You cannot wait on big men, because if you do you risk not finding blocks. Avoid bigs who don't block. I don't like Zach Randolph types.

[Fenris-77]

I'm assuming 9cat roto.
Avoid bigs who don't block. I don't like Zach Randolph types.

This is the sort of hard and fast rule I think hurts a draft rather than helps it. If you're working with decent projections and rankings you should have an idea about the projected value of a guy like Randolph and then it's just a matter of that value relative to his draft spot. There's a point at which not drafting a player because you have a philosophical issue with his production is just a mistake. Value for draft pick is the bedrock that supports a winning draft.

I've been a little extreme with interpreting your statement there, but just to make a point, and not so much to strawman you into a position not your own.

[Apathy]

Context is everything. Last year, for example, Randolph was going ~25. Terrible price to pay not only because he's not worth it in a vacuum, but also (and most importantly) he's not worth it contextually speaking, when a similar type (Carlos Boozer) is going 30-45 picks later.

Compare that to Ibaka, who was going in the 3rd round. Where else could you get a semblance of an Ibaka?

In general people don't realize how much value is driven by production in scarce categories.

[witnessraps]

my general plan is to get guards with assists 3s and steals, bigs that block and rebound, and everybody has to be efficient and low on tos. i dont like tanking ft with bigs like nene and blake so i try to avoid players that can ruin a cat for me.

[Fenris-77]

In general people don't realize how much value is driven by production in scarce categories.

That's certainly true. I'm not suggesting that anyone overpay for a guy who doesn't contribute in hard to find cats, just that it's eventually a mistake not to draft him just because he doesn't.

[Alex_De_Large]

Why do people tend to go with Yahoo leagues instead of Hoops sports? i find the later system much more fun.