I started playing fantasy basketball when I was in grad school. My roommate and I used to prep for drafts like we were studying for the bar exam. I’m talking binging on “SportsCenter” and NBA preview shows. I’m talking printouts — literal printouts! — of fantasy basketball advice and cheat sheets. I’m even talking giant draft boards, with us sometimes working together and other times privately so one couldn’t steal the other’s sleepers and draft secrets.
We used to have a ball doing all that draft preparation, and preparation was a big key for why both of us were so good at fantasy basketball drafts. By the time the draft came along, we no longer needed the printouts, because we already knew which players we were looking for in each part of the draft.
When you come into the draft with your plan already in place, you don’t have to scramble, you don’t have to reach and you don’t have to panic as the clock runs down. You can be cool, calm and collected as you draft the team that has the best chance to collect the prize at the end of the season.
Though the game always evolves, a lot of the methods I used with my roommate a quarter century ago still lead to success today.
Playing fantasy basketball is fun, but like everything else, winning just makes the whole experience that much sweeter.
Tip 1: Set aside some time to prepare for the draft
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It never fails. In every fantasy draft I’ve ever done, one of the people in the league will say, “Yo, I haven’t had a chance to look at fantasy much yet. Let me pull up the rankings real quick.” And that’s cool, because we fantasy basketball analysts put a lot of time and energy into making our rankings. But keep in mind: (a) These rankings lists are public, which means everyone in your league has access to that same information; and (b) if you really know the subject matter yourself, you can make your own adjustments to my (or any public) rankings and come into the draft with a clearer idea about where you think the value is.
Tip 2: Follow the NBA offseason moves
The best preparation is to follow what happens in the offseason, because that is where the changes in fantasy value take place. NBA veterans remaining on the same team in relatively the same situation tend to produce similarly from year to year. So, you want to pay attention to moves like Kevin Durant getting traded to the Rockets and Desmond Bane heading to the Magic and, of course, how the incoming class of rookies performs in Summer League. And yes, we have you covered with analysis of all of that. So, if you haven’t spent your summer following the NBA moves, rest assured we can help you get caught up.
Tip 3: Draft to your scoring system
It’s important to know the scoring system your league uses, and draft to that system. A points-based league will have a different set of expectations and necessities than a roto league, which is also different from a head-to-head categories league. Category specialists are more valuable in roto-style leagues than in points-based, whereas efficient volume scorers that don’t contribute across the board or those who may have a horrible free throw percentage on high volume may be more valuable in points leagues. Draft accordingly.
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Tip 4: Draft management: Weigh best player available vs. position scarcity
My strategy on the type of players I pick changes as the draft goes along. In the first few rounds, I focus on the best player available more than team fit. For example, I’m not super-worried if two of my first three picks happen to both play small forward. It’s more important to maximize the fantasy scoring potential of your best few players. If need be, you can play one or more in flex positions.
Tip 5: Draft management: Team fit and balance in the middle rounds
In the middle rounds, I typically start paying more attention to team fit and making sure I have strong contributors across the board. If there’s a clear best player available, I’ll certainly still keep that in mind, but by Rounds 5-8 of the draft, I’m making sure I don’t have any position holes that I cannot adequately fill in the later rounds.
Tip 6: Draft management: Shoot your shot late
By the later rounds, I already have my foundation in place with sufficient positional flexibility, so it’s time to take some big swings. I’m going after my sleepers. I’m taking chances. I’m leaning into more risk/reward-type plays, instead of just going with steady contributors. Often, it’s the players taken late in drafts and hit that wind up being league-winning picks.
Tip 7: Seek out younger, experienced stars with a lot on their plate
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Think about where your players of interest are in their careers and how that might affect their production. You want to draft younger veteran players who are trying to carry their teams to the playoffs; they tend to be more durable and play more minutes because they’re younger and have their NBA legs under them. And they have to do everything they can to get their teams to the promised land. On the other side of the coin, maybe think twice about picking older players that, while among the best in the league, may miss games while trying to stay fresh for the playoffs, as opposed to going all-out in every regular-season game.
Tip 8: Be active early in free agency
Be flexible and ready to make moves right out the gate. One habit I had to curtail was sticking with struggling players I had drafted rather than bringing in players who were off to impressive starts that exceeded my expectation for them. If my 13th-round sleeper starts the season on the bench or playing poorly, and there’s an available player who has scored 20 points in each of the first two games, I have to be willing to drop my sleeper to move on to the better prospect. The first couple of weeks of the season are crucial, because many surprise performers and breakouts will make themselves known early. You’ve got to be ready to give them a try before your competition does.
Tip 9: Trade to win
No matter how well your fantasy draft goes, and even if you’re able to get some good free agents early in the season, you are still going to need to make trades as the season goes along if you want to win. So make trade offers early and often. I’m not talking lopsided offers the rest of your league will hate you for. I mean legit ones that recognize the needs of your team and those of your potential trade partner. Here’s the thing: If you make “win-win” trades more often than everyone else in your league, your team should add more “wins” to the ledger than your opponents do. Over time, those trade wins often lead to league championship wins.
Tip 10: Watch the games, lean into the NBA
No. 10 could have been No. 1, because it is really the “dirty secret” at the center of all fantasy sports success. Fantasy basketball is, at its core, just another way to enjoy basketball. So, if you want to be good at fantasy hoops, the best thing to do is dig into the NBA and enjoy it. Get NBA League Pass and watch a bunch of games. Have barber shop arguments about who the best players are in today’s game. Watch “SportsCenter” on the regular. And yes, read your boy’s articles here on ESPN Fantasy whenever you can.
The more time you spend enjoying the sport, the more you’ll realize you are up on the latest developments without even trying to be. From there, it’s easy to have a feel for which players might be ready to step up and produce, as well as players you might want to trade because circumstances suggest their opportunities might diminish down the road.
It’s not homework. It’s not work at all. It’s just hoops, and if you enjoy hoops to the fullest, it’s that much easier to win your fantasy league.
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