With the NBA season beginning tonight, it seemed like an appropriate time to see what questions people are asking leading into the season. Sure enough, users on Reddit were not shy about the things they’ve been wondering. In fact, so many questions were asked that I was only able to answer about half of them here. We’ll kick things off today with the higher profile questions before diving into some deeper league stuff tomorrow. What’s the deal with Kawhi? Injury anything to worry about? Kawhi Leonard’s injury is the most compelling storyline of the early season for two reasons. The […]
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The sun is hot on the backs of the men as they wait. They’ve been at it for two weeks now–still nothing. Doubt has crept into their minds. Some of them doubt there’s anything in this water but rocks and more water. Some of them doubt their wives will understand if they have to tell them even once more that this trip west has been for naught thus far. What none of them doubts for a moment is that they have any choice but to stick their pans in the water and keep waiting. Until this hot morning. One of […]
Posted in StrategyProfessional poker player Annie Duke wrote a book called the Middle Zone which outlined what the middle zone is in poker and how important it is to avoid uncertainty. In deep stack poker 76 suited is a much better hand than A6 off-suit because 76 can flop straights and flushes, as well as better draws which allow you to semi-bluff. Whereas, A6 off-suit is a better hand unless you are all-in, which is unlikely to happen with those hands in deep stack poker. A6 off-suit is a problem hand on many flops. If you flop an ace it’s difficult to […]
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Point guards get assists. Centers get rebounds. It is a simple premise born out of reality: in basketball, certain positions are tailored to accrue certain statistics. By and large, it continues to hold true. The point guards still rack up the most assists while the big men crash the boards. The problem is, sometimes you could really use some assists and a center to round out your roster. Where do you go then? Luckily, there are players out there offering contributions in categories that their positional peers are not. While they are fun to appreciate for their sheer novelty, these […]
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Anyone who knows me, knows that I’ve punted assists quite often in 9 cat H2H leagues, with mixed results. I have won leagues punting assists and I have failed miserably doing so. I have also won several roto leagues in which I haven’t punted assists. So I can’t claim punting assists is the end-all and be-all. Still I’m known as the “punt assists guy”. The two biggest advantages to punting assists in 9 cat is that punting assists generally allows you to win TO and that assists is probably the most expensive cat given the preference for point guards that […]
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Because Many GMs can’t Conceptualize Little Numbers The most underrated player this season, Gorgui Dieng, is a big man and so is the most overrated fantasy player, Blake Griffin. Other than that, the two players are almost complete opposites. This article will highlight why Blake Griffin is constantly overrated. Fantasy noobs tend to be drawn to real life superstars, regardless of whether their game translates to fantasy, and Griffin is on as many highlight reels as any other. Fantasy noobs generally can’t help but be blinded by big numbers and Blake Griffin offers those in spades. His success in the big […]
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Last season I placed second in an 8 category roto, auction, keeper league with the following players as my starting five: PG-Chris Paul; SG-Avery Bradley; SF-Kawhi Leonard; PF-Paul Millsap; C-Marc Gasol. When Gasol got injured I spent almost all of my free agent budget to grab Gorgui Dieng off the wire, as someone had dropped him during his early season slump. Later in the season I realized there is little discernible difference between what Gasol offers and what Dieng offers. That’s why I’m using my 4th keeper slot to keep him in this 4 keeper league (along with CP3, Kawhi, and Thrillsap). […]
Posted in StrategyListening to Differing Views “Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.” – Bruce Lee. I’m writing this because I haven’t always been open-minded about the viewpoints of my fellow fantasy GMs and many of them certainly haven’t been empathetic to me or my views. The truth is that many different strategies can have success in fantasy. Much of time, we are more concerned about proving ourselves right than we are about learning. I’ve found to follow your instinct regarding the players that you are passionate about, while listening to others about the […]
Posted in StrategyI wasn’t the only one buying into the hype, I was merely the loudest. Perhaps I was the most eloquent. We based our perceptions not on the eye test, but on advanced standard deviation analysis which convinced us of the merit of our claims. We were wrong. Boy-were we ever wrong. I was wrong. As the season began, we gasped in horror at the poor shooting display. Sure he may turn it around, but for the GMs who drafted him for $25+ in roto, the damage has already been dealt. In case you haven’t guessed yet, I’m referring to Danny […]
Posted in StrategyWith most things, be it the stock market or fantasy basketball, you generally want to do what most people are NOT doing. You will not win your drafts simply by following the consensus view. You win your drafts by pursuing strategies that maximally exploit the market in your league. If you are the best general manager (GM) in your league, you can likely win your league by drafting a balanced team. The other managers are unlikely to give you much trouble, particularly if you are in an auction league as your opponents will make gross errors in player evaluation and […]
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