Most people will be doing their drafts over the next week, and it’s an exciting time of year. It’s just the early foundation for your fantasy season, but it puts you in a position to be ahead of the rest of your league. Capitalizing on a few simple draft strategies can be the little boost you need to make better decisions, and every little adjustment will help boost your chances and make you a better fantasy manager. With that in mind, let’s look at some last minute tips to improve your editing!
Make a mock draft
It amazes me how many fantasy managers blindly go into their drafts. That is the biggest mistake you can make. Understanding where players are taken is the most important factor when drafting. Whether you need to read about players you love or find out which players are overrated, doing a mock draft is key. The good news is that Yahoo offers mock drafts almost every minute on their site, and you can adjust the settings to match your link and even choose which draft slot to choose from!
Know Your Connection Settings
This is simple, but you need to have a broad understanding of your connection settings. The first factor is to understand how many teams are in your league. That will help you realize which positions might be shallower than others, especially considering the roster sizes. The most important factor when looking at the settings is the scoring. The standard is a nine-category format, but there are various arrangements, including point connections. Players have different values based on each format, and it’s imperative to capitalize on those guys because the ranks and ADPs don’t change in the draft room.
Understanding Tiers
I will initially say to make your own rankings, but that can be time consuming for most people. An easier method is to break down rankings by levels. This means organizing the rankings according to your preferences and getting a read on what players are doing in the same areas. This can help you find values, as there will inevitably be downers in every draft. It will also help you with your personal player preferences, essential for any fantasy manager.
Understanding Categories
Most formats on Yahoo are nine-card, and understanding how each player is rated in this type of format is critical. This is simply putting together a puzzle and finding the right amount of stats to beat your opponent each week. It will be a different puzzle every week, and it is imperative to fill each category equally in the season. If you lean toward specific categories during your draft, enter the others using the waiver wire once the season begins. You also need to be flexible and choose the best player available rather than relying on personal preference. Bringing biases into fantasy is the fastest way to hurt your team!
Position Deficiency
As someone who has already done nearly 20 drafts, this is the most critical factor for yours truly. I was limited to drafting forwards and centers at times because those are definitely the hardest positions to fill. The front position is particularly difficult. The best fantasy producers come from the guard and center positions. That’s why I always take three ahead in the first eight rounds. The options after that do not exist. You also need to notice when the centers run out of juice. Any solid starting center will be removed around pick 100, and it’s critical to get at least two or three of those guys in Yahoo formats.
Avoid injury risks
I do this in every fantasy sport because nothing is worse than starting your season with a bunch of players in your IL slots. The sad reality of sports is that some of these guys are vulnerable and just can’t handle a full season. It’s hard work to play basketball three or four times a week for six months, and some of these guys have proven they can’t handle it. There are also players with pre-existing injuries, and staying away from those players is key. This season, my list includes Joel Embiid, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Khris Middleton and Ben Simmons. Many of these guys can still provide tremendous value if they fall to the right spot, but know that they likely won’t play a full season.
Get Yahoo Fantasy Plus!
This is not an ad plug as I truly believe that Yahoo Fantasy Plus is a game changer for drafts. My favorite perk is that they do an ADP of diamond editors. Yahoo is one of the few sites that ranks their fantasy players, and the diamond players are the most successful on their site. Understanding how those guys draft is a major advantage in your league because they usually finish near the top of the standings every year. They also have Draft Scout, a helpful tool that advises which players have the highest value for your specific team build during the draft. It also gives you some advanced stats that are not available to most players, many of which are essential to understanding how these players are producing.
This is Your Fantasy Team
This sounds simple, but it needs to be said. So many people who play fantasy are caught up in the rankings, advice and columns of fantasy experts that they need to remember why they play fantasy in the first place. At the end of the day, you do this as a hobby, and you have a good idea of what to expect. If you follow enough to read an article like this, you’re definitely smart enough to make your own decisions. The only person who will regret the decisions you make for your fantasy team is you, and following your heart/brain is the best way to play fantasy. Get as much information as you can, but always follow your gut!
Have fun!
This goes into the last section because the most important factor is to have fun. At the end of the day, this is a hobby where we fictionalize players’ stats and play against each other. Sure there is money on the line for many of you, but none of you would be playing if it wasn’t fun in the first place! As someone who loves basketball, I can’t tell you how much fun it is to check box scores every night. The daily grind is one of the main reasons I love fantasy basketball, and it’s something you need to enjoy, or it will eat away at you in a long, six-month season.
