Free Fantasy Basketball Games
Where To Play Fantasy Basketball Free
Most fantasy basketball players play free fantasy basketball games. My only friends who play in premiere leagues don't leave the house during the regular NBA season. They also build shrines to Danny Granger and Tony Parker.M
Free fantasy basketball is all over the Internet, but there are three free venues I like to use. They're the most popular, easiest to use, and have been around longest.
So where should you play fantasy basketball for free? Here are three places to play fantasy basketball free:
Yahoo competes with CBS for customers, but both their services are about the same. If you need premium service, Yahoo offers more upgrades than CBS, and Yahoo offers more fantasy sports varieties.
The constant fantasy basketball drafts at Yahoo are a big selling point. I'm running two mock drafts a day preparing for the real draft.
Most Yahoo fantasy basketball players are serious about the sport. Most Yahoo fantasy basketball leagues allow you to alter your lineup every night of the season, while other free fantasy basketball venues like Sportsline or Hotbox Sports only allow you to set your lineup on a weekly basis.
Yahoo Fantasy Basketball is an excellent free fantasy basketball venue for the serious or the casual player.
CBS and Yahoo dominate the free fantasy basketball audience. CBS Sports has the second-largest number of fantasy sports games and features, and offers almost as many paid packages as Yahoo. At CBS, you can test the paid version of the major fantasy sports before buying in.
CBS fantasy sports is not as user friendly as Yahoo. The free fantasy basketball features at CBS are easy to lose track of in the shuffle of links, stats, game info, ads, and other junk cramming every page. There are also rumblings on their forums about CBS customer service and the scoring systems.
So read the fine print before you join a league. If you don't like the rules, switch venues.
Some of the better features of CBS include:
Free upgraded features to your league become available if you start early. CBS offers some of their "early bird" fantasy basketball fans incentives to start their leagues as early as possible. And CBS' info and fantasy advice pages start up well before the preseason, even offering news and roster updates during the off season.
Unlike lesser known fantasy venues, CBS is customizable. You can run your league any way you want, including running a salary cap league.
If you're just getting into fantasy basketball, CBS is as good a venue to start as any. The wide selection of game and league types is impressive. You can join private or public leagues, and you can commission your own upgraded league for under twenty bucks.
"Standard" CBS scoring is hard to talk about because every league is a little different. But their "standard" head to head scoring system seems to favor offensive stats. Here it is:
- Points 1 point
- Assists 2 points
- Rebounds 1 point
- Steals 1 point
- Block 1 point
- Turnover -1 point
A point and an assist equaling the fantasy total of a steal, a block, and a rebound? That seems unfair. Also, awarding a full point per point scored puts a premium on the guys with the biggest numbers, not the best all around players.
Their standard rotisserie scoring is odd too. They score using FG %, FT %, three pointers, total points, blocks, rebounds, steals, and assists. That's five offensive stats and two or three on the defensive side. May as well use "team defense" like fantasy football. But you can change any of these settings to build the kind of league you want to play in.
Overall, CBS is a wonderful choice for free fantasy football, if you don't mind tweaking your settings to build a fantasy basketball game worth your while.
Hotbox Sports Free Fantasy Basketball
Hotbox is the least popular of the three fantasy basketball venues reviewed here, but the free fantasy basketball games they offer are as good as any. Hotbox Sports lacks the marketing capability to put commercials on ESPN.
Hotbox was launched in early 2005. They whittle the season down by allowing a start on your roster to earn points for one performance over a three day period. This sounds limiting until you realize that there are 65 "three day periods" during the course of the 2009 - 2010 NBA season, depending on if you're in a playoff league or not.
Since a player can only be activated once during one of these "play periods", you often have to try to pick the more strategic matchup for your fantasy stud. This adds a fun element to the game. For instance, during the 2008-2009 fantasy season, one of my biggest fantasy heroes was Chris Paul, widely accepted as the number one fantasy player for that season. He had career highs in points, both FG and FT percentages, steals, rebounds, and overall awesomeness. Towards the end of the season, I needed a huge performance from Paul to seal my fantasy basketball league championship. Choosing to start Paul in either Golden State on the road or the Utah Jazz at home seemed like a puzzler. Surely he'd play better at home, but then again, it is the Golden State Warriors.
I started Paul in the Golden state game and he shot a season high 43 points, shot over 86% FT, and landed 5 three pointers. Even though his Hornets beat Utah, his numbers against the Jazz wouldn't have been good enough to earn me a fantasy basketball weekly victory. Thanks, Chris.
Below is a list of the typical starting roster for a Hotbox league (it is adaptable) and the usual point value for each stat category:
Starting Roster
- 1 Center
- 2 Guards
- 2 Forwards
- 2 Utility players
Scoring:
- Point 1 Fantasy Point
- Rebound 1 Fantasy Point
- Assist 1 Fantasy Point
- Steal 1.5 Fantasy Points
- Block 1.5 Fantasy Points
- Double Double 5 Fantasy Points
- Triple Double 10 Fantasy Points
- Quad double 20 Fantasy Points
- 50+ Points 5 Fantasy Points
- 20+ Rebounds 5 Fantasy Points
- 15+ Assists 5 Fantasy Points
Notice the six "bonus" point totals. Fantasy leagues have the choice of using these "Hotbox bonuses" to add incentive fantasy points for stud performances. If your guy manages a rare quadruple double, your roster earns 20 fantasy points. Other statistical situations are awarded different levels of "Hotbox bonus" points. It is a fun addition to a league that rewards a good roster.
The Hotbox Sports format is head-to-head, with no rotisserie scoring available. Your head to head contests will put your opponents roster's chosen games during that week.