Fantasy Basketball Leagues
Rotisserie Fantasy Basketball Leagues and Head to Head Fantasy Basketball Leagues
Fantasy football leagues come in two varieties:
- Rotisserie Leagues
- Head to Head Leagues
The winning strategy for each type of league can be completely different.
The style of a particular fantasy basketball league depends on the way that you and your fantasy opponents compete against each other to determine a champion. There are other league types as well
Rotisserie Style Fantasy Basketball
Rotisserie (also called "roto") style is the most popular fantasy basketball league. Roto leagues take specific statistical categories into account to determine a fantasy manager's score. These statistical categories are determined by the person who sets the league up.
In rotisserie fantasy basketball leagues, teams earn points based on how their fantasy roster's players perform in each category. Each statistic set is worth the same amount of points.
Pretend you're in a league with 20 teams. If your fantasy roster earns the most points, your roster earns 20 points in the point category. The second best team earns 19 points, and so on down to the last place team in that category, which earns one point.
Scoring a rotisserie league where fantasy rosters tie in a category can be problematic. For example, if two teams both earn 10th place in a particular stat, like steals, then each team earns 9.5 points, sharing the victory.
This is fairer than deciding which team earns 10 points and which earns 9. Once your league has factored up all the points earned in each statistical category, fantasy owners display an overall score (made up of all scores from all statistical categories) which goes up and down over the course of the NBA season.
Crucial to performing well in a roto league is understanding what statistical categories factor into your score. If your league only scores points, rebounds, and assists, you won't have to worry about things like steals and field goal percentage and can draft accordingly. This is why you can't just focus on what a fantasy basketball magazine tells you a player's value is. Pre-rankings of NBA players according to their "skill" can't take into account your particular fantasy league's scoring categories.
In the league I'm currently obsessing over, we use turnovers as a statistical category. When researching for my draft I found out that some players become far less valuable when you factor in their turnover stat.
Dwayne Wade, an easy top ten fantasy choice in a league in which turnovers don't matter, becomes less important in a turnover scoring league. His career high in turnovers is 12 in a single game, and last season he was charged for nearly 200 TOs. Dirk Nowitzki, might become even more valuable as a starter in a league that scores turnovers. He was charged for less than half of D-Wade's TO stats last season.
Rotisserie leagues are further divided into different numbers of statistical categories: nine stat leagues (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, threes made, turnovers, field goal percentage and free throw percentage); eight stat leagues (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, threes made, field goal percentage and free throw percentage), and five stat leagues (points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals).
Head to Head Fantasy Basketball Leagues
The other common fantasy basketball league is called a head-to-head, or H2H, league. H2H leagues are similar to roto leagues, except that each manager sets his roster for that week, and his stats are scored directly against the stats of another fantasy manager's roster. The schedule of fantasy managers playing against one another is set before the league starts, and you can alter your roster to tailor make a team that will beat your opponent in specific stats.
Whichever team accumulates the most fantasy points for that week wins the match. There are two ways of "scoring" Head to Head fantasy basketball leagues.
Win Loss Fantasy Basketball Leagues
The first way is an overall win-loss record -- for instance, if your team beats your opponent in five out of nine statistical categories, your roster earns a record of 5 - 4 for that week.
Yes, you get those four losses hung on you, but earning five wins in a single week is a big deal. This style of H2H league demands a balanced roster rather than a point heavy or defense heavy roster.
The other H2H scoring method is to award only one win and one loss. Whichever teams wins the most statistical categories earns a win. and his opponent earns a loss. This makes it easy to determine a champion at the end of the season. Assuming you're playing in a non-playoff league, the player with the best win percentage is the clear champion.
Playoff Fantasy Basketball Leagues
In playoff leagues, the top teams have a "tournament" to determine the winner. These playoffs are made up of the final two weeks of games of the regular NBA season. I dislike leagues with playoffs. Most NBA teams are playing scrubs and nobodies right before the playoffs. Why risk losing a star to injury before the playoffs?
Points-based Fantasy Basketball Leagues
There are other types of fantasy basketball leagues. Points-based fantasy basketball leagues counts each statistic toward a set amount of fantasy points which get added together to form an overall score. This style of fantasy basketball scoring is similar to standard fantasy football scoring.
Salary Cap Fantasy Basketball Leagues
Some fantasy basketball leagues use a "salary cap" structure. When you can't just sign and trade for whoever you want, your strategy changes. This kind of league puts a premium on players who can work around a salary structure and are good at math. I avoid salary cap leagues.
With such a variety of fantasy basketball leagues to choose from, you can tailor your fantasy basketball experience the way you want it. Just make sure you read your league's rules thoroughly before jumping in to play.