Not a lot of free time over here at FBB headquarters today, so we’ll take a break from the usual fascinating insights with the hope that you can offer some insight of your own. So here it is upfront – what type of league do you play in? We can offer player analysis until we’re blue in the face, but fantasy leagues are won and lost just as much on roster management and knowing the intricacies of your league’s scoring system and roster types.
I’ve always played the same type of league – 8 category (FG%, FT%, PTS, REB, AST, 3PM, STL, BLK), roto scoring, 82 game maximum per position. To me, this is certainly the best way to do things. You always want to have your best players in the lineup, regardless of how many games they play each week (more on that in a bit). There’s a good amount of strategy involved because you have to account for eight categories. I should mention that I hate having turnovers as a category. I just don’t like negative categories in fantasy sports. It’s supposed to be fun. We don’t need turnovers dragging us down. The league leaders in turnovers include Steve Nash, Gilbert Arenas, Dwyane Wade and Baron Davis. Should we punish them just because they are playmakers and happen to have the ball more than others? I don’t think so.
I’ve never really understood the appeal of weekly lineup leagues, but it seems they are rather popular. My fundamental problem with weekly lineup leagues, and I’m obviously not the first person to bring this up, is that they reward quantity, not quality. Now some might say that it invites more strategy, trying to find guys that will be playing more games, but I won’t agree with this. If Speedy Claxton is playing four games and Baron Davis is playing two games in a given week, that means there’s a very good chance Claxton will put up better total numbers, theoretically making him the better play. But who wants to play in a league where the “right” move is to bench your best player just because of a scheduling quirk?
Weekly head-to-head leagues are pretty much in the same boat. I don’t really see the appeal of H2H leagues outside of fantasy football. In football it makes sense, because it’s sort of a reflection of actual football. But in basketball, I can’t find the logic. You invariably end up with situations that easyMarksman finds himself in, where he’s 2-2 in his league yet has accrued the second most points. It just doesn’t seem to be the best representation of who actually has the best team. An interesting thing about H2H leagues is that it makes one-category killers a lot easier to deal with. If you punt a category in a traditional roto league it’s nearly impossible to win your league, but that’s not the case at all in H2H.
Then there are points leagues, which are usually some variation on assigning values to the five main categories (points, boards, assists, block, steals) and simply adding it all up. This has always been a little to straightforward and simple for me, and it obviously places a high value on players who score lots of points. There’s nothing wrong with that, but a lot of the strategy seems to be lost, and guys like Boris Diaw, Ben Wallace even Marcus Camby, who are roto monsters and some of most enjoyable players to own, have decreased value. I mean, anyone can look at the points and rebounds leaders and pick good players.
So basically the questions are:
1) What type of league do you play in?
2) If you have played in many types of leagues, which is your favorite and why?
3) What can FBB do with its coverage to best cover all types of leagues?
Thanks in advance for your comments – it’s something I’ve been curious about for a while.