[OT] EnWorld Fantasy Basketball

[reapersaurus]

Cool icon Reaper!

Thank you.
I've been told it looks like he's.... doing something, but I guess any motion is open to interpretation....

 

[dagger]

My team is Daggers Deathdealers....

 

[The Sigil]

The league is full.

So, when's the draft?

--The Sigil

 

[Mistwell]

Draft is TODAY. So if you have not pre-ranked, go do it right away!

http://basketball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/nba/show?page=leaguehome&lid=13199

 

[reapersaurus]

OK, I've read thru some of the Help documents, and all the messages over on the Yahoo board....

1) Where will our talk be? Over on the Yahoo page(s), or in this thread at all?

2) I'm new, and don't totally understand the rules.
ALL the categories count, right? So if I choose a player that's only good at Blocks, I'll be giving up a lot of points in other categories?

3) Trading seems a bit problematic.
Unless there's a perfect match between what happens to be proposed and what the other party is interested in, it doesn't seem like many trades go thru....

4) I am missing the stats on the active players. I assume this is intentional, as they want me to buy their services.
Does anyone know of a free way that I may peruse and compare the active players' stats, so that I may better see how they may impact the points race?

 

[The Sigil]

OK, I've read thru some of the Help documents, and all the messages over on the Yahoo board....

1) Where will our talk be? Over on the Yahoo page(s), or in this thread at all?

Probably a little of both.

2) I'm new, and don't totally understand the rules.
ALL the categories count, right? So if I choose a player that's only good at Blocks, I'll be giving up a lot of points in other categories?

It works thusly... your "active players" each night accumulate points, rebounds, etc... if your guy gets 5 blocks, you get 5 blocks added to your total.

Whichever team has the most blocks gets 12 points. The team that has the second-most gets 11... then 10, etc. until the team with the fewest, which gets 1.

Repeat this for each category. The team with the most total points (adding all categories) is the leader/winner.

3) Trading seems a bit problematic.
Unless there's a perfect match between what happens to be proposed and what the other party is interested in, it doesn't seem like many trades go thru....

Yes, trading is hard. I imagine it will get a bit easier once the season starts.

4) I am missing the stats on the active players. I assume this is intentional, as they want me to buy their services.
Does anyone know of a free way that I may peruse and compare the active players' stats, so that I may better see how they may impact the points race?

http://www.rmi.net/~doug/02-03.html will show you last year's stats... obviously, rookies don't show up here and trades, injuries, et al will affect how a player performs this season. Preseason stats won't be displayed, but once the regular season starts, the stats will be available and free to see at Yahoo.

Just give it another week or so and it'll all work out.

--The Sigil

 

[reapersaurus]

Sigil - thanks for your help in understanding so far.

Here's my big post o' observations and questions, and hopefully I'll get some responses to help me understand this fantasy BB beastie more.

First off, most of this will probably sound a bit "sour grapes"-ish, and I apologize for that in advance. I'm taking this approach partially so that someone can tell me how I'm wrong, so I can understand why my perceptions are wrong.
Secondly, I know this is awfully premature of me (a first-timer) to come to these conclusions, but I don't see any way past these observations without someone's help, and I don't see anything magical happening to change what I'm observing.
(I'm cross-posting to the message board on Yahoo to desperately get as much feedback as I can)

1) It seems to me that unless you pre-ranked the draft, you have close to no chance of fielding a team that can compete.
I say this because of the incredibly-WRONG rankings they gave to some people (I'll detail some of my team's examples below).
Combine this with no-brainer players like Vince Carter who should have been valued higher due to extenuating circumstances, and obvious players who should have been valued lower, due to things like them getting traded, or another player joining the team and taking their minutes/role, etc.

1a) I didn't pre-rank, and look what I got (any feedback on explaining how these mysteries happened is welcome).

• ~ 8 of my 13 players don't start.
• How does Shane Battier (non-starter, 4 RB, 10 PPG) get picked as my 3rd player? (He's hardly even playing in games... How did he get ranked so high?)
• How does Darrell Armstrong (back-up PG, 4 Asts, 10 PPG) get picked as my 5th player? (Baron Davis is the starting PG, and he's better in every category, yet somehow was ranked behind Armstrong? WTF?)
• How does Shawn Bradley (non-starter, 6 RB, 2 BLK, 7 PPG) get picked as my 6th player?
• It picked Adonal Foyle (backup C for GS) for me BEFORE Eric Dampier (the starting C for GS).
• The others are almost unplayable (except the gamble of Juwan Howard and the pleasant surprise of Stromile Swift). I think I have 5 people that I can play (including Swift - when I look at most other teams, I see a ton of obvious starters to play.

1b) pre-ranking takes time, effort, immense knowledge of the rosters, and access to lots of info about the teams, etc.

2) I look at some of the other teams, and I'm shocked at how much talent there is. I'd give anyone except 4 guys on my team for some players sitting on the bench on other teams (!).

2a) Am I missing something if I look at the competition's teams, and conclude that there's nothing I can do to change their overwhelming advantages this season?
There is no way someone's going to trade for some of my wasted picks that don't even start, and there's no way someone would give up a good starter for nothing. And I doubt if I'm going to pick up someone on Waivers that's as good as a Zach Randolph, for example.

2b) Barring injury, what are your guys' analysis of the less-skilled owners and less-fortunate teams somehow catching up to the other teams during the course of the year?
How could that happen, if you think they (I) can?

Thank you for any responses, guys.

Fantasy BB seems like an interesting game, and like I mentioned earlier, (if you get a competitive team) it could make the season more interesting to keep up with. It just seems to me to be too dependant on the draft, and intense effort and knowledge and information access. IOW, you could probably come to the conclusion that unless you pre-rank (how many hours of research and clicking was involved in that, BTW?), and have access to some premium fantasy-sports websites for stats and up-to-date info, than you don't have much of a chance at doing well.

 

[John Crichton]

Let me throw my opinion out there.

How does Shane Battier (non-starter, 4 RB, 10 PPG) get picked as my 3rd player? (He's hardly even playing in games... How did he get ranked so high?)

Check his numbers from last year. I bet they were pretty good. Also, he is one of those players ranked high because he will probably get more minutes as the year presses on and is poised to have a breakout year.

How does Darrell Armstrong (back-up PG, 4 Asts, 10 PPG) get picked as my 5th player? (Baron Davis is the starting PG, and he's better in every category, yet somehow was ranked behind Armstrong? WTF?)

Davis only played ~55 games last year and has missed a good portion of the season every year he has been in the league. He puts up big numbers when he plays but is injury prone.

How does Shawn Bradley (non-starter, 6 RB, 2 BLK, 7 PPG) get picked as my 6th player?

I'm not sure about this one...

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/1273/

It picked Adonal Foyle (backup C for GS) for me BEFORE Eric Dampier (the starting C for GS).

Looks like you got screwed on that one. Yahoo rankes Foyle higher for some reason. *shrugs*

The others are almost unplayable (except the gamble of Juwan Howard and the pleasant surprise of Stromile Swift). I think I have 5 people that I can play (including Swift - when I look at most other teams, I see a ton of obvious starters to play.

That looks about right. As injuries mount up, player will find themselves with more minutes. Just keep your eye on the Free Agents and Waiver Wire. It will keep you competitive.

And yes, the draw you got does look not as good as other teams but even if you pre-ranked you may have gotten a lousy pull. I say it's way too early to throw in the towel. Fight it out for at least 6 weeks and see where you stand. There are always ways to make your team better, including some saavy trades and free agent pickups.

 

[reapersaurus]

About Shane Battier:
Check his numbers from last year. I bet they were pretty good. Also, he is one of those players ranked high because he will probably get more minutes as the year presses on and is poised to have a breakout year.

I posted a couple of Battier's #'s : here's the rest http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3516/
I think it's got to be a mis-calculation (an error), because unless I'm way off on estimating a player's strength (and I'm learning more each day about that), I don't see how 1 3-pt a game, 4 RBDs, 1 Steal and 1 Block are worth being rated SO high (that's higher than Vince Carter!)

Thanks for your opinions - every bit helps.
I've raided the Waiver wire, and dumped some of the crud the Draft stuck me with in an attempt to catch up.
I'll tell ya, it HURTS having to dump my 6th and 8th place draft selections for NOTHING, to pick up people that everybody else has already passed by multiple times...

 

[John Crichton]

I posted a couple of Battier's #'s : here's the rest http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3516/
I think it's got to be a mis-calculation (an error), because unless I'm way off on estimating a player's strength (and I'm learning more each day about that), I don't see how 1 3-pt a game, 4 RBDs, 1 Steal and 1 Block are worth being rated SO high (that's higher than Vince Carter!)

Vince Carter, I can see a being ranked lower because he was hurt half of last year and has a history of mailing it in late in the season. But, yeah I don't totally understand the way Yahoo pre-ranks nor will I ever...

Thanks for your opinions - every bit helps.
I've raided the Waiver wire, and dumped some of the crud the Draft stuck me with in an attempt to catch up.
I'll tell ya, it HURTS having to dump my 6th and 8th place draft selections for NOTHING, to pick up people that everybody else has already passed by multiple times...

That does hurt. That happened to me in one of my Football leagues. Out of my first 10 picks 4 of them were useless and had to be cut, including Kurt Warner (injury then benched). However, my strong waivers and free agent aquisitions have put me in 3rd place after dwelling near the bottom for almost a month.