Fantasy basketball
Encyclopedia
Fantasy basketball was inspired by fantasy baseball
. Originally played by keeping track of stats by hand, it was popularized during the 1990s after the advent of the Internet. Those who play this game are sometimes referred to as General Managers
(GMs), who draft actual NBA
players and compute their basketball statistics
. The game was popularized by ESPN
Fantasy Sports, NBA.com, and Yahoo!
Fantasy Sports. Other sports websites provided the same format keeping the game interesting with participants actually owning specific players.
, rebounds
, and assists
. Five-category leagues generally add blocks
and steals
. Eight-category leagues usually add field goal percentage
, free throw percentage, and either three-point field goals made or three-point field goal percentage. Nine-category leagues usually add the category of turnovers
. Rarely, other statistics such as fouls
are counted. Some leagues also prefer to break down the rebounds
category into two categories - offensive and defensive rebounds.
Some leagues allow the league "commissioner" to determine which categories will be tracked. If these categories are chosen poorly, the league may be unfairly weighted for or against certain positions. For example, a league that tracks points, assists, steals, free throw percentage and three-point field goals would be weighted toward guards, who typically have higher numbers in many of these categories, and against power forwards and centers, who typically have higher numbers in the rebound, block and field goal percentage categories, which are not counted.
, shooting guard
, small forward
, power forward
, and center
) that a given team may use.
Some leagues require as few as five players per team (one from each position), challenging the player to assemble the best starting lineup from week to week. Other leagues may allow as many as twelve or fifteen players per team. These leagues usually designate one or more "bench" positions. Statistics accumulated by players assigned to the bench do not count for the team, but no other team may claim a player on another team's bench for their own team. Leagues with larger roster sizes challenge players to manage their rosters internally.
Rotisserie scoring encourages balance on the team's roster. Winning the rebounds category by one rebound or by one thousand rebounds counts the same, while winning the steals category by one steal and the assists category by one assist is worth twice as many points as winning the single rebounding category by one thousand rebounds. Successful teams must fare well in several categories to win in rotisserie leagues.
There are two styles of head-to-head scoring:
Most categories is a win—whichever team has the more favorable statistics in the categories chosen (most points, fewest turnovers, highest free throw percentage, etc.) is awarded a point for that category. One can also weight each category, for example: winning scoring earns you three points, winning rebounds wins you two points, winning steals wins you one point. The team with the most points wins that game.
Each category is a win—whichever team has the more favorable statistics in a category (most points, fewest turnovers, highest free throw percentage, etc.) is awarded a "win" for that category. The other team is tagged with a "loss". The results of these weekly matchups are accumulated to provide a seasonal win-loss record.
Head-to-head leagues often employ a "playoff" system, with seeding based on the seasonal win-loss record. Matchups are determined via a bracket, with the winners of each matchup advancing and the losers being eliminated until a winner is determined.
As when choosing categories, care must be paid in assigning fantasy point values to categories. Failure to achieve balance will result in weighting the league for or against players at certain positions.
Fantasy baseball
Fantasy baseball is a game where participants manage an imaginary roster of real Major League baseball players. The participants compete against one another using those players' real life statistics to score points...
. Originally played by keeping track of stats by hand, it was popularized during the 1990s after the advent of the Internet. Those who play this game are sometimes referred to as General Managers
General manager
General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...
(GMs), who draft actual NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
players and compute their basketball statistics
Basketball statistics
Statistics in basketball are kept to evaluate a player or a team's performance.Some statistics are* GP, GS: games played, games started* PTS: points* FGM, FGA, FG%: field goals made, attempted and percentage...
. The game was popularized by ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
Fantasy Sports, NBA.com, and Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
Fantasy Sports. Other sports websites provided the same format keeping the game interesting with participants actually owning specific players.
League settings
There are many rule variations when playing fantasy basketball. The rules used in a particular league are determined by the rule settings. Some common rule variations are discussed below.Categories
Commonly, fantasy basketball leagues may track as few as three or as many as eleven categories. Three-category leagues usually account for only pointsPoint (basketball)
Points in basketball are used to keep track of the score in a game. Points can be accumulated by making field goals or free throws ....
, rebounds
Rebound (basketball)
A rebound in basketball is the act of successfully gaining possession of the basketball after a missed field goal or free throw. Rebounds in basketball are a routine part in the game, as all possessions change after a shot is successfully made...
, and assists
Assist (basketball)
In basketball, an assist is attributed to a player who passes the ball to a teammate in a way that leads to a score by field goal, meaning that he or she was "assisting" in the basket. There is some judgment involved in deciding whether a passer should be credited with an assist...
. Five-category leagues generally add blocks
Block (basketball)
In basketball, a block , not to be confused with blocking, occurs when a defensive player legally deflects a field goal attempt from an offensive player. The defender must not touch the offensive player's hands or otherwise a foul is called. In order to be legal, the block must occur while the shot...
and steals
Steal (basketball)
In basketball, a steal occurs when a defensive player legally causes a turnover by his positive, aggressive action. This can be done by deflecting and controlling, catching, or batting to a teammate a pass or dribble of an offensive player...
. Eight-category leagues usually add field goal percentage
Field goal percentage
Field goal percentage in basketball is the ratio of field goals made to field goals attempted. Its abbreviation is FG%. Three-point field goals are included in this percentage. Instead of using scales of 0 to 100%, the scale .000 to 1.000 is commonly used. A higher field goal percentage denotes...
, free throw percentage, and either three-point field goals made or three-point field goal percentage. Nine-category leagues usually add the category of turnovers
Turnover (basketball)
In basketball, a turnover occurs when a player from one team gives possession to a member of the opposing team by losing the ball. This can result from the ball being stolen, the player making mistakes such as stepping out or throwing the ball out of bounds, or committing a violation or committing...
. Rarely, other statistics such as fouls
Foul (basketball)
In basketball, a foul is an infraction of the rules concerning illegal personal contact with an opponent and/or unsportsmanlike behavior. A personal foul is the most common type of foul in basketball. Due to the nature of the game, personal fouls occur on occasion and are not always regarded as...
are counted. Some leagues also prefer to break down the rebounds
Rebound (basketball)
A rebound in basketball is the act of successfully gaining possession of the basketball after a missed field goal or free throw. Rebounds in basketball are a routine part in the game, as all possessions change after a shot is successfully made...
category into two categories - offensive and defensive rebounds.
Some leagues allow the league "commissioner" to determine which categories will be tracked. If these categories are chosen poorly, the league may be unfairly weighted for or against certain positions. For example, a league that tracks points, assists, steals, free throw percentage and three-point field goals would be weighted toward guards, who typically have higher numbers in many of these categories, and against power forwards and centers, who typically have higher numbers in the rebound, block and field goal percentage categories, which are not counted.
Number of teams
In public leagues, the number of teams in a league is typically ten or twelve. In private leagues, which are invitation-only and usually utilized by players who want to compete against a group of people they know, the number of teams will vary substantially.Fantasy drafts
There are two types of drafting used to select players – the snake draft and the auction draft. In a snake draft, the first round is drafted in order. In the second round, the draft order is reversed so that the manager who made the last pick in the first round gets the first pick in the second round. The order is reversed at the end of each round so that the manager with the first overall pick does not maintain this advantage in every round. In an auction draft, each manager has a set budget (commonly $260, an amount borrowed from fantasy baseball) that he/she must use to fill out the team's roster. Players are put up for auction by managers, and the manager willing to pay the most for the player "drafts" that player. The advantage of an auction is that all managers have equal access to all players (not the case in a snake draft). The disadvantages are that it typically takes longer than a snake draft, and can be intimidating for newer/inexperienced managers who may be relying on rankings from websites to draft.Roster size and composition
"Roster size" refers to the number of players that may be assigned to any given team. The roster size is the same for all teams in the league. "Roster composition" refers to the number of players from each position (point guardPoint guard
Point guard , also called the play maker or "the ball-handler", is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position – essentially, he is expected to run the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that...
, shooting guard
Shooting guard
The shooting guard , also known as the two or off guard, is one of five traditional positions on a basketball team. Players of the position are often shorter, leaner, and quicker than forwards. A shooting guard's main objective is to score points for his team...
, small forward
Small forward
The small forward, or colloquially known as three, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically somewhat shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers, but on occasion are just as tall...
, power forward
Power forward (basketball)
Power forward is a position in the sport of basketball. The position is referred to in playbook terms as the four position and is commonly abbreviated "PF". It has also been referred to as the "post" position. Power forwards play a role similar to that of center in what is called the "post" or "low...
, and center
Center (basketball)
The center, colloquially known as the five or the post, is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. The center is normally the tallest player on the team, and often has a great deal of strength and body mass as well...
) that a given team may use.
Some leagues require as few as five players per team (one from each position), challenging the player to assemble the best starting lineup from week to week. Other leagues may allow as many as twelve or fifteen players per team. These leagues usually designate one or more "bench" positions. Statistics accumulated by players assigned to the bench do not count for the team, but no other team may claim a player on another team's bench for their own team. Leagues with larger roster sizes challenge players to manage their rosters internally.
Communication
Some leagues have a feature where players can communicate through the site. Many sites have "Smack Talk" features which allows players to communicate with one another whenever they want. They can trash talk their opponents during the game or even before the games even start.Rotisserie (ROTO)
In rotisserie scoring, the real-life statistics accumulated by the players on a team are aggregated and ranked against the same statistics for the other teams in the league. Fantasy points are earned based on these rankings. For example, in a twelve-team league, the team with the highest number of rebounds over the course of the season to date would be awarded twelve fantasy points. The team with the next highest number of rebounds would be awarded eleven fantasy points, and so on, with the team with the fewest number of rebounds being awarded a single fantasy point. For negative categories like fouls or turnovers, the team with the fewest statistics are awarded the most fantasy points. This is done for all categories counted by the particular league. The team with the highest number of fantasy points at the end of the season is the winner.Rotisserie scoring encourages balance on the team's roster. Winning the rebounds category by one rebound or by one thousand rebounds counts the same, while winning the steals category by one steal and the assists category by one assist is worth twice as many points as winning the single rebounding category by one thousand rebounds. Successful teams must fare well in several categories to win in rotisserie leagues.
Head-to-head (H2H)
In head-to-head scoring, teams are scheduled to "play" each other over the course of a week. During that week, the real-life statistics of the players on each team are accumulated.There are two styles of head-to-head scoring:
Most categories is a win—whichever team has the more favorable statistics in the categories chosen (most points, fewest turnovers, highest free throw percentage, etc.) is awarded a point for that category. One can also weight each category, for example: winning scoring earns you three points, winning rebounds wins you two points, winning steals wins you one point. The team with the most points wins that game.
Each category is a win—whichever team has the more favorable statistics in a category (most points, fewest turnovers, highest free throw percentage, etc.) is awarded a "win" for that category. The other team is tagged with a "loss". The results of these weekly matchups are accumulated to provide a seasonal win-loss record.
Head-to-head leagues often employ a "playoff" system, with seeding based on the seasonal win-loss record. Matchups are determined via a bracket, with the winners of each matchup advancing and the losers being eliminated until a winner is determined.
Fantasy points
In fantasy point scoring, the commissioner determines the number of fantasy points that a particular statistic is worth. For example, the commissioner may determine that a steal is worth two fantasy points, where a rebound is only worth one, and a turnover is worth negative one. Fantasy points are accumulated nightly based on the real-life performance of the players on each team, and the team with the most fantasy points at the end of the season wins.As when choosing categories, care must be paid in assigning fantasy point values to categories. Failure to achieve balance will result in weighting the league for or against players at certain positions.