Fantasy football is one of the most popular fantasy sports, but fantasy basketball also has its fans. According to stats on the website of the Fantasy Sports and Gaming Association, 75% of sports bettors played fantasy sports in 2018. Nineteen percent played fantasy basketball (NBA). Thirty-six percent bet on the NBA.
Below is a look at ways to keep your fantasy basketball team up to date and why it’s important to follow the NBA when you’re managing a team.
Keeping your team up to date
Keeping your team up to date is vital if you wish to manage a successful fantasy basketball team. Here are some tips on how to do that and thrive in a fantasy basketball league:
Build your squad
Teams can earn you points in so many different ways: assists, points, rebounds, blocks, steals, turnovers and more. So it’s best to build your squad from the back. It might be tempting to fill your team with as many big-name shooters as your budget enables you, but resist. Especially as different leagues may attach different points weightings to certain plays.
Look for injury updates
The NBA season is a tough one with lots of games to play. All that exertion is going to take its toll on players, and injuries are inevitable. Just as teams wouldn’t send out injured players onto the court, you wouldn’t do the same in your fantasy basketball team, simply because the player won’t have the same impact on the game as when they’re fully fit.
Follow the NBA
The NBA is a grueling association that packs its calendar with events, and there’s a game every night. If you’re going to take your daily fantasy basketball seriously, then you’ve got to have the drive and the stamina to follow everything that’s going on in the sport. Knowledge is power.
Learn when to make substitutions
Knowing when to substitute someone is just as important as knowing who doesn’t belong on the squad anymore, or at least, not for the next game. Substitutions keep your roster fresh and free of injury. Whereas you can cut new faces out of your squad more regularly if you wish, you might prefer to give more established players the benefit of the doubt and show a little patience to see if they come good. If not, you know what to do.
Why is it so important to stay up to date?
Following events in the NBA is crucial. Here are some of the main reasons:
To send an injury-free team out onto the court
If a player isn’t fit to play, you don’t want them playing in the next game. Keeping track of who’s injured and who isn’t helps you to make the right changes to your team. If you don’t follow what’s going on, you won’t be able to put your strongest side out.
To hear important stats
If you’re watching games, not only will you see what’s unfolding on the court, but you’ll also hear the commentators discussing the action. Additionally, you’ll hear them relay important statistics such as injury history or other performance stats that can enable you to make an informed decision about who to have on your side or lose from it.
To know when a player is performing well
If you don’t follow the NBA closely, you won’t be able to tell when players are performing well. Some players may perform well over one or two games but perform lousily the next three or four. By monitoring the NBA closely, you can gain a bigger picture of whether a player is likely to serve your team well or let you down.
Being aware of the rookie wall is important in this regard. Rookie players, unaccustomed to the grueling schedule, may display some blistering form and prowess during the season but start to burnout towards the end. Seasoned NBA professionals will be able to handle the demands of the NBA easier and may be a little more reliable for you.
To understand players
Let’s be honest: some players are temperamental. They ooze talent and are a joy to watch, but at the same time they can let you down by committing fouls that result in suspensions. They may even engage in other forms of conduct which harm your fantasy team. Understanding which players have a tendency to behave on the wild side, on or off the court, can help you select more trustworthy players.
If you’re going to manage a fantasy basketball team, it’s essential to stay up to date with what’s happening on the real-life courts of the NBA so that you can make the best tactical decisions when it comes to forming your team. Not following events will see you make decisions that could cost you victory in your fantasy basketball league, decisions that you could have easily avoided if you’d been tracking everything that was happening in the NBA.
