Five Simple Steps to Selecting the Best Possible Fantasy Basketball Team

If you like fantasy sports and have never played fantasy basketball before, you should know that fantasy basketball is a great way to bridge the gap between football and baseball seasons. I actually like fantasy basketball better because I think there’s less luck involved than football (10 weekends vs. 81 games) and it’s not as long as fantasy baseball.

That’s not to say that luck isn’t involved in fantasy basketball. There are always surprise injuries to big-name stars and when some players are traded their stock shoots up or down. You can’t account for luck though, so you’d better be prepared to have a great draft.

After 5 years of fantasy basketball, I can safely say that assists and blocks are the two hardest categories to come by. Very few players put up numbers exceptionally well in either stat, and only two (Dwayne Wade and Lebron James) can do both.

If you have a top-five pick in your draft, this would be my recommended order for the 2010-2011 season: Lebron, Durant, Wade, Chris Paul, Dirk.

When it comes to assists, the players who do better than the rest are Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Rajon Rondo and Steve Nash. If you get any of these players on your team, assists will no longer be a problem.

If you’re looking for someone who blocks well, Dwight Howard is by far the best. However, his free throw percentage is extremely detrimental to your team, so I’d pick someone else like Pau Gasol or Lamarcus Aldridge.

Another important stat to keep in mind is thefts. Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul are great because in addition to their high assist numbers, they’re both in the top 5 in the league in steals (when healthy). Manu Ginobili is another great option who does a little of everything, including steals.

Lastly, turnovers are the stat that usually ends up costing rookie GMs a lot of ground. He wants players on his team with a turnover rate of less than 3.0 per game. If someone is averaging 2.0 turnovers per game, that really helps their team. Anything above 3.0, however, is trouble and will hurt your team in the long run.