Professional franchises have general managers who bring on coaches who can direct the roster of players assembled by the GM.
Over the years, history has shown that the best franchises have strong leadership at the top that's able to create a positive, winning culture. It's true no matter which sport we're talking about. And even when one of those well-run franchises experiences a rare down season, what happens the following year? You guessed it -- more often than not, it manages to find a way to shuffle the deck and start winning again.
Is it magic? Is it luck? No, it's a part of a well-crafted, time-tested plan that continually leads to success.
On the flip side, the opposite is true of poorly run franchises. You know which ones I'm talking about. The Sacramento Kings. The Cleveland Browns. The Seattle Mariners. They are the ones that never seem to figure it out. Or bring on inexperienced general managers. Or hire coaches who don't fit the roster. Then what happens? Losing. Lots of losing, actually. The players grow unhappy and so do the fans. These are the franchises that chronically find themselves at the bottom of the standings. The ones that continually overpay for free agents and miss on draft picks.
I bring all this up because there's a reason the San Antonio Spurs make the playoffs every season, and the St. Louis Cardinals are always still playing every October, and the New England Patriots are perpetually a Super Bowl favorite.
It all comes down to leadership. The people in charge have the winning recipe.
So as you enter another season of fantasy basketball, I want you to answer this question honestly: If you look at the way you run your fantasy teams, which of these would you be?
Are you challenging for the championship every season? If so, good for you!
For everyone else, I want you to think about what you can improve upon -- however big or small -- to become a force in every league you join. Simply by reading this, it's clear that you care more than the casual owner, so you already have that working in your favor. But that's not enough.
You can't fire yourself as coach or GM, so the improvement really has to start with you; take a moment and brainstorm how you can become the San Antonio Spurs of your league. To help, here are a few ideas that may apply:
• Spending more time to come up with a draft strategy (point guards who shoot 3s and get steals, bigs who block shots and rebound is a strong general approach)
• Hitting the waiver wire harder (maybe you can nab this year's Hassan Whiteside!)
• Being more diligent in setting your lineups (leaving starters out of the lineup is crushing in most fantasy hoops leagues)
• Using ESPN's weekly NBA calendar to stream players who are playing four or five games during a given week
• Being more proactive when it comes to offering trades and improving your roster
• Considering which players are the most injury-prone and making a concerted effort to leave them off your roster
Did any of those apply? Improving in any of these areas is a good start to contending for the crown. But don't stop there.
To really take your game to the next level, to thoroughly dominate your fantasy basketball leagues on a regular basis, I truly believe it requires a deep, balanced roster that's capable of throwing a barrage of stat-stuffing players at its opponent each week. You'll know you have a roster like that whenever a player goes down, as so often happens in fantasy hoops, and two more are able to sufficiently fill his spot.
Think about the players who stuff the stat sheet, from the stars like Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook to the second-tier guys like Paul Millsap, Gordon Hayward and Victor Oladipo to the later-round guys like Michael Carter-Williams and Elfrid Payton.
These players may not check every box, but they check a whole lot of them, and when surrounded with specialists who can make up for their deficiencies -- like a Kyle Korver to cover the 3-point category or a Roy Hibbert to boost blocks -- that's a recipe that works and is achievable in both snake and auction drafts.
Last season, I played in two leagues -- one with the guys at ESPN and another with friends and family.
In my private league, we used an auction draft and I tried something different, spending roughly three-fourths of my budget on two players: Anthony Davis and LeBron James. It was bold, but it also wasn't very smart. My next highest-priced player, Nerlens Noel, took $15 of my remaining $50, leaving me with $35 for my remaining roster. Not good. Though Davis, James and Noel all played well, that strategy proved to be an uphill struggle all season. On nights when Davis or LeBron missed games or during weeks when Davis or James played only two or three games, I didn't have a chance to compete. And when Noel hit a rookie wall midway through the season, I cut him out of desperation and used his roster spot to stream players. It ended up being a total disaster of a season.
At the same time that team was flopping, my team in the ESPN league -- which used a snake draft -- couldn't be stopped. That roster included the likes of Curry, Damian Lillard, Nicolas Batum, Rudy Gobert, Draymond Green, Tyreke Evans, Paul Millsap and Noel, just to name a few. By season's end, it finished 19-0 and cruised to the championship. It must be noted, too, that many of these same players happened to be on the team that won the championship in my other league.
Coincidence? Hardly. In fact, there was something to be learned by this.
Winning in fantasy basketball requires a deep roster full of versatile players who stay on the court. That simple sentence can lead you far in this game, so it's worth reading again: Winning in fantasy basketball requires a deep roster full of versatile players who stay on the court.
Here are some other notes to help you before you draft your squad this season:
This IS the season to get 3-pointers from your power forward. Paul George qualifies at power forward, but he's not the only 4 who excels at shooting the long ball. Kevin Love, Chris Bosh, Ryan Anderson, Channing Frye, Danilo Gallinari, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Mirza Teletovic and Robert Covington are among the others who can help you win the 3-point category.
This ISN'T the season to draft LeBron James or Kevin Durant with the first or second overall pick. Both players come with question marks, as neither is still the young player we still think of them as or a safe bet to stay injury-free all season long. As long as Stephen Curry and Anthony Davis are healthy heading into the season, they make too much sense to pass on for LeBron or KD.
This IS the season to draft Joakim Noah late. Formerly a top-30 fantasy player, Noah wasn't the same last season when the Bulls added Pau Gasol next to him in the frontcourt. And knee pain limited him to just 67 games. But Noah is dropping to the 105 range in ESPN leagues as of Oct. 12, and that's too low for a big man who can do all the things Noah does on the court. Though no longer elite, he's a late-round center who can rack up blocks, rebounds and assists, and at this spot he's a steal.
This ISN'T the season to draft Dirk Nowitzki. At this stage in his career, Dirk isn't the same scorer we've come to know through the years. And if Dirk isn't scoring, you don't want him on your roster. The 37-year-old averaged 17.3 points per game last season, which is impressive for someone in his 17th NBA season, but it also was his lowest average since 1999-2000, his second year in the league. And his 5.9 rebounds per game was the lowest since his rookie campaign of 1998-99.
This IS the season to believe in Gordon Hayward. Utah's clear-cut offensive leader took another step forward in his development last season, his fifth year in the league, and the onus will be on him to be the focal point of the Jazz's offense again in 2015-16. Hayward's ADP is right around 25 in ESPN leagues as of Oct. 12, which may seem a tad high until you realize what he did last season: 19.3 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 4.1 APG, 1.4 SPG, 1.6 3PG, 44.5 FG%, 81.2 FT%. This is exactly the stat-staffing type of player I referenced above.
This ISN'T the season to hold off on point guards until late in the draft. It's a top-heavy position, and missing on Curry, Westbrook, Lillard, Chris Paul and John Wall is made worse if you also whiff on that second-tier group of guys like Eric Bledsoe, Jeff Teague and Kyle Lowry. Don't talk yourself into a backcourt of Ricky Rubio and Rajon Rondo, or it will be an uphill struggle for your team all season.
This IS the season to pay up for/use an early draft pick on a top-tier shooting guard. If you build your roster around players like James Harden, Klay Thompson or Paul George, you have a big advantage at this position because there just aren't a lot of high-end fantasy 2-guards roaming around the league these days. Some point guards like Curry qualify at shooting guard in some leagues, including ESPN, and that's another smart way to fill this position.
This ISN'T the season to overpay for a rookie. If you do use a top-50 pick or sizable auction dollars on a rookie, let it be on Minnesota's Karl-Anthony Towns. His ADP is 47.3 in ESPN leagues as of Oct. 12, and he looks more ready to make an impact than Jahlil Okafor (82.3 ADP) of the Philadelphia 76ers or D'Angelo Russell (96.1 ADP) of the Los Angeles Lakers. I see Denver's Emmanuel Mudiay (92.5 ADP) as the second-best rookie in fantasy this season, but his low field goal percentage and high turnover rate could torpedo your team in both of those categories if you're not careful.
This IS the season to stash injured stars on the injured reserve. With the IR spot becoming more standard across fantasy basketball sites this season, there's never been a better time to stash injured fantasy studs like Kyrie Irving and Brandon Jennings who (a) won't take up an active roster spot, and (b) can provide a big boost once they return to the lineup. Be the person who takes advantage of this, and not the one wishing you had thought of that.
This IS also the season to win it all!
Good luck this season. Hopefully some of these tips and strategies help you bring home the championship!
