Basketball Fantasy Leagues

Can anyone offer a good methodology to picking a fantasy basketball team for a night? I've been dabbling in it for a couple of weeks and find that I am no where near capable of being able to assemble a winning team. I've been nowhere even remotely close, and being so far out of it, is getting to very tiresome.

What might be some of the variables that I should be using? Thoughts on the best way to pick a team?

In case this may help, the following is the team that I had picked for last night. They scored a total of 240.6 points. I needed to get to around 269 to be in the money. Interestingly enough, I'm normally not even this close. I have truly sucked at this and am open to some suggestions.
Thanks.

Samuel Dalembert C DAL
Kevin Love PF MIN
Derrick Favors PF UTA
Ricky Rubio PG MIN
Patrick Beverley PG HOU
Shawn Marion SF DAL
Corey Brewer SF MIN
Kevin Martin SG MIN
Alec Burks SG UTA

Is the only scoring category points? My below evaluation of players looks at all stats, not just points.

Samuel Dalembert C DAL
Only averaging 25 min a game lately but still putting up good numbers.
Kevin Love PF MIN
Monster season so far.
Derrick Favors PF UTA
So far, ok but slightly under performing.
Ricky Rubio PG MIN
Great player, an assist machine, somewhat inconsistent scoring
Patrick Beverley PG HOU
Good player, inconsistent scoring
Shawn Marion SF DAL
35 yrs old and still got it. So far playing great. Lets see if he can keep it up till end of season
Corey Brewer SF MIN
Good player
Kevin Martin SG MIN
Great season so far
Alec Burks SG UTA
Inconsistent min. Weakest player on your team.

Replace Burks.
Might want to replace Beverly and Favors, depends on what's available.

I play in a money league but we draft just once, before the season starts, manage throughout the year and determine the winner at end of year.
So far my team is kicking butt.

Thanks terapined, but those were my picks just for yesterday's games. Sorry that I wasn't clear. I have a whole new set of picks for today's games. Today's picks are for the late games only (you get to pick a league to join and the late games tournament was the only one available). I ended up with the below. Also, this is a salary cap tournament. You would not believe how horrible I have been at this. It's embarrassing. I must be viewing something very fundamental in a very wrong fashion........

Bismack Biyombo C CHA
Kevin Love PF MIN
Josh McRoberts PF CHA
Russell Westbrook PG OKC
Ricky Rubio PG MIN
Corey Brewer SF MIN
Wesley Johnson SF LAL
Kevin Martin SG MIN
Wesley Matthews SG POR

Is this for just overall points or overall stats?
How many teams and players?

I will rate on overall stats

Bismack Biyombo C CHA
total dog. Sometimes coach doesn't play him.
Kevin Love PF MIN
Monster player
Josh McRoberts PF CHA
inconsistent and not playing well lately
Russell Westbrook PG OKC
Great player , doing well in stats except FG % off
Ricky Rubio PG MIN
Inconsistent scoring but an assist machine
Corey Brewer SF MIN
good player
Wesley Johnson SF LAL
Very inconsistent, scored 27 last game, game before 4
Kevin Martin SG MIN
Solid player
Wesley Matthews SG POR
Good solid player

In today's tournament there were 223 entries. I need to be in the top 100 in order to win cash. The following scoring is used:
3-pt FG = 3pts
2-pt FG = 2pts
FT = 1pt
Rebound = 1.2pts
Assist = 1.5pts
Block = 2pts
Steal = 2pts
Turnover = -1pt

terapine, below are my only choices at center to replace Bismack. I'm limited by the salary cap. Do you have someone of this group that I should use instead of Bismack?


Steven Adams C OKC
Bismack Biyombo C CHA
Kendrick Perkins C OKC
Greg Stiemsma C NO
Ronny Turiaf C MIN
Gorgui Dieng C MIN
Meyers Leonard C POR
Robert Sacre C LAL
Jeff Withey C NO
Hasheem Thabeet C OKC
Chuck Hayes C SAC
Cole Aldrich C NY
Joel Anthony C MIA
Hamady Ndiaye C SAC
Dewayne Dedmon C GS

Pretty weak list. Might as well keep Bismark.
Maybe you overpaying top picks and not leaving enough money for this pick.

I appreciate the help terapined. As I've stated, these tournaments are getting the best of me.......by a long shot. I can't help but feel that I'm missing something.

terapined, let's try a different player. You felt that Josh is not playing well lately.
Below are my alternatives, again limited by salary cap. Let me know if you see a better selection please?

Josh McRoberts PF CHA
Jason Smith PF NO
Patrick Patterson PF SAC
Dante Cunningham PF MIN
Jason Thompson PF SAC
Rashard Lewis PF MIA
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute PF MIN
Cody Zeller PF CHA
Kenyon Martin PF NY
Nick Collison PF OKC
Anthony Tolliver PF CHA
Marreese Speights PF GS
Derrick Williams PF SAC
Thomas Robinson PF POR
Amar'e Stoudemire PF NY
Louis Amundson PF NO
Udonis Haslem PF MIA

I only checked the next 5 players. Watching Den vs KC.
You want me to check 18 players, gonna need a piece of your action lol.

Anyway, out of next 5 which is my free limit, I would take Smith over McRoberts.

If only it has been profitable action......
Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to replace McRoberts with Smith. Maybe it'll put me over the top? Just winning once every blue moon in this thing would be nice.......

Damn....tournament started and I couldn't make the switch.

So here's how my team ended up last night. I was 194th. out f 223......damn sucks. I had a total of 213.3 points.
PG
Russell Westbrook
MIN 103 @ OKC 113 FINAL
$8600 Salary
44.4% Owned
35.9

PG
Ricky Rubio
MIN 103 @ OKC 113 FINAL
$7600 Salary
9.4% Owned
24.3

SG
Kevin Martin
MIN 103 @ OKC 113 FINAL
$7300 Salary
22.4% Owned
34.2

SG
Wesley Matthews
POR 114 @ LAL 108 FINAL
$6300 Salary
19.3% Owned
26.9

SF
Corey Brewer
MIN 103 @ OKC 113 FINAL
$5400 Salary
17.5% Owned
20.3

SF
Wesley Johnson
POR 114 @ LAL 108 FINAL
$4300 Salary
34.1% Owned
14.4

PF
Kevin Love
MIN 103 @ OKC 113 FINAL
$11200 Salary
5.8% Owned
34.4

PF
Josh McRoberts
CHA 98 @ MIA 99 FINAL
$5200 Salary
7.2% Owned
14.1

C
Bismack Biyombo
CHA 98 @ MIA 99 FINAL
$3600 Salary
2.2% Owned
8.8

213.3

The person who came in 1st., with a total of 297.5 points had the following lineup:

PG
Damian Lillard
POR 114 @ LAL 108 FINAL
$8100 Salary
22% Owned
47.5

PG
Russell Westbrook
MIN 103 @ OKC 113 FINAL
$8600 Salary
44.4% Owned
35.9

SG
Ben McLemore
GS 115 @ SAC 113 FINAL
$3900 Salary
19.3% Owned
7

SG
Klay Thompson
GS 115 @ SAC 113 FINAL
$7100 Salary
26% Owned
35.4

SF
Harrison Barnes
GS 115 @ SAC 113 FINAL
$5600 Salary
61.9% Owned
16.5

SF
Kevin Durant
MIN 103 @ OKC 113 FINAL
$11600 Salary
12.1% Owned
76

PF
Andrea Bargnani
NO 103 @ NY 99 FINAL
$6300 Salary
36.8% Owned
39.4

PF
Derrick Williams
GS 115 @ SAC 113 FINAL
$3500 Salary
44.4% Owned
12.4

C
Robin Lopez
POR 114 @ LAL 108 FINAL
$5200 Salary
47.1% Owned
27.4

297.5


Any suggestions as to what methodology I should be using to pick players?

These daily leagues are tough. I play in a money season long fantasy league. I look at the overall strength of my players and of players availible if I want to make a move.

These salary cap daily leagues are a really different situation then what I do.

You need to look at daily matchups.
Also injuries making a bench short. Alot of injuries means players suited up will get more min so more stats.
I evaluate players over a long season. These daily leagues, its tough, any player can have a bad game.
Seems like you need just alot of good players, somebody like Kev Love may be hurting you due to too expensive.
Salary cap and daily drafts make for a real tough game.

terapined, thanks for taking the time. Yep...tough is right, at least for a dumbass like me. I don't know that I've ever been so bad at something as I have shown to be at picking these daily tournaments. I just can't seem to come up with a method of doing this and that at least gets me close enough where I think that with a few tweaks I might get there. I'm just so bad that I feel lost. There was something that you had mentioned regarding minutes, I believe, so I'm going to look at data and try to select players whose minutes are increasing. I assume that with an increase in minutes, they will have an increase in score and therefore they would be undervalued.......I think. We'll see.

ok. So by factoring in whether minutes are increasing or decreasing, I get the below for today:

Roy Hibbert C IND
Ryan Anderson PF NO
Paul Millsap PF ATL
George Hill PG IND
Damian Lillard PG POR
Martell Webster SF WAS
DeMarre Carroll SF ATL
Lance Stephenson SG IND
Eric Gordon SG NO

Roy Hibbert C IND
Very good player but inconsistent scoring. Might score 27, might score 4
Ryan Anderson PF NO
Good pick, Anthony Davis just injured his hand and is out, more min and production for Anderson
Paul Millsap PF ATL
Playing real well, last game was one of his best of the year.
George Hill PG IND
Good player, inconsistent scoring
Damian Lillard PG POR
Good pick, good player that gets a lot minutes
Martell Webster SF WAS
Great player getting tons of minutes but a little inconsistent scoring.
DeMarre Carroll SF ATL
Good player, a bit inconsistent
Lance Stephenson SG IND
Good young player improving, amazing how many assists he gets
Eric Gordon SG NO
Injury plagued player that is healthy right now and getting a ton of min but inconsistent.


If your somewhat inconsistent players have big nights, you may do well.

terapined, I really appreciate the help. I finally won one last night. I came in 92nd. out of the 223 entries. Maybe it was the inclusion of a variable for minutes increasing or decreasing. Something that you had brought up. Thanks!

I'm going to use the same methodology today and we'll see what happens.

OK. Below is my team for today. Keep your fingers crossed 'cuz winning back to back in this stuff would be the equivalent of, for me, hitting one of those mega lotteries.

Spencer Hawes C
David Lee PF
J.J. Hickson PF
Stephen Curry PG
Isaiah Thomas PG
James Jones SF
Harrison Barnes SF
Gerald Green SG
Klay Thompson SG

Spencer Hawes C
Careful, he was out Nov 23-27 due to sore knees, he's back and putting up good numbers again
David Lee PF
solid player, tons of minutes
J.J. Hickson PF
Careful, inconsistent minutes due to poor defence
Stephen Curry PG
Very Very hot right now, totally on fire.
Isaiah Thomas PG
Good player, production down a bit over last week so a bit concerned
James Jones SF
Terrible pick, rides the bench, may get zero min tonight
Harrison Barnes SF
Good solid player but a little inconsistent scoring but getting a ton of min
Gerald Green SG
Warning, Eric Bledsoe back from injury, Green min will be dropping and now coming off the bench instead of starting.
Klay Thompson SG
Good pick, solid player

terapined, you hit right on James Jones and Gerald Green. They cost me a win yesterday. However, again, thanks for mentioning minutes because even though I took a loss yesterday, I think my current methodology now may give me half a chance. I'll give this method of picking a few days and decide what to do.