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It’s already fantasy basketball season, and with the game in full swing, it’s time to come up with a winning strategy that will enable you to ace your competition. If you haven’t drafted your players yet, there are a few fantasy basketball tips to keep in mind for winning as many games as you possibly can.

Look for Early Strikes on Point Guards in Daily Basketball
For fantasy drafts in daily basketball, one of the most important tips to win is keeping your point guard as your main focus. There may be a ton of young and upcoming point guards in the NBA, but there are a few details that can matter a lot here. For example, if certain high-ranked players like John Wall and Deron Williams are sitting on the bench at the start of the season from injuries, new starting point guards will be coming into the game. Score first, pass-second point guards are what you should be looking for. So right in the beginning of your player selection, be looking at point guards who are known to do well in the game.

Find more Fantasy Basketball Tips

The second thing to keep in mind is the use of fantasy basketball resources. A few to use are the FanDuel NBA daily research tools, as well as the Lineup Builder, the GrindersLive website and Podcasts on fantasy basketball, and also RotoAcademy which has a ton of really good strategy content. Keeping up to date on different research is critical. Next, you want to be sure you know the ins and outs of the site you pick to play on. For example, FanDuel requires that players start 2 point guards, 2 shooting guards, 2 small forwards, 2 power forwards, and 1 center. So, unlike other fantasy sites, starters are stuck in pretty narrow categories. So you need to keep this min mind in your strategy. There is no utility, so why compare players at separate spots? You don’t have to worry about centers being more valuable than point guards because you’ll need a fixed number starting at both positions.

Scoring on Each Fantasy Basketball Site
Another thing to think about is scoring. Three of the major fantasy a basketball sites, FanDuel, DraftKings, and DraftStreet, all give one point for points scored, 1.5 for assists, and 2 points for steals and blocks. So the key differences for each site will be 3 pointers, missed shots, and turnovers. FanDuel doesn’t award extra points for 3 point shots. So every bucket you score is the same. Think about pure points scored, not how players will score those points. This varies across each site, so think about what the particular scoring rules are as you plan your strategy.

Season-long Fantasy Strategies
One consideration is that when you’re drafting and don’t have many sleepers handy, you are actually really lowering your chances of winning. The middle rounds will make or break you. Take for example Damian Lilliard of the Trail Blazers. He’s definitely a sleeper pick you want to keep an eye on. Derrick Williams of the Minnesota Timberwolves is another good sleeper — these players have a lot of potential, they’re just not going to be starting. Research a good list of sleepers before you start drafting players.

Skip the Rookies
If you can, avoid drafting rookies. Second year players are usually dominant in All-star weekend rookie/sophomore games. New players have to adjust to the NBA season, which is quite difficult in terms of rules and the 82 game demand. It’s a whole new ball game, pun intended. So avoid rookies in your draft as much as possible. Also make sure you know players’ percentages as they are tallied in NBA leagues — which are actually added dup as percentages and not totals.

Know Player Details
One last tip is to read the details. If a player averages 15 points per game and suddenly his numbers drop to 8 or 9, it could be that he’s just not doing as well. Or possibly another player is forcing his own path into the lineup, reducing the original guy’s minutes. Maybe he’s injured, too. So if that’s happened, your player won’t be doing as well for one or two games and may just need to be subbed out in the coming season.

Fantasy basketball can be a lot of fun and potentially quite profitable if you have a few strategies in your pocket. Winning isn’t that hard – you just need to know the statistics, look for details, and be sure to pick players for the draft who will carry you through the daily games or the season. In the end, it’s all about smarts and starts – who’s going to power you through those games and be able to withstand injury, a slow game, or just one little challenge that might set him back.