This coming weekend holds the All-Star break, where most NBA players sit back and relax, and most teams take a break from the everyday grind to evaluate the club’s performance over the past 50 or so games. Team officials analyze what worked and what did not, what strengths the club’s roster has and what weaknesses should be addressed. In the same way, fantasy basketball owners should step back and examine what holes lie in their team’s production and progress towards a plan to fill these holes.
Taking a step back to watch a player’s season progress over each week can establish whether or not you are properly valuing his numbers. An example would be consistency in performance, which is sometimes difficult to speculate. Stable performance on a nightly basis is more useful than hoping a player is hot on a slow night. Stability and consistency opens a gap between two players with similar averages, making one objectively better than the other.
Take note of which categories you consistently perform well in, and also which ones always seem to come up short. This can offer you some direction towards a trade. If you have a loaded backcourt with multiple big-name scorers, but your shooting percentage is typically sub-par, you should check other stats that big men tend to excel in. If your rebounds, blocks and turnovers also could use some help, perhaps you should focus on shipping a guard for a quality center to balance the roster out more. If you front line is doing fine, but you struggle in threes and free throw percentage, maybe adding a more efficient, albeit less prolific, scorer in a two-for-one trade could help more.
Keep an eye on your lesser players who may be more expendable. Including an extra producer in a trade can tip a deal in your favor on the receiving end, or push through a necessary swap on the giving end. If your utility forward’s numbers are not unique, such as making threes or blocking shots, it’s possible you can recoup the value he gives you by picking up a waived player, thus making the inclusion of your marginal player in a trade irrelevant. In the same scenario, you could probably afford to scrap a player of his caliber to pick up a specialist, such as a guard with high steals or a big man who shoots a solid free throw percentage along with a decent field goal percentage.
The important goal here is to shake off complacency, because too many teams flounder under an owner’s negligence, both in the fantasy realm and in the NBA, and sometimes a shake-up is necessary to keep a team on the right track. Struggling fantasy teams should try and take advantage of this quiet time leading up to the All-Star game by taking some time to retool for the final stretch.
Keep an eye out for potential deals, roster shake-ups, or new additions to boost your productivity, and as always, good luck and happy gaming!
