Helloooooo Razzballers! My name is Jonny, but most refer to me in the fantasy realm as Da Fantasy Guru (DFG). I’d like to start off by giving thanks to Son and Grey for bringing me on the team. I really look forward to contributing what I can, working with such great people, and sneaking in some 80’s movies references! A little bit about me – I’m proud to say I just hit middle age and as I think about it, I have now been doing fantasy for over half of my life (25 years), you try to do the math. Come to think of it I’d like to say I started fantasy right around when something amazing was created called Fantasy Football, at least when it became more mainstream.
Until then I would just play with my sporting card collection, and sport team pencils I would bounce off the wall a certain way creating a game of elimination – you remember those, and how cool were the sports team pencils? Do any of us still own a pencil? So back in grade school, I had a buddy ask me if I wanted to try this cool new thing called fantasy, we gathered all the homies, ordered extra Cheesesteaks, and spent an entire sweaty day in my friend’s parents basement drafting football teams.
Fast forward many years later, a couple of girlfriends, a nephew, multiple cars and speeding tickets to go along, lots of marriages (not mine), a couple of professional sports holdouts, two Philly sports rings, a couple of new generations of gaming consoles, one dirty donkey, a pandemic… and here we are! My passions are traveling, good food, sports, gaming, my 100lb Rottweiler puppy, music (listening and performing), movies/television (I can have enough content for two websites if fans are interested), being with friends and family, oh and fantasy sports!!
I’ve had much success over the years doing fantasy on many websites (Yahoo, CBS, ESPN, NFBC, etc) investing about 50k a year across many teams in three sports (sorry no hockey, although I do love the sport). I also run multiple friend leagues even though they don’t pay me enough for some of the drama but we have all calmed down some as we get older – it’s usually centered around trade debates as we all value players differently and as it should be.
My main goal is to help people build, generate, and manage winning squads, it’s that simple. I want to give readers a spicy hot recipe of A, B, C, a pinch of D, sprinkle in E (the legal stuff), fry in F, and boom you have an educated fantasy decision! I don’t put myself above anybody else as I always try to have humility and be a student of the game! This is where I will quickly address my name “Da Fantasy Guru.” I know, I know another guru… I’d like to think I was the first one, maybe I was, but you will learn I am very humble and it has become sentimental after many years of using it! For sake of keeping my first post under 200 pages, I will get into what I like to talk about most, but feel free to reach out if have any questions! Thanks again and I am so excited to be here!
I’m going to number these and try to keep it to 10 because I can write a novel on the importance of drafting (it’s usually about 75% of your team even at the end of the season), but these are not in a specific order or ranking because I believe almost any one of these can be that gem to help lead you to build a winning squad! These are all topics I firmly believe cannot be ignored and are vital to almost any fantasy sports draft!
Drafting Strategies and Tips
- Don’t snooze on value: It can be okay to pass on a valuable player once because of a team or statistical need, but twice, three times? This first tip usually comes to fruition at least once in most of my drafts. I go in wide-eyed and excited knowing the player pool that usually falls to the draft pick number… but you always have one or two managers who reach, which allows a great player to be snagged a little later than usual. The prime examples this year are Kyrie Irving (ultimate boom or bust) and my hometown hero, wait, more like hometown zero… Ben Simmons. Kyrie could wind up playing no games, some, or all depending on his vaccine decision and while Ben is inching closer to the Sixers brass, he may start on the sidelines too. Being a Sixer fan and of the sport in general, I can never forgive Baby Ben as his mental weakness to shoot was on full display in the playoffs… sorry I digress but that cowardly Nonbadunka punk junk just makes me want to scream. Regardless of my personal anger for both of these players, they are both falling very deep in drafts and at a certain point in later rounds, you may regret not pulling the trigger.
- Preseason is important and not important: I feel like this carries over a little more in baseball, but in basketball, the right balance of attention can be a big deal. Certainly with rookies and young players preseason can be a great indicator of how a player’s season may go, but know your context. If a coach is playing five deep bench players you never heard of you can probably write that game off, but if you see a player start with four of the other known starters you need to stop and find out why… Could this be a possible opening day lineup? Or is the 5th starter hurt or being rested? This is the first place to look then at the performances! A breakout triple-double in limited minutes for a player fighting for a position probably has more meaning to it than a stud having a clunker as he mails it in. I also like to look at players in their twilight years because we all know of players who have stunk for a couple of years, then pump out a meaningful season before stinking again probably leading to retirement around the corner. I can’t stress the context of the situation enough and looking for preseason darlings or duds can help give you an advantage in your draft. Some players are playing for their job, and some aren’t!
- MINUTES EQUAL STATS: Now if I was ranking these tips I would probably put this near the top and I thought of building it into another one, but I feel so strongly about this I wanted to make sure I don’t breeze over. Basketball has shown us that the more minutes a player gets the more stats almost always follow. You have the rare case of somebody who seems to underperform for 30+ minutes and also have the other extreme of a player who seems to accumulate a ton of stats in 14 minutes (old age Reggie Evans I miss you)… but these tend to be more outliers than the normal. I don’t want to tell you to just draft players who will play the most minutes on their teams, but I do want you to factor this into the equation when making a decision. Whether it’s a player moving in or out of the starting lineup, or one who is being promoted to the first off the bench, more minutes is NEVER a bad thing as there are only 48 minutes per game to be distributed. This can piggyback to teams that are extremely deep you may want to wait a round before drafting that player (Atlanta) or reach a bit with a player like Jeremi Grant last season on an anemic 2020 Detroit team!
- Go big or go home: As many of you already know, bigs are often sought after along with assists, blocks, and specialist categories. This may seem like common sense but sometimes it can be easier to get sucked into a flashy name guard rather than to take a boring but consistent big. I have seen teams tend to fair better the bigger they are as those centers usually will help your FG% and TOs. FT% depends on the player as does most things (more bigs can hit free throws than in the past). If you get stuck on the fence of who to choose and have a well-rounded squad, do yourself a favor and go BIG!
- Don’t be afraid to PUNT a cat or even two: This is a good follow-up to the last tip and a strategy I go with many many times! As Son pointed out in an article too, you do not need to win every single cat in a H2H category league! With most leagues being 8 or 9 cats, you only need to win 5 cats to take the week and win! I usually will punt TO and maybe a %. And then watch out as I try to be the best damn team in Points, Threes, Boards, Assists, Blocks, and Steals. That’s a strong six cats to focus on, and ironically you will win TOs and %’s sometimes anyway.
- Not just sexual positions matter: This tip is where we talk positions. No, not the dirty donkey on the edge of a cliff. I’m talking about guards, forwards, and centers! Know your draft and where certain players get selected. Is there a guard and center run early? John Collins, Myles Turner, Jonas Valanciunas, Richaun Holmes, Clint Capela, Jarrett Allen, Jaren Jackson, Kristaps Porzingis, etc are all centers who are being drafted after the first 40 picks. Part B to this tip is if you get stuck on that sharp fence again, almost always fall to the side with the player that has more positions, or if you know a player will be getting eligibility! This is so key and I almost always try to lean towards players with multi-position eligibility! I’m not telling you to stay clear of a one-position player by any means, but if you are torn on a decision this may help push you in a direction!
- What have you done for me lately?: We talked about preseason already, but this one is more geared towards a player’s performance at the end of the previous season and playoffs! Many times a player who goes on fire to carry their team into the playoffs usually carries over into the next season! Of course, situations can change, but if many of the variables stay the same and you have a chance to get a player who was lighting it up in the playoffs, don’t be afraid to pull the trigger! As with many things, there is a progression to a player’s career that should be followed!
- Injury-prone: I want to dedicate this one to the feeling of that dagger in your heart when you hear injury news on a player you roster. Let’s start with injury-prone players. There is truth to this and a reason why we joke about certain players who always seem to get hurt. Whether it’s their genetic makeup, bad practice, or training habits, they play without caution (my heart stops every time Joel Embiid hustling causes him to fall to the floor), or a black cloud over their head, there is a reason a player gets this label! Some players get hurt often, and some heal fast. I’m not telling you to not draft an injury-prone player, but just factor it into your ranks and expectations. Fortunately, I own almost every player in each sport to help balance the pain of injuries and lower my therapy bill… but as you know they are almost 100% unescapable to managers throughout an entire season. Let’s also lump in Covid DNP’s in this era we are living in so it’s tougher than ever. A big question is when do I take an injured player in a draft. Obviously, it depends on the type and length of injury but to help you quantify, I always go with a rule of thumb for every month missed I push that player down at least 1 round in my ranks. Ex: Let’s take Klay Thompson this season (who also happens to be injury-prone) and assume he comes back in Jan so technically in my pre-ranks, I would wait about 3-4 rounds to pick him after that. You should also factor in your team and positional needs, but many players can be selected for nice value as they fall. Another thing you may not think about is that in most leagues you can put that player on the IR, so it’s not like you won’t be getting stats for the roster position… in fact, it can work out nice in the early season when there are more players to be taken as you could land a stud from the extra roster space and get Klay back too early next year. Most big championship team pickups are made in the first month so I like to have open spots!
- Show me the money: I know many of us gasp when we see what these athletes are getting paid, but it matters to them, and us! Every season I look at which players are either in a contract or rental year. The simple truth is that players want to get as big a contract as possible, so it’s not rare you will see a player step it up in a contract season to try to secure it! I don’t need to complicate this one and if I get stuck on that dreaded fence again, I will almost always pick the player who is playing for a contract, whether it’s his first big one or the last one of his career!
- Extra! Extra! Read all about it: This last pointer I want to dedicate to the many things that can influence a great season. The first thing I want to get into is a new team for a player. Sometimes this can hurt their value, but unless they are moving to the bench or worse situation, I like to favor players in year one on a new team. Unlike football where it takes some time to get it down, they can adapt in basketball much faster. In fact, I tend to seek out players on new teams as their excited energy not only helps carry them but the team sometimes. The same can be said for new coaches or other players being moved around that could impact “your player”. Don’t fly over these changes and think about the negative or positive impact it can have on your player like an upbeat coach who likes to run the court will create more shots and stats on both ends of the court! The last thing I want to talk about is a player’s off-season habits and summer league. I like to put a little more emphasis on summer league performance than preseason because players are a little more relaxed and less rushed. Players smoking in the summer league can translate well. Also if you hear that a player has put in extra practice time in the off-season, or is working with a Hall of Fame player on their shot, or has even changed their eating habits are all little things that I try not to let escape my mind on draft night!
As always it’s key to have good in-season management as you work your way to the Promised Land, but it’s difficult to overcome a poor draft, and I’d like to say many leagues are won or lost on draft day! There are other things to talk about and we could probably start an entire section on draft tips, but I wanted to cover some of the most important ones to me with the Razzball club. I’m happy to hear from any of you if you agree, disagree, or have some more tips for our peers. I’d also like to say thank you for reading and I’m looking forward to being a part of the Razzball community. Tighten those shoelaces and it is almost time for tip-off!
