NBA Fantasy Basketball Settings

As you prep your fantasy draft cheat sheet and ask yourself how Lebron James will impact Dwayne Wade's fantasy greatness, it is important to have an effective scoring system in your fantasy basketball league. If you are looking for superior settings for your NBA fantasy basketball league, please refer below:

The starting lineup should consist of 3 Guards, 3 Forwards, 1 Center, and 1 Utility Player. Keep in mind that it does not matter if your player is a "Shooting" Guard or "Point" Guard-all guards should fall into the same category, as should "Small" Forwards and "Power" Forwards. Splitting up all of these individual positions causes too much confusion and makes things far less flexible on your daily lineup.

With games being played nearly every day, it is important to have a good-sized bench. A good bench number is seven. With seven bench players, you have ample room to draft two back-ups at all three positions.

Utilize the following seven categories for your head-to-head matchups:

1) Points Scored

2) Rebounds

3) Assists

4) Blocks

5) Steals

6) Field Goal Percentage

7) Free Throw Percentage

Some players also like to throw in three-point percentages and turnover ratios, but this can severely alter the integrity of your league. For example, if your team is already lagging way behind in total points, rebounds, and assists at the mid-way point of a matchup, but it is leading in all four of the aforementioned percentage categories, then you will be inclined to simply bench the rest of your team for the remainder of the week so you can maintain your high percentages and sneak away with four category wins. Players should not be rewarded for having players sit the pine.

When determining the playoff settings, do not allow for over 50% of the teams to make the postseason. If your league has 10 teams, then a 4-team playoff is appropriate. For 12- and 14- team leagues, it is best to go with 6-team playoffs.

For Waiver/Free Agency acquisitions, limit the number to 45 per season. This is a high enough number to satisfy all of the roster moves that your heart desires. If you raise this number, then players may abuse it come playoff time, as they may have room to make a dozen or so moves just to gain games on their opponents and ruin the competitiveness of the much awaited championship.

Stay away from the division-style formats. Every team should be placed in one "lump-sum" league. If you divide the league into different divisions, you run the risk of a poor team making the playoffs due to simply being in a division that is full of below-average teams. With a lump-sum league, all of the teams with the best records deservedly earn their way into the postseason.