The regular season is winding down in the NBA, and that means that the betting taking place on the games is increasing as more and more people start paying attention to them. However, there is an alternative to straight sports betting in the daily fantasy sports world. It requires a lot more more finesse, but the rewards can add up over the course of a few days, turning your starting money into a much larger amount of cash. Plus, the extra skill level involved makes this much more interesting for true sports fans as they invest themselves mentally in the games and the outcomes.
It all comes down to how you draft your team. Everyone is on equal footing until the first game goes underway, but knowing how to stretch your salary out most effectively will give you the biggest advantage over time. Like sports betting, there’s a lot of ups and downs on the day to day level, but when you look at the course of a season, your profit rate will be much more predictable.
Start with stats. Look at your site and see which stats are most favorable for scoring points, and then maximize them. For example, at FanDuel, blocks and steals are rewarded most heavily. They’re worth 2 points each, so players that have an inordinately high number of these will be helpful to your team. In the NBA, Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans has the best blocks per game number in the entire league at 2.8, a whole 0.3 ahead of the next player. In steals, Stephen Curry leads with 2.1 per game. Both players have more than 20 points per game, as well,making them highly sought after players. They might not have the highest salary, but because of their ability to generate high fantasy point scores, they can be huge for your team. This is especially helpful if there is a high priced player in the same position that you are considering that doesn’t have the same upside potential. This is true of the Point Guard position at the moment with Chris Paul being ranked $700 ahead of Curry. Paul has superior assist numbers, but these are worth less than steals, and Curry has competitive assist numbers, himself. The big difference is that Curry has a high average points per game number, which just adds to his overall value. It’s only $700 in a $60,000 cap league, but it is something that could be added on to the price of another player. Pick just a few instances on your team like this, and your roster suddenly has much more potential.
Rather than just jump on the hype of the most expensive player on the list, look for other opportunities that can boost your potential, and you will find yourself placing higher in your contests more frequently, rather than just maintaining an average consistency. In the competitive world of fantasy sports, daily fantasy games are the hardest to predict with accuracy, so every time you can give yourself an edge, you need to take it in order to keep your winnings consistent and as large as possible. Little value tricks like this can be one easy tool to use. This is one reason why sites that weigh popularity when creating salaries are best for stat oriented managers like yourself.
