Give Me The Rock
this is fantasy basketball
After discussing the youth tax and the veteran discount theory, this tip may seem a little beginnerish for you hardcore GMTR readers. But it’s worth mentioning since I still make this mistake all the time and have paid the price for it. Maybe I’ll listen to my own advice this year.
And that advice is: Pre-rank your players before your draft starts (even if you plan on being at the live draft) and make sure to use your queue during the draft.
The queue – that thing in an online draft that lets you line up the players you’d like to draft before the pick gets to you – is something that no one ever thinks about. But the queue is good. Get to know it. Take it out for a nice steak dinner. The queue will save you.
I’m sure some of you make good use of your queue or pre-rank players before you get to a draft. But for those of you new to the game, the queue (and your personal pre-ranked list) is the only thing between you and getting Vince Carter in the second round of a draft when your computer decides to freeze seconds before your pick. That is a true story – last year CBS Sportsline autopicked me Vince Carter in the first year of a keeper league after my computer wigged out on me right before my pick. Vince Carter in the second round? In a keeper league?
Why would something insane like that happen? Because all the standard league rankings, like Yahoo’s O-Rank, are laughably horrible. It’s like, “thanks Yahoo, but I don’t think I’ll be drafting Kyle Korver in the 5th round.†I think they all do it on purpose, but whatever the case, don’t trust them and don’t let them draft for you.
Now, Patrick, you may be saying to yourself, I have my mock drafts, cheatsheets, and big boards all printed out right here in front of me, I don’t need to use something as silly as a queue. Fair enough. But I promise there will most certainly be a time during a draft when Yahoo’s/ESPN’s/CBS’s/NBA’s pre-ranked list totally screws you up. You’ll be frantically searching their lists for a specific player listed on your cheatsheet, only to find that he’s already been drafted 2 rounds ago. Now there is 10 seconds left on the clock and you have to scramble to get in a crappy last second pick.
Queuing up players before your turn will help you find the guys you want to draft in advance, before you’re on the clock, while pre-ranking ranking players ahead of time will get rid of the guys you don’t want and make it easier to follow your game plan when the draft starts to get crazy. And the timed drafts usually get a little crazy.
Now, the queue can be a little frustrating, especially when the assholes in front of you keep stealing your picks. That’s why I don’t use it sometimes. But the frustration that comes from watching your queue get picked off is nothing compared to the frustration of having Vince Carter as your team’s second best player. I think we can all agree on that one.
So, don’t consider pre-ranks and queues a waste of time. Not only will the save you if something goes horrible wrong, they will also make your draft a lot smoother and possibly more successful.
Previous Draft Tips
#1 – Percentages are not Created Equal
#2 – If you think he’s a sleeper and I think he’s a sleeper, then he’s not a sleeper
#3 – Avoid the Youth Tax
#4 – Positions Matter… Kind Of
#5 – Veteran Discount Theory
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