Fantasy Basketball

I've been scouring ESPN magazine and Sports Illustrated for the last two weeks in prep for another exciting season of fantasy basketball.

Here's how it works: 12 players draft a team of real NBAers. 9 different statistics are tracked cumulatively, so as each NBA player gathers rebounds, makes a 3-pointer, etc. my total score goes up. If you end the season with the most rebounds you get 12 points, fewest gets 1. So the maximum points are 9 x 12 = 108.

Here's how I did last year: Awful. But not unexpectedly. As a rookie last year, I didn't invest any time in the draft, letting the computer pick based on its own ranking. I ended up with no notable rebounders, traded away a top scorer to get a middling rebounder, and spent the rest of the year chasing futilely to a 7th place, 59 point finish.

This year: The crop's looking much better. Last year's stats project that my team this year would earn 74.5 points. Last year's league champ had 79 points. Opening night was yesterday, and I currently sit at 71.5. "Teach Me The Rules" is our team name, for good reason last year. This year we'll overcome!