holliday said:

Smitty,

Do you have any good advice when it comes to drafting strategies in a rotisserie league?

(ie. don't pick up a guy unless he's above avg in 4 catagories, pick big men last, pick a couple key catagories an really focus on them, make sure to get extra big men with your bench spots, etc???)

BPA is the best approach in any league or setting IMO. So first, know your scoring format. You should be able to sort by stats for players in your league based on your current scoring format (but search by last year's stats). Every league scores differently, which changes what players are worth, or docked in terms of field goal %, etc, etc…

After you know who outscores who, sort them by position. Then consider using X-factor rankings… that basically goes as follows:

1. In excel, paste in each position based on how they finished in your scoring format from last year
2. Calculate how many players will start in your league per position.. ex: 10 teams, with line-up requirements of 1C, 2G, 2F
3. With that example (1C, 2G, 2F), multiply your number of teams in your league (10) by each number of starting players at each position, so ex: 10x1C = 10 centers, 10x2G = 20 Guards and 2Fx10 = 20 Forwards.
4. Using those numbers, 10, 20 and 20, now tier(highlight) that number of players on your excel sheet, so highlight the top 10 finishing centers, top 20 finishing Guards, and top 20 finishing Forwards (keeping in mind you have to insert a few players that may have got hurt, if you feel someone needs to be inserted)
5. Now calculate how much each player outscores that last highlighted player at the position (ie: How much does Derrick Rose outscore the 20th ranked guard… how much does LeBron James outscore the 20th ranked Forward and how much does Dwight Howard outscore the 10th ranked Center, etc, etc etc… that figure is your "X" factor, and the player on your excel list that outscores the "last potential starter" at that position (ie: C #10, G #20 and F#20) is your number one overall pick…. because that player dominates his position most…

Make sense? If you already knew of that strategy, I apologize for writing all that out, but it really is the best way to dominate your draft. It's of the "tier drafting" family, as you are essentially drafting a player because the other positions have more parody. If the 20th ranked Forward is only 40 points away from the 8th ranked Forward, but the top Center on the board outscores the 10th ranked center (last starter in your league) by 150 points, you should draft that center.

holliday said:

That was really helpful!  Thanks for taking the time to write that all out.