LESSONS LEARNED   The following are samples of "Lessons Learned" from HoopsKlyce subscribers based on their experience from the 2000-2001 season: The lesson I learned this year is that, during the auction, it is better to load up on the more reasonably priced players (e.g., Marbury, Francis, Dirk) that have great upside. Later in the season, these guys gain more value than on draft-day. So you can parlay them into the absolute superstars (Webber, Shaq) to fill in the holes in your team Rule of thumb for those that want to win: Unless it is KG, Shaq, Vince, Duncan or C Webb trade them while they are hot!!! i.e. Fortson, Marc Jackson, Stack, Big Dog, Mash. Don't hang on to them thinking they will take you to the promise land. Cash them in and get a real star. Consistency is KEY. My team is going berserk. I'm in first in rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks and have a 9-point lead over a team that has Shaq, Iverson, Webber, Marion, Sprewell and Alonzo. I pretty much used the same formula that works every year: draft for value and trade like a madman. By value, I mean I paid 69 for McGrady, when some people thought that was too high; 52 for Walker, same thing. Walker is great, and we don't even count threes. Ben Wallace at 22 was unbelievable; people shy from him because he doesn't score, but he rebounds like a monster, blocks, steals, gets assists and is unbelievable durable. There aren't that many centers out there, which makes him even more valuable. I had him on my team the whole year. This year I was in a head to head league with lineups set weekly. In this type of league I would rather have a player that is more durable than one that his slightly better stats. One missed game could mean cost the week. It is impossible to predict injuries but some players play through them (Iverson) while others seem to never play 10 games in a row (Camby) At the mid point of the season, I was 2-8 and in dead last -- 2 games out of 9th! I resisted some marginal trade offers and hung tight with my core players...and I was rewarded! In the 2nd half of the season, I went 8-2 and came within one game of making the 6-team playoff field. I learned that you should stick with your team if you're convinced that they are underperforming and that there are reasons to expect that performance will improve. Lesson learned - most important category - games played. Best draft ever - get Shaq and completely ignore the free throw percentage category. I took last in that category, but won 4 others. The lesson I learned is not to overpay for point guards early in the auction (Gary Payton). It took me two months to overcome that mistake and get back into contention. Patience, patience, patience is the number one lesson learned. For example, I tried trading Jason Terry after the first couple of weeks basically for anything I could get, but found no takers. Subsequently, Terry was shifted to the two spot and blossomed. If anything, I learned to be more patient, and not give up on a player real fast if he's in a slump. One lesson learned ... I need to be a little more focused on trading off a little in a category to get what I need in other categories that are likely to be very close. I owned the rebound category this year by a wide margin. I should have been willing to part with some rebounds to get more assists and/or blocks + steals. By the time I realized that, it was a little late. If I had a tip on how to bid, if you're going after a marquee player, the conventional wisdom is to wait it out and try to buy after people have spent their money. I have found this to be the opposite. I bid Shaq in the first round and got him pretty easily for $59. Several rounds later, Duncan went for $57. By bidding early, people are afraid to spend large amounts because they are saving their $ for that special player they have picked out. Then as the centers start to dwindle, Duncan goes for $57, Robinson for $35 and so on. The middle of the draft is when people start to panic and start bidding up players. At that point I used my remaining $ to bid players up to more than I thought they should go for. Even if I didn't want a player, I made sure by bidding him up, he sold for at least what I thought he was worth. The one thing that keeps getting reinforced from this season in hoops and also from all fantasy sports is the importance of doing your prep work during the off season and pre-season. Most managers can only make so many adjustments once a season starts. It is difficult to overcome a very poor start in hoops. You also need a dominating center in most leagues to be competitive. This means that you may need to pass on a more glamorous player to get that center to anchor your team. I won my league for the 2nd year in a row. There are eight categories, so there is a lot of ground to cover. Last year, I only worked on seven categories. I traded away all the point guards and concentrated on everything but assists. It seemed to work. Rule #1 going into the auction was to not buy players that have had an injury history. That's why I did not consider Webber, Hill, Camby, Iverson, Cassell, Coleman, Van Horn, Hardaway(s), or Brandon. This year, I had McGrady as my keeper. I was also able to get Odom, and now had two players who were able to contribute across all eight categories. I then went after two players who were the at the top of their fields (Mutombo for rebs, off rebs, and blocks; Payton with assists, steals, and points).By trading away Hughes and Outlaw at their high point for Stackhouse (points, FTs, and 3s), I had a specialist in all eight categories. I also started the season with Russell, Christie, and Atkins that had nicehot streaks I was able to obtain. I was able to get three key players off the wire (Marshall, Olajuwon, and Wells). I knew they were solid contributors, and had to hold them through the cold times. It was tough to not waive them for the current hot FA, but I held tough. I mostly held Marshall as the backup for Russell. Russell was playing really well at the start of the season. I knew it wouldn't last and thusly obtained Marshall as my fallback. I would also refuse to pay more for a free agent than I thought he was really worth. I tell my league-mates that my victory is due to superior management. Really it was just luck by keeping healthy all season, and having a few free agent picks come through for me. Thanks for the news and the preseason guide. It took me to the finish line!! Beware of committing big dollars to rookie underclassmen. Case in point for me was Stromile Swift. I paid $22 for Swift, and it really hurt my draft (I'm in a keeper league). Swift is long on potential, but like the McGrady's of the world will probably need a few years to be a reliable producer. I also drafted and held on to K. Martin - overall he worked out okay, but he also played 4 years of college ball. On the other hand, D. Miles did fairly well. That's why I say "beware". Everyone knows this: the draft is key to your success. I had a lousy draft, but had a strong returning nucleus and made some good in-season moves. I managed to finish 4th out of 12 teams. With a good draft I would have finished in the top 3. Where did I go wrong? I didn't pay close enough attention to the scoring categories in our league, so know your scoring categories. Second, I didn't have a tight system for drafting - obviously - I drafted Stromile Swift. Lock up your scoring categories with proven performers - potential (read: Swift) doesn't count. Everything you need for the draft you get from HoopsKlyce. Pre-season injuries often create great buying opportunities. Remember when McDyess had back problems during the pre-season? Thanks to all the press hype he went for $30 in my league - and not to me. Another savvy owner snapped him up. Despite a late season fade he was a good bargain at $30. That's all for now Hoops. Thanks again for another great year. Without your service/expertise I wouldn't have finished in the money this year. My most significant lesson learned was -- stay away from 6th men (by which I mean subs generally, but after the 7th man they aren't worth picking up at all.) They are too inconsistent from game to game, which makes it harder to decide when to play them. Usually, their stats aren't good enough to play week in, week out. On the other hand, when you do play them and they have a couple of games where they don't get in much, their week (and yours) is shot. While I haven't analyzed this mathematically, I think the "yield" from a 6th man who is in your active roster for, say, 16 weeks is much more difficult to predict than for a typical starter. (Of course, some starters are inconsistent, too -- like Shandon Anderson, for instance. But I think they tend to slump in streaks rather than game-to-game). I think that your ratings (like most ratings) tend to rate 6th men too highly because they look at the stats for the whole year. I didn't control for this and drafted a couple of 6th men. Fortunately, Cuttino Mobley turned into a starter (and his production was quite consistent even when he was coming off the bench). On the other hand, Rodney Rogers was a mess -- he had great weeks on my bench and rotten weeks in the starting lineup. I always controlled for number of games, but didn't go so far as to look at match-ups, home/away or back-to-back games when choosing who to play. Next year I will stay away from 6th men. I think a slightly lower-rated starter is more likely to give you good weeks than a 6th man -- it's easier to have them on your team.   Previous Article Next Article Copyright © Hoops Klyce 2001 - All Rights Reserved Website Designed by Lelnet Failed to execute script '../cgi-local/ax.cgi': Win32 Error Code = 2