By Vicky Dugar

So you registered on hoops.sports.ws and are soon beginning a draft. Questions always arise at this stage even for the expert Fantasy BBall players, so do not think that you are alone in this boat.

I will outline some of the general strategies that you can follow so that you are ready to rumble with most members of your league. When writing this, I assume that most readers are not following the NBA rigorously during the off-season. Having said that, here goes:

1. Know the Hoops.ws Scoring System
There is probably no other article that I can refer to you - other than the help section on this website. Many people have played Head-2-Head (H2H), Points, and Roto leagues, and are easily convinced by the drafting strategies of these scoring methods will work on Hoops. They won't. Trust me, they won't.

The standard scoring method of Hoops takes into account the efficiency of a player in the minutes he plays on the court. No other scoring system does this. Know how it works and you will likely beat most other managers.

General rule of thumb - the primary scoring option, or the "Go-To" guy on ANY team will likely be a top-30 or a top-40 player on Hoops. This may not be the case on the other conventional scoring methods such as Roto and H2H.

2. Know the Scoring Method of Your League 
This is probably the biggest mistake that managers make. Some leagues have scoring methods that heavily favor Post/Lane men (i.e. PFs, Centers, SFs). You can judge it on your own whether that is good or bad - but always exploit it. If Blocks and Steals are regarded as high as points, stay away from people Ben Wallace or Theo Ratliff. Players such as Michael Redd have more value in this case.

3. Read Articles on the Internet with Extreme Caution 
This related to the first and second question. Since Hoops has an entirely different scoring method than all other Fantasy Basketball sites, you are likely to come across player rankings that will NOT be accurate to the scoring system in your league. For instance in a 12-team league, Shaq - is a top 5 pick in H2H and Points league. A third round pick in Roto, and approximately a top-10 pick in Hoops (depending on your scoring system).

Words of wisdom: Stay away from Roto rankings. They are completely different than H2H - whose scoring system is closest to Hoops, but still not close enough.

4. How Do I find Information Regarding the Injuries, Other News on Players? 
Gather a list of good websites for NBA Player News. There is no worse error in your draft than taking a player who is out for most of the season, or worse - the entire season. One of these sites is the NBA section on TQ Stats (www.tqstats.com). Before drafting a particular player, read what news is out for that player and make a decision accordingly.

5. I Have Pick #5 - Which Position Should I take?
It is usually better to take a Multi-position player in the first round. With the exception of Hoops monsters like Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Shaq (this year at least) most of the other top-10 players are multi-position. Tim Duncan, Elton Brand, Dirk Nowitzki, etc, give you flexibility to use them at either Forwards or Center. Similarly for GF players.

6. Which Position Is the Most Difficult to Find Good Players?
If I HAD to pick one, I would say Centers. Good and reliable centers are very difficult to find. Due to the size of these freaks of nature (I mean it is just weird to be 7-foot 5 inches tall! No pun intended!) their legs will give way sooner or later. Centers by nature have a relatively shorter game span in real life than the other positions. Look for a reliable center (Dedicated or multi-position) in the first or second round so that you have at least someone giving you security for those 48 mins.

7. Is It Better to Load up on a Particular Position and Trade Them Later?
This is probably the most arguable topic in Fantasy Basketball. My strategy is to take the best player available at that time, unless you MUST draft a position that you do not have.

For example, if your first overall was Kevin Garnett - F, should you take another Forward with your second pick? Sure - provided that he is the best person available at that time. But this strategy must stop at some point in time.

Think of this strategy like a Wild Card - use it once for a stretch of 2 or 3 picks maximum, and then don't use it again. If you have 5 players at a particular position and none at another - believe me that you will not have much flexibility when making trades.

7. When Is a Good Time to Start Taking High-Risk/High-Reward Players?
My general strategy is to secure your starting 5 to 6 players and then take risks in 7th round or later. Players like Grant Hill, McDyess or Marcus Camby are high-risk superstars. Taking them as players for your starting five (2 Gs, 2 Fs, 1 C) is too large a risk.

But if they are available in later rounds, they are worth a gamble.

8. How Can I Tell Which Players are Best Suited for Hoops.ws?
Run a player search of a particular player on the "Toys" page and it will give you the stats and ranking of that player. Compare these stats with a few other players that you are considering at that particular pick.

However, note that these rankings may not always hold true. Some players perform well towards the end of the season after receiving more playing time (E.g. Marquis Daniels - Dallas). Some good players become slow at the end of the year - and may not do as well. Almost always, a change in teams will increase or decrease the output of a player. Keep ALL of these things in mind and make the decision to select the player.

ESPN.com has a very neat list of "Splits" for a particular player. Go to the player page of someone and look at his splits. If a player was promoted to a starter from coming off the bench - then look for how he has played as a starter. Avoid the Season Splits page on NBA.com - ESPN is FAR more informative.

There are many dimensions which can directly relate to how a player performs for the upcoming season - Change of teams, change in position played, addition of key new players to their team, coaching changes, offseason surgeries, and many more. It is extremely difficult to predict how a person will play with dead accuracy, but not impossible to predict within a reasonable range.

9. How Can I Get Expert Opinion on My Upcoming Draft Picks?
Best way is to post a message on active basketball forums on the Internet. Sports.ws Boards are a place to start, and there are many others. It is not difficult to find reasonable predictions for most players.

10. Any Other Advice?
Read. Read. Read. And then analyze a little. There is nothing better than to read articles around the Net to see how other people are thinking about predictions for the upcoming season. At some point, you will have to follow your gut instinct, but it is always good to have a guideline.