Paying attention to the schedule

By: David Lister

I just wanted to expand a bit on this column I mentioned in Monday’s FSR Daily that breaks down the second-half NBA schedule. What’s that you said? Do I really have to pay attention to the schedule in fantasy basketball? Let’s take a look.

NBA teams normally play between two and four games a week. I like to break up players by tiers, so if a forward is one of the top 12 fantasy forwards, he is a top tier forward (13-24 would be tier 2 forwards, and so on). To see if there’s really that big of a difference between a three-game week and a four game week let’s compare a tier 1 forward in a three-game week with a tier 2 forward in a four-game week.

Our tier 1 forward will be Caron Butler, who is having a ridiculous season, averaging 21.8 points, 7 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.4 steals per game. For the tier 2 forward, we will use Danny Granger (17.2 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.9 apg, 1.1 steals).

FG FT 3’s Reb AST Steals Blocks TO

Butler 24.9 12.6 3.3 21.0 13.2 7.2 0.9 7.8
Granger 23.6 14.8 7.2 23.6 7.6 4.4 4.0 8.8

So the extra game effectively makes these two very different players even (each wins four categories). Not a monumental difference, but something that you have to consider if you want to win your league.

I’m not advocating that you dump your top players for lesser players who have more games on the schedule, but looking at the schedule can be an invaluable tool when picking your fringe players, especially during the fantasy playoffs. And as the trade deadline approaches, make sure you take a look at the player’s schedules during your playoff weeks so you won’t be screwed when your newly acquired forward is only playing two games during your championship week.

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David Lister is the web editor for the National Sports Review. You can reach him at chicagosportsreview@gmail.com. Go Cards.

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