Daily Fantasy: Assembling the Squad
The core of every fantasy game is picking the players that make up the squad. For Daily Fantasy, there is an added dimension, because players from both competing teams are eligible to be in a single line-up.
For a refresher on how to play the game, click this link.
Here is a quick guide on how to build your squad:
- Scout through the available active players.
Check the players that are listed as active for the match. Keep in mind that you may pick players from either team–take advantage of this feature. There are some numbers that you may check right away–usage rate for instance–but be wary because the higher the usage rate, the more credit a player costs. The purpose of this step is to figure out which core players to build around with.
- Who are the 2 best picks available?
Ask this question as you scout the line-ups–these 2 players will be the captain and the vice captain (for more help on picking the captain or vice captain, click this link). The stats of the captain and vice captains will be multiplied by 2 and 1.5, respectively, and will be a huge factor in the rankings.
- Pick the rest of the squad
There are many considerations in picking the rest of the squad. Among the most logical ones, as mentioned above, is to check the usage rate–a number that could be found in the player’s numbers in the user interface. Higher usage rates likely translate to more playing time, and potentially, more statistics (points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks). Another tactic is to check the current trends–check whether or not the player or team has been performing well statistically (e.g. pick the main Cavs players if they are on an 8-game winning streak).
There is also the match-up angle–certain match-ups favor certain players or teams (e.g. pick Victor Wembanyama if the opposing team has no reliable defensive big; or pick the young guns of OKC if they’re playing the aging Warriors).
Other players, perhaps in the interest of time, simply choose to auto fill their squadl–which is easy and takes no time–but where’s the fun in that?
