Draft advice

We're coming up on the final weekend of the NBA preseason, which means it's two big days for fantasy NBA drafts.

I won't attempt to pass any advice to you, hoop-wise, since I don't follow the league closely. What I can offer is draft advice.

I do consider myself an expert on drafting. I can hardly pass up an offer to do a draft; that's how I got into joining a fantasy hoops league two years ago. (I also tried getting KG, Pierce and Ray Allen on the same team, which didn't happen.)

Here are some tips, no matter which fantasy sport you might be drafting for:

• Know your league -- as in rules, scoring and owners. I always find it amazing when a owner comes out of a draft and says something to the effect of 'I didn't know that was a category' or 'I didn't know we needed 'X' number of 'Y' players at that position'. I mean, that should affect the valuation you put on players. For example, my fantasy football league has two flex spots in which a WR can fill both. Given that it's a slight PPR league (0.3 point per catch, instead of the standard 1), it pays to load up on receivers.
  
• Make a list of players you want. Don't be that guy holding up your draft because you're flipping through your fantasy mag or furiously Googling for news. Chances are your last-minute find won't pan out as well as the player that you should have researched beforehand. You don't want to miss on your first few picks; get those right. Making a list comes in handy late in the draft of a deep league (usually 12 or more owners).
  
• Be aware the way your draft applet lists available players. I've used the big fantasy sites like CBS Sports, ESPN and Yahoo!, and all of them list, by default, players according to their ranking, which probably won't help you, unless you're using a very vanilla, standard-like scoring system. You're likely to have a few owners who don't know the league rules/scoring that well and didn't do their research, so they're taking the proverbial 'best player available' -- according to your site's rankings. Fill up your draft queue with your draft targets, but don't take them too soon if they're not likely to be taken. In hockey, I was able to get Blues defenseman Erik Johnson late in my draft; he missed all of last season due to a preseason injury but is a former high first-rounder with upside.
  
• Keep track of your opponents' rosters. This sort of gets back to Point #1: know your owners and who their 'pets' might be. Be aware of what positions they've filled and what positions they might be going after.

And remember, this is fantasy sports. It's not life and death. If you want your favorite player or load up on guys on your favorite team, go for it.