Love/Hate for 2008-09

by Brian McKitish and Guy Lake

No, the face of ESPN fantasy is not bringing you this version of his patented (and trademarked) Love/Hate column for the 2008-09 fantasy basketball season. If you read his Draft Day Manifesto, you saw that Matthew Berry didn't think you needed to read this column anyhow. Didn't need it, he said. The concentrated brilliance of his manifesto was enough to win you your league … as if you were the only person who might put the point guard/power forward strategy (or is it power forward/point guard?) to use in your league after reading it.

Indeed, why should we need...Love/Hate for 2008-09

Exploiting the waiver wire

by Adam Madison

A large part of any astute player's success in any fantasy league is exploiting the waiver wire. So much talent presents itself throughout the season, either through the ineptness of your fellow owners as they fail to pounce on a player (or drop one of their own), or through injury and circumstance that bestow the opportunity to make an impact on a previous afterthought of a player. The NBA, though, differs from other fantasy sports in that it is not necessarily skill that dictates fantasy value, but instead minutes. It is a rare exception that any player garnering 30-plus minutes per...Exploiting the waiver wire

12-team mock draft

by Guy Lake

Usually, about this time of year, you see a lot of expert basketball drafts published on various sites around ye olde interweb. They can be useful because they give readers an early indication of where the fantasy cognoscenti are placing their bets. They are snapshots in time of who's hot and who's not. There is one problem with expert drafts, however: The participants are all "experts." As a consequence, the results often do not reflect what knowledgeable everyday owners see in their own drafts.

To address this issue, we decided to mix up the format. Instead of gathering 10-12 writers, we invited...12-team mock draft