Strategies in Fantasy NBA Basketball

For this project, we will discuss a popular game among basketball fans, Fantasy NBA Basketball, and analyze various statistical related strategies applicable to the game. The strategies will involve different stages of the game play, such as drafting players, selection of free agents, as well as trading players. We will use a more efficient drafting strategies based on a model that we refer to as efficient points rather than the commonly used " O-Rank ". We will also use expected values and variances of the players' statistics decide how to either pick or trade free agents during the season. Our final goal is to use these techniques to optimize team performance in order to win the league. Fantasy Basketball is essentially a free online game that allows players to manage their own team of NBA players upon creating an account. There are two types of major leagues, Rotisserie League and Head to Head League. For rotisserie League, there are several statistical categories such as rebounds, assists, or free throws that fantasy basketball teams are ranked on. Usually, ranks in each statistical category are then converted to corresponding points and are totaled to determine an overall score for the team. The team with the highest score naturally becomes the winner. On the other hand, in a head to head league, different fantasy teams created by different managers square off in a weekly match against each other to see which manager can compile the highest points in each of the different categories. For our purposes, we will only focus on Rotisserie League. In order to create fantasy teams, managers need to draft players they want during the preseason. Usually managers base their draft on a calculated rank referred to as " O-Rank ". " O-Rank " stands for original rank and is calculated based on NBA player's performance from the previous season. For example, for the data we are using, which is obtained from season 04-05, the " O-Rank " is calculated based on data from season 03-04. Usually, the higher the ranking, the better the player has performed in the previous season. Once the players are drafted and the team is created, real-life statistics are converted to corresponding points for each NBA player as NBA games occurs. For example, if Kobe Bryant's field goal percentage is 30% during the Lakers VS Spurs game, then that percentage gets converted to points under …