Table of Contents

Foreword......3


Comprehensive Overview of Fantasy Points...4


Weekly Matchups and Lineups....5


League Manager/Constituency Powers........7


The Draft......8


Fantasy Season/Playoffs Overview....10


Roster Acquisitions....13


Supplemental Information (Statistics/Power Rankings)... 16


Tabulated League History......17





















To All Owners,

The purpose of this document to assist any owner in understanding the scoring breakdown for
The Union fantasy basketball league, in addition to league rules and policies. The goal of this
document is to enable the most casual of NBA fans to fully understand how our fantasy
basketball league works so they are not competitively disadvantaged.

Most of this composition is based upon pure factual information; I try my best to avoid any
personal opinions I have in regards to fantasy basketball strategy.

This is the fourth year this specific league has been running, and my sixth year as a League
Manager. Each year I learn more and more about ESPNs leagues in terms of how fantasy
basketball works and what practices are and are not allowed. Additionally, each iteration of this
league serves as a learning process for me as well, so please bear with me through the year if
there are any issues that arise throughout the season.

If anyone has any concerns that you feel should be brought to the attention of the entire league,
please feel free to make posts in the discussion board on the leagues homepage. If you feel that I
misuse my power at any point through the season, you are also encouraged to post in the leagues
discussion board.

As always, if any owner has any questions throughout the season, I can be reached via email at
aman.s.mundra@gmail.com, or via text/phone at (603)-321-4262. I also welcome any and all
feedback about this guide. Ismail Yasin is the Assistant League Manager this year, and he can be
reached via email at iyasin30@gmail.com, or via the discussion board.

Overall, my hope is that any owner, even one who doesnt follow the NBA religiously, can still
understand the basic principles that govern fantasy basketball and can successfully manage a
competitive team via using this guidebook.

Thanks for taking the time to read this book, and I hope everyone has a fruitful season.

Warm Regards,








Aman Mundra
League Manager 2014-2015 Season





A Comprehensive Overview of Fantasy Points

Fantasy points are the metrics used to determine the outcome of an individual fantasy
basketball match. Essentially, this league is simply about accumulating fantasy points. You
accumulate fantasy points based on the real-life performances of your players in a given week.

If your team has more fantasy points than your opponent for a given matchup (usually 1 week in
length), then you win that matchup.

Here is a breakdown of each NBA statistic and its corresponding value in terms of fantasy
points:

Figure 1.1: Fantasy Point Assignments
NBA Statistic Fantasy Point Value
Points 1
Steals 1
Rebounds 1
Assists 1
Blocks 1
Turnovers -1
Field Goals Made 1
Field Goals Missed -1
Free Throws Made 1
Free Throws Missed -1

The relationship between a players on-court performance and the resulting fantasy score can be
best understood in terms of an example:
















*Total Fantasy Points: Represents the sum of all of the fantasy points produced in the rows
above. This value will be added to your fantasy teams score for a given match.

Figure 1.2: A breakdown of LeBron James Game 6 2014 NBA Finals
Performance ([see Box Score]) in terms of fantasy points.
Category Tally Resulting Fantasy Points
Points 31 +31
Steals 0 0
Rebounds 10 +10
Assists 5 +5
Blocks 2 +2
Turnovers 1 -1
Field Goals Made 10 +10
Field Goals Missed 21 -21
Free Throws Made 8 +8
Free Throws Missed 9 -9
*Total Fantasy Points - 35


Weekly Matchups and Lineups

Weekly matchups are what determine your overall regular season ranking. There are 17 weekly
matchups through the fantasy regular season; the teams with the Top 8 records will advance to
the playoffs (for more on this, see Playoffs). On any given day, you can play up to a maximum of
10 players that will contribute towards your weekly score.

ESPN designates 10 positions that can be filled for any particular day.

PG
SG
SF
PF
C
G
F
UTIL
UTIL
UTIL

The roster also contains 3 bench positions.

BENCH
BENCH
BENCH
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Any players placed on the bench for a particular day will not have their statistics count towards
their teams score for that day.

For example, if ones lineups are set as:

MONDAY LINEUPS:
PG Kyrie Irving
SG Dwyane Wade
SF
PF Kevin Love
C Anthony Bennett
G***
F****
UTIL**
UTIL
UTIL

BENCH LeBron James*

*Based on this configuration, LeBron James statistics would not count for Mondays statistics.


**Note that UTIL positions refer to spots that can be filled by any position (PG, SG, SF, PF, or
C).
***The G positions have to be filled by either a PG or SG.
****The F positions have to be filled by either a SF or PF.

--------------------------------------------------------

Hypothetically, if Player A is a PG and scores 25 fantasy points, those totals will be reflected in
your weekly team score regardless of whether Player A is slotted in at the PG, G or UTIL
positions. However, if Player A were left on the bench, his points would not be counted towards
the weekly team score.

Managing Lineups

Every owner is responsible for setting his/her lineups. A prolonged period of unset lineups will
not be tolerated, and if this practice occurs, the owner responsible can be forcibly removed from
the league.

A general suggestion is that lineups be set the week before a match is to commence. Some
owners configure their entire lineups for the season the same day the draft has been completed.
However, ones lineups, whether set or unset, lock for the day once the first NBA game of that
day is played.

For example, if one were to log on to ESPN at 8:00 PM, and noticed that LeBron James has a
game at 10:00 PM but was sitting on their fantasy teams bench, they could only move him back
into the lineup if no games had begun for that night. If, say, the Lakers had already begun
playing at 7:00 PM that day, then the owner would not be able to move LeBron James back into
the lineup.

Unusual Cases

In some cases, it is possible to tie during a weekly matchup. In such a case, there is no tiebreaker
for a weekly match. Instead, that matchup is recorded as a tie. Please note that ties are extremely
rare in fantasy basketball; in our leagues 3-year history, there have only been 2 tied matches
ever (both occurred in 2012).

Additionally, please note that ESPN sometimes changes recorded statistics in an ex-post-facto
manner after games have been completed. Although unusual, it is understandable that even a few
days after a matchup has been completed, ESPN alters the recorded fantasy points for the
matchup based on a correction in statistics made. A famous example of this occurred in the 2009
season; LeBron James recorded a triple-double only to later have it rescinded later on. The same
can happen with weekly scores in fantasy basketball.






League Manager Powers

The league manager (LM) is endowed with the power to change nearly any aspect of the fantasy
league. The LM is granted these powers in order to make adjustments in the league that are
beneficial for the majority of the constituency. Some examples of what the league manager can
control include:

Lineup adjustments for all teams (even after games have locked)
Roster acquisitions for all teams (through waivers or trades)
o This power includes the right to veto and reject an accepted trade between two
parties (with the agreement of a 2/3 majority of owners who actually vote on a
given trade)
Voting is defined by voting to approve or negate a trade. Owners who
vote to abstain or who elect not to vote at all will not be considered when
calculating if a 2/3 majority exist.
Score adjustments for all teams (even after a given match has been completed)
o Note: Score adjustments are publicly made and will be explained via a league-
wide message.
Playoff settings and team records
o Note: If any such changes were made, they would be announced to the league
publicly

The league manager also reserves the right to remove any owners in cases of anticompetitive
behavior (i.e. prolonged unset lineups after repeated warnings) or collusion (i.e. two teams
trading for the benefit of only one owner).

Generally speaking, when I make any changes to league settings, I will announce it on the
leagues homepage. However, a level of transparency does exist by way of the Recent Activity
tab on the homepage. Any changes (be it roster adjustments, a change in league settings, or
otherwise) are reported under the Recent Activity tab. The league manager does not have the
power to alter any activity under the Recent Activity tab, thus ensuring full transparency for all
of the owners.

Constituency Powers

The constituency can vote to veto any trades that occur. Additionally, they have the right to be
heard via the message threads, and can conduct polls.

If any owner has any issues throughout the duration of the fantasy season, they should contact
the League Manager.

If the constituency feels that the League Manager has abused his powers, they can bring any
issues to the attention of the league via the leagues message threads.





The Draft

Draft attendance is strictly mandatory. You will be contacted via phone/text about a draft date.
Generally the draft is configured so that everyone can be accommodated.

ESPN randomizes the draft order itself one hour prior to the draft. However I reserve the right to
change this policy so that owners can have more than a one hours notice as to what pick they
have in the draft.

The draft is completed as a snake draft to ensure fairness. In other words, the team with the first
pick in Round 1 will have the last pick in Round 2, so as to ensure that no overwhelming
competitive advantage is given to the team with the first overall pick. This example is illustrated
below for a hypothetical 6-team league:

Round 1, Pick 1: Team A
Round 1, Pick 2: Team B
Round 1, Pick 3: Team C
Round 1, Pick 4: Team D
Round 1, Pick 5: Team E
Round 1, Pick 6: Team F
---------------------------------------------
Round 2, Pick 1: Team F
Round 2, Pick 2: Team E
Round 2, Pick 1: Team D
Round 2, Pick 2: Team C
Round 2, Pick 1: Team B
Round 2, Pick 2: Team A
---------------------------------------------
Round 3, Pick 1: Team A
etc.

Notice here that Team A was given the first overall pick in Round 1, but had to wait until the
end of Round 2 (Round 2, Pick 6) in order to select a second player. Thus the snake draft
functions to ensure fairness during the drafting process.


A Statistical History of the Draft

Whilst many fantasy pundits claim having the first overall pick is a great advantage (because you
can select a top-tier player like LeBron James or Kevin Durant), having the first overall pick
doesnt necessarily translate to instant success. Last year (the 2013-2014 season), three teams
tied for the best overall regular season record of 13-4. These teams drafted 7
th
, 8
th
, and 11
th

respectively (out of 12 draft spots). Clearly there is no correlation between having a high draft
pick and fantasy team success. This can be further seen in the figures below:
































0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
W
i
n

P
e
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e

Draft Position
Figure 2.1: Overall Win Percentage Versus Draft Pick
2013 and 2014 Seasons


Fantasy Season Overview:

The fantasy season (including the fantasy leagues playoffs) only last the duration of the NBA
regular season. In other words, our fantasy league playoffs will coincide with the final few weeks
of the NBA season. Usually the fantasy season (un-inclusive of fantasy playoffs) will last 17
weeks, which means each fantasy team plays 17 regular season matchups.

Playoffs:

This league features 12 teams, 8 of which will qualify for the playoffs. Each regular season
matchup lasts one week in length, whilst a playoff matchup lasts two weeks in length. The teams
with the best 8 regular season records will qualify for the playoffs.

Playoff Seeding:

Although two conferences do exist in fantasy basketball, they really only serve more of an
organizational function for the regular season. In the playoffs, the top team from each conference
is guaranteed a Top 2 seed overall in the playoffs. All other teams are then given seeding
precedence based on their regular season record. This means that if a team is not the top seed in
its conference, then that teams seeding is determined relative to all of the rest of the teams in the
league.

This concept is best illustrated by an example (in which we have a 10 team league, where only 6
teams qualify for the playoffs):

Regular Season Records
Vowels Conference Consonants Conference
Team A (13-4) Team B (10-7)
Team E (11-6) Team C (6-11)
Team I (10-7) Team D (5-12)
Team O (9-8) Team F (4-13)
Team U (8-9) Team G (3-14)
Team Y (7-10) Team H (3-14)

Resulting Playoff Seeding
1) Team A (13-4) [Vowels Conference Winner]
2) Team B (10-7) [Consonants Conference Winner]
3) Team E (11-6)**
4) Team I (10-7)
5) Team O (9-8)
6) Team U (8-9)
7) Team Y (7-10)
8) Team C (6-11)***

** Note that even though Team E (11-6) has a better record than Team B (10-7), because Team
B is winner of its conference (the Constants Conference), it is guaranteed a Top 2 seed.



***Note here that 5 of the 6 teams to qualify for the playoffs came from the same Vowels
Conference. Being second in ones conference does not guarantee a playoff seed; rather you
must be a Top 8 team overall to qualify for the playoffs in our league.


Figure 3.1: Hypothetical Playoff Bracket







































1) Team A (13-4)
2) Team B (10-7)
3) Team E (11-6)
4) Team I (10-7)
5) Team O (9-8)
6) Team U (8-9)
7) Team Y (7-10)
8) Team C (6-11)






League Champion


Top Seed Advantage (Home Court Advantage)

Within each playoff matchup, the higher seeded team receives a +10 point advantage for the
matchup. In other words, before the match has even began, the higher seeded team starts with 10
more fantasy points than their lower seeded opponent. This advantage is dubbed the home court
advantage from a fantasy basketball context. Because the higher seeded team has outperformed
the lower seed through the duration of the longer regular season, the higher seed is given a minor
advantage of 10 additional fantasy points.































Roster Acquisitions

The roster is capped at a total of 13 players. However for any given day, only 10 players worth
of statistics can be counted towards a fantasy teams score. Rosters can be altered through two
ways; free agency and trades.

Waivers

When a given player is dropped from a fantasy team, he must go through waivers. The waivers
system essentially functions to enable all teams an equal opportunity to acquire a highly coveted
free agent. The waiver period for a player usually lasts one day; during this days time, any
(and all) teams can claim the player; however, the team with the highest waiver order precedence
will eventually acquire the free agent in question.

The waiver order is predetermined by ESPN. When a fantasy team successfully claims a player
off of the waiver wire then that team is relegated to the 14
th
(and lowest position) of the waiver
order. A sample waiver order is shown below in Figure 4.1.




Figure 4.1 (Above): Sample Waiver Order


Note that in the sample shown in Figure 4.1, Team Scofield has the highest waiver precedence
(the #1 position on the list), whilst Team Dwight FELT On Your Ass has the lowest waiver
precedence (the #11 position). If a potentially high value player, such as Kenneth Faried for
example, were dropped, then Faried would enter the waiver wire for a 24 hour period. During
that period, any and all teams can claim him. If teams Punjab Kings XI (#3 in waiver order),
Gujarat Cheapskates (#4 in waiver order) and Dwight FELT On Your Ass (#11 in waiver
order) all laid claim to Faried, then based on the aforementioned waiver order, the Punjab Kings
XI would eventually acquire Faried. After acquiring Faried, the Kings XI would drop to the last
position on the waiver order (the #11 position), whilst every other team would be boosted up one
spot (aka Dwight FELT On Your Ass would go from #11 to #10, and the Gujarat Cheapskates
would go from #4 to #3 on the waiver order).

Free Agency

Free agents are unclaimed players that can be signed to any team. Teams are strictly capped at 5
free agent acquisitions per week as of the start of the season. If a teams roster is already full (at
13 players) then in order to acquire another player, an existing player on the roster must be
dropped. Generally that dropped player will then enter the waivers.

Further Differentiation Between Waivers and Free Agency

Often times it is difficult to grasp the concepts of waivers and free agency.

Any players unclaimed when the season has begun are free agents. Conversely, players who have
been owned by a team and are subsequently dropped undergo waivers. If a waiver player goes
unclaimed, he is converted to a free agent player.

Waiver players can be identified by a yellow-colored addition sign. Conversely, free agent
players are synonymous with green-colored addition signs.

Trades

Trades must be agreed upon by two consenting fantasy teams. The LM reserves the right to veto
any trade in cases of perceived collusion or tanking (this is described in detail under the Trade
Vetoing section below).

Exceptions to Normal Roster Processes

The 100% Owned No-Drop Rule
Please note that owners are forbidden from dropping players who are owned in 100% of leagues
unless they are injured and are classified as Out. This applies to both the regular season and the
playoffs. This is to prevent tanking (which serves no real purpose in fantasy basketball) by
owners who have given up on their seasons. Dropping players who are owned in 100% of
leagues translates to creating talent in the free agency pool that wouldnt normally exist there.
Therefore this practice is strictly forbidden, unless the LM is consulted prior to dropping the
player and is provided with an adequate reason for why such a player is being dropped.



In cases where a player owned in 100% of leagues is dropped, the league manager will forcibly
re-add that player to the roster of his original team and will reset all rosters involved in
transactions with said player to their original states prior to the dropping of the player.

Weekly Free Agent Acquisition Limits
The league manager reserves the right to alter the limit of free agent acquisitions per week at any
point during the season if he feels it will enhance the competitiveness of the league. In such
instances, the LM will notify the constituency of these changes through an announcement on the
league homepage.






































Power Rankings

Generally Power Rankings should be posted on a weekly basis. Additionally, a pre-season
(post draft) power ranking entry shall be made, along with an additional iteration for the
playoffs. Power rankings shall be written by both the League Manager and Assistant League
Manager.

Although I cannot speak for the Assistant League Manager, power rankings compiled by the
League Manager will generally have a mathematical basis to them. In other words, team s shall
be ranked on the basis of their mathematical fantasy output. In general, a basic explanation will
be given as to how the rankings were calculated.

Power Rankings are meant to be interpreted in fun and jest; I would like to caution all league
members to not interpret them as personal attacks on the owners, but rather as a somewhat
comedic yet informative measure of each teams performance.

A Statistical Side Note

ESPN annually releases projections as to how they expect each player to perform from a fantasy
perspective in the coming season. Just how accurate are these projections? And, are these
projections better at predicting statistics than simply using the previous years statistics as the
benchmark for their performance?*

Data shows that on average, ESPNs projections are generally off by approximately 1.8 FPG
(fantasy points per game)**. Conversely, using the previous years statistics as the sole source to
project the coming years statistics yielded an average deviation of approximately 2.2 FPG***.

Interestingly enough, perhaps the best way to predict statistics for the coming year is via a hybrid
combination of both the previous years statistics and ESPNs projected numbers****. Indeed,
the hybrid projection was the most accurate of all the metrics used in forecasting the coming
years statistics; the average hybrid projection differed from the actual seasons numbers by
approximately 1.59 FPG*****.

*I compiled a statistical database randomly selecting 137 of the top 200 players from the 2013-
2014 fantasy season using our leagues scoring metrics (note here that the top 50 fantasy players
from 2013-2014 were automatically included in this sample of N = 137).
**This exact figure is actually 1.775 FPG
***This exact figure is actually 2.165 FPG
****The formula used to produce a hybrid projection was:
Projection = (.25*[2013 Statistics]) + (.75*[ESPNs 2013-2014 Projections]






Tabulated League History:

Figure 5.1: League Champions List
Figure 5.2: Owner Histories
Figure 5.3: Top 3 Draft picks by year


Figure 5.1: League Champions List
Year Owner Team Name
2014 Aman Mundra Punjab Kings XI
2013 Nobel Mathew (retired) Team Nobie Swagg
2012 Jerry Mathew (retired) Butterfly Lightning


Figure 5.2: Returning Owners (Sorted by Career Win Percentage)
Owner Career Win % Seasons Championships Division Leader
Christine Varghese .765 1 - 1 (2014)
Jason Bajaj .706 1 - 1 (2013)
Aman Mundra .652 3 1 (2014) 2 (2014, 2013)
Arifin Zakir .617 3 - 1 (2014)
Justin Jacob .609 3 - -
Ismail Yasin .565 3 - 1 (2012)
Ravi Masand .308 1 - -
Alen Issac .294 1 - -

Figure 5.3: Top 3 Draft Results by Year
Year 1
st
Overall Pick 2
nd
Overall Pick 3
rd
Overall Pick
2014 LeBron James Kevin Durant Kobe Bryant
2013 LeBron James Chris Paul Kobe Bryant
2012 LeBron James Chris Paul Kevin Durant