Click here for weekly rankings and start/sit recommendations
Read below for the fantasy basketball Forecaster
[Editors's note: Since this column was published on December 17, the NBA announced a number of postponed games due to COVID-19. Brooklyn's home games Sunday against the Denver Nuggets and Tuesday against the Washington Wizards were postponed. The Cavaliers and Hawks had their Sunday game postponed, and the Pelicans' game Sunday against the 76ers and the Magic's game Monday against the Raptors also were postponed. The Forecaster chart below is up to date to account for all postponements. As always, stay tuned to ESPN for updates on postponements, player statuses, and more.]
In weekly transaction leagues, the schedule is one of the most important factors in determining how to fill out your fantasy basketball lineups. All fantasy teams have a hierarchy of player calibers, with a set of "best players" surrounded by a cast of lesser but still productive players from which to draw your weekly starting lineup.
All things being equal, a manager would start their best players every week and fill out the rest of their lineup based on things such as matchups. However, all things aren't equal.
The schedule changes the bottom line, because teams can play a different number of games, against a different caliber of opponents, with different breakdowns of home vs. road, back-to-backs, rest nights, etc. All of these things matter, and as I've seen this season, they often matter more than a player's caliber.
For example, would you rather get two games of a great player at 35 minutes per night against tough competition, or four games of a lesser player at 30 minutes per night against high-paced, weak competition? When looking at it quantitatively, it's surprising (to me) how often the correct answer is actually the lesser player -- yes, based on schedules, sometimes even star players should sit for a week.
Thus, below, we have the Forecaster, which provides a scheduling and matchup tool to help you make better-informed lineup decisions for the upcoming week.
We also take your weekly prep to another level with my weekly projection rankings. Here, you'll find my top-150 weekly rankings, based on ESPN standard points-league scoring, so you can compare players to determine whom to start, sit, stream or drop for the week ahead. I also provide several typical starters you might want to sit, and several bench/free agents you might want to stream.
Without further ado, let's check out the Forecaster.