Daily Fantasy Review

Daily fantasy leagues are a booming part of the sports landscape, and they lend themselves to clear-cut quantification. Today I'll use the FanDuel scoring system to take a look back at the 2013-14 season and answer some questions I had while setting my lineups this afternoon. For instance, which teams allowed the most 'fantasy points' to their opponents? Which player positions were the most valuable, and which were the scarcest?

And here’s the FanDuel scoring system:

Points: 1.0

Rebounds: 1.2

Assists: 1.5

Steals: 2.0

Blocks: 2.0

Turnovers: -1.0

Owners must use a $60k 'salary cap' to build the best possible nine-player lineup, with the following position requirements: PG, PG, SG, SG, SF, SF, PF, PF, C

Question #1: What does the dispersion of scoring look like? This is the broadest possible look at the top 300 players from the 2013-14 season, showing a predictable concentration of value in the top-50 and a slow but steady decline through picks 100-300.

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Question #2: What does the scoring breakdown among the top-200 players look like?

As this shows, scoring is easily the most dominant factor in FanDuel, with blocks coming in at a paltry 3.9% of total 'fantasy points' accrued. Points were followed by rebounds (21.7%) in importance, so it's little surprise that the top four FanDuel options last season were Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, LeBron James and DeMarcus Cousins. Targeting lenient defenses is critical (more on that later) and fantasy owners should also keep an eye on which teams allow the most rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. That type of information is readily available on a dozen different websites including NBA.com.

Question #3 & #4: Narrowing the focus to the top-200 players, how many of them were PGs, SGs, SFs, PFs or Cs? And how many FanDuel points did each position-type average?

Top-200 FanDuel Values (2013-14), by Positions

This shows that small forwards were conspicuously scarce in FanDuel leagues, especially since each owner was required to start two. With so little depth at the position, it's essential to figure out which players are up against lenient defenses. A mediocre SF against the Lakers, Wolves or Nuggets could be a better value than a typically excellent SF who is matched up with the Bulls or Grizzlies. Centers were the most plentiful position in the top-200, relatively speaking, since each team only requires one 'C' in their lineup. I was mildly surprised to see so many shooting guards, but SG was the one position with a drastically lower average score. There were 47 SGs in the top-200, in other words, but only six were in the top-50: James Harden, Monta Ellis, DeMar DeRozan, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant and Gordon Hayward.

Question #5: How many players did each NBA team contribute to the top-200?

The Warriors and Lakers were the only teams with 10 players who made the cut, with no other teams having more than eight players in the top-200. The teams with five or fewer players were the Heat, Grizzlies, Bobcats, Timberwolves, Thunder, 76ers, Kings and Wizards. I'm not quite sure what the common thread is there, as those teams ranged from fastest to slowest pace, highest to lowest offensive efficiency, etc. The Sixers are particularly surprising, as they had a revolving door of players and (as we'll see) yielded the most FanDuel points of any team to their opponents.

Question #6: Matchups are an essential part of constructing daily fantasy lineups. How many 'fantasy points' did each team allow to their opponents per game?

Inefficient defenses and fast-paced offenses are a theme among the teams that allowed the most FanDuel points, and vice versa for the stingiest teams. That said, fantasy owners absolutely must look deeper into how each team is performing vs. a specific position. The Heat gave up the 5th-fewest points overall last season, for instance, but they were routinely torched by opposing centers due to their undersized frontcourt. RotoGrinders.com has a terrific tool that addresses this need...click here to check out their "NBA Defense vs. Position" tool.

Question #7: Where can I dig deeper?

The RotoGrinders crew is pumping out a ton of content on Rotoworld this season, be sure to check that out. You can also follow the Rotoworld Daily account on Twitter for live updates, column links and much more.

The next page contains a list of the top-200 players in FanDuel last year, including how many 'fantasy points' they averaged per game.

Top-200 FanDuel players (per game) for 2013-14

This is the final 'Numbers Game' column, at least for a while, as I'll be writing a new column every Wednesday beginning next week. I'm still pondering the topic/theme, so send me a note on Twitter or via email if you have any suggestions!