Fantasy Postseason Rankings

If you already miss playing fantasy basketball or if you’re bitter because all the DNP-ROAD, DNP-REST, DNP-KIDD or DNP-OLD things costing you a title, then you can join a postseason fantasy league. A handful of the Rotoworld guys are doing a draft later today on FanTrax, so check it out here and start your own league! Doctor A will have a column with the results, too. They’re a lot of fun and give you some extra rooting interest. Before we get into my rankings, let’s just go over the format and some thing you’ll want to remember.

Editor's Note: Play one-day fantasy basketball during the NBA playoffs! Rotoworld's partner FanDuel is hosting a $100,000 league for Saturday’s NBA games. It's just $2 to join and first place wins $8,000. Starts Saturday at 12:30pm ET. Enter now!

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It’s basically a set-it-and-forget-it draft with no moves. So the team you draft is all you get. There is no bench either, so every player is “starting” for you. We’re drafting two forwards, two guards, one center and four flexes. The scoring format is as follows:

Point - 1 point
Rebounds - 2 points
Assists - 2.5 points
Threes - 3 points
Steals - 5 points
Blocks - 6 points
Free throws made - 1 point
Turnovers - -3 points

So it does slightly favor big men with the high turnover negative and two points per board. Also getting free throws made is big. Three points for a trey is huge because that’s basically six points on a make (three points for the actual points).

Of course, the most important thing is getting the most games out of your guys. Yes, it’s nice to have some of the favorites and get them to the Conference Finals. However, drafting a guy eliminated after the second round and playing in two seven-game series can be a difference maker. Those four vs. five matchups could be huge, especially in the Eastern Conference. Two seven-game series is 14 games while three sweeps in a row in 15. Of course, there are more games to follow a sweep, but you get my point.

One thing that is also popular is to stack guys on the same team. As Reese Bobby would say, “If you ain’t first, yer last.” If you draft five Spurs and they make it to the Finals, chances are you going to be finishing very high in the standings. On the other hand, if the Clippers beat them in 5-6 games, you’re dead money.

OK, so how about some odds? As much as we all like to think we know everything about the NBA, Vegas doesn’t mess around with their odds. Here they are:

Golden State Warriors 11/5

Cleveland Cavaliers 11/5

San Antonio Spurs 7/2

Atlanta Hawks 12/1

Chicago Bulls 12/1

Houston Rockets 16/1

Los Angeles Clippers 18/1

Memphis Grizzlies 28/1

Dallas Mavericks 40/1

Portland Trailblazers 40/1

Toronto Raptors 50/1

Washington Wizards 75/1

Boston Celtics 150/1

New Orleans Pelicans 150/1

Brooklyn Nets 200/1

Milwaukee Bucks 250/1

Obviously, you’re not going to want to draft any Bucks in the first few rounds. Personally, I’d be surprised if their series with the Bulls goes more than five games. Another cool thing to see if the Spurs are 7/2. Are they the best sixth seed ever?

One last thing: Don’t forget the playoff rotations are tighter. For example, last regular season Kawhi Leonard played 29.1 minutes per game, but that increased to 32.0 in the postseason. Oh and don’t forget, Stephen Curry probably won’t rest 19 fourth quarters. OK, so with that here’s my rankings for the fantasy playoffs:

Note: These rankings will be changing on the fly during a draft. For instance, if I take Kawhi Leonard in the first round, I'll be moving the Clippers all down because it's Spurs vs. Clippers to kick it off. That series is ridiculous, by the way. They're No. 2 and 3 in net rating! First round! Ah!

1. Stephen Curry

2. LeBron James

3. Draymond Green

4. Kawhi Leonard

5. Kyrie Irving

6. Klay Thompson

7. James Harden

8. Tim Duncan

9. Kevin Love

10. John Wall

11. Jeff Teague

12. Marc Gasol

13. Paul Millsap

14. Chris Paul

15. Al Horford

16. Tony Parker

17. Andrew Bogut

18. Dwight Howard

19. Jimmy Butler

20. Trevor Ariza

21. Harrison Barnes

22. DeAndre Jordan

23. Blake Griffin

24. Marcin Gortat

25. Zach Randolph

26. J.R. Smith

27. Pau Gasol

28. Andre Iguodala

29. Bradley Beal

30. Derrick Rose

31. Joakim Noah

32. Timofey Mozgov

33. Danny Green

34. DeMarre Carroll

35. Josh Smith

36. Terrence Jones

37. Kyle Lowry

38. Kyle Korver

39. Manu Ginobili

40. LaMarcus Aldridge

41. Damian Lillard

42. Boris Diaw

43. Jeff Green

44. Taj Gibson

45. Brook Lopez

46. Anthony Davis

47. Paul Pierce

48. DeMar DeRozan

49. Mike Conley

50. Monta Ellis

51. Nikola Mirotic

52. J.J. Redick

53. Marco Belinelli

54. Corey Brewer

55. Marreese Speights

56. Tyson Chandler

57. Dirk Nowitzki

58. Aaron Brooks

59. Chandler Parsons

60. Deron Williams

61. Nicolas Batum

62. Lou Williams

63. Tony Allen

64. Rajon Rondo

65.Mike Dunleavy

66. Nene

67. David Lee

68. Jamal Crawford

69. Isaiah Thomas

70. Aron Baynes

71. Matt Barnes

72. Tiago Splitter

73. Jason Terry

74. Kris Humphries

75. Jonas Valanciunas

76. Robin Lopez

77. C.J. McCollum

78. Tristan Thompson

79. Iman Shumpert

80. Pero Antic

81. Tyreke Evans

82. Eric Gordon

83. Khris Middleton

84. Dennis Schroder

85. Otto Porter

86. Jrue Holiday

87. Devin Harris

88. Joe Johnson

89. Mike Miller

90. Spencer Hawes

91. Thaddeus Young

92. Patrick Patterson

93. Evan Turner

94. Ryan Anderson

95. Shaun Livingston (might not get in rotation, but maybe garbage time)

96. Avery Bradley

97. Omer Asik

98. Marcus Smart

99. Jared Sullinger

100. Kelly Olynyk

101. Amir Johnson

102. Jarrett Jack

103. Mike Scott

104. Kent Bazemore

105. Meyers Leonard

106. Patty Mills

107. Vince Carter

108. Matthew Dellavedova

109. Michael Carter-Williams

110. Greivis Vasquez

111. Austin Rivers

112. James Johnson

113. Giannis Antetokounmpo

114. Drew Gooden

115. Zaza Pachulia

116. Ersan Ilyasova

117. Tyler Zeller

118. Matt Bonner

119. Terrence Ross

120. Jae Crowder

121.Mason Plumlee

122. John Henson

123. Brandon Bass

124. Courtney Lee

125. Tony Snell

As you can probably tell, I have the Spurs over the Clippers, the Wizards over the Raptors with the Wizards having a decent chance over the Hawks, and Houston handling their business in the first round. I can't wait for tomorrow and still can't believe it's Spurs vs. Clippers.