Elite Fantasy Basketball – Free Preview

Signing up for Elite Fantasy Basketball’s award-winning fantasy basketball coverage is the best way to gain a competitive advantage over your opponents. At Elite Fantasy Basketball, you will find content you won’t find anywhere else. The site offers an incredible amount of unique and in-depth analysis for all types of leagues.

Here is a taste of what is available to subscribers.

Punting Guides

2023-2024 Punt Blocks Guide (Yahoo)

2023-2024 Punt Blocks Guide (ESPN)

Projections

Projections are available for nine-category leagues, eight-category leagues, Yahoo and ESPN points leagues, and leagues with double-doubles, offensive rebounds, and 3P% as categories.
The projections can be adjusted for league size, salary cap budget, and punting build.
The projections will be updated daily during the regular season.

Rankings

Top 150 lists are available for nine-category H2H leagues, eight-category H2H leagues, nine-category Roto leagues, Yahoo points leagues, and ESPN points leagues. A dynasty Top 150 will be released before the end of draft season.

8) Giannis Antetokounmpo (PF/C) – Giannis has gone from a no-brainer top-three pick to a somewhat risky first-round selection in a hurry. Last year, the two-time MVP failed to crack the top 100 in nine-category leagues and barely snuck into the top 10 when his horrendous free throw shooting (64.5 FT% on 12.3 FTA) was thrown out. His rough 2022-2023 campaign should make you a little nervous, but not enough to make you pass on Giannis in the first. There are some reasons for optimism. The first is that down-years from all-time greats happen and aren’t necessarily predictive of what is to come. We are only a few years removed from a top-35 season from LeBron James. It looked like James’ time as an elite fantasy asset was over after that disappointing finish in 2020-2021. He then proceeded to crack the top five the year after. Giannis’ newest teammate Damian Lillard went through something similar. He was a top-50 per-game option in 2021-2022. The point guard followed up that disappointing campaign with yet another top-eight finish in 2022-2023. Antetokoumpo is still only 28 and should still be in his prime. It would be surprising if his decline started this early. The second reason for optimism is the coaching change. Budenholzer being swapped out for Adrian Griffin could prove to be a boon for the power forward. Griffin may not limit Giannis’ minutes as much as Bud did and the system change could help the former Finals MVP’s defensive numbers get back on track. Last season, the Bucks moved away from the drop coverage they were famous for during the Bud era. Their opponents’ three-point attempts fell and so did the team’s steal rate. Giannis’ role on defense also changed. He contested fewer shots at the rim in 2022-2023 than he did in 2021-2022. It’s not a lock that the coaching change leads to improved steal and block numbers for the superstar, but given his career numbers, and given that Griffin is coming from a team with a defensive system that prioritized turning over the opponent, there is a good chance that Antetokounmpo’s defensive contributions return to normal. Lillard moving to Milwaukee should not have a major impact on Giannis’ value. He will lose a little usage, but the dip should not be significant. Khris Middleton will be the Buck that bears the brunt of the hit. The two-time MVP’s overall value will not change in a significant way if he’s scoring 28 PPG instead of 31 PPG. If you do decide to roll the dice on the Buck, make threes a priority throughout the draft. The punt FT% build can have issues with points, threes, and assists. Giannis addresses the issue with points by himself and puts you in a decent spot in dimes coming out of round one, but if you take the Buck and another dominant punt FT% big during the first handful of rounds, you are going to be in a major hole in triples.

Best Builds: Punt FT%

Pairing Guides

Pairing guides are available for both standard and deep leagues. These guides recommend second-round targets based on your first-round pick and your punting build of choice.

Punt Blocks:

Nikola Jokic/Karl-Anthony Towns

Above average in Rebounds, Assists, FG%, FT%

Below average in Points, Threes, Steals, Turnovers

Those fortunate enough to start their teams with Jokic should not be afraid to start big-big. That is a move that can work very well in both punt threes and punt blocks. While you will come out of the second round near the bottom of the standings in both points, threes, and steals, this is not actually a poor start in any of those categories. In fact, it should end up being a very strong one. Since you do not need to take another big until at least round six, you should end up in an above-average position in all three categories by the time the second half of the draft starts. Filling your two center spots with players will produce good-to-great numbers in the guard categories will almost always lead to a team that is very strong in the guard categories. This is also an excellent start in rebounds and both of the percentages. This duo does not force you to punt turnovers, but if you do plan on being competitive in the category, you will want to target some low-turnover perimeter options. Guards like Jimmy Butler, Dejounte Murray, and Jalen Brunson are strong targets for teams built around Jokic and Towns.

Punt Assists:

Jayson Tatum/Mikal Bridges (Roto)

Above average in Points, Threes, FT%, Turnovers

Below average in Rebounds, Steals, Blocks, FG%

This is the safest pairing in fantasy basketball. Both Tatum and Bridges have a legitimate shot at playing 75+ games this year. Tatum has never missed more than a handful of games in a season and Bridges has never missed a game due to injury. There are pairings that come with more per-game upside, but you could argue that this is one of the highest-upside pairings in fantasy due to each player’s excellent durability. If both players play their usual amount of games, you could get 20-to-40 more games out of your first two picks than your opponents get out of their first two picks. That is an enormous advantage. This is an elite start in threes, FT%, and turnovers and a strong one in points. Your rebounds will also be in decent shape thanks to Tatum’s excellent out-of-position contributions in the category. Steals and FG% are this duo’s two main weaknesses. Steals are more of a problem than FG%. Address the category immediately if you can and target high-SPG bigs like Bam Adebayo and Alperen Sengun.

Fast Starts Guides

The Fast Starts guides provide you with five-man combinations that will get you off to a great start. These combinations are an excellent tool for those short on time this draft season. If you did no other draft preparation and simply copied one of the combinations found in the guides, you would likely finish your draft in a very good spot. The five-man combinations are broken down by first-round pick and punting build.

Nikola Jokic (Pick 1)

Punt Threes:

Jokic/Butler/Adebayo/DeRozan/Ayton – A perfect start in punt threes. Only blocks are below average. That is not an issue with plenty of strong swats options in the middle and late rounds this year. Dominant in rebounds and both percentages. Doubling up on Heat players is no longer risky with Lillard in Milwaukee. Miami has a strong playoff schedule in most setups and is unlikely to be good enough to rest their studs.

Jayson Tatum (Pick 3-7)

Punt FG%:

Tatum/Towns/Dejounte Murray/Porzingis/Barnes – This is a group that comes with no significant per-game weaknesses. This combination is slightly below average in points and average or better everywhere else. It is an excellent start in turnovers for a punt FG% team. You won’t be quite as dominant in the category as the punt assists teams, but you’ll be ahead of everyone else. That’s key because a punt FG% team that can win turnovers consistently will be extremely hard to beat.

Team Building Tool

A subscription to Elite Fantasy Basketball also grants you access to the site’s one-of-a-kind Team Building Tool. This tool will make it easier for you to test different player combinations. Mock drafts are extremely time-consuming, and instead of spending over half an hour seeing if a Jayson Tatum/Donovan Mitchell/Bam Adebayo start works better than a Jayson Tatum/Mikal Bridges/Karl-Anthony Towns start, you can use this tool to compare the two scenarios in seconds. I would still do a few mocks to get a better idea of which players will be reached for, but in terms of creating and testing your draft strategies, the Team Building Tool is where you want to be spending most of your time.
This tool can be used to track how your team is doing in your real draft or mock draft. You can use it to test different combinations on the fly, and it allows you to keep track of your squad’s strengths and weaknesses. It tracks how your team is doing after each round in comparison to the rest of the league. Note: This tool does not connect to your draft on Yahoo, ESPN, or Fantrax. A Draft Tracker tool that does connect to Yahoo is in the final stages of testing.
The tool currently supports leagues on Yahoo, ESPN, and Fantrax with 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20 teams. The numbers used to calculate how your team is doing after each round are Elite Fantasy Basketball’s current projections. The tool is updated whenever projection updates or rankings updates take place.
The tool is very easy to use. Just click on a player’s name, and the tool will populate with that player’s numbers. I’m not exaggerating when I say you can build your team in 30 seconds.

Here are some screenshots of the tool:

Jayson Tatum/Donovan Mitchell/Bam Adebayo vs. Jayson Tatum/Mikal Bridges/Karl-Anthony Towns

A punt threes squad built around Nikola Jokic that was drafted during an Industry Mock:

For a full list of all the content currently available, check out the Draft Season Content Tracker.