1.Draft Guides like ours is a resource I use as extensive research to intelligently come up with my personal rankings.
2. In Yahoo!, first thing I do is EXCLUDE pit-trap players I want to avoid in the event I get disconnected during Live Online draft.
3. I order players according to my rankings. I don't bother with notes/remarks. When you live and breathe NBA news, recall becomes second nature.
4. Using a spreadsheet, I make two maps. One, inputting the pre-ranks; the other using my rankings. By map, I enter players' names in table form to visualize draft flow and see who are within "range" of players following any pick I am randomly assigned.
5. I don't do floor-ceiling, I input their names in the spot where I would take them. Since I am an aggressive exclusionist, my "reaches" are actually my BPAs based on my preferences and rankings.

That's my style. It's not for everyone. I won FOUR leagues last season (1st pick, 4th pick, 10th pick, 5th pick) and made playoffs in 66% of my leagues.

This seems like a nice Fantasy Mailbag Pod for next week, doesn't it??

Thanks for the reply Erik. Addressing your advice with the corresponding numbers:

1. Yeah, that makes the most sense.

2. Okay, one thing I never do is exclude players. I should do definitely do that in case I get disconnected.

3. Question about this: What about information that tends to rely on memory such as playoff schedule games or past injuries? Do you make notes on any of that or you still find that to be unnecessary and/or you can still recall of that?

4. On your spreadsheet, do you only list ranking or do you input other things such as stats, etc.?

5. Okay, that makes sense. So for instance, you have Gorgui Dieng on your own ranking as #94. If you feel like you need his kind of production and position, you'd draft him at #94 or above?

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Dan, I honestly would love your insight on this as well. It would be a fantastic mail bag show! I would appreciate it if you can do it, Dan! Thank you.

I edited my long reply and it disappeared?

I think the best advice is not to overthink it. Have a spreadsheet or another screen available for reference, but the first two rounds should be stress free since you're going to get guys you like for sure.

Have a clear idea who you want in rounds 3-8 and know in the last 3-4 rounds, it's likely to be a bit of a gamble, especially in a deep league.

One thing I used for the first time last year is a tier sheet by position. I make it in Excel. Print on a single sheet. columns for position, bruski rank, yahoo adp (for each of PG, SG, SF, PF, C). For example:

PG Bruski Yahoo
Elite Value ADP
Stephen Curry 1(1) 4-6
Russel Westbrook 1(7) 1-7
etc.
Early round
etc.
Mid round
etc.
Upside/Late round
etc.
Desperation

I put players Bruski ranks in round 1-2 in elite, 3-4 in early round, 5-9 in mid round, 10-12 in late/upside and 13+ in desperation.

I do a bunch of mocks on Yahoo to find the ADP range players are being drafted. I'm very specific for the first two rounds, the widen the ranges beyond that to within 5. For example, I might find Myles Turner goes 14-20, but for a guy in a lower tier I'd be fine with noting James Johnson has an ADP range of 70-85. If I really want him, I take him close to 70. If I want to gamble, I wait an extra round. Doing a lot of league type specific mocks will get you decent data.

Once I'm comfortable with my numbers, I use highlighers to color code my favourite picks for each position in each tier level. I also use different colors on the ADP numbers (green for great value, yellow average and pink bad value) so that I know Bruski ranks one player really high (say 65) and his ADP is 105. That's green. Bruski has Lamarcus Aldridge 112 and his ADP is 90, then red. (All examples made up.)

So that gives me a visual representation of all the information I've gathered from the draft guide, etc. No need to overthink during the draft since I've decided who I rather take when setting up my sheet.

As players get drafted I cross them out. So you always see who is available in each tier. I draft best player available, skewed to need. So within a few positin ranks, I'll take the player that best fits my team. Elite point guards and even moreso bigs run out quickly. So taking a Myles Turner earlier than his ADP is fine if the other elite bigs are all gone before you have picked your first big. That's the value of Bruski's 150. You are betting his research is better than Yahoo's or other sites'. So you have to really trust it and use it to fill in gaps and squeeze value out of each pick. You should be able to draft your entire team from the mid round tiers or better basd in Bruski's ranks, and only pick one or two players in the upside tier (ranked 109 or worse by Bruski) eithe because you really want one or two upside players, or because the draft us really strong and the mid rounders (you can stomach) are all gone. I might rather take Boban or Bojan with my last pick than Danny Green.

I won 5 of 8 of my 12 team Yahoo roto leagues last year with this, and finished 2nd, 3rd and 5th in the others. Injuries are the main risk... I had drafted some leagues earlier to get more value and Middleton went down in three of my leagues! I still won two of those because Bruski nailed so many picks and sleepers. This year I will draft most leagues the week before the season starts.

I just list them via ranks on my sheet. I have a mental shorthand as far as what I get, stat-setwise, from whom. For example, I don't peg Dieng at a rank number, such as #94 in your example. I know him as solid %s, low-TO big, with 1-steal 1-block. As I draft, and looking for a 2nd center, I remember what he brings to the table.

Despite setting up a hard filter with my pre-ranks, I filter the draft using Yahoo's rankings to get the "Sheep's eye view". I shuffle back and forth between my ranks and Yahoo!'s. Then queue up guys, based on the Yahoo! auto-pick horizon, but are on my "target list".

So, in the Dieng example. I look where he might go based on the Yahoo! flow, then decide whether to reach for him, grab a BPA, or reach get him because he IS BPA.

I get about two bottles of beer, a nice pizza, relax and enjoy the ride.

(After two weeks of mock-drafting like hell)

1. Once I know my draft pick I usually research two or three players that will most likely be available to me at that pick and rank them based on my preference, that's just for the first round though. I also place those three guys that I looked up in my Queue, in the order I have them ranked just in case I get disconnected in the first round. That way, a player I want gets auto drafted and I'm not stuck with someone I dislike on my team.
2.I go off a multitude of rankings, I usually draft on my phone and have four or five different tabs opened on my computer. Its kind of weird how I do it I guess, I don't make my own rankings. Each tab on my laptop is a different sites rankings, and then my own document with my sleepers and late round picks as well as when I plan on taking them. Based on all the sites rankings I kind of go by eye and see where each player is ranked and take whichever player has the best consensus ranking out of all of them, but I also have to like the player as well. Now that I'm typing this I realize it might just be much easier to make my own rankings instead of having all the tabs open.
3. I'm also a risky drafter, I'm always told that I reach on players far too early. However, in my opinion they aren't reaches at all, in some cases they are actually steals for me. Like Erik I understand that that kind of strategy isn't for everyone, but never be afraid to take a risk on someone you're extremely high on even if others aren't. I'm sure there were a bunch of people that didn't like Nikola Jokic last year but he wont a ton of people leagues. Always go with your gut, it's one of the best fantasy tools you have.

read the draft guide and do a mock draft vigorously for 2 weeks. best advice here is "to not overthink it".

Thank you all for your input. I love the variety of methods and you guys inspire me with your confidence in them 🙂

@ B, Avery and mike_damz

Haha yeah I find that it's definitely much more fun to not overthink it and just go into it with a good base knowledge. I didn't even bother to buy any draft guides or anything in the past, and I overall did good in at least half of my leagues. However this year, I want to try to up my chances in every way so I can win in most of my leagues.

@ Erik

I see. You're definitely an expert and you're probably right that your method might not be right for everyone. I can recall most players' stat set and such, but I tend to make mistakes if based off memory. I think I need a bit more experience and effort before I reach I can do it the way you do it.

@ Philippe

Wow. This is exactly what I was looking for. I wish I could see your past years list just as a complete example, but I think I got the idea. One question - how do you keep track of your category composition? Will you be using the Rotobalance app?

@ Najee Adams

You draft on your phone! Wow haha. That's hardcore. I can see why, since you wanna dedicate your entire laptop to your research and rankings. I think I'll be doing the same, except in the form of 2 monitors haha. Surprisingly, as hectic as your method seems, I can see myself doing it. I did the same during the Hoop Ball mock draft.. although I think it worked well cause it was a slow mock.

@ Dan

Listened to the pod today. That was some damn good advice. I like the detail you went into about ADP and drafting accordingly to my own ranking or the B150, and it goes along with what many people said here. I think that part was probably the most helpful in determining how to make my own ranking. I'll make sure to have some paper on the side too!

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I think I'm fairly confident now on how to start my preparation. Once the B150 comes out, I'm gonna circle back to here and re-read everything again. Thank you guys!

My pleasure! Yep, those decisions on order are the toughest part, but I find not flipping around on the computer screen is hugely helpful.

@ Philippe - it is uncanny how similar the system you described is to what I do myself, right down to splitting out into the position columns, the B150 vs yahoo differentials, the tiers, the highlighting, the crossing out as you go, etc. Uncanny. Hoop Ball is truly the home of fantasy hoops maniacs. I mean this as a compliment -
I hope as few of you as possible are in my cash leagues this year!

Just to add, as Erik mentions I think it's important to keep track of where you are in the standard ranks, in addition to your own. Can avoid reaching too far unnecessarily etc.

B150 on one screen, personal tweaked ranks on another, basketball monster ranks on another tab (ready to adjust if u start punting), paper backup copies, beer, pizza... perfect evening.

Good luck folks