More so than fantasy baseball or football, league specifics greatly determine draft strategy in fantasy basketball. Particularly, scoring format can affect someone's value immensely, so "cheat sheets" should never be used blindly. Almost every league is going to utilize points scored, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, with three pointers made, field goal percentage, free throw percentage and turnovers also commonly used. Personally, I think a weighted scoring system works best, with the big three (points, rebounds and assists) being worth the most; this just seems to be a better reflection of reality.

For the same reason, I'm a proponent of not using the two most "controversial" categories - free throw percentage and turnovers. The ability to shoot free throws is an important skill in the NBA, but Shaquille O'Neal is probably a top-5 player in the history of the game and has a 52.5 percent career mark from the charity stripe. It's counterintuitive, that one of the very best players in the history of the game frequently needs to be removed late in games, but it's also fact, and it's hard to argue with the Big Fella's resume. Even in his heyday, O'Neal was such a drain in that fantasy category – especially because he shot so many freebies – you were virtually guaranteed a last place finish in FT%, making him someone you'd almost have to pass on.

Additionally, I'm even less fond of using turnovers as a category, as all that ends up doing is punishing the best players in the league – those who have the ball in their hands the most. Listen, assist/turnover ratios matter, and I'd love my point guard to not be unnecessarily careless with the ball, but Steve Nash, the league MVP during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, finished in the bottom 10 in turnovers per game during both of those campaigns. Last year, Dwayne Wade committed the most TPG in the league, and something tells me that wouldn't stop him from being the first or second pick if NBA GMs held a draft today. Sure, negative categories exist in fantasy sports – batting average in baseball and INTs in football – but that's similar to someone who doesn't have a good field goal (or FT) percentage in basketball. Counting turnovers is akin to making errors a category in fantasy baseball or holding penalties a category in fantasy football – it simply doesn't make a lot of sense.

In a recent NBA.com, PFC D-League draft, I heard a chorus of "why did you take him?" after making Dwight Howard the 19th overall pick. If selecting a 22-year-old center who got 17.6 ppg, 13.0 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.0 spg, 2.0 bpg while shooting 62 percent from the floor after the All-Star break last season late in the second round elicits that kind of reaction, then something is clearly wrong with the setup. Now, this specific league doesn't count turnovers against, so I was more than happy to get Howard there and had to respectfully disagree with their assessment, but he does have an average draft position of 29.42, and considering he "led" the NBA in turnovers last season and shoots free throws poorly, there's a reason for it. Still, I can't in good conscience take someone like Rashard Lewis (24.4 ADP) ahead of one of the brightest young stars in the game. Fantasy certainly isn't a perfect reflection of reality – just look at how overvalued stolen bases become in baseball – but the closer we can bridge that gap, the better.