Make Player Moves

Your depth chart will list your 5 starters, along with 12 backups. Players are limited in Scoresheet Basketball by their actual playing time in the NBA that week, so your reserves will play an important role on your team. They will fill in for any missing minutes, and also will replace injured starters. But it is NOT necessary to turn in a new depth chart every week - injured players are automatically replaced by your backups, in the order you have listed them.

On your depth chart, you'll also include a short list of free agents you want. Each week we'll hold a free agent draft of available players. Every team that submits a new depth chart will add a player to his roster, with the team that has the worst record choosing first, second worst drafting second, etc. You will be able to use free agents as soon as you acquire them.

Head to Head Games

Your Scoresheet Basketball team will play three head-to-head games each week. In each Scoresheet Basketball game, your players will get a total of 265 minutes of playing time. How you designate your players' playing time is your decision! You can use the traditional lineup of one center, 2 forwards and 2 guards; you can play a 3 guard lineup for part of the game; or choose a 2 guards and 3 forwards set part of the time. You'll be able to tailor your lineup to best fit your team's talent. Players are limited by their actual playing time in the NBA each week, so your reserves will also play an important role for your team!

As an example: if you have Allan Iverson and Steve Nash as your starting guards, and both play in 3 NBA games that week, then each will play in all 3 of your Scoresheet Basketball games that week. Each will play the same amount of minutes per game for you as they averaged that week in the NBA. Those minutes you still need at guard will be supplied by your top listed backup - if he does not fill all the remaining time then your succeeding backups will play as needed. Players' points per minute are multiplied by the number of minutes they play in your game to determine their total 'points' for your team.

To add to the realism of our game, your team's points in 4 categories - scoring, rebounding, ball handling and defense - are multiplied together to get the total points scored. Players also lose points for doing things which hurt a team - missing shots, and committing fouls and turnovers, all count as minus points. (The complete scoring system is included in the draft packet.) We combine a team's points in each of the categories in such a way that a balanced team will do much better than a team which is strong in just one area. You can change your depth chart each week, or leave it unchanged for as long as you like. There are NO fees in Scoresheet Basketball for changing your depth chart, drafting free agents, or making trades!

At Scoresheet, we do not offer the large prizes some 'contests' do. To offer big prizes we'd have to completely change our game. Large cash prizes require a 'pool type' format - a game with real leagues would not work because owners would just collude (make unfair deals) to put together a super team. To us, the fun of playing fantasy sports is being in a real league, where a player can only be on one team in that league, where trading with other team owners is part of the fun, and where you compete directly with the other teams in your league. And let's face it, in those 'contests' with thousands of participants, most teams win nothing.

Trading

Trading is another great way to build a team, and it's a lot of fun. We'll supply you with the phone numbers and addresses (including e-mail addresses) of the other owners in your league. We're also happy to include your trade offers in our weekly mailings to your league. We do monitor all trades for fairness, and will not let owners deal unfairly. This opportunity to make real trades with other owners can be one of the most fun aspects of Scoresheet Sports . And the joy of trading is totally lost in other game systems where owners can simply pick up any players they want, even if those players are already on another team in their 'pool'.