Applying Data Analytics as an Alternative to Subjective Rankings of Players in Fantasy Basketball
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Fantasy Basketball ranks secondly behind Fantasy Football for fantasy sports popularity (Statistica 2018), but trails substantially behind in total participation. The relatively small participation could ostensibly explain the dearth of research and analysis dedicated to the game. That explanation is refuted, however, by Fantasy Baseball which ranks third yet is the seminal fantasy game with a litany of historical analyses from the pioneers of fantasy sports. Within this void is a lack of academic rigor the other fantasy sports enjoy. Fantasy basketball enthusiasts and analysts are missing an opportunity to exploit a similar environment to collect, analyze, and assess game data. Fantasy basketball websites, nevertheless, try to fill in the gap in demand and cater to fantasy basketball devotees. These sites employ colloquially named “fantasy experts” who create and build player rankings with different qualitative and quantitative techniques to provide their audience a way to select players for their fantasy teams.