I know nothing about fantasy basketball. I’ve been playing a lot of quarter and dollar multipliers while I figure it out. Some nights I turn my quarter into $15 finishing in the top five of thousands. Other nights, I feel like I pick the perfect lineup and finish 22,306 out of 25,000.

Like I said, I’m figuring it out.

That being said, I’ll share a few things here daily while I do.

First, obviously, as with any new venture, you do some research. Here are a few guys that seem to have a good feel for DFS basketball.

WILD CARD Daily Fantasy Sports. You can mail them money for more complete picks, but four or five times a week, they post free “Three Must Starts” or “Three Deep Sleepers” for that day. They are pretty accurate. If they would just show the other six slots for free, I’d be a lot richer. You can follow them on every realm of social media, but here’s a link to their website.

I’ve followed James Harrison on Twitter for years. He’s almost all pay for advice now, but he puts a lot of work into injury reports and matchups at The Grandstand. Definitely worth checking in on daily, which I do.

Ok, so tonight’s slate. I pick a team usually by 8 AM. When you are busy like myself, you want to stay in the action to see your mistakes and successes. Like any other game of strategy, there is a system.  That being said, I don’t want to ever be out of the game, so I pick a team early and go back and adjust as necessary.

The problem with picking so early in the day is the NBA. They have more late scratches than any other sport. Heck, yesterday I had Terrence Ross in my lineup and he got traded (I changed it, don’t worry). Plus, thanks to Gregg Popovich, the whole NBA is into this rest thing. You have to keep an eye out for how many games in a row in a five-day span a star player has played. If they’ve played three games in five days and have a favorable matchup for their team on the road, you can bet he gets an off night.

Secondly, right now, I find I have the most success with at least three big money stars in your lineup. Russell Westbrook, Nikola Jokic and Ricky Rubio are my three in that lineup.

Where you really take advantage is the injury report. Look into who is questionable. Then look at their backups. Take Kyle O’Quinn for example. His playing time has increased with the injury to Joakim Noah, and he took advantage of his increased minutes. So have I, riding him for a week or so now. He’s averaging 18.5 fantasy points per game on the year. His last three however, with an increased role, have seen him go for 38, 35 and 20.5. And he is still at a reserve’s cost in the salary department.

Then there are guys like Nick Young. You can get someone like him for about $4500 to $5000. The reason is simple. Some nights he performs like a steal, and drops 40.5 points as he did on February 10th. Then he follows it up with an 18.5 performance, as he did yesterday. He seems to bounce back when he plays consecutive games and performs poorly in the first game, so I rolled the dice that his $4600 price tag has a high ROI.

Everyone else, I look at their matchups. How is the defender playing them? How many points does the opposing team allow a night? Simple things that are provided for you right on the site. Then, especially with the $3500 to $4000 type guys, I take the most consistent. I’ll spend $3500 on a guy that scores 12 fantasy points a night to fill out the roster opposed to a $3200 guy who scored 27.5 points one night and four the next.

Well, there’s my slate for today. Stay tuned for any updates.