In the Part I, we covered the registration process for DraftKings and how to enter your first contest. In Part 2, we'll offer some tips on how to draft your team.
DRAFTING YOUR LINEUP
DraftKings is a salary cap league and your job is to assemble the best team possible under the cap. The basic mechanics are really simple – just select the green "+" button to add the player to your lineup.
To remove him and select someone else, just select the orange X next to his name.
As your roster starts to take shape, the platform will show you how much salary budget you have left and average remaining salary per player, which can be very helpful information.
When you’ve assembled a team you like (you don’t have to use the entire budget if you don’t want to), select Submit to enter the league.
TIPS:
You will definitely want to take a detailed look at the scoring, but here are the highlights:
- VOLUME SHOOTERS ARE VAULABLE: A shot’s worth a point and a shot on goal is worth another point on top of that. This means players who squeeze off several during the course of the game are doubly valuable – think Kei Kamara, Sebastian Giovinco, David Villa, and Robbie Keane.
- CROSSES COUNT: The players with the most crosses in 2015 are the usual suspects: Cristian Maidana and Federico Higuaín are 1-2 in the category currently, and the third name might surprise you. Also keep in mind that crosses from corner kicks do not count.
- BE WARY OF DRAFTING CENTERBACKS: Remember when we said crosses count? That means outside backs who swing them in on the regular are important for scoring points. I’d go so far as to say that Chris Tierney, who’s currently third in the league in crosses, is the most important player in the game — last weekend against Orlando City SC, he was credited for an absurd 11 crosses, good for 11 points. Taylor Kemp, Jorge Villafaña, and Tyrone Mears are all also good sources for crosses. (You can look this data up via the MLS Fantasy Soccer Manager stats filters.)
EDITING YOUR LINEUP
Draft Kings lets you swap out players up until their individual matches kick off. This means that you can check the starting lineups through the MLS App or Twitter and swap out any players who aren’t in their team’s XI. You can also use this information to identify bargain players in the starting lineup, freeing up more salary budget for star players.
TRACKING YOUR LINEUP
Once your contests start, you can keep track of them in real time. You can see how you’re doing relative to the other players in the league and how many PMR (player minutes remaining) each team has. If you’re close to the money, you’ll find it really hard to look away before the contest round ends. Don’t say no one warned you!
That’s it. There’s a lot more you can do with DraftKings, but this two-part 101 series was designed just to get you in the game. Where you take it from here is up to you. Good luck!
