Fantasy basketball – Why upgrading at small forward matters more than ever

It’s Winning Time, folks.

We’re watching it. Living it.

We’ve got things to do. Places to be. Playoff rosters to perfect. So I’m not going to waste our time.

Maybe you’re in a points league and doing some pre-next-week fine-tuning on the waiver wire. Maybe you’re embroiled in a classic nip-and-tuck roto scramble and are looking for an edge in a specific category.

Or maybe you’re cranking through all your Wednesday morning work in record time to close out your professional day by 6 p.m. PST… so you can take your son to the Clippers-Wizards guaranteed instant classic at Staples Center.

“Instant classic?” Between two Play-In contenders at best? A Beal-less (but Unicorned-up) Wizards? A Kawhi-less, PG3-less Clippers? How do I know this is already a “guaranteed instant classic?”

Because of a promotional email I received from your Los Angeles Clippers two days ago (NOTE: I quietly support the Clippers as my second/local/not the Lakers NBA team.)

So… let’s talk small forward.

I’ve dropped more than one analytic hint this season that when it comes to positional scarcity… the worm has turned. What was once the deepest fantasy hoops position by far is now officially a dry, forsaken, statistical desert.

Why? Because of the overall trend towards the flattening of in-game roles by position. Small forward used to be where you went first for dynamic, multi-categorical production. SFs were our fantasy lynchpin in the aughts, providing a deep-dish foundation for managers the world over.

Back then, roto was king. Points leagues were just a whisper. But today, with points formats taking up most of the oxygen? With most of us prepping at least one team for the playoffs next week? With me hurriedly trying to give every reader, in every format, my one best, most accurate, most-guaranteed fantasy tip headed into next week?

In a compressed competitive timeline, you need to exploit every edge. But start with strategies that offer the biggest return on your biggest fantasy investment: your…