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Daily blurbs from the Guru
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1/10/22 - …and with the end of the NFL regular season, RotoGuru.com is now "retired. " While the message forum will remain open for the foreseeable future, schedule and statistical coverage for NFL, MLB, and NBA will no longer be produced for the 2022 seasons and beyond. And while I have not yet made a final decision on Market Madness or Football Pickoff in 2022, it's likely that those contests will no longer be offered as well.

It's been a great run of 24+ years. I've made a lot of friends, and learned a lot about fantasy sports and website production. But my daily schedule is still full, and maintaining the site has become a chore with diminishing returns. The architecture of the site itself is woefully archaic, and I have no interest in rebuilding. When I started this venture, there were a limited range of resources available for fantasy sports analysis. Now, you can spit in any direction and probably hit fifteen. I'm proud of what I built here, but I'm also relieved to be able to move on.

Thanks to so many of you for your friendship, your financial and technical support, and your enthusiastic participation. I could not have pulled this off without all of you!
– Dave Hall

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9/8 - Football is in the air!

Football Pickoff is back for its 23rd season. This is a simple “pick the NFL winners” format with a scoring system that rewards your ability to pick correctly against the field of other contestants. Free to play, as always.

NFL Sortable Stats reporting has now been updated for 2021 DFS pricing (for FanDuel, DraftKings, and Yahoo DFS). I plan to offer the same reporting for football this NFL season as for last year, although some data may not be available until early next week, after week #1 is in the books.

As previously announced, this will be my last year for producing NFL stats. (Haven’t yet decided whether I’ll continue to offer Pickoff in 2022 or not.)

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6/4 - RotoGuru Hall of Fame Day!

Every year (or so), I enshrine the champions of the RotoGuru sponsored competitions in the RotoGuru Hall of Fame.

I am pleased to announce the RotoGuru Hall of Fame Class of 2019-21:

  • Dave Hall, champion, 2019 RotoGuru Invitational Football Challenge
  • Jim Martin, champion, 2019-20 RotoGuru Football Pickoff
  • Dave Hall, champion, 2020 RotoGuru Invitational Baseball Challenge
  • Jason Hall, champion, 2020 RotoGuru Invitational Football Challenge
  • Mike Meek, champion, 2020-21 RotoGuru Football Pickoff
  • Leticia Ficek, champion, 2021 RotoGuru Market Madness
  • Matt Sokol, champion, 2021 RotoGuru Market Madness (excl. basket units)
For a more detailed recap and brief bios of these enshrines, please visit the RotoGuru Hall of Fame. Congrats to all of these competitors.

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1/4/21 - I've been managing the RotoGuru site non-stop since late 1997. Clearly, the site has evolved in many different ways over that time. For awhile, the message forum seemed to be the dominant feature, serving as a community "gathering place" well before social media was even a "thing".

For the past 5 years or so, the statistical focus has been on supporting a variety of daily fantasy sports sites, notably FanDuel and DraftKings. I've also continued to offer several unique RotoGuru contest formats, notably Football Pickoff and the Market Madness Contest.

I've also continued to sponsor and organize the RotoGuru Invitational leagues for both Football and Baseball. The Basketball league was turned over to other interested Gurupies in 2019.

While the Forum continues to exist, it is now primarily a means of communication for those in various leagues organized by Gurupies. Many of those leagues have long histories, much of which is essentially diaried at the forum.

I've been mulling for several years now what my end-game plans should be. Revenue from the site is adequate to cover marginal expenses, but the time required to manage the stats production and league organization can be a burden at times. My wife and I hope to do more traveling in the next decade as we enter our seventies. While I have generally been able to find ways to keep the site operating while traveling, it is a distraction that I would rather not have to accommodate. And frankly, 24 years of doing this is enough to have whetted my appetite.

So --- my current plan is to effectively "retire" from most RotoGuru duties at the end of 2021. What does this mean? Candidly, I haven't figured out all of the details, but my current thinking is as follows:

  • RIBC and RIFC leagues will continue to operate in 2021. After that, I will likely wind those leagues down - or perhaps turn over the reins to someone else to organize.
  • Statistical production for daily fantasy sports will end with the completion of the 2021 NFL season. Baseball stats will be generated for 2021, and NBA stats will be generated for the current season, but not for the 2021-2022 season.
  • Pickoff and Market Madness may or may not continue to be offered after 2021. I'll wait to see how I feel about those in 2022.
  • I do expect to leave the Forum in place beyond 2021, so that you can continue to use it for league organization. I may even continue to participate in some of those leagues.
Just thought I'd clue you all in on my current thoughts and plans.

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12/8 - Ihe NBA 2020-21 schedule has been posted. Be aware that as of today, the NBA schedule is only released through March 4. 2021.

4-week html schedule grid

Full regular season, with link to comparable spreadsheet

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1/6/20 - Starting January 20, 2020, some NBA data will be available only via premium subscription. The cost for this data for the 2019-20 NBA season is $33. For details on which data reports and formats are impacted, please click HERE.

Also, as of January 20, you will need to have an active membership at basketballvmi.com in order to receive the ADI and VMI values in the master file for the current game day. Past values will continue to be provided for all users. For more information on the meaning of the BasketballVMI values, please visit that site.

Data for the past four NBA seasons continues to be available. (Caveat: ADI and VMI values are not available for seasons prior to the 2018-19 NBA season.) Note that each NBA season's data requires a separate subscription. Details and subscription links for each season appear on the same page, underneath the info for the current season.

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10/10 - RotoGuru Hall of Fame Day!

Every year, I enshrine the champions of the RotoGuru sponsored competitions in the RotoGuru Hall of Fame. Usually, I do this in mid-summer, but this summer – in the midst of dealing with the death of my father and some overseas travel - I completely forgot. Until now.

I am pleased to announce the RotoGuru Hall of Fame Class of 2018-19:

  • Dave Hall, champion, 2018 RotoGuru Invitational Baseball Challenge
  • Ben Matheson, champion, 2018 RotoGuru Invitational Football Challenge
  • Matthew Hurst, champion, 2018-19 RotoGuru Football Pickoff
  • Eric Bell, champion, 2019 RotoGuru Market Madness
  • Neil Crowell, champion, 2019 RotoGuru Market Madness (excl. basket units)
  • Robert Sipos, champion, 2018-19 RotoGuru Invitational Hoops Challenge
  • Jay Sherby, champion, 2019 RotoGuru Invitational Baseball Challenge
For a more detailed recap and brief bios of these enshrines, please visit the RotoGuru Hall of Fame. Congrats to all of these competitors.

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9/4 - Football Pickoff is back for its 21st season. This is a simple “pick the NFL winners” format with a scoring system that rewards your ability to pick correctly against the field of other contestants. Free to play, as always.

NFL Sortable Stats reporting has now been updated for 2019 DFS pricing (for FanDuel, DraftKings, and Yahoo DFS). I plan to offer the same reporting for football this NFL season as for last year.

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4/11 - Congratulations to s R, champion of the 2018-19 RotoGuru Invitational Hoops Challenge. Back-to-back European winners in the RIHC!

With the end of the NBA regular season, I have resequenced the left menu to put baseball on top. However, as in past years, NBA stats (and DFS salaries) will continue to be produced and reported throughout the NBA playoffs.

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4/9 - Congrats to contest winner erb136 with a score of G$441. The winner of the Basket-Free Contest is smith32, with a score of G$368 (tiebreaker based on best return on shorts).

The best possible score this year would have been G$766 (I think – can anyone do better that that?) Villanova appears in only one representation on the long side (team only), but was also shorted as part of the ACC. The best short this year was the #8 seed basket, while the top scoring longs were the #3 seed basket and Auburn, netting G$102 and G$93, respectively. Here is the complete list of units, sorted by net return.

Prize winners will be notified by email within the next week. Thanks to all for continuing to support this oldest of all RotoGuru Contests.

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1/20 - The free ride is over. In order to get at all of the premium data from the current NBA season, you need to have a paid subscription. For details, and to subscribe, go here.

Also, starting today, in order to get the current day's VMI and ADI values from basketballVMI.com, you must have a paid membership at basketballVMI.com. Historical VMI and ADI values will continue to be provided for everyone.

If you have any issues with your paid subscription, please send an email to davehall@rotoguru2.com and describe the specifics of your problem.

12/31 - Congrats to longtime Gurupie IAC, winner of the 2018 RotoGuru Invitational Championship.

The 2018 NFL Regular season is over. Stats and salaries for DFS games will not be produced on RotoGuru during the NFL playoffs.

Football Pickoff will continue to run through the playoffs, as usual. Remember that all picks are locked each weekend at the time of the first game. So, for example, picks for the first playoff weekend will be locked at 4:30pm on Saturday, You cannot wait until Sunday to pick the Sunday games.

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11/3 - BasketballVMI.com has been launched. For an introductory article, please see the Nov. 3rd blurb on DailyHoopsData.com

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10/17 - NBA data is now available for the 2018-19 season.

  • Daily Fantasy Point Recaps are available for FanDuel, Draftkings, and Yahoo DFS. You can choose to view players sorted by position (default), or in boxscore order. In addition to the standard html output, SCSV (semi-colon delimited values) formatting is available as an option.
  • Sortable Stats, with DFS salary data for FanDuel, DraftKings, and Yahoo DFS. Note that I am only capturing salary data for the "Classic" format with the full daily slate of games. I will not be capturing salary data for single-game formats. Note that if you choose the trailing 7, 15, or 30 day periods, preseason games will be included. If you select "full season", preseason games will be excluded. (So if you want to see any data prior to the start of the season, don't select "full season".)
  • Game-by-game player histories for the current season. From this page, you can also drill back to prior year histories.
  • The NBA master file is also available. For details on the format, see rotoguru1.com/hoop/nba-dhd-2019-notes.txt.
As in past seasons, the master file and the SCSV version of the daily recaps will eventually be available only via premium subscription. But for at least the next four weeks, they will be provided for free.

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8/31 - Football Pickoff is back for its 20th season. This is a simple “pick the NFL winners” format with a scoring system that rewards your ability to pick correctly against the field of other contestants. Free to play, as always.

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7/17 - Hall of Fame Day!

As the Baseball and Football Halls of Fame prepare to enshrine their latest classes, it’s once again time to recognize those who excelled during the past year in various RotoGuru competitions. I am pleased to announce the RotoGuru Hall of Fame Class of 2017-18:

  • Mike Mikulka, champion, 2017 RotoGuru Invitational Baseball Challenge
  • Dean Johnson, champion, 2017 GuruGolf
  • Paul Tani, champion, 2017 RotoGuru Invitational Football Challenge
  • Paul Lawrence, champion, 2017-18 RotoGuru Football Pickoff
  • Colin Bjostad, champion, 2018 RotoGuru Market Madness
  • Nathan Marbaugh, champion, 2018 RotoGuru Market Madness (excl. basket units)
  • Brian Booden, champion, 2017-18 RotoGuru Invitational Hoops Challenge
For a more detailed recap and brief bios of these enshrines, please visit the RotoGuru Hall of Fame. Congrats to all of these competitors.

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4/16 - Congrats to longtime Gurupie Swish City who squeaked out the title of the RotoGuru Invitational Hoops Challenge by the narrowest of margins. The league was well contested throughout, as evidenced by the fact that each of the top ten teams effectively maxed out on games played.

NBA statistical coverage for DFS player points, salaries, etc. will continue throughout the playoffs. However, since baseball is now the dominant fantasy sport, I’ve resequenced the RotoGuru left menu panel to make the MLB links easier to find.

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3/13 - RotoGuru Market Madness is up and running!

This is the oldest of all of the RotoGuru game formats, now in its 21st year.

If you are new to the Market Madness format, don’t despair when you read the scoring rules. Even if you don’t “get it”, fill out a set of picks and try it for a year. Once you’ve lived through a tournament, you’ll catch on, and be much better prepared next year. If you want a few simple tips, try these:

  • For your shorts, look for first round upsets, and short the loser. For example, if you think that Penn (16) will beat Kansas(1), then short the Jayhawks. You might also try shorting one or two of the top seed baskets (1-3). For example, shorting the #1 seeds gives you plenty of opportunities to profit from an early upset - as long as the tournament doesn't go too “chalky”!
  • For longs, pick the 4 teams you expect to survive to the Final Four. In many instances, it's good to take those teams not only as single teams, but also in their basket forms - unless you think the other teams in those baskets are really overrated.
  • Pick one or two double-digit seeds as longs. These will pay off well if they make it to the Sweet 16.
Actually, my best advice is to use the scoring simulator. Pick each of the games as you would for a typical bracket, and then let the simulator calculate the returns under your scenario. Use those returns as a basis for your picks - picking your longs from the top of the listing, and your shorts from the bottom. Or let the simulator do that for you (if you're running it while logged in to the contest site).

Every year, there is a lot of attrition between the contest registrations and the actual entries. It's not unusual for as many as 25%-30% of the registrants to not submit a set of picks. I'm sure that some of that is simply forgetfulness, but I suspect a larger issue is the confusion factor. One of the dominant feedbacks that I get from people who play for the first year is that they felt pretty befuddled when making selections, but once they see how the tournament and the scoring play out, they can't wait for next year. The simulator was designed to help you get over that initial hump.

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1/1/18 - Congrats to twolves, who steamrolled through the playoffs from the #1 seed position to win the 2017 RIFC Championship. For a final recap of all RIFC league standings and some preliminary discussion of potential rules changes for next year, please see this thread.

With the end of the NFL regular season, stats production for all covered games (FanDuel, DraftKings, and Yahoo) is finished. Stats/salary support during the playoffs is not provided at RotoGuru.

However, Football Pickoff continues throughout the four playoff weekends. So remember to keep making your picks!

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12/6 - Starting December 20, 2017, some NBA data will be available only via premium subscription. For details on which data reports and formats are impacted, please click HERE.

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10/12 - NBA fantasy data is gradually coming online, including some limited preseason stats. For more info on what’s available and what’s to come, visit DailyHoopsData.com.

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9/4 - RotoGuru is ramping up for football season.

First, Fireleague is not operating this season. So there will obviously be no coverage of Fireleague player points and salaries. DraftDay has also ceased to offer daily fantasy contests. So the only games covered this season will be FanDuel, DraftKings, and Yahoo DFS. All have been covered here before. Note that coverage will only include standard daily/weekly fantasy salary cap formats.

Player salaries for NFL Week #1 are now posted on the sortable stats reports. Stats still reflect regular season 2016 results; 2017 point data will be shown after the first week is completed. I’ve attempted to show salaries for all relevant players for the first week. The game sites typically list most players who reported to camp at the beginning of August, so there are hundreds of “available” players who I have not listed. If they actually appear in a game, I’ll track them. And if you think I have not shown someone who is relevant, please let me know. Be aware that the default option in the sortable stats is to show only players who have appeared in a game, so rookies will only be listed if you check the option to show players with 0 games.

Football Pickoff is also back for its 19th season. This is a simple “pick the NFL winners” format with a scoring system that rewards your ability to pick correctly against the field of other contestants. Free to play, as always.

Finally, if you are looking for historical stats, they are (and will continue to be) provided here. They are only shown week to week, and are offered either in a formatted html report or as a semi-colon delimited text file. For prior year data, select the game and year on the “Available DFS History” menu, and from there, you can bring up results for each week.

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8/1 - Hall of Fame Day!

Now that the Baseball Hall of Fame has enshrined its latest class, it’s once again time to recognize those who excelled during the past year in various RotoGuru competitions. I am pleased to announce the RotoGuru Hall of Fame Class of 2016-17:

  • John Holt, champion, 2016 RotoGuru Invitational Baseball Challenge
  • Kevin Hall, champion, 2016 GuruGolf
  • Phil Spiegel, champion, 2016 RotoGuru Invitational Football Challenge
  • Bruce Scott, champion, 2016-17 RotoGuru Football Pickoff
  • Jeremy Mille, champion, 2017 RotoGuru Market Madness
  • Denzel Parks, champion, 2017 RotoGuru Market Madness (excl. basket units)
  • Michael Richards, champion, 2016-17 RotoGuru Invitational Hoops Challenge
For a more detailed recap and brief bios of these enshrines, please visit the RotoGuru Hall of Fame. Congrats to all of these competitors.

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4/13 - Congrats to the winner of the 2016-17 RIHC league: Mighty Meatwads. For a recap of all RIHC league standings, see this thread.

General coverage for NBA DFS contests (salaries, stats, etc.) will continue through the playoffs. I will take this opportunity to resequence the left menu panel, however, moving baseball ahead of hoops.

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4/4 - Congrats to Market Madness Contest winner qatman with a score of G$431. The winner of the Basket-Free Contest is dzparks, with a score of G$243.

The best possible score this year would have been G$1016. North Carolina appears in only two representations on the long side (team, #1 seeds) offset by a short of the ACC basket. The best short this year was the #2 seed basket, while the top scoring longs were the SEC, the #7 seed basket, and South Carolina, each netting from G$116 to G$129. Here is the complete list of units, sorted by net return.

Prize winners will be notified by email within the next week. Thanks to all for continuing to support this oldest of all RotoGuru Contests.

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3/12 - RotoGuru Market Madness is up and running!

This is the oldest of all of the RotoGuru game formats, now in its 20th year.

If you are new to the Market Madness format, don’t despair when you read the scoring rules. Even if you don’t “get it”, fill out a set of picks and try it for a year. Once you’ve lived through a tournament, you’ll catch on, and be much better prepared next year. If you want a few simple tips, try these:

  • For your shorts, look for first round upsets, and short the loser. For example, if you think that S. Dakota St.(16) will beat Gonzaga(1), then short the Zags. You might also try shorting one or two of the top seed baskets (1-3). For example, shorting the #1 seeds gives you plenty of opportunities to profit from an early upset - as long as the tournament doesn't go too “chalky”!
  • For longs, pick the 4 teams you expect to survive to the Final Four. In many instances, it's good to take those teams not only as single teams, but also in their basket forms - unless you think the other teams in those baskets are really overrated.
  • Pick one or two double-digit seeds as longs. These will pay off well if they make it to the Sweet 16.
Actually, my best advice is to use the scoring simulator. Pick each of the games as you would for a typical bracket, and then let the simulator calculate the returns under your scenario. Use those returns as a basis for your picks - picking your longs from the top of the listing, and your shorts from the bottom. Or let the simulator do that for you (if you're running it while logged in to the contest site).

Every year, there is a lot of attrition between the contest registrations and the actual entries. It's not unusual for as many as 25%-30% of the registrants to not submit a set of picks. I'm sure that some of that is simply forgetfulness, but I suspect a larger issue is the confusion factor. One of the dominant feedbacks that I get from people who play for the first year is that they felt pretty befuddled when making selections, but once they see how the tournament and the scoring play out, they can't wait for next year. The simulator was designed to help you get over that initial hump.

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2/6 - Congrats to Football Pickoff Champion mailedfoot, who coasted to the title by sitting out the last two playoff weeks. The Midseason championship goes to Bearfart, and the playoff champion was Cyberwahoo, who went 11-0 during the playoffs.

All prize winners will be notified by email by the middle of February. See item 7 in the rules for a listing of all prizes. Thanks for playing, and please come back next year.

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1/21 - Beginning February 1, some of the text versions of various reports will become premium-only, and subject to a subscription fee.

Premium data files collectively covered by a single season subscription include:
• The master data file     (file legend and notes on usage)
Daily point recaps (text version only, HTML version remains free)
NBA Player Stats Summarizer

Accessing these 2016-17 NBA premium data files after the end of January requires a one-time $25 subscription.

To subscribe, please click HERE.
Payment may be made by PayPal or by credit card.

Before subscribing, please review the Terms of service. By subscribing, you agree to abide by these terms.

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1/2/17 - Congrats to Philly Busters, who won the 2016 RIFC Championship from the #2 playoff seed position. For a final recap of all RIFC league standings and some preliminary discussion of potential rules changes for next year, please see this thread.

With the end of the NFL regular season, stats production for all covered games (FanDuel, DraftKings, etc.) is finished. Stats/salary support during the playoffs is not provided at RotoGuru.

However, Football Pickoff continues throughout the four playoff weekends. So remember to keep making your picks!

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12/21 - Contributed by Adam Hayes, reproduced from DailyHoopsData.com

Fantasy sports are always going to be unpredictable no matter how much studying you do before the season starts. Some superstar players are going to disappoint and other players are going to come out of nowhere to deliver great value to their potential fantasy owners. Making adjustments to the way you value each player during the season is the only way you will be able to compete with the other teams in your league. These are the biggest underachievers and surprise breakout stars in fantasy basketball this year.

Disappointing Stars Worth Dropping

Nikola Mirotic
Nikola Mirotic was expected to have a big year after a performing well in the final two months of last season. These high expectations got Mirotic drafted around the 7th round of most fantasy basketball drafts. While he started the season off fine, Mirotic's biggest problem this season has been a lack of playing time. New coach Fred Hoiberg simply does not trust Nikola Mirotic on the court right now. This has caused his playing time and scoring to drop every month of the season. You may have spent a high draft pick on him, but it is time to find someone delivering more playing time and production than Nikola Mirotic.

Aaron Gordon
It may seem odd to recommend dropping Aaron Gordon after he just had a huge game with 33 points and seven rebounds, but that performance was an anomaly for Gordon this season. Gordon actually only had 32 points in his previous four games before his huge performance against the Clippers a few days ago. Aaron Gordon is one of the most talented young players in the NBA, but he is far too inconsistent to help fantasy owners on a consistent basis. His playing time issues were also supposed to end when head coach Scott Skiles quit in the off-season, but he is still struggling to get consistent playing time under new coach Frank Vogel.

Must-Add Surprise Players

Maurice Harkless
No player has surprised more than Maurice Harkless this season, but he is still available in most fantasy leagues. Harkless has been a great source of production from the small forward position because he is averaging more than 31 minutes of playing time per game. He may not be one of the most talented players in the league, but the extensive playing time is allowing Harkless to average more than 12 points, five rebounds and one steal a game. He may not be known by everyone right now, but it will not be long before Harkless is owned in every league if he continues his great season.

Thabo Sefolosha
Thabo Sefolosha has always been one of the most underappreciated players in the NBA, and his balanced game is finally rewarding fantasy owners this season. Sefolosha received limited playing time during his first two seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, but that has recently changed thanks to the poor play of Kent Bazemore and Kyle Korver. Sefolosha is getting ignored by most fantasy owners because of he only averages just under 8 points a game, but his ability to help in every stat category is the main reason you want him on your team.

Adam Hayes hails from New York City where he is a marketing associate by day and blogger by night. He is a self proclaimed fantasy guru that spends too much time perfecting his lineup. One summer Adam visited 21 of 30 MLB stadiums (and only caught one foul ball).

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11/28 - I had originally announced that the master NBA data file would move to a premium (pay) service at the beginning of December.

I've decided to postpone that date, primarily because I didn't get the programming set up yet. When I'm ready, I'll post a notice here, and I'll also email all subscribers of last year's file.

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11/14 - Over the past week, I’ve been migrating RotoGuru.net and affiliated domains to a new server. Bigger, better, and stabler. It’s been over four years since the last server upgrade, so it was time.

That migration is now complete. I believe all functions are working properly, although I have needed to reprocess some NBA stats from the past few days that were strangely incomplete this morning.

If you see anything going forward that appears to be incorrect, please send me an email at davehall@rotoguru2.com.

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10/27 - For news and updates related to fantasy NBA stats, please follow the front page at DailyHoopsData.com. I’ll be using that site as the focal point for all new developments, data announcements, etc.

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10/24 - As some of you know, RotoGuru.com and affiliated sites DailyHoopsdata and DailyBaseballData are a one-man operation. So if I'm not available to work on the site(s), nothing happens.

I decided to take an extended vacation for the first three weeks of October, and as a consequence, all efforts to get prepared for the impending NBA season were delayed until I returned. So I'm scrambling at the moment.

In recent seasons, I've tracked and posted stats for preseason NBA games. I've finally generated those results for the current preseason, and they are now available subject to some limitations:

  1. There may be some errors. In particular, games in which an NBA team faced an international team are suspect. I checked a few instances, and they looked OK - but I'm not completely confident. Caveat emptor.
  2. I have not captured preseason DFS salary data for those sites that offered preseason contests.
  3. That said, if you pull up an individual player page (ex: Lebron James), you can now see DFS points for preseason games.
  4. I've also incorporated preseason point data in the sortable stats as long as you select a point period of 7, 15, or 30 days. Full season data will still only reflect regular season production. Note also that players are only listed if they have been included in a DFS contest for the related site. Since some sites (notably FanDuel and DraftKings) have not yet released contests for Wed, Oct 26, the player listings are currently limited to Tuesday game players.
Preseason results will not appear in the Daily Recap pages, nor will they be included in the master data file when that becomes available.

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10/3 - Congrats to Holt, winner of the 2016 RotoGuru Invitational Baseball Challenge!

Baseball stats will continue to be produced during the playoffs. NBA processing will not start until the regular season begins. In some years, I have generated preseason NBA stats, but this year I’ll be taking an extended vacation for the first half of October, so all NBA processing will be deferred until the regular season starts. I expect to be offering stats similar to last year, probably with a few minor tweaks. More details will be announced near the start of the season.

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9/14 - I've got the DFS football stats up and running now. Here are the links to the standards reports:

Weekly point recaps. These should typically be updated by 10am on the morning after each game day. Note that, as in the reporting for other sports, the point calculations are based on my own stats info, which occasionally differs from the official stats used at each DFS site. And to the extent that I have historical data, you can access it via the "Available DFS history" menu on this page.

Sortable Stats. These should typically be updated each Tuesday afternoon, after salaries for the next weekly contests are posted.

Stats are available for FanDuel, DraftKings, DraftDay, and Yahoo DFS, as well as FireLeague (a historical favorite at RotoGuru).

Not all eligible players will be listed for each site. I try to ensure that all relevant players are included, although occasionally, due to an alternate spelling or a mismatch in team affiliation, I miss a player. If you don't see a player that you think should be included, please let me know at davehall@rotoguru2.com.

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9/6 - Football’s in the air!

RotoGuru is ramping up for the usual football stats, games, and features.

First, Football Pickoff returns for its 17th season. Registrations do not carry over from year to year, so you will need to register again for 2016.  Each participant may register up to three entries. Rules are essentially the same as last year. Register now and get your picks logged in for week #1. Picks for the Thursday game lock at kickoff, while all other games lock at 1pm ET Sunday.

Preseason Sortable Stats are also up for Fireleague, FanDuel, DraftKings, and DraftDay. I also plan to include Yahoo DFS this season, although those values are not up yet – and may not be ready until next week.

I’ve tried to make sure I’ve captured salary data for all viable players, but if you notice that any player seems to be missing for any specific game (assuming that the player is actually listed at that game site), please let me know. Sometimes players get mistracked if there are spelling idiocrasies, or erroneous team affiliations.

Please be patient next week as I begin to track point stats for the 2016 season. It generally takes an extra day or two to get all feeds properly connected and to doublecheck values.

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7/12 - Hall of Fame Day!

It’s once again time to recognize those who excelled during the past year in various RotoGuru competitions. I am pleased to announce the RotoGuru Hall of Fame Class of 2015-16:

  • Evan Pasquali, champion, 2015 RotoGuru Invitational Baseball Challenge
  • Bill Miller, champion, 2015 GuruGolf
  • Paul Tani, champion, 2015 RotoGuru Invitational Football Challenge
  • Nadim Mahassen, champion, 2015-16 RotoGuru Football Pickoff
  • Triple Stack, champion, 2016 RotoGuru Market Madness
  • Luke Casey, champion, 2016 RotoGuru Market Madness (excl. basket units)
  • Dave Richards, champion, 2015-16 RotoGuru Invitational Hoops Challenge
For a more detailed recap and brief bios of these enshrines, please visit the RotoGuru Hall of Fame. Congrats to all of these competitors.

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3/14 - RotoGuru Market Madness is up and running!

This is the oldest of all of the RotoGuru game formats, now in its 19th year.

If you are new to the Market Madness format, don’t despair when you read the scoring rules. Even if you don’t “get it”, fill out a set of picks and try it for a year. Once you’ve lived through a tournament, you’ll catch on, and be much better prepared next year. If you want a few simple tips, try these:

  • For your shorts, look for first round upsets, and short the loser. For example, if you think that Austin Peay(16) will beat Kansas(1), then short the Jayhawks. You might also try shorting one or two of the top seed baskets (1-3). For example, shorting the #1 seeds gives you plenty of opportunities to profit from an early upset - as long as the tournament doesn't go too “chalky”!
  • For longs, pick the 4 teams you expect to survive to the Final Four. In many instances, it's good to take those teams not only as single teams, but also in their basket forms - unless you think the other teams in those baskets are really overrated.
  • Pick one or two double-digit seeds as longs. These will pay off well if they make it to the Sweet 16.
Actually, my best advice is to use the scoring simulator. Pick each of the games as you would for a typical bracket, and then let the simulator calculate the returns under your scenario. Use those returns as a basis for your picks - picking your longs from the top of the listing, and your shorts from the bottom. Or let the simulator do that for you (if you're running it while logged in to the contest site).

Every year, there is a lot of attrition between the contest registrations and the actual entries. It's not unusual for as many as 25%-30% of the registrants to not submit a set of picks. I'm sure that some of that is simply forgetfulness, but I suspect a larger issue is the confusion factor. One of the dominant feedbacks that I get from people who play for the first year is that they felt pretty befuddled when making selections, but once they see how the tournament and the scoring play out, they can't wait for next year. The simulator was designed to help you get over that initial hump.

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3/8 - I discovered that some DNP games were incorrectly being included as games played for some players in the various RotoGuru NBA stats reports. This caused some per-game averages to be understated.

I think I have it fixed. But please let me know if you think otherwise. If a player does not appear in a game, it should not be included for determination of per-game averages.

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2/9 - The seasons are a-changing.

With the conclusion of the NFL playoffs, the champion of Football Pickoff is ISLAM, who has now capped off a ridiculous three-peat. This was the tightest contest ever, with only 7 points separating the top three contestants. Prize winners will be notified by email sometime during the next week. For a full listing of available prizes, see item 7 of the rules.

I've made a few enhancements to the NBA data file that is now available on s subscription basis. See this thread for a description of the file, including the enhanced version [post 4].

GuruGolf should be launched this coming weekend. The official announcement will be made in the RotoGuru Golf Forum.

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1/9 - Many DailyHoopsData and RotoGuru users already pull down NBA DFS data in text format from various sources. This allows them to manipulate and massage the raw data to meet individual needs.

I've developed a consolidated text file that includes game-by-game player history for the entire 2015-16 NBA season. DFS points, salaries, and positions are shown for each gameday for the four affiliated DFS sites. Data on games started, minutes played, and final team scores are also provided. If you've been cobbling together your database from multiple sources, this file might be your one-stop shopping solution.

For the moment, I'm making this file free to all. However, it will eventually be a premium service, for which I'll probably charge a flat $20 (per user) for daily access throughout the remainder of current NBA season, including the playoffs. I need to do this because advertising is one of the primary revenue sources for the site, and those who access this data file will be getting it ad-free.

The interface and mechanism for a subscription service has not yet been developed, so there is no opportunity to sign up yet. Until that is set up, you can access it for free using this url:
http://rotoguru1.com/cgi-bin/nba-dhd-2016.pl

The data fields in each line are colon delimited, with data headings in the top line. Hopefully, most of the data elements are self explanatory. If you have feedback or questions, please use the related thread in the RotoGuru Hoops Message Forum.

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1/4/16 - Happy New Year!

The NFL regular season is in the books. Be aware that, as in prior years, I will not be continuing statistical reporting for NFL DFS games during the playoffs. Frankly, I don’t have access to NFL player stats during the playoffs. So, you’re on your own. And with no more than four games per weekend, you really ought be able to figure out your lineups without reams of supporting data.

Football Pickoff will continue throughout the playoffs, however. So keep on pickin'.

Congrats to Gurupie twolves, who got hot at the right time and marched to the RIFC championship from the #6 seed position. His score in week #15 of 227.16 was (I believe) the highest scoring week for any RIFC season.

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Click here for prior daily blurbs, by month:

2015: All year

2014: All year

2013: December . . . November . . . October . . . September . . . August . . . July . . . June . . . May . . . April . . . March . . . February . . . January

2012: December . . . November . . . October . . . September . . . August . . . July . . . June . . . May . . . April . . . March . . . February . . . January

2011: December . . . November . . . October . . . September . . . August . . . July . . . June . . . May . . . April . . . March . . . February . . . January

2010: December . . . November . . . October . . . September . . . August . . . July . . . June . . . May . . . April . . . March . . . February . . . January

2009: December . . . November . . . October . . . September . . . August . . . July . . . June . . . May . . . April . . . March . . . February . . . January

2008: December . . . November . . . October . . . September . . . August . . . July . . . June . . . May . . . April . . . March . . . February . . . January

2007: December . . . November . . . October . . . September . . . August . . . July . . . June . . . May . . . April . . . March . . . February . . . January

2006: December . . . November . . . October . . . September . . . August . . . July . . . June . . . May . . . April . . . March . . . February . . . January

2005: December . . . November . . . October . . . September . . . August . . . July . . . June . . . May . . . April . . . March . . . February . . . January

2004: December . . . November . . . October . . . September . . . August . . . July . . . June . . . May . . . April . . . March . . . February . . . January

2003: December . . . November . . . October . . . September . . . August . . . July . . . June . . . May . . . April . . . March . . . February . . . January

2002: December . . . November . . . October . . . September . . . August . . . July . . . June . . . May . . . April . . . March . . . February . . . January

2001: December . . . November . . . October . . . September . . . August . . . July . . . June . . . May . . . April . . . March . . . February . . . January

2000: December . . . November . . . October . . . September . . . August . . . July . . . June . . . May . . . April . . . March . . . February . . . January

1999: December . . . November . . . October . . . September . . . August . . . July . . . June . . . May . . . April . . . March . . . February . . . January

1998: December . . . November . . . October . . . September . . . August . . . July . . . June . . . May . . . April . . . March


RotoGuru is produced by Dave Hall (a.k.a. the Guru), an avid fantasy sports player. He is not employed by any of the fantasy sports games discussed within this site, and all opinions expressed are solely his own. Questions or comments are welcome, and should be emailed to Guru<davehall@rotoguru2.com>.

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