There are moments immediately before your fantasy basketball draft that can be nerve racking. The questions everyone's wondering are: "What is the draft order?" And "Where is my first pick?".Yahoo Fantasy NBA randomly generates its leagues draft orders approximately 30 minutes before the start of each draft. So if you have the "unfortunate" luck of having to pick at spot number eleven or twelve in the draft order you better get over the grief of not having a top pick pretty fast.

(Hint: check in as early as possible to see your draft order and plan how you will pick ? DON"T BE LATE).Having a multi-category stud like Kevin Garnett, LeBron James or Shawn Marion at the 11th or 12th Pick will likely NOT happen. But there is no reason to cry about it. You can still win your league. The key way to think about it is not that you are the last pick of the first round, but that you are also the first pick of the second round!.Some might argue that you get more talent with the 12th and 13th picks than with the 1st and 24th picks.

The talent level at the 24th pick is considerably lower than even the 15th pick. Drafting near the top also makes you much more reliant on your number one pick to contribute to your team effort ? which is a big risk if he gets injured.If I draft in the very back of the first round, and the elite players of the league are off the draft board, I believe in drafting for "positional need". The most rare players in Fantasy Basketball are Centers and good/great starting Point Guards. Yahoo Fantasy NBA of course requires that you start two Centers for 82 games each, and realistically there are only really five Center's, not counting Shaq who is a Free Throw Deal breaker and Amare Stoudemire who is reportedly out for four months, who are worth picking in the first 3 rounds.An ideal point guard in the late first and early second round should average at least 6 assists per game, should make his fair share of three pointers and average about a steal or more per game.

(Think: Jason Kidd, Stephon Marbury and Mike Bibby).After picking for these two positions, which are the hardest to fill in your draft with good/great players, you'll have plenty of opportunity to fill your roster with Guards and Forwards, which are in much greater supply. The drop off in talent level for these players between the 4th and 8th round is minimal.I recently drafted in a private league of thirteen teams and had to pick at spots twelve and fifteen. I chose the league leader in assists last season, Steve Nash, to be my Point Guard at pick 12, and chose Yao Ming at the 15th pick to be my first Center. Considering my draft position, I was very happy to have both those players still available.

It's much easier to pick the best available player in the third round, than it is to draft the best available Center and Point Guard in the second and third round.Also remember, whenever you are drafting around the first or last picks in each round, you need to think about picking pairs of players. If you are the 12th pick, you also have to pick 13th, etc. Be prepared and have two players in mind every time you are approaching time to pick.Good Luck, no matter where you pick.

http://fantasybbcoach.blogspot.com/.

By: Tad Miller