Kent Shen - RotoBaller

Re-Squeezing the Juiced - Investigating Second Breakouts From 2017

2017 was a strange year in baseball. The season shattered records and set new offensive bars for the sport as a whole, with speculation running rampant about MLB "juicing" the baseballs to create more excitement, with the end result being a home run surge that saw 1.26 home runs per game being hit - a... Read More

Kent Shen 2 months ago

Anthony Swarzak (RP, SEA) - Waiver Wire Pickups Week 2

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 32% of Leagues ANALYSIS: Saves are more about opportunity than any other factor and Mariners relievers Anthony Swarzak just jumped up that list with Hunter Strickland out for a few months and the lack of great options in the Seattle bullpen. The first Mariner to get a... Read More

Kent Shen 2 months ago

The Rookie Report - Revisiting the 2018-2019 Rookies With An Eye On Next Season (Part 2)

Earlier this season, I took a look at the early returns on this year's rookie class and made player comparisons as well as what I thought their short and long term potential would be. Now that these kids have had a season of ball under their belts, it's time to revisit those comparisons and see... Read More

Kent Shen 3 months ago

The Rookie Report - Revisiting the 2018-2019 Rookies With An Eye On Next Season (Part 1)

Earlier this season, I took a look at the early returns on this year's rookie class and made player comparisons as well as what I thought their short and long term potential would be. Now that these kids have had a season of ball under their belts, it's time to revisit those comparisons and see... Read More

Kent Shen 3 months ago

Breakout Relievers Who'll Keep Succeeding in 2019

"Don't pay for saves." That has always been the advice repeated ad nauseum by veteran fantasy baseball players and while that sentiment is true on the surface, dealing with bullpens in fantasy baseball is a lot murkier in 2019 than it was in 2009. With specialized pitching roles leading to starters being left in the game... Read More

Kent Shen 3 months ago

Streaming to the Postseason in Fantasy NBA

For most leagues, playoffs start next week and it's make or break time for you to make the final few moves to get your teams over the finish line. Personally, it's been a great regular season for me as I've managed to lock up playoff spots in 6 out of my 7 money leagues (3... Read More

Kent Shen 3 months ago

FanDuel DraftKings daily fantasy basketball

Pleasant Statistical Surprises of the 2018-2019 Season

In my last piece, I went over the most damaging stats of the season - certain stats that went heavily against what you drafted a certain player for and that could throw a serious wrench in your overall strategy. This week, I'll take a look at the other side of that coin, surprising stats coming... Read More

Kent Shen 3 months ago

The Most Damaging Stats of the NBA Season

Drafting is an art in itself. It's a dance of sorts trying to fill in blanks pick to pick with the aim of crafting a coherent team that has a strategy to play towards. Projections and expectations are what we base our research and decisions on, and it's almost a necessity to plan around laying... Read More

Kent Shen 5 months ago

State of the Meta: Punt FT% in Fantasy Basketball Leagues

As we approach the new year, enough season has passed to afford us the chance to evaluate our early season calls and take the temperature of the NBA. With around a third of the season over, now is a good time to reflect and re-calibrate some of our expectations. With this series, I'm going to... Read More

Kent Shen 6 months ago

State of the Meta: Punting FG% in Fantasy Basketball Leagues

The holiday season is fast approaching, and enough season has passed to afford us the chance to evaluate our early season calls and take the temperature of the NBA. With around a third of the season over, now is a good time to reflect and re-calibrate some of our expectations. In this series, I'm going... Read More

Kent Shen 6 months ago

The Rookie Report - An Early Look At This Year's Class (Part 2)

I took a look at last year's rookie class, analyzing their fantasy games and throwing out some comparables based on their stat spread and figured that now is a good time to take a look at this year's class with a similar lens. We're through only around a fifth of the season so the sample... Read More

Kent Shen 6 months ago

The Rookie Report - An Early Look At This Year's Class (Part 1)

I took a look at last year's rookie class, analyzing their fantasy games and throwing out some comparables based on their stat spread and figured that now is a good time to take a look at this year's class with a similar lens. We're through only around a fifth of the season so the sample... Read More

Kent Shen 7 months ago

NBA Crisis Management - Keeping Steady Through Tough Situations

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending a campus experience day at a top tier business school, a truly memorable experience that I enjoyed throughout. One of the coolest parts of the experience was being able to take in a mini lecture to get a taste of life at the school, and our... Read More

Kent Shen 7 months ago

Change vs. Regression: Field Goal Percentage

One of the most common ways for a player to be overrated or underrated in their season-long stats is field goal percentage, and one of the biggest mistakes that people make when it comes to that stat is not correctly evaluating the reasoning behind an over or under-performance in a player's shooting. While most of... Read More

Kent Shen 7 months ago

The Questions You SHOULD Be Asking This Early In The NBA Season

Most of the questions I've gotten since the season has started (and I've gotten a lot of questions) have been along the lines of "should I pick up ______?" or "should I trade _______ for _____?" I've given mostly the same response--that you can't really make those decisions without context and 3 games is really... Read More

Kent Shen 8 months ago

First Week NBA Breakouts To Believe In

If you're reading this now, you probably already know not to make snap judgments in the first week of any season - crazy things can happen in small sample sizes and dropping players you drafted because of a couple bad games for someone who had one good game (BOBAN HYPE TRAIN?) is usually not a... Read More

Kent Shen 8 months ago

NBA Skill Set Scarcity: Where Are the Efficient Bigs?

I'm a huge fan of Jrue Holiday. I truly believe he might be the most underrated point guard of our generation in both real life and for many years, in fantasy too. He's an elite defender who has finished better than the 90th percentile in on/off opponents' point per possession numbers in his career, with... Read More

Kent Shen 8 months ago

Top 33-50: Fantasy Basketball Rankings for 2018-2019

With the fantasy basketball season just around the corner, RotoBaller has you covered with our experts' fantasy basketball rankings. We've put together a top-200 ranking to help you with your upcoming drafts. But that's not all! Our writers have taken the time to break down the various tiers of our rankings to ensure you have... Read More

Kent Shen 8 months ago

A Fantasy Basketball H2H 9-Cat "Snake" Draft Walkthrough

What's good readers, we're now officially into October and draft season is in full swing. I hope y'all are excited as I am to put together some nice teams, trash talk your friends and add some hardware to your mantles. I just had my first draft of the season which is always the most exciting,... Read More

Kent Shen 8 months ago

Kent Shen's 2018 Punt Guide: Blocks Primer (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. For a primer on punting, check out the RotoBaller NBA Punt Guide, beginning here. Today we'll be looking at punting the category of rebounds. Punt blocks is a hard strategy to play, and one that tends to play better in stronger leagues, as weaker... Read More