Serpentine vs Fixed
Serpentine and fixed are the terms used for drafts in Fantasy basketball. This is a game that is devised on the lines of fantasy baseball. The game requires players to keep track of the statistics of the actual NBA players. The game got a big boost with the arrival of internet as players draft players in their teams and keep track of the stats of the NBA players. Different leagues track different numbers of categories. There are two different drafting strategies namely serpentine draft and fixed draft. Many new gamers remain confused between these two drafting strategies. This article attempts to make clear the difference between serpentine and fixed drafts.
The manner in which a snake undulates up and down made this draft get its name. Also called the snake draft, this draft assigns a position for the teams and players get selected according to this order. Team with the last pick in the first round gets the first pick in the second round. This continues with the order being reversed in each subsequent round. If there is no snake draft meaning fixed draft, the individual who drafts first in the first round will again be first in the second round and so on. Similarly, one who drafts last in the first round would again draft last in the second round and so on. This means that a fixed draft gives heavy and undue advantage to someone who drafts first, second, or third while placing someone who drafts last, second last, and third last at a very disadvantageous position. However, there is an advantage to someone who gets to draft first in a round as it is certainly beneficial to be drafting first than getting a chance to draft at later positions. But players getting 8th, 10th, or 11th pick are not unduly perturbed as the person getting the first pick does not get a chance of first pick again soon depending upon the number of players playing the league.
What is the difference between Serpentine and Fixed Draft?
Snake draft is adopted to not give undue advantage to the player getting the first pick in the first round as he would be getting the last pick in the second round as the order is reversed in every subsequent round in serpentine draft. On the other hand, the order of pick remains the same in fixed draft.