There is an old addage, probably too often used to really be followed, that “patience is a virtue”.

What does that have to do with Fantasy Sports in general, and Fantasy Basketball in particular, you might ask?

With only a limited number of weeks in Fantasy Football, often you are forced to drop a player who has had a few poor weeks because your bench isn’t large enough and you can’t afford to wait eight weeks into the season for him to finally get off his duff and start playing. 8 games is far too long to wait in an NFL season.

With 82 games, Fantasy Basketball is not the same.

Not even close!

I am often baffled why some people drop players that they picked up in 5th or 6th rounds just because they have a poor start. Two weeks into an NBA season is not long enough to wait for a high draft pick to perform. If you picked a player with a high pick, you ought to give him a chance. You can relegate him to the bench, but dropping him two weeks into the season is not very smart (unless he is hit with a season-ending injury in the first weeks of the season).

If you see another player who has started out the season on fire because of increase playing time (due to an injured starter or earning a starting spot) you should replace him with your 11th, 12th, or 13th pick in the draft. Those picks probably won’t have as much potential as a much higher pick. They will not generally have as desirable of stats to other players in the league and will probably be available later on if you need to re-pick them up. Even if they aren’t, it’s not like you can’t find a similar player who is also on the free agent list.

A 5th rounder, on the other hand, will be gone as soon as he clears waivers.

In the past couple of years, I have barely even spent time deciding on who I should pick in the last two rounds of the draft because I know I will be replacing him with some 5th round pick from another team who for one reason or another is too antsy to realize that over the course of a season, he can’t help but be better than almost anybody he can pick up from free agency at that moment.

Be Patient.

He’ll turn it around.

Any stories about picking up a player off of waivers that an antsy owner shouldn’t have dropped? Or a story where you were the antsy owner? Let’s hear them!