The clocks ticking down... weve got just over a week to go until our draft, and just over a month to go until the season starts!

With the draft fast approaching, those of us that may not be able to make it on the night, should probably sort out the Pre-Draft Player Rankings list, and maybe the Autopick Strategy. Both of these can be found in the Roster section of the My Team tab, in the grey box underneath your team name.

Also, it looks as though the draft pick trades are drying up. There have been a couple done so far and I know another is in the pipeline as it involves me - actually they have all involved me. Whats with that? I think trading is one of the funnest things about this game and it is one thing that really sets it apart from other fantasy games where everyone has all players to choose from. Most completed trades are win-win and its fun too!

Now for more info on the Pre-Draft Player Rankings list, the Autopick Strategy, and how to trade, have a look over the break:::<!--more-->

For a brief rundown on the Pre-Draft Player Rankings list, courtesy of ESPN, have a look here: <a title="draft list" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/resources/help/faq?name=how-do-i-update-my-draft-list" target="_blank">http://games.espn.go.com/fba/resources/help/faq?name=how-do-i-update-my-draft-list[/url].

And for more detailed info regarding the draft, again from ESPN, have a look here: <a title="draft" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/resources/help/content?name=drafts-live-online" target="_blank">http://games.espn.go.com/fba/resources/help/content?name=drafts-live-online[/url].

As well as the Pre-Draft list, your Autopick Strategy is very important, as it allows you to set criteria for each pick and also limits to how many players from each position you can choose. I should point out, it will only come into play if you are on Autopick mode during the draft, as you are either not in attendance or have selected Autopick during the draft, etc.

Here are two very basic examples to show how it could be important, which may not be relevant, but I hope its food for thought:

You may think that there are not many worthwhile lower-end SGs available, so you could set it to automatically select a SG with, for instance, your 2nd and 3rd picks, so that you are not wasting your final picks getting in players that you would not keep; or there could be a PG that you suspect you could pick up with your final pick, so you could set your 13th pick to grab a PG.

In my limited experience of one season, the Position Limits are much more valuable as it sux to have a lot of a certain position and not many of another. You can select minimums and maximums for each position. Very worthwhile!

As for trades, I have posted this before, but for those that are still unsure, click on the following link for instructions: <a title="trading instructions" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/resources/help/faq?name=how-do-i-propose-accept-a-trade" target="_blank">http://games.espn.go.com/fba/resources/help/faq?name=how-do-i-propose-accept-a-trade[/url]. It doesnt specifically talk about trading draft picks, however the process is exactly the same, just substitute the word ‘player’ for ‘draft pick’.

And to cancel/reject a trade, you navigate to your ‘My Team’ page. Just underneath where the draft countdown is displayed, there are two grey boxes with ‘open’ buttons on the right hand side of them. If you click on the ‘open’ button in the ‘Your Pending Moves’ box, it will open up and next to the trade you want to reject/cancel you press the relevant button. Or you could just follow the link from the email sent to you regarding the trade if its easier.

I posted these 2 links last week as well but thought id throw them in again for anyone interested:

All the FAQ’s about ESPN fantasy BBall:  <a title="FAQ" href="http://games.espn.go.com/fba/content?page=fbarulesfaq2011" target="_blank">http://games.espn.go.com/fba/content?page=fbarulesfaq2011[/url].

Too Serious entry from Sep 7th with specific details about our league: <a title="too serious nba" href="../?p=1902" target="_blank">http://tooserious.net/?p=1902[/url].

Now, thats about it for this week. Is there anyone out there that knows for sure that they wont make it to the draft and if so, will you be setting up your draft list and Autopick Strategy? And is anyone planning any trades?

Also, does anyone have any advice for the rest of us that could help?

And lastly, at the time of writing this, we have 9 days, 2 hours and 9 minutes to go until our draft kicks off!