The first half of the 2015-16 NBA season is in the books as daily fantasy owners begin preparing for exciting finish. For the experts on sites like FanDuel and DraftKings this preparation happens every single day of the NBA season and sometimes longer. While many might believe it is all about luck on finding the right combination in reality it is built around a strategy plan they have put in place. That is why if you pay attention to the top of the leader board on most nights you will see a bunch of the same familiar fantasy owners.

This can be the said for anyone else that plays daily fantasy sports as well as a good game plan is built around building a list of strategies and basically a designed blue print to help you win day in and day out. Now the big question is what type of strategies should you follow when building this blue print.

That one question might be difficult to answer in just one word and it may take a little while to get it to work. We suggest monitoring the results of not only your daily lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel but also the top five or ten winners in those tournaments as well as leagues.

That being said here is a list of NBA Daily Fantasy Strategies to help get you prepared for the start of the second half set to tip off on Thursday February 18^th, 2016.

Determine if you will focus on 50/50 type contest or tournament style: This is one that many rookie daily fantasy owners as well as many others fail to come to terms with. Now before someone says a great daily fantasy lineup will do great in any type of league that could be correct but we have seen it time in and time out that the top teams in a tournament has a player that might leave you scratching your head. Once you decide which one you will focus on you will design your lineup around that decision.

When building you daily fantasy lineup for a 50/50 type contest we suggest sticking to players who are more consistent at producing the numbers night in and night out. Look at what a player has done for the past 4/5 nights than add up all of the players you have selected. If that combination doesn’t hit say 300 points you want to get back to the drawing board.

Now yes that 300 point lineup might take home a prize in a tournament the question is will it land you that $10k top prize? That is where you take a risker approach comes in as you go with that fantasy sleeper that only costs say $4k that might go under the radar that delivers a 30 point fantasy night. Along with that you might also look to avoid going with the top 2/3 fantasy options that night as a higher amount of fantasy owners will stick with them as well.

Use the resources available on the Internet to help build that lineup: Now our daily fantasy lineups are always a starting point but you can also put in some of your time as well to design that lineup. For us we do our research daily looking at multiple sites for information including ESPN for the Hollinger Statistics. This one piece of information can help us look at which teams play at the fastest pace. In return if you are looking at a fantasy sleeper going against a team like Golden State who moves the ball up and down the floor a ton that player should have an opportunity for more scoring chances as well as grabbing that extra rebound.

Other sites that could play a key role in building that lineup include NumberFire, RotoGrinders and of course, Rotoguys.com.

Follow up on the latest news prior to the start of your tournament/league: The worse feeling in the world is when you think you put together that stud fantasy lineup to only find out later that night one of your players is not playing then you fail to cash in by 10 fantasy points.

Monitor sites like ESPN, NBA.com and even twitter for up to date news including players who might be a late scratch. This could also play into your favor as say that night John Wall is a scratch it may allow you to grab up his back up who in return delivers a stellar performance.

Build around stacking: Now many fantasy experts avoid building their lineup around stacking but for us this gives you a chance to cash in on a team that might be red hot or even that one team that scores a ton of points. For example a team like the Golden State Warriors with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson or even a combination of Kevin Durant/Russell Westbrook.

When using a stack look for a few things including the matchup situation, teams that shoot a ton, teams that like to move the ball up the court and teams that average the most points a game.

Avoid the big name play just based on their name or salary: Yes we all have done this built a lineup around that one big name or even say two or three of those stars. This in return could deliver you a bad end result if they struggle. When building that lineup look at not only production but what combination might deliver you more points that night.

For example say you go with Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook that night the two would combine to take up approx. one third of your salary cap. What if we went with a cheaper option at around $6k instead of $11 for one of those and spread that additional salary out. Those two could combine for 100 points but that additional $5k could allow you to grab two or three players that might have been out of your wish list.

Other key piece of information you want to look at include teams that might be on there second straight game or even their third game over the past four days. Look for teams with injury issues to find sleeper fantasy plays and do you research on players who might be on a hot streak.

Good Luck and Happy Winning for all our Daily Fantasy NBA players down the stretch! Stay tuned for more daily fantasy articles as well as lineups over the rest of the season.