Don't worry, you pick it up quickly. Last year was my first ever Fantasy League and I did pretty well (though I admit it was a huge time-drain, and it annoyed my wife to no end). Your competitors will be trading no more frequently than you (just twice per week) and no one has a crystal ball, so the playing field is pretty level.

To your questions:

1. Ah yes, the big "games played v. high value" question. Basically, yes, it helps to pick guys that are playing a bunch of games in the upcoming week, but you have to balance that with other concerns, like (a) the upcoming several weeks; (b) increasing your overall team value; and (c) conserving a few trades in case of emergency (injury, for example).
2. Your 6th man scores points for you just like the starters do. Whether you make LeBron James your starting forward and Stephane Lasme your 6th man, or vice-versa, is basically arbitrary.

If you're interested, you can find more tips from Fantasy, me and others here.

Now I have a question for the teacher: assuming I decide to play this year -- yeah, I know I said I would boycott, but since you found a way to prevent cheating I may reconsider -- how do I sign up? When I input my old name and the old password ("GSoM," right?) it doesn't remember me. Do I need to open a new TSN account?

P.S. -- FJ, I'm still waiting for my gold trophy. Both of them. ;-)

Well because there's a limit on the number of people who can play the Yahoo leagues. There's a finite number of NBA players in the Yahoo leagues. We want to make sure everyone can participate and compete against each other.

I do like how people are starting up Yahoo fantasy leagues on their own. It's great to see the community taking initiative to start up these leagues.

I mean, not copying me specifically, but occasionally checking your close competitors' rosters to see who they picked and what you can learn from them. I totally jumped on the Josh Smith and Gerald Wallace bandwagons after Redape did. Unfortunately, judging by their hefty price-tags this year, everybody has now jumped on their bandwagons. The trick is to find this year's JSmooths, Biedrinses, and Montas...

1. It doesn't matter. You can start Nash/Baron as your guard tandem, or Kobe/Wade. The TSN point tallying machine doesn't care whether your team would have any real-world chemistry. Personally, I usually tried to field a team that would also be pretty good in the real world, but that's just me.
   
2. Ask FJ
   
3. Two totally separate seasons -- so theoretically you could amass the most overall points over the course of the season and win nothing. :-(

TSN points, that is, which is a combo of pts, shooting, rebs, asts, stls, and blks (see the site for details)

Having a valuable team in terms of $$$ only helps you inasmuch as  it allows you to buy guys who can rack up points. Quite often the league leader in $$$ value isn't the leader in points. That's actually a good thing to keep in mind: RACK UP THE TSN POINTS.

FT% is a small but not insignificant part of a players ability to rack up points. Missed FTs can be a killer, since each one subtracts a full point. If Josh Smith and Dwight Howard were 90% FT shooters, they'd probably be Top 3 Fantasy players.

Total overpay. I like Marco a lot, but he's the exact type of player you don't want on your fantasy team: high volume shooter who does little else. Not too different from JR Smith, who was like my LVP last year. I wouldn't pay $3M for Marcoo, let alone 5.

Basically, Marco and Kelenna's pricetags should be flipped.

Dude I'll give away some Tony.psd Illustrations sized at 8 1/2 x 11 glossy photo pics... autographed! as seen on GSoM... FREE! I've always wanted to do that! Autograph my work and give em' oyt at no cost... you gotta work for it yo'!