I commish a keeper league. I have a question for year 2 draft.

[dpbuddha 9]

This league was formed last year and we did a snake draft for the initial draft. We keep 4 players each for a 1-round penalty.

The draft order is based on the end-of-year tournaments. Top 6 play in champ bracket, bottom 6 are in "lottery" bracket. Team that wins lottery bracket gets 1st pick, etc. Team who wins Champ is last.

I had determined that subsequent drafts would be done in a repeating 1-12 order to further incentivize the lower bracket teams to fight it out in the post-season and to give lower-performing teams a boost. I'm not sure having the 1st pick in a snake draft for the 2nd season is very enticing. But now I'm wondering if going 1-12 every round is a bit too much? I have seen where some leagues do 1-12, 1-12, then reverse in round 3 and snake from there on out. My team ended up in the 8 slot, so it's not a big deal to me either way, but the guys who are in the 1-2-3 or 10-11-12 slots have a lot at stake (yes, it's just Fantasy, but you know what I mean). I don't feel that I can leave it up to the league to vote because at this point everyone will have a bias toward whatever benefits their team most. I'm hoping for impartial opinions here to let me know what is the most reasonable/fair route for draft order from here on out.

[Dr Hook 6]

with only keeping 4 players, I would agree that 1-12 repeating is not good for the league. 

How you get the teams to agree that this is not what is best for the league?? Maybe offer 2 or 3 rounds 1-12 no snake then open the snake after the set amount of rounds. 

[JagFan 97]

If it were a true dynasty, then yes 1-12, 1-12 repeating, but not in a 4 player keeper with a 1 round penalty.  
I’m also not sure about the end of the year tournament.  Holding the non playoff teams where they are at the end of the regular season is a much better gauge of how good/bad they are.  And if managers start tanking their seasons once they’re out of playoff contention, they should be replaced just like a NFL coach that gets fired for a bad year.

[Super Cubs 132]

there is nothing wrong with keeping 4 players and keeping the same 1-12 draft order.  It gives the lower teams a chance to get better. 

[polecatt 399]

57 minutes ago, Super Cubs said:

there is nothing wrong with keeping 4 players and keeping the same 1-12 draft order.  It gives the lower teams a chance to get better. 

Exactly right!

You do a snake draft for the first season or redraft because it's supposed to be as even as possible throughout.

However, with a keeper league, that's not how it works. The idea isn't as much to even things out as much as it is to give the lower ranked teams a chance to improve. That of course is supposed to make things more competitive.

Of course, the number of keepers you keep plays into this too, with the higher the number, the more a straight 1-12 draft makes sense. I would say 4 is good for that because each team should have a core of players to work with