1
Opening week
Do nothing. Seriously.
Your instinct after two bad games will be to drop somebody. Don't. Three games isn't a sample — it's noise, and the player you drop in week one is the one who goes for 30 the following Tuesday on someone else's roster.
The one thing worth doing: check that your lineup is actually set every day. More points are lost to an empty starting slot than to any bad draft pick. Set a reminder for an hour before the first tip of each day.
2
Minutes week
Watch minutes, not points.
Points bounce around. Minutes don't — they're a coaching decision, and coaches are creatures of habit. A player whose minutes went from 22 to 31 is telling you something real. A player who scored 28 on 4-of-14 shooting is telling you nothing.
Make a short list of anyone on your bench whose minutes are climbing and anyone in your starting lineup whose minutes are falling. That list is your season in miniature.
3
First real moves
Now you can touch the waiver wire.
Three weeks in, you have enough to act on. Look for the player who has taken over a rotation spot because of an injury or a benching — not the guy who had one big night.
Before you claim anyone, know which category you're actually short in. Adding a fourth guy who gives you points and threes when you're last in blocks is how rosters get worse while looking busier. If you're in a FAAB league, this is early — bid what the player is worth to you, not what he'd be worth in March.
4
Schedule week
Start counting games.
Some weeks your players suit up nine times, some weeks fourteen. In head-to-head that difference decides more matchups than talent does, and almost nobody checks it.
Look at next week's schedule before waivers process, not after. If your twelfth man plays four games and your tenth man plays two, that's a start you're giving away for free. This is streaming, and it's the cheapest edge in the game.
5
Honesty week
Decide what kind of team you have.
By now the shape is clear. You're strong somewhere and hopeless somewhere else, and pretending otherwise costs you the rest of the season. If you're dead last in assists and there's no realistic fix on the wire, stop chasing it — that's a punt, and choosing it deliberately is much better than backing into it.
This is also when trades start working. Other managers now have their own obvious holes, and a player who does nothing for you might be exactly what someone else is missing. Offer the trade that helps them too; the ones that look one-sided get declined without a reply.
Three habits that outlast the first five weeks
Check status before lock, not after. Questionable at 5pm usually means limited minutes or a late scratch. A two-minute check saves a zero.
Judge moves by category, not by name. The question is never "is this player good" — it's "does this player fix what my team is missing."
Don't rebuild every week. The managers who finish well make a handful of decisive moves. The ones who churn their roster every Monday finish mid-table with a lot of transactions.