re: What is worse, leagues that draft very early or leagues with zero waiver wire...

Sure, injuries can happen at any time, but I've always felt that a main goal should be to control the things you can control like draft date and waivers. Most of the time, the draft date isn't set until you have the league filled. The best time to draft to avoid preseason injuries is after the 3rd preseason game, but due to schedules of 12 people, that may be impossible. However, some like drafting early because the sleepers they are keying could move up the draft boards the later you are in the preseason.

I try to remove as much randomness and luck as you can from a league like: auctions vs snake drafts, and Top 6/Bottom 6 weekly Wins/Losses removes schedule randomness.

We had a league where one guy, in a 3 team division, 12 team league, finished 5-8, and made the playoffs, because the two other teams in his division were absolute shite. There were non playoff teams, in other divisions, with 8-5 records. Mediocrity and luck should never be rewarded.