FANTASY BASKETBALL FOR TWELVE
TEAMS
BYLAWS
Effective October 1, 2007
(items in RED are currently still under revision)
1 Team Configuration:
1.1 Each fantasy team active roster consists of 15 current NBA
players, including at least two capable of playing the center position, four at
forward and four at guard, including two at point guard.
1.2 As defined herein, teams are additionally permitted one first
year NBA player designated as on “Rookie Reserve.”
1.3
Player positions shall be identified by the League Commissioner and
Assistant Commissioner before the beginning of a new season or as otherwise
agreed. Player positions may not be
changed during the season. Teams are not
permitted to play players out of position.
1.3.1
Players are assigned one of the following positions or position
combinations:
C Center
C/F Center/Forward
F Forward
F/SG Forward/
Shooting Guard
SG Guard
S/PG Shooting / Point Guard
PG Point Guard
1.4
Each year, every fantasy player on a fantasy team roster shall cost the
fantasy team a fantasy salary (contract) in accordance with these Bylaws.
1.5
As defined herein, fantasy teams will select players through
participation in the yearly Rookie Draft; yearly Restricted Free Agent (RFA)
Auction; and the yearly Fall Free Agent Auction/Draft, as well as have the
opportunity to replace waived players; and make trades with other teams. During the season, a list of “Pool” players,
i.e., players on current NBA rosters that are not currently on any fantasy team;
will be maintained by the league commissioner and made available to all team
owners.
1.6
Each year, a Salary Cap will be placed equally on every team and
applied in accordance with these Bylaws.
As defined herein, the Salary Cap limits a team’s ability to sign
players to contracts above the League Minimum.
Extended salary
cap during season
1.6.1
Team Salary for each team, for use in comparing with the Salary Cap, is
computed as the sum of the salaries of the 15 players on the roster excluding the
contracts for any player on Rookie Reserve.
Any of the 15 roster positions that are not filled (such as in the
off-season), count as a League Minimum Contract for the purposes of calculating
Team Salary.
1.7 Each year, each team will be numbered one though twelve. Team numbers are given in the reverse order
of finish of all teams based on number of wins, and in case of a tie, total
number of points for the prior year final standings. For example, the team with the least wins
would be Team 1, while the team with the most wins would be Team 12.
1.8 Team owners shall select names for their teams.
1.9 Team
owners shall select two team colors, font and field.
1.10 Team
owners may submit a team logo graphic for their team webpage, within the
parameters set by the webmaster.
2 League Configuration:
2.1 The league will be configured into two divisions of six teams
each.
3 League Fees:
3.1 A fee shall be negotiated and approved by the owners by
majority vote before the start of the fantasy season.
3.2 Fees are the basis for distribution of awards.
3.3 The owners shall agree, by majority vote before the start of
the season, to any reimbursable expenses to owners as well as any other
expenses to outside services.
4 Scoring Games:
4.1 Head-to-head fantasy league games are won by the fantasy team
which scores the most fantasy points, including bonuses and penalties.
4.2 Players scores are derived by the players first game played for his real NBA team of any scheduled week.
4.3 The schedule consists of a maximum of 32 head-to-head fantasy
games, including 18 regular season games and up to 14 playoff games. See Section 5.
4.4 Disputed scores due to statistician or resource error may be
protested to the commissioner within 4 days of submission of final scores. Scoring protests are resolved by the league
commissioner.
4.5 Box Scores given on the www.nba.com website are the basis and final
statement of scoring statistics, unless otherwise determined to be in error.
4.6 Player’s Scoring:
4.6.1 Total points = Total game points + Rebounds + Assists + Steals + Blocked Shots – Turnovers - Missed field goal attempts (including 2 point and 3 point shots, but not free throws), including any overtime minutes.
4.6.2 Player Scoring Bonuses:
4.6.2.1 None
4.6.3 Player Scoring Penalties:
4.6.3.1 Deduct 3 points if player is ejected from
game.
4.6.3.2 Deduct 3 points if player fouls out of game.
4.6.3.3 Players total points may not be less than
zero.
4.7 Team Scoring:
4.7.1 Each week, each team owner shall select 5 starters from the
current roster, including one at center, two at forward, one at shooting guard,
and one at point guard. Each owner shall
then list seven players prioritized in order of play as back-ups to the
starters. Starters may not be used as
back-ups. The remaining three players
are inactive for that game. Game lineups
shall be submitted to the commissioner no later than one-hour prior to the
start of NBA games.
4.7.2 Team scores are derived by summing the starters total points, including penalties, with pro-rated back-up players scores. Pro-rated scores for individual players shall be rounded up or down (at greater than or equal to .50 is up) so that only real numbers are used in game scoring. Fractions of points are not admissible in the case of a tie or other dispute.
4.7.2.1 Back-up scores shall be calculated and
pro-rated such that the back-ups minutes, added to the starters, is equal to 48
minutes. Each of five positions play 48
minutes or 240 minutes total per game for each team.
4.7.2.2 Starting five must be capable of supplying one
center, two forwards, one shooting guard and one point guard to the start of
the game. Back-ups are utilized in order
of priority by position. The higher
prioritized back-up, backs up the starters to the extent that minutes are
available at the position(s) of the back-up player. There is no minimum number of minutes that
the back-up players shall play. For each
back-up player, maximum minutes are determined by the following formulas, which
must all be “true”:
Total Player Minutes <= 240 (5 times 48)
Total Forward Minutes <= 96 (2 times 48)
Total Shooting Guard Minutes <= 48
Total Point Guard Minutes <= 48
Total C+C/F+F Minutes <= 144 (3 times 48)
Total F+F/SG+SG+S/PG Minutes <= 144 (3 times 48)
Total SG+S/PG+PG Minutes <= 96 (2 times 48)
4.7.2.3 The maximum fantasy minutes an NBA player may
have in a regular fantasy game is 48.
NBA players who play over 48 minutes in their NBA game keep all of their
fantasy points as if they performed in 48 minutes. For Example:
an NBA player plays 54 minutes in his overtime NBA game. In those 54 minutes, he scores 27 fantasy
points. For fantasy scoring, this player
receives the 27 points, but in 48 minutes (assuming that this player is either
a fantasy starter or there is at least 48 minutes available to him as a
backup). The scoring is not pro-rated. In effect, any fantasy points a player earns
beyond 48 NBA minutes are earned without expending additional fantasy time.
4.7.2.3.1 Backup players who play more than 48
minutes in their NBA game, but less than 48 minutes in their fantasy game, have
their fantasy points prorated as if they played 48 minutes in their NBA game.
4.7.2.3.2 Players who play more than 48 minutes
in their NBA game are not permitted to play more than 48 minutes in an overtime
fantasy game. That player’s total
available points would have already been used.
The overtime minutes are given to other backup players, as available.
4.7.2.4 Home Team Bonus: the home team for each game
is awarded a 4 point bonus.
4.7.2.5 Penalties are fully applicable to all starting
players and are also applicable to back-up players, with the following
stipulations:
4.7.2.5.1 Foul out penalty is assessed to a player only if he has fouled out of the NBA game for which all of his minutes have been applied to the fantasy game. Likewise, the foul out penalty shall be assessed to all players who have fouled out of their NBA game, in which they played more than 48 minutes, and for which 48 minutes are played in the fantasy game.
4.7.2.5.2 Ejection penalty is assessed to a
player who is ejected from his NBA game for which he has any minutes applied to
the fantasy game.
4.7.2.6 Tie games are settled by playing one additional
3-minute overtime for each of 5 positions.
In the event of further ties, additional overtimes are played in
two-minute intervals until a winner is declared. As available, a MINIMUM of FIVE unique
players must be used for all overtimes.
No player may play more minutes in overtime, than there are in overtime,
in order to fill-in time due to a deficiency of available players. The time is forfeited.
5 Schedule and League Standings:
5.1 The
fantasy league year begins July 1 and ends June 30.
5.2 Eighteen (18) regular season fantasy games will be played by
each team, including two games against each other team of the same division and
one game against each other team of the other divisions.
5.3 Each team will play one home game and one away game against
the other five teams in its division (10 games). Against the other division, each team will
play three home games, and three away games (6 games). The remaining two games are exhibition
contests; an All-Star Game and a Challenge Game.
Fill in info for
All-Star Game and Challenge Game
5.4 End of season championship playoffs shall be played according
to the following schedule:
5.4.1 Round 1: Best of three; lower seed is home team for games 1 and
3:
5.4.1.1 Round 1a:
Twelfth seed vs. Fifth seed
5.4.1.2 Round 1b: Eleventh seed vs. Sixth seed
5.4.1.3 Round 1c:
Tenth seed vs. Seventh seed
5.4.1.4 Round 1d:
Ninth seed vs. Eighth seed
5.4.2 Round 2: Best of three; lower seed is home team for games 1 and
3:
5.4.2.1 Round 2a:
Winner of Round 1a vs. Fourth seed
5.4.2.2 Round 2b:
Winner of Round 1b vs. Third seed
5.4.2.3 Round 2c:
Winner of Round 1c vs. Second seed
5.4.2.4 Round 2d:
Winner of Round 1d vs. First seed
5.4.3 Round 3: Best of three; lower seed is home team for games 1 and
3:
5.4.3.1 Winner of Round 2a vs. Winner of Round 2d
5.4.3.2 Winner of Round 2b vs. Winner of Round 2c
5.4.4 Round 4: Best of five Championship Series between two Round 3
winners. No home team advantage is permitted for the Championship Round.
5.5 Ties
in Standings:
5.5.1 If
teams are tied in the win/loss record at a time when an issue must by
reconciled by virtue of win/loss record (claiming players, Team Number, draft
position), the first tie breaker shall be total fantasy points for games so far
played. The second tie breaker shall be
the team with the lower number (teams are given numbers based on draft
position).
5.5.2 If teams are tied in the
win/loss record at the end of the regular season, the first tie breaker for
determining final position in division standings (for disbursement of awards)
shall be head-to-head competition. The
second tie breaker shall be division record.
The third tie breaker shall be total fantasy points. The fourth tie
breaker shall be the team with the lower number.
5.5.3 If teams are tied in the overall standings at the end of the
regular season, the first tie breaker for determining playoff position
(seeding) shall be head-to-head competition.
The second tie breaker shall be total fantasy points. The third tie
breaker shall be the team with the lower number.
5.6 Playoff Seeding:
5.6.1 The two top seeds (1 and 2) of the fantasy playoffs shall be the
two division champions with the higher seed going to the team with the better
win/loss record. The third and fourth
seeds shall be the second place team in each division, likewise with the higher
seed going to team with the better win/loss record. Ties are resolved in conformance with Section
5.5.3.
5.6.2 Beginning with Seed 5 and continuing in order through all
remaining seeds to Seed 12, playoff positions are awarded based on most overall
wins, with ties resolved in conformance with Section 5.5.3.
6 Player Selection And Roster Changes:
6.1 Salary Cap:
6.1.1 From July through the end of the Fall Auction/Draft the MML
salary cap shall be equal to the salary cap established by the NBA each July.
6.1.2
At the completion of the Fall Auction/Draft, the
salary cap for the following season shall be increased by 10% of the sum of the
values of all players on the rosters of all fantasy teams at the end of the
Fall Auction/Draft, divided by 12. For
example: if the sum of contracts at the
end on the Fall Auction/Draft is $720.0 Million, then the salary cap will
increase at the end of the Fall Auction and become 1.1 x (720/12) = $66.0. This cap increase is available solely for
trading flexibility and will reset the next July upon the updating of the NBA
salary cap.
6.2 Players Contract Value (Salaries):
6.2.1 Minimum Contract Value for any player shall be the NBA minimum
salary, but not less than $1.0 million.
6.2.2
Player contracts are renewable for every year up to four years
maximum. At the end of the second contract
year, all retained players become Restricted Free Agents (RFA’s) as defined
herein.
6.2.3
In subsequent years, any retained players shall have their contract
increased by the following terms and formulas:
6.2.3.1 Percentage increase = [(new
salary cap / players prior year salary)0.8]
6.2.3.2 Salary increase percentage
shall not be greater than the increase in the salary cap, i.e. new salary
cap/prior salary cap
6.2.3.3 Minimum salaries:
6.2.3.3.1
2nd Year: not to exceed 50% of minimum (1.5)
6.2.3.3.2
3rd Year: 4% of cap
6.2.3.3.3
4th Year: 5% of cap
6.2.4
ROOKIES enter the league with minimum contracts.
6.2.5 SALARY CAP EXCEPTION:
Each year, every team is permitted to sign one player in either the
Restricted Free Agent Auction or the Fall Free Agent Auction to an Exception
Contract with a salary of not more than 10% of the salary cap. This player’s salary is not included in the
team’s total salary until the completion of the Free Agent Auction/Draft.
6.3 Injured Reserve:
6.3.1 Except for a one-time exception during the playoffs, there is no
Injured Reserve in the MML. Injured
players remain a part of the fifteen man roster unless waived.
6.3.2 The one-time playoff exception is for a player with a
substantial injury that would miss more than 3 NBA games. That player may be declared Injured and
replaced from the Pool prior to any MML playoff game. This may be used once and for one player
only. Once placed on IR, that player may
not come off of IR until the end of the playoffs for that team, and which point
the player will be immediately activated and his replacement returned to the
Pool. The Injured Reserve replacement
player may not be kept beyond his team’s playoff run.
6.3.2.1 In the event that more than one team requests
the same replacement player for any playoff game, the team with the lower seed
(better team) has priority.
6.4 Rookie Reserve:
6.4.1 Each team may retain its player selected in the Rookie Draft on
“Rookie Reserve.” The player is not
active while on Rookie Reserve and does not count against the salary cap, but
may be activated as a replacement for any game.
Once a Rookie Reserve player is activated, no player may be replaced
onto Rookie Reserve until the next Rookie Draft.
6.4.2 At the end of the season, the team owner may activate or release
its player on Rookie Reserve, but may no longer retain him on Rookie Reserve.
6.5 Waivers:
6.5.1 Teams may request to place players on waivers through the
commissioner each week by 10 p.m. on Saturday night. Along with requesting waivers, the owner
shall request a replacement player.
Teams may receive replacement players only after review by the
commissioner by Noon the following Sunday.
If more than one team requests a specific player, the team with the
worst record shall receive the player.
Other teams are not permitted waivers for their player for that week.
6.5.2 Waived players shall be placed on the waiver wire for the week
following their release. Salaries of players
on the waiver wire shall be reduced by one half (rounding up), but shall not be
less than the league minimum.
6.5.3 Waiver wire players who are not signed during the first week
after they are waived, are placed in the pool.
All pool players shall have a salary equal to the league minimum.
6.5.4 Teams shall not be permitted to sign a waived player with a
salary above the minimum if it would increase that team’s total salary above
the Salary Cap.
6.5.5 Teams are not allowed to waive players during the fantasy league
playoffs.
6.5.6 Teams eliminated from the playoffs may not replace any waived
players until the next RFA Auction and Fall Auction/Draft.
6.6 Trades:
6.6.1 Trades between owners shall be submitted for the commissioner’s
approval by 10 p.m. Saturday. The commissioner
shall respond by midnight Noon Sunday. Two
for one player swaps, etc. are permissible, however, waived and replacement
players must be named as part of the trade in order to maintain a 15 player
roster for each team for each week.
Conflicts in selecting waiver wire or pool players may cause the
commissioner to nullify the trade for that week.
6.6.2 A team shall not be permitted to trade for
one or more players if the net result of such trading will increase that team’s
total salary above the Salary Cap. A
team over the Salary Cap may trade if the result of the trade is either a
reduction or no change to the teams Total Salary.
6.6.3 Trades are not permissible during the fantasy league playoffs,
or during the time of the RFA Auction.
6.7 Yearly Rookie Draft:
6.7.1 On August 1, of each year, the league shall hold a draft of
rookie players coming into the NBA. The
draft shall be one round. Each team may
select one player. The draft is completed
in the order of lowest to highest team number.
The deadline for each teams draft is midnight of the August date with
the same number as that Teams Number.
For Example: Team 6 must pick its
rookie by midnight of Aug. 6. The Rookie
draft must be completed by midnight Aug. 12.
6.7.2 One player for each team selected in the Rookie Draft is
automatically placed on Rookie Reserve, unless more than one player is selected
for any team.
6.7.3 Rookies shall be selected only from the list of players selected
in the two rounds of the NBA Rookie Draft immediately preceding the MML Rookie
Draft. No other players are eligible.
6.8 Yearly
Restricted Free Agent Auction:
6.8.1 An auction of Restricted Free Agents (RFA’s) shall be held after
the Rookie Draft, but before the Fall Free Agent Auction/Draft.
6.8.2 See Section 6.3 for the definition of an RFA.
6.8.3 The RFA Auction is a “blind” auction, wherein all fantasy teams
have the opportunity to bid on any RFA’s on the rosters of the other fantasy
teams, without the knowledge of what other teams are bidding.
6.8.3.1 Bids shall be made by email to the
League Commissioner before the established deadline.
6.8.3.2 Fantasy teams may bid on as many
RFA’s as are available and affordable.
6.8.3.3 Fantasy teams may only bid as much
on any RFA as that team has available up to the Salary Cap, unless bidding any
RFA as their Salary Exception player.
6.8.3.4 Minimum bid on any RFA is the
player’s current salary, plus $0.1 million.
6.8.3.5 Resolution of the RFA bidding is
made by the Commissioner (for all qualifying bids) beginning with the largest
unresolved bid. Resolution of bids
continues with the next highest open bid for another RFA until all bidding is
exhausted. An RFA may be bid upon by
many teams, but only the highest open bid on that player will be used.
6.8.3.6 A fantasy team with an RFA that
has been bid upon has the option to retain that player under his current
contract, but at the higher bid salary, or release the player to the bidding
team.
6.8.3.7 Teams with bid upon RFA’s may go
over the Salary Cap to retain the player’s contract.
6.8.3.8 An RFA released to a bidding team,
receives a first year contract at the bid value.
6.8.3.9 A contract for a bid upon RFA,
whether retained or released, is guaranteed until the end of the first regular
season game-week and may not be relinquished.
It may however, be traded.
6.8.3.10 Released RFA’s impact the receiving
team’s Total Salary immediately, and any outstanding bids are reduced as
necessary to remain within the Salary Cap.
Accordingly, any outstanding bids that fall below the bid upon RFA’s current
salary are disqualified, unless (if available) the bidding team requests its
Salary Exception Contract be used for that bid.
6.8.3.10.1 Bidding
teams that receive a released RFA, have the option to relinquish any further unreconciled
bids. However, a bidding team may not otherwise
revise its bid amount at any time.
6.9 Yearly Fall Free Agent Auction/Draft:
6.9.1 An auction of free agents shall be held immediately prior to the
beginning of the season. Players
available in the Fall Free Agent Auction/Draft shall include all Pool players
and Unrestricted Free Agents.
6.9.2 Excepting the one “Salary Exception” player, in order to
participate in the yearly Fall Auction, a fantasy team must have available money
under the salary cap to spend on new players.
This shall be documented to each team well in advance of the auction.
6.9.3 “Available money” is defined as the salary cap minus the new
contract value of retained or signed players, and the minimum salary required
to sign players to the remaining available roster positions. One roster position is exempt for the
Exception Contract player, whose contract salary is not included in the team’s
total salary until the end of the Fall Auction/Draft. This follows the following example: if the Salary Cap is $60.0 million, the
League Minimum Salary (LMS) is $1.0 million and the sum of contracts of three retained
players is $30.0 million; then the available money is found:
$30.0
million in 3 retained contracts;
and,
14 total roster positions - 3 filled positions = 11
roster positions to fill; and,
11 roster positions at LMS of $1.0 cost no less than
$11.0 million;
then,
Total Team Salary is $30.0 retained + $11.0
potential = $41.0 million.
“Undercap money” for the team is $60.0 – $41.0 = $19.0
million.
“Available money” includes $1.0 LMS available for the
position itself to be filled: $19.0 +
$1.0 = $20.0 million.
OR by formula; the available
money is:
($60.0 salary cap - $30.0 retained contracts – 11 positions
to fill +1 position next to fill) x $1.0 LMS = $20.0 million.
6.9.4 Bidding:
6.9.4.1 The order of bidding for each
round of the free agent auction is determined by team number. The first round of bidding begins with Team
No. 1 and continues with each successive team opening bids for each successive
round of bidding.
6.9.4.2 Teams may purchase no more than five
players in the free agent auction, not including its Salary Exception
player. If a team uses its Salary
Exception to obtain a player in the Free Agent Auction, then that team may
select up to 6 players in the auction.
6.9.4.3 If it wishes, the team with the
opening bid may select a player and make an opening bid for him. All teams then follow, in numerical order,
until all have passed, in order. The
last bidding team then receives the player at the last bid value.
6.9.4.4 Any team may “pass” at any time
and not bid on a player, including the team with the most available money. A team, which has passed, may still bid on a
particular player, only if the opportunity arises that the bidding returns to
that team.
6.9.4.5 A team may not bid on a player
whose bid value is equal to or greater than its available money. That team must “pass”.
6.9.4.6 Teams must increase contract value
to bid. With one exception (described in
6.10.4.7), a team cannot “match” a prior bid.
6.9.4.7 A team may match and control a bid
for its own Unrestricted Free Agent.
However, a team may not spend more than its available money to match or
bid on its own Unrestricted Free Agent.
6.9.4.8 Bid
increments are restricted to a minimum of $0.1 million.
6.9.4.9 The minimum bid amount in the free
agent auction is the league minimum plus $0.1 million.
6.9.5 At the end of the auction, any Unrestricted Free Agent not
signed during the auction, may be retained by their original teams for a
contract value of the league minimum plus $0.1 million. Such players may be signed without regard to
the team’s Salary Cap status. The
original team has the right to release any unsigned Unrestricted Free Agents to
the Pool.
6.9.6 Yearly Free Agent Draft:
6.9.6.1 Immediately after the yearly Fall
Free Agent auction, each fantasy team will fill out the remainder of its roster
positions (1 through 15) by selection of players in a Free Agent Draft.
6.9.6.2 Order
of the draft is as follows:
6.9.6.2.1 First priority goes to team with
fewest players. That team selects before
a team with more players.
6.9.6.2.2 Second priority goes to the team with
the lower number.
6.9.7 All players selected in the yearly Free Agent Draft are assigned
a contract with the League Minimum Salary.
6.10 Year Close Out:
6.10.1 Between fantasy seasons, each team shall
select the players to be retained for the next year from its year end roster,
including Rookie Reserve. All players
not retained, are released and become free agents for the next season. Retained players contracts for the next year
will increase according to the rules of continuation of contracts.
6.10.2 After a team has been eliminated from the
playoffs, that team must activate any player on injured reserve and waive his
replacement.
6.10.3 By June 30 of each year, all fantasy teams
shall reduce their rosters as necessary to include 15 players maximum. Any players on Rookie Reserve must be made
active or released. No players will be
considered rookies or be permitted to be on Rookie Reserve until the next
Rookie Draft.
7 Key Dates:
August 1-12 Rookie Draft
August 1 Contracts renewed for
next season.
September 30 Fall Roster Deadline for upcoming
RFA Auction and Fall Free Agent Auction/Draft.
All teams must be at or under the salary cap. Rosters locked.
October 15 Bids due to Commissioner for
RFA AUCTION of retained 3rd year players.
Late October RFA AUCTION begins followed by
the Fall Free Agent Auction/Draft.
October 31 Salary Cap re-calculated and
updated.
Nov. 1 – April 20 Fantasy Season
June 30 Cut down Rosters to 15
players, maximum. No one permitted on
Rookie Reserve