FBL Rules

Seattle Soundwaves (Shaun Wyman)

POSITIONS

Each year, the commissioner will distribute a list of NBA players and their corresponding position eligibilities to the rest of the league prior to the draft. Positions range from C, PF, SF, SG, PG, SG/PG, SF/SG, PF/SF, PF/C, etc. The position eligibilities are based on previous season appearances and are taken from the NBA roster lists at www.espn.com. NBA team lists, as represented at www.espn.com, will determine the positions of players that enter the NBA in mid-season.

DRAFT

Each year's draft order (excluding non-playoff teams) will be determined by the inverse standings of the previous year, with ties broken by scoring average. Playoff wins count toward a team's placing in the draft order. Four teams will participate in a draft lottery, in which these teams with the four worst records will draw for the order of the first four picks. The teams will have chances for the 1st pick of 40, 30, 20, or 10%, respectively, depending on their regular season record. Each team must retain three players each year prior to the beginning of the draft. A deadline for naming these keepers will be determined by the commissioner, and will usually occur within a couple of weeks of the draft date. After teams have submitted their keepers, they have effectively lost all rights to their remaining roster players, who become free agents in the draft pool. Teams may choose to continue trading up until draft day, with the restriction being that the 36 players named as keepers by the league must remain unchanged. The draft lasts 11 rounds (14 in the inaugural season), and is conducted in a serpentine order (in which the 12th team also picks 13th, etc.) While trading may be conducted during the draft, such trades may not be made if they are stalling the proceedings or impeding the comfortable flow of the draft. There are no position restrictions during the draft, provided that a team is able to field a regular season lineup. At the conclusion of the draft, the teams with low draft slots will be asked in turn if they would like to make any additional free agent transactions to even their roster to their liking. Each team may make one move before this process is repeated again. After this point, the regular free agency rules shall apply, as dictated below.

ROSTERS

Rosters have no particular requirements other than the limit of 12 players. If a team has over 12, the commissioner will be notified via the FBL web page. If the owner fails to correct his roster after many weeks, the player or players deemed least essential to the team will be discarded until the roster meets league requirements. If a team is under the 12-player roster size, they will be kept notified through the league web page -- but the commissioner is powerless to sign extra players for that team.

INACTIVE LIST

The inactive list serves a dual purpose: as a place to store extra players or as a place to shelve injured players. The inactive list has two spots. Teams will have 14 players by the end of the FBL draft, but only 12 can be on the active roster. Thus, the remaining two players will be on the inactive list. Teams can choose to place an injured player on the inactive list, but in doing so they will have to move or release a player already on the inactive list. The inactive list carries with it a lot of flexibility. With each lineup submission, teams can change who is on the active roster and who is on the inactive list.

LINEUPS

Owners submit a starting lineup prior to the beginning of the NBA games each Friday night. If an owner fails to submit a lineup by the deadline, it remains the same as the previous week. If the unchanged lineup rule doesn't apply (perhaps because of a trade) then the commissioner shall determine the lineup (using the judgment of a reasonably prudent person). This may also apply if a marquee player is returning from a bye week, and it would be the owner's obvious intent to have started him. The commissioner should make every effort to decide on the lineup (in such rare cases) prior to the games. Lineups should be submitted in the following fashion:

Starting lineup: C, PF, SF, SG, PG
Bench: 3 players of any position (players get half-credit for their stats, rounding upwards)
Overtime players: The last 4 active players are ranked in the order in which they should enter the lineup in case of a tie game going into overtime. If the first overtime players from each team have the same point production, each team puts in another player for a second OT. If the tie has not been resolved after 4 OTs (a very unlikely situation) the home team will be given a one-point bonus for the win.
Teams may shuttle players back and forth from the active roster to the inactive list and vice versa each week. However, owners should note that inactive players may not be subbed in as overtime players.

SCORING

For each game, players receive one point for every scoring point, rebound or assist that they get. Bench players (as well as overtime players) get half-credit for their point production, with decimals rounded up (Ex. A player with 13 fantasy points will get 7 when on a fantasy teams bench.) The total of these points is called the raw score. What you will see on the webpage is the box score, an aesthetic rendering of the raw score that closer resembles a traditional NBA game score. The box score is simply 60% of the raw score.

HOMECOURT ADVANTAGE
For every game, regular season and playoff, the home team will begin the game with a 3-point lead. If a game goes past 4 OTs (as mentioned above) the home team gets an extra 1-point edge for the win.

AUTO SUBSTITUTIONS

A player is considered to have played an FBL game if he is listed as appearing (for any number of minutes) in an official NBA box score, regardless of whether that player had a point, rebound or assist. If a player does not play, the commissioner will automatically substitute in a player in a fair and prudent manner, moving up bench players into the starting lineup first (as long as they fit the right lineup position) and then moving overtime players into the bench slots. The substitute will almost always be the backup who has started the most for that owner in the rest of the season, or alternatively, was drafted higher by that owner.

FREE AGENCY

Players not on a 12-man roster or inactive list are considered unrestricted free agents. Each team may extend claims on players any time prior to the Monday 11:59 p.m. deadline each week. At that time, claims are revealed and players are awarded to the team that is currently lower in the FBLs overall standings, with team scoring average as the tiebreaker. From Tuesday until the start of the first Friday FBL games of the week, unrestricted free agents are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

TRADES

Two or more owners may exchange players any time prior to January 20th at 6 p.m. A trade becomes valid only after all parties involved have contacted the commissioner and verified the terms of the deal. Each team involved in a trade must stay under the league maximum of 12 players (with 2 inactives), and must adjust their rosters after the trade accordingly. If a trade is deemed unfair or detrimental to the overall competitive balance of the league, the commissioner may choose to veto the trade. If not approved by the majority of the league, league owners may override the commissioner's veto and allow the trade to stand. The commissioner is allowed to veto the trade so long as the conditions of the trade have yet to affect league play (that is, traded players have yet to play or traded draft picks have yet to be used). No more than 3 draft picks from any given year may be exchanged between two teams via trading.

TIEBREAKERS

The following is the tiebreaking scheme should two or more teams have identical records at the end of the regular season:

1)Winning percentage against all other teams in the tie
2)Most points scored.
3)Coin flip.

SCHEDULE
Each team plays a 62-game regular season schedule, with an All-Star game between the conferences splitting the two 31-game halves of the regular season. Game 1 in the FBL takes into account the stats from the 1st game of every NBA teams schedule, Game 43 takes into account the 43rd of every NBA teams schedule, and so on. This makes for a sometimes-difficult way to follow your team, but a schedule will be provided on the webpage to make sense of what NBA games qualify for what FBL games.

PLAYOFFS

Eight teams make the playoffs each year: three from the East Coast Conference and four from the West Coast Conference. There are three playoff rounds. The best-of-5 divisional playoffs pit the 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3 seeds in each conference. The winners of those rounds face off in best-of-7 conference championships, followed by the best-of-7 FBL finals. All scoring rules (including homecourt advantage) continue to apply.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

A majority vote of the league shall apply if any team violates any of the above rules. In extreme cases (such as in a tie on said vote) an independent mediator may settle a dispute.

Also, if it is deemed that a team is intentionally throwing a season, or acting in dishonest conduct at the expense of the league's quality of play, then sanctions (including the possibility of suspension from ownership) may be implemented.

WHEELS OF DEMOCRACY

Any owner may make a rule change suggestion in the FBL offseason, with majority vote of the league needed for a rule change. The commissioner may make minor and useful rule changes at will (again, in the offseason), but such changes may be vetoed by majority vote of the league.