ABC Constitution
1. The league will be known as the American Basketball Congress (ABC). It will consist of 24 teams. The teams will have the same names as NBA teams. The league will feature an 82 game season, and will consist of 6 divisions of 4 teams-12 Eastern & 12 Western.
2. The league will feature the exclusive use of the Action! PC pro basketball game. It is considered the official league policy of the ABC that everyone is required to purchase the most current edition game disk AND the most current NBA season disk from Dave Koch Sports for use in the ABC (if you have a previous season you can purchase the upgrade to the new game and NBA season disk). Anyone found not doing this, or using a copied or pirated disk, will be removed from the league immediately and permanently. Each team will have a minimum roster of 14 players on it and cannot exceed 15 man limit for any reason. Every owner is required to have an active e-mail (that can be registered with the Yahoogroups newsgroup) that you will be able to receive file attachments as well.
3. The ABC is not a sim league. It is expected that all owners are to play all of their games in their entirety. Anyone found not be to observing this rule will be removed from the league immediately.
4. Free Agency:
In each year there will be a Free Agent bidding period shortly after the completion of the previous season's playoffs. Teams may bid on a player for 1, 2 or 3 years. The total amount of the bid will consist of annual amount x and # of years to determine top bidder. The 1st portion of Free Agent bidding will be on Restricted Free Agents, followed by bidding on unrestricted free agents. We will use a close bid system where teams may bid on up to 4 (33%) of all free agents listed in a given offering. Teams will also rank in order of importance their most desired to least desired free agent they will bid on. This will be the 1st tie breaker should there be a tie amongst teams who bid the identical amount. If still tied, we will use the final 2 numbers from the daily close of Nasdaq, with numbers being pre-assigned with equal weight for Unrestricted Free Agents
Example: if 4 teams are ties and the Nasdaq lottery is used, team 1 would receive numbers 00-24, team 2 25-49, team 3 50-74, and team 4 75-99. If the final Nasdaq result ended in .66, team (3) above would be the winner.
If one of the teams bidding is the previous owning team, the following weighted system will be used in Lottery situations:
2 Tied Teams = 60% for team the FA last played for, 40% for the other.
3 Tied Teams = 50% for team the FA last played for, 25% for the other.
4 Tied Teams = 40% for team the FA last played for, 20% for the other.
5 Tied Teams = 32% for team the FA last played for, 17% for the other.
6 Tied Teams = 25% for team the FA last played for, 15% for the other.
7 Tied Teams = 22% for team the FA last played for, 13% for the other.
8 Tied Teams = 23% for team the FA last played for, 11% for the other.
9 Tied Teams = 20% for team the FA last played for, 10% for the other.
10 Tied Teams = 19% for team the FA last played for, 9% for the other.
Winning bids that will not fit under your salary cap, or, will not leave ample space to sign players to cover needed minutes by position will be rescinded at the commissioners discretion. THIS IS THE ONLY SITUATION WHERE A BID MAY BE RESCINDED. Otherwise, once you make a bid you are stuck with it, so please bid carefully and wisely.
Please note that there will only be allowed one year bids on any players that have announced their retirement, or that have career ending injuries, or any other situation that may end their careers.
Restricted Free Agency-
Once the pre defined bid period is over, top bids will be revealed, and the team with matching rights will have 48 hours to declare one of the following:
- Match
- Decline Match
- Contingent
Contingent may be declared if owner wants to wait to see how other bids play out that may affect their decision to match or not match. At the end of the 48 hour period, if a team makes no declaration, it is presumed that they do NOT match. Also, at the end of 48 hour period, all teams that declared contingent must declare their intention in order based upon player value, from most to least expensive.
The number of unrestricted free agents bid on will be the top 48, and will consist of 4 tiers of 12 players each. Following the bid portion of Free Agency, the league will go to an email draft until all rosters are at the minimum amount. The order will run in the Snake method based upon worst record having 1st pick and best record the last pick in the 1st round. Round 2 will be the inverse of this.
A team with an RFA can bid on their player if they so choose to be able to sign the RFA to a contract of longer duration or the like.
5. SALARY CAP SYSTEM:
The Salary Cap will be $75 million. But unlike the NBA, the salary cap for this league will be a hard cap. There will be only two exceptions to the cap, and that is you can go over the cap to sign any rookies you have drafted in the previous July's Super Draft, or if you find yourself at the very start of any season over the cap you can sign free agents to only 1 year bids at the league minimum of $500K to fill out your roster to 15 players. This means you cannot exceed the cap at any time for any other reason. If you go over the cap you cannot make any other trades or roster moves unless they reduce the amount that you are over the cap (even money trades are permissible under this scenario). Once you are under the cap again all trade and player movement restrictions will be lifted.
The Maximum salary a player can be signed to is $20,000,000, and the maximum contract length will be 3 years. The minimum salary a player can be signed to is $500,000. This is based roughly on the NBA Collective Bargaining agreement.
All salaries will be rounded to the nearest one hundred thousand at all times, and will always be listed in millions (so a salary of $5,250,000 will be listed as 5.25). So you cannot bid $1,000,001 to sign a player, for example. In this example if you want to go over this million dollar bid you would have to bid $1,100,000. This is to keep bookkeeping from becoming a nightmare.
And finally, the following limits are placed on bids: all contract bids of 2 years or more in duration must be at least $800,000 per year, and all contract bids of 3 or more years in duration must be at least $1 million per year.
Team options on 2 & 3 year signings
Beginning with Free Agency period of 2014, players may be signed for 1, 2 or 3 years only.
Teams that sign a player to a 2 year contract will have the option to extend for an extra year at 1.35% increase. Players signed to a 2 year contract with a value annually of less than 3.1M have the option to sign player to an additional year at the players assigned salary by DK sports for the upcoming 3rd year.
Teams that sign a player to a 3 year contract have option to sign player for either an extra year at a 1.25% increase or for an extra 2 years at a 1.15% increase. Players signed to a 3 year contract with a value annually of less than 5.1M have the option to sign player to an additional 1 or 2 years at the players assigned salary by DK sports for the upcoming 4th year & 5th years.
There is no option for players signed to 1 year.
Max annual contract bid amount is 20 million. Maximum bid on a player would be 3 years/60 million, plus team option for years 4 & 5 at end of 3 year period. Eg.-If a team chooses to extend a max player 1 extra year, that salary would slot at 20 x 1.25=25 million
Gray Beard rules
To prevent frivolous bidding, players at age 33 or older as listed in the game will have the duration of their contract limited to the following bids (ages are determined by the age listed in the Action PC game for that season):
36 years old 2 years
37 years old & up 1 year
The Rookie Salary Cap is as follows:
Keep in mind that ALL first round picks will be signed to guaranteed contracts for 3 years, with a team option for the 4th year. This means you are obligated to pay the rookies salary for 3 full years. The team option for the 4th year means you can sign him for another year at his rookie salary, or release all rights to the player.
All second round picks can be signed for one to three years at the owner’s discretion if they played even one game in the NBA the preceding season. In addition, there will be allowed a right of first refusal for the first contract a player signs after his rookie contract is up. This means all you have to do is MATCH an offer made to your rookie after his rookie contract runs out to retain him. This is an exact match with the existing NBA rule towards this issue. This rule applies ONLY to players drafted from the Super Draft each year. You will still have to be able to fit your rookie under the salary cap to exercise this right of first refusal on a player.
Second round rookie picks will now have right of first refusal on the first contract after their rookie contracts expire. This will in essence make them the same as first round picks, with the exception that 2nd round picks do not get an extra option year at the end of their rookie contract. Players on a first round rookie contract will be indicated as such on the roster with one asterisk (*) following their salary on the roster page of their team. Players on a 2nd round rookie contract will be indicated as such by having two asterisks (**) on the roster page.
Teams have draft rights to all SD players indefinitely. Once that player logs actual NBA minutes, the drafting team must honor the contract based upon drafted position if a 1st Rd selection, or, if chosen in 2nd rd., team must decide to sign or waive.
Once your roster is at 15 players you cannot bid on any other free agent players unless you open up a cap space FIRST by trading or cutting a DNP player. In other words, your roster has to stand at 14 player or less BEFORE you can bid on any more free agents.
The total amount of the contract is the determining factor in all free agent bids. For example, a 3 year contract at $10 million per year (total contract of $30 million) will always beat a 2 year contract at $14 million (total contract of $28 million). Any players not bid on in the Free Agent Auction will become free agents. Tie-breakers on maximum contracts will be decided as follows, using a confirmable source for the drawing such as a published lottery site. A team may only win one tie-breaker on a maximum contract player per season. If all teams involved in the tiebreaker on a max. contract player did not have the player the previous season, then all teams will receive exactly equal odds of winning the tiebreaker (2 teams involved, both get 50% chances, 4 teams involved all teams get 25% chance and so on).
6. RELEASING PLAYERS:
All players that did not play even one minute in the NBA the previous season (DNP's) may be released without penalty during the off-season. This is to keep a career ending injury from tying up your cap room for any period of time. All other players may be released at any time during the off-season up to August 1st with the following penalty: 50% of the TOTAL AMOUNT due his contract, which will be applied to the salary cap via a one-time hit against the cap in the season the player is released. For example, you have signed Joe Blow to a 4-year contract at $10 million a year, for a total value due his contract of $40 million. If you should choose to release him at this point you will have to absorb a one time salary cap hit of $20 million in the year you choose to release him. Any player in the final year of his contract may be released at any time up to August 1st of each new year, but the team will be liable for 100% of his salary for that year. In other words, if you want to cut a player in the last year of his contract that is making $5 mil for that year you may do so, but you will have to eat the full $5 mil as a salary cap hit. Releasing players with 2+ years may be done as is now listed (one time salary cap hit of 50% of the player's total remaining contract value). In all cases where you release a player you also forfeit any and all rights to that player. All players released due to cap reason must be done so by August 1st of each year. After August 1st you are liable for the player’s entire years salary. (This may change if game is released late)
EFFECTIVE WITH THE 2010-11 SEASON to release a player with 2 years remaining on his contract will require a penalty (buy out) of 75% of the TOTAL AMOUNT due his contract, which will be applied to the salary cap via a one-time hit against the cap in the season the player is released. Players with 3+ years left on their contract will remain unchanged (50% buyout as above). Also effective with the 2010-11 season, you will only be allowed to buy out one contract per season.
If a team should find themselves over the cap and/or in excess of the 15 player limit (see below) at the very start of the season after adding in the previous season's Super Draft picks, he may release as many players as necessary to get back under the limits without penalty as needed. He is required to release DNP players and 2nd round picks first, as this is not a tool to get out from under a bad contract bid. This team cannot make any trades or other roster moves without getting back within cap/player limits. This rule applies only to a roster at the immediate beginning of the season only, and cannot be used at any other time.
HOW THIS APPLIES TO SUPER DRAFT PLAYERS:
1st round picks can be cut at any time during their contract, but it will always be at a cost of 100% of the total value of the remaining contract. For example, Player A is in the 1st year of a 3 year 1st round rookie contract at $2.00 mil per year. His buyout (one time cap hit) would be $6 million (3 years x 2.00 mil per year). In the 2nd year the buyout would be $4 mil, and in the final year it would be $2 mil. You may still cut any rookie pick that is a DNP player at no cost.
2nd round picks from the previous year's Super Draft may be cut without penalty, even if they played in the NBA the previous season, at the very start of the new season and before any trades or roster movement is made by that team in a period designated by the Commissioner each season
7. DNP (DID NOT PLAY) PLAYERS:
Any player that did not play even one minute in the previous NBA season will be considered a DNP player. You can release a DNP player at any time while he maintains the DNP status without penalty. If you choose to keep a DNP player it will only cost 50% of his salary towards your salary cap for one year that he is a DNP player. This is so that you can keep a player who may have had a season long injury but is expected to recover and play the following season. This special 50% dispensation is only for one year. If the player is completely injured for a second season and you want to keep him it will be at his full salary value, or he may be released without penalty.
Yao Ming Rule
Yao Ming rule: A player who misses a substantial amount of time due to documentable injury only may be waived at the cost of 75% of his salary for that year only. All other years are voided and the player becomes a free agent. The parameter to calculate shall be 82 games x 36 minutes =2952 x 10% = 295(average 36 minutes a game).It must be clear and undisputable that the player missed games based upon injury, and not performance issues, coaching decision, suspension, etc.
8. GAMES PLAYED AND PLAYING TIME:
Rosters consist of a maximum of 15 roster spots at all times. You cannot carry more than 15 on your roster at any given time. All teams must carry at least 14 players on their roster for the regular season. Each team will have a maximum of 12 players active for any given game. Unlike prior years, where the pre-game injury function was used, this year the ABC will use the temporary in game injury feature of the Action game. Also beginning in 2016, there will be usage penalties as imposed by the game for players who exceed their actual real life minutes. Penalties will be as follows:
Exceed actual playing time 100%=mild, 105% =moderate, and 110% = severe.
Coaches are encouraged to fill out their rosters with ample minutes, per position, to avoid incurring penalties.
Due to the Action PC game using an excellent fatigue system there will be no need for per game playing time limits. If you want to play a player when he is fatigued and suffer through his vastly reduced efficiency it is up to you. However, the following rule for fouls will be enforced. A player with 2 personal fouls in the 1st quarter must rest until the start of the 2nd quarter. A player with 3 personal fouls in the 2nd quarter must rest until the start of the 3rd quarter. A player with 4 personal fouls in the 3rd quarter must rest until the start of the 4th quarter. A player with 5 personal fouls must rest until the 6:00 to go mark of the 4th quarter. These limits will be waived during April games, and during all playoff games to simulate the extreme nature of late season & playoff games.
Players can play at any position they are rated for by the Action PC game. During all league and playoff games you must have at least 2 players rated for play at each of the five positions (this is defined as 164 GP at each of the 5 positions). A player may count at multiple positions if he is rated there. For example, Kevin Garnett is rated at PF, SF and C. He may be counted at all 3 positions for the purposes of this rule. Players may only play out of position when there are no other option available (no substitutes available due to injury, foul trouble or fatigue). Each team is allowed to petition the league to add a position(s) to up to no more than 2 players. The website 82games.com will be the determining factor if the player receives the rating or not, and that player must be listed as playing at least 1% of time at that position to be rated there. No player will lose a position rating as rated by DK Sports for any reason.
Finally, all league games to be played as neutral court games. This is set under the league rules, so there shouldn't any way anyone could accidentally play without it. Therefore, we will play all games, INCLUDING PLAYOFF GAMES, as neutral court games.
9. PLAYOFF USAGE:
Only players with at least 20 regular season GP on the official ABC rosters are eligible for post-season play. They are also subject to the following limits based upon real life games played: players that 20-23 regular season games are allowed to play in 3 games of any 7 game playoff series; players with 24-29 GP can play 4 of 7, players with 30-36 GP can play up to 5 of 7 games, players with 37-43 GP can play 6 of 7 games, and players with 44 + GP can play all 7 games of any playoff series. Which games they do or do not play is completely up to the team's Coach, but these limits apply to each and every playoff series. Failure to observe this rule can result in forfeiture of the playoff series in question.
10. PENALTIES:
All owners are expected to meet all league deadlines established by the League Office. 1st offense will receive a fine against the salary cap of not less than $500,000. 2nd offense will receive an additional fine of not less than $500,000 against the salary cap and the loss of a #2 Super Draft pick. 3rd offense will result in another fine of not less than $500,000 towards the cap and the loss of a #1 Super Draft pick. 4th offenses are subject to expulsion from the league without notice. If an owner is removed from the league for being habitually late, or for any other reason, his fines will be deleted and not be passed on to the new owner. An exemption from any penalties can be granted by the League Office, but will be issued very sparingly if at all, and only in cases of extreme emergencies. The Commissioner reserves the right to add to these penalties in any way he sees fit, up to and including expulsion from the league.
11. SUPER DRAFT:
The Super Draft will take place each year in early to mid July and will select from the pool of the 60 rookies actually drafted by the NBA teams in the June NBA Rookie Draft. No other players will be eligible (i.e., undrafted rookies). The draft will take place via email. The draft order for non-playoff teams (or teams holding those picks) will be a draft lottery directly tied to the NBA Draft lottery in the following manner: Each team in order of our finish will be assigned to the NBA team with the corresponding order of the NBA Draft lottery, and we will use their order as for determining our lottery picks. For example, if in the ABC Utah, Houston and Boston have the 3 worst records in that order, and Portland, Dallas and Denver have the 3 worst in the NBA lottery, then Utah will be equal to Portland's pick in the NBA lottery, Houston equal to Dallas, Boston equal to Denver, and so on down the line. All playoff teams would then draft in inverse order of last season?s win-loss percentage. Round 2 of the draft the order is determined solely by the previous season's win-loss record without regard to making playoffs or the lottery results. The final caveat to the draft order is that the team that wins the ABC Championship (or the team holding that pick) will always pick last in both rounds, and the team that lost in the Championship Series the previous season (or the team holding that pick) will pick next to last in both rounds of the SD. Your Super Draft picks are tradeable, but only for the next year's draft and not for any future drafts. Once the draft is completed in July the picks for the next season become tradeable.
Teams that miss any or all of their Super Draft picks by failing to be at the draft live, having someone to make their picks in proxy, or by sending the commissioner a written list for his picks will have his picks made using the actual order of the NBA Draft, but will be fined $1 million for each 1st round pick missed and $500,000 for each 2nd round pick missed.
12. TRADE PROCEDURE:
In the event of two or more owners agreeing on a trade the following procedure must be adhered to: all trades must be reported by BOTH parties by sending it to the league newsgroup at ABCHoops@yahoogroups.com within 48 hours, unless given express permission by the commissioner to do otherwise, or the trade will be ruled invalid. The Commissioner has & will use the power to overrule any trade he feels is detrimental to the balance of the league for any reason.
In-season trading is allowed in the ABC, within the following parameters. The final trade deadline will be on February 13th. At that time all rosters will be considered final until the next off-season. In-season trades made in one interval will become valid the following interval.
13. GAME REPORTING:
Each owner is responsible to see that his game results & stats are reported on time on a twice-monthly basis. All games scheduled for the 1st thru the 15th of any month are due in to the League Office by the 15th of that month. All games scheduled for the 16th thru the end of that month are due into the League Office on the last day of that month. If an owner should fall behind in the playing and/or reporting of his games and/or stats to a point where the Commissioner should doubt his ability to finish the season that owner can and will be replaced. Constant missing of deadlines is cause for removal from the ABC without notice.
14. PLAYOFFS:
At the close of the regular season the ABC's "Second Season" will begin. There will be 6 teams from each conference that qualify for the playoffs. The playoff seeding for a 24 team league shall be as follows:
Round 1 is #3 vs #6 and #4 vs #5 in a best of 5 series. All game 5’s would be played head to head. Rounds 2-4 will be best of 7 series.
Round 2 would have the number #1 seed in each conference play the lowest ranked remaining seed. Round 3 is conference finals and Round 4 is Championship series
All game 7's in all series will be mandatory head to head play. To facilitate this all series will be allowed 14 days to be completed. Games 1 thru 6 will be due within the first 10 days of the period. This will allow 4 days for the scheduling and playing of a game 7 if needed.
15. TIEBREAKERS:
The following is the order of sequence for breaking all ties in the ABC:
Best Road win-loss recordHead to Head season recordBest record within the same division (applies only if teams from the same division)Best record within the same conference (applies only if teams from the same conference)Random draw tied to a confirmable source such as a state lottery results, etc.
16. EXPANSION:
In the event the NBA expands the ABC will follow suit the following season. In their first year of existence the expansion team will select after all lottery teams have picked in the round of the Super Draft, and in the same position in the 2nd round of the Super Draft.
17. TEAM OPENINGS:
In the event that a team becomes vacant for any reason the League Office will take whatever steps necessary to replace that owner. Once a new owner is found he will not be permitted to make any trades what so ever until 24 hours AFTER the date his name is announced. This is to give all league owners an equal chance to make deals with the new owner. A new owner that inherits a team prior to the start of any season that did not make the playoffs the previous season can terminate without penalty one contract within the 1st two weeks after he is named the new owner and PRIOR to beginning of free agency.
18. The commissioner reserves the right to make any rulings necessary that are not expressly covered in these bylaws. This includes, but is not limited to, interpreting rules, defining loopholes, and any other ruling that may become necessary.
