Rules For 2010-11 NFBBC

[Greg Ambrosius]

Here are the rules for the 2010-11 NFBBC:

Section I: Official Rules and Regulations of the
National Fantasy Basketball Championship

1. Overview: The National Fantasy Basketball Championship (NFBBC) will consist of 5 leagues (with a max of 10 leagues), each comprised of 12 teams/managers. The NFBBC regular season will extend from the first game of the NBA regular season (Tuesday, Oct. 26) through the final game of the regular season. Teams will compete for accumulative stats in 8 categories, with each category weighted equally. First place in each category will be worth 12 points, second place 11 points down to 1 point for last place in each category. Categories include: Total Points, Total Rebounds, Blocked Shots, Steals, Assists, Field Goal Percentage, Free Throw Percentage and Three-Pointers Made. The team at the end of the year with the most cumulative points in each league wins the league title. Teams will also have their cumulative stats positioned in an overall Rotisserie setup league, with the top finisher overall winning the grand prize.

2. Draft: All NFBBC leagues will hold their drafts online at nfbbc.fanball.com. Leagues will be formed and closed when full 12-team leagues are comprised. If multiple leagues are formed on any given draft date/time, we will randomly pick teams to form the multiple leagues. Leagues and draft spots will be announced online as soon as they are full. There is no position requirement necessary for your reserve roster and you can change your starting lineup at the start of each week (Monday deadline).

All NFBBC draft leagues will use 3RR (3rd Round Reversal) in 2010, meaning that the draft order will go back down to 12 to start Round 3 and then continue in serpentine fashion after that.

If an NFBBC participant does not show up on time for the draft, the computer will auto-pick players based on the site’s pre-ranked list. Should that owner not show up at all, the computer would make all of the picks irregardless of position requirements. A legal lineup would need to be submitted prior to Week 1.

3. Roster Requirements: Maximum of 16 players at all times.

4. Starting Lineup Requirements:
Starting lineups will consist of:
4 Guards
4 Forwards
2 Centers
2 Flex Spots
The NFBBC will list all of the position eligibilities on the draft site and all positions will be finalized beforehand to make sure everyone knows where all players qualify. Those lists will be final before Draft Day and available on draftpractice.com. Some players will have dual position eligibility.

If no Week One lineup is submitted, the NFBBC will determine your starting lineup based on the order of your draft picks. After Week One, if no starting lineup is submitted, your starting lineup will be that of the previous week.

A. League Management Web Address: You can access your league via the Internet by going to http://nfbbc.fanball.com. You will need an ID and a password to access the game site. Contact Tom Kessenich at [email protected] if you are signed up for the contest and don’t have an ID and password.

B. Lineup Submission: All lineups may be submitted on the league web site and are due five minutes before the scheduled start time of the first game on Monday.

5. Scoring: The National Fantasy Basketball Championship will use an 8-category Rotisserie scoring setup. Cumulative totals will be used for the following categories:
Points
Rebounds (total)
Blocks
Steals
Three Pointers Made
Assists
Field Goal Percentage
Free Throw Percentage

6. Position Eligibility: The NFBBC will determine each player’s position eligibility before Draft Day.

7. Free Agents: Any player who is not on a team roster within your league is considered a free agent for that league and is eligible to be acquired via the FAAB (Free Agent Acquisition Bidding) period.

8. Free Agent Acquisitions: The free agent system will be a “blind bidding” process for each individual league. Each team will start with 1,000 free agent “dollars” for the season, and will be permitted to bid for free agents on a weekly basis. We will show the runner-up bids for each team, but no team will be informed of any other team’s free agent bids. The team with the highest bid on any given player will be awarded that player. The amount of the winning bid will be deducted from the winning team’s free agent dollars. For each winning bid, the winning team must drop a player to make roster room for the free agent acquisition. If a team’s free agent budget goes to zero, that team will no longer be allowed to bid for the rest of the season. No bid will be accepted that is larger than a team's free agent dollars. All bids must be in increments of dollars (no cents).

9. Bidding Time Frame: The bidding process starts on Tuesday, Oct. 26 and ends after the Sunday, April 10 bids are entered. Bids will be accepted on the league web site from Monday at 3 p.m. ET until Sunday at 7 p.m. ET in each of these weeks. Rosters will be updated by 7 p.m. ET on Sunday with the results of all successful bids and starting lineups for the upcoming week must be finalized five minutes before the scheduled first start time on Monday.

10. Conditional Bids: Conditional bids can also be offered. In the event you may lose out on a player, you can place conditional bid(s) for other players during the bidding time frame. The first conditional bid will become relevant only if you lose out on the first bid. Subsequent conditional bids will become relevant only if the previous conditional bid fails. Bids do not require conditional bids. Bids may have several sequential conditional bids. Participants should note that the computer takes the highest bids and processes each bid in that order if you have multiple FAAB acquisition bids. Putting a larger bid on a conditional bid than a primary bid will result in that player being your top choice.

11. Number of Bid Limits: There is no limit to the number of bids each week in which bids are permitted.

12. Tied Bids: If there is a tie bid, the team that receives the player will be determined in order by:
1. Worst league standing.
2. Lowest standing the previous week.
3. Lowest standing two weeks previous.
4. Lowest standing three weeks previous.
5. Lowest draft spot on Draft Day.

13. Trades between managers: To minimize the possibility of collusion, there will be no trading allowed. All drops are also subject to review by the commissioner of the NFBBC and can be revoked if the dropped player is deemed too valuable to be offered to that league’s free agent pool, thus damaging the credibility of the overall contest. The commissioner also has the right to allow all drops and to remove any player from that league’s free agent pool. All decisions by the NFBBC commissioner will be final.

14. League Structure: Each league will consist of 12 teams competing in a Rotisserie style mixed-league format for the league championship. Meanwhile, daily standings will be held for an overall champion using the same statistics. If the NFBBC finishes with 60 teams, first place in any category in the overall standings will be worth 60 points, second place 59, etc. all the way to one point for last place. This will occur in all 8 scoring categories. Payoffs will be for the first three teams in each league and for the top five overall finishers.

15. Prize Breakdown:

Each League Champion = $3,200
Each League 2nd place finisher = $1,500
Each League 3rd place finisher = $750

Overall Prize Structure:
1st Place = $5,000
2nd Place = $2,000
3rd Place = $1,000
4th Place = $500
5th Place = $300

16. Time Limit For Draft: There will be a 90-second time limit for each owner to make his/her pick during each round of the online NFBBC draft. If a participant does not make a selection in the allotted time, there will be an auto-pick by the computer. You are allowed to pre-rank your players or the computer will pick from the pre-ranked list done by the web site. All decisions by the league facilitator are final, but if there is a computer glitch or a mis-pick that is caught quickly by that owner and the facilitator, the moderator does have the right to stop the draft and correct the problem, even if it means rolling the draft back a few picks. All decisions by the draft facilitator are final.

17. Random League/Draft Order Selection: The NFBBC will randomly select the leagues and the draft orders of each league once all entries have been submitted. We'll also implement the Kentucky Derby Style process to allow owners more draft preference. The KDS process allows owners to rank their order of preference for Draft Day, ranking their preferences 1 through 14 BEFORE the leagues are selected. If an owner wants the third pick and is selected No. 1 overall in his league, he would choose that option and he would then be moved to third in that league on Draft Day. NFBBC officials will look at every owner's Draft Preferences after the leagues and orders are randomly selected and then announce the draft orders for each league. If you decide not to rank your preferences, your preferred order will remain 1 through 14. Owners can change their Draft Preferences right up until the announced deadline is set. An example of a KDS preference would be: 1, 2, 3, 14, 13, 7, 8, 9, 4, 5, 6, 12, 11, 10. If you were picked fourth out of the hat for your league and the top three teams took 1, 2, and 3, then you'd be slotted in the 14th spot (your fourth preference) on Draft Day.

18. Once a participant submits valid payment, no money will be refunded to participants or co-managers unless The National Fantasy Basketball Championship is canceled. A team spot is considered filled when the entire $750 entry fee is paid. Fanball reserves the right to cancel any entries not comprising a full 12-team league. When a participant agrees to finish the registration form and submit payment, that participant has demonstrated his/her acceptance of the official rules and regulations for the NFBBC.

At its sole discretion, Fanball also reserves the right to terminate The National Fantasy Basketball Championship in its entirety if there are an insufficient number of teams by Oct. 23, 2010. In this unlikely event, Fanball will refund all entry fees within 48 hours of cancellation notice and/or provide a new application form with the newly stated prize figures. All pre-registered applicants would have the right to a full refund or agree to play for the newly announced prize structure. Fanball is not responsible for any loss or liability incurred by any participant or co-managers due to cancellation of The National Fantasy Baseball Championship, including but not limited to travel or hotel expenses, time taken off from employment, etc.

19. If the principal participant’s prize winnings exceed $600.00, The National Fantasy Basketball Championship must file a Form 1099 with the IRS at the end of this calendar year. If necessary, we will request your social security number. The Form contains the amount paid to you and you will receive a copy of the Form for tax purposes. You are responsible for paying any taxes that result from your cash prize. Please consult your income tax advisor for filing advice.

[ October 22, 2010, 11:06 AM: Message edited by: Tom Kessenich ]

[wizardbw]

Turnovers don't count? I thought TOs was a pretty standard roto stat, what's the reasoning for excluding it?

Not turning the ball over is a pretty important skill in the nba

[homer35h]

Originally posted by wizardbw:
Turnovers don't count? I thought TOs was a pretty standard roto stat, what's the reasoning for excluding it?

Not turning the ball over is a pretty important skill in the nba I think I'am with most that hate that stat. I don't use it in my league. I hate hate and hate it some more.

[ronaldesq]

Turnovers are a weird category in fantasy basketball, it's a stat that favors having players not play. Typically the worst team in the league will be the best in the Turnover category. CDM/Fanball used to have Turnovers and Personal Fouls in their leagues, one year I finished in the top 10 overall and had league rank categories of 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 24, 24, 24, 24, 1 and 1. I'll give you two guess as to what the 1's were, but you probably won't need the 2nd guess. Most teams at the top of the overall standings were very similar, rarely did a "good" team have more than 3 points in either of those two categories.

They are completely pointless to include in fantasy basketball leagues. If you want TO's included put in an Assist-to-TO ratio.

[ October 07, 2010, 12:32 AM: Message edited by: ronaldesq ]

[wizardbw]

"hate" and "pointless," such strong words. TOs are definitely important when real nba teams evaluate players (especially PGs)

we already have assists, wouldn't adding TO be the same as adding Assist:TO?

from the fantasy side, imo, TO is like WHIP in mlb, it can be used to deter teams from loading up on games (innings) without any considerations for the quality of the games (innings). without TO, it feels like a mad dash/sprint to the finish line.

I've seen quite a few top roto teams finish with low TOs (like 10/11 out of 12 points), it's not a lot or easy, but it can surely be done. And to me, that's the skill in roto, and that's the challenge.

any way, just my 2cents.

curious what others think about this.

[jdoggmms]

Originally posted by wizardbw:
"hate" and "pointless," such strong words. TOs are definitely important when real nba teams evaluate players (especially PGs)

we already have assists, wouldn't adding TO be the same as adding Assist:TO?

from the fantasy side, imo, TO is like WHIP in mlb, it can be used to deter teams from loading up on games (innings) without any considerations for the quality of the games (innings). without TO, it feels like a mad dash/sprint to the finish line.

I've seen quite a few top roto teams finish with low TOs (like 10/11 out of 12 points), it's not a lot or easy, but it can surely be done. And to me, that's the skill in roto, and that's the challenge.

any way, just my 2cents.

curious what others think about this. I concur. Turnover leagues require more skill to win. However, it's easy to adjust. Just bump the high usage players up your list. I also think that basketball is more suited for a points-based system than Roto scoring. Categories should not be equally weighted, as they are not in NBA player evaluations. The fantasy game evaluations should mimic the real game ones (sabermetric stats invading the MLB landscape being a good example) as closely as possible. On the other hand, category scoring does improve the strategic element of the fantasy hoops game (even more so with turnovers). Roto format is ideal for baseball, and points for football. Basketball is a bit of a conundrum.

[ronaldesq]

Originally posted by wizardbw:
TOs are definitely important when real nba teams evaluate players (especially PGs)There's your problem, this is FANTASY Basketball, not Real Basketball. Pure Turnover totals have no part of the Fantasy game, the only way to incorporate them is in a ratio, but like you said, that doubles up the Assist factor.

The only reason people like the TO's included, is because that's what they are accustomed to in other fantasy games, doesn't mean it's correct to include them.

The best way to avoid the "loading up" on stats issue to make a few of the categories "Per Game" categories, I've been trying to get Fanball to change their Basketball Challenge for years to the following categories:

Points per Game
Rebounds per Game
Assist per Game
Total 3's
Total Steals
Total Blocks
Field Goal %
Free Throw %

That gives you the best of everything, if you want to load up on the 3/Steal/Block guys to make up ground in those categories, they better put up solid Per Game numbers in the P/A/R or they are going to hurt you.

[ October 07, 2010, 03:21 PM: Message edited by: ronaldesq ]

[okmots]

The best way to deal with TO's is the category turnovers per minute (TO/minutes played). I've found this to be a great roto category for basketball.

It makes the category similar to WHIP in baseball and converts it from a cumulative category to a ratio. You still have to deal with evaluating TO's when you draft, but it lessens the impact when players play big minutes and handle the ball a lot.

Players that play big minutes and don't cough up the rock become valuable similar to high FG% or FT% players.