2002 NBA LEAGUE RULES

All questions, disputes and interpretations of these rules are subject to commissioner’s rulings. There is a rules committee comprised of Mike Karmazyn, Al Dotson and Jeff Snyder, who will review all potential disputes that may arise during the season. The rules committee will make a unanimous decision on disputes, or it will be put to a full league vote. All commissioner rulings after review will be final.

The Season
The season will consist of 14 weeks of regular season play beginning Tuesday Dec. 3^rd, 2002. There will be 3 rounds of playoffs to determine the league champion.
 
A win over an opponent is worth 2 points. The weekly team point totals will be ranked 1-12, with the top 6 receiving a bonus 1 point. Teams can get up to 3 points per week, 2 for a win and 1 for a top 6 finish. In the event of a tie for the 6^th and final spot in the top 6, both teams will receive the bonus point.

The league will be divided into 3 divisions of 4 teams each, for a total of 12 teams. The participants in the playoffs will be the 3 division winners along with 3 wild card teams for a total of 6 teams that will participate in post season play.

The Scoring
The scoring system is accessed by clicking here or through the main page of this website. This scoring system will be used to determine the winner in each game played. Each owner will be responsible for calculating the scores of not only his team, but also for his opponents team. Scores are due by 5pm Tuesday. As a part of the league you are expected to fulfill your obligation in reporting the scores of the games. If any team does not report scores to the league on time, you will be allowed one "mulligan". On the second violation, your team  will not be given credit for any points scored (team totals or individual totals) for that time period. Your team will still receive wins and losses for that week. In addition, a $10 fine will be issued against the team owner. In the event of a discrepancy in the scores, the commissioner will verify the scores through the official stat service website, NBA.com and the decision will be final. (If a score discrepancy occurs from the results posted on the internet, the Commish will review multiple websites to determine the most consistent and accurate score) For each series there will be a "home" and a "visiting" team. The home team will receive a 1/2 point "home court advantage" for total points, solely for the purpose of breaking any ties that may occur.

When reporting your weekly scores to the Commissioner each week, teams are encouraged to compare scores with their opponent, and once the two teams agree on the scores, send a single scoring summary to the commissioner. With 12 teams in the league, it will severely delay the process of posting weekly results if all match-ups must have their scores reviewed. Excel files will be provided to assist in the process of reporting scores.

A weekly report will be published each week during the season on the league web-site, updating the leagues standings and scores. If any owner notices a discrepancy in something that was published in the report, he will have one week in which to notify the league of the problem, after such time NO CHANGES will be made. This applies to scores of games, scores of players, to game results to side pot issues. After a period of one week, the results and published reports becomes OFFICIAL. In the event of an error by the Commish on implication of any league rule, the one week deadline does not apply.

The Teams/Rosters
The teams will consist of 10 players, distributed as follows:
(4) Guards    (5) Forwards/Centers    (1) Optional (G or F/C)

Some players are eligible at both Guard & Forward/Center. The eligibility for those players is listed on the main page of the website or can be accessed by clicking here: POSITION ELIGIBILITY Players may be switched between positions during the course of the season.

Teams must declare 1 player at both the G & F/C positions to be a Franchise Player. Teams will have the rights to a franchise players backup/replacement in case of injury. If a team does not exercise their rights to an injured franchise players backup/replacement the week the franchise player goes on the IR, that backup/replacement will be eligible to be claimed by any team in the league. If the backup/replacement is on another teams roster already, teams will have to seek another replacement. Franchise players may be changed during the course of the season, but once playoffs start franchise players can not be changed.

Rosters are frozen once they are submitted for the first week of post season play. In the event that a team can not submit a full lineup for any reason during the playoffs, teams will be allowed to make a change.

The Draft

The draft will consist of 10 rounds of 12 picks, with teams picking in reverse order in even numbered rounds. Example: If you have the first pick in the first round, you will have the 24^th overall pick in the 2^nd round. Draft position will be determined and will be posted on the website. You are permitted to make trades of your draft positions.

Line-ups

Starting line ups will consist of :

(2) G    (2) F/C    (1) Optional (G or F/C)    (1) 6th Man (G or F/C)

Subs must be declared each week as follows: (1) Sub G    (1) Sub F/C    (1) Sub Optional/6th Man (G or F/C)

Only points scored by these players (subs if necessary) will be tabulated into the game results.

Lineup changes are due to the league by 5:00 PM Tuesday. The "default lineup" for teams each week will be the previous week's lineup. (The only exception to this rule is week #1, when a full lineup is required to be submitted) Changes must be made to that default lineup by the required deadline or the default lineup will be used for the current week if no changes are submitted.

Players will use their 3 high games of the week to determine a players weekly point total. If a player plays more than 3 games in a given week, only the 3 high scores will be used. If a player is only scheduled for 1 or 2 games, they will only receive scores for those 1 or 2 games, and a sub may not be used for the 3rd game. If a player misses a game or games during a given week and does not play 3 games, but was scheduled for 3 games or more, a sub will be used to help meet the 3 game limit. For example, your player was scheduled for 3 games in a week, they miss game #2 due to injury, a sub will be used for game #2 so that a team will still get 3 games from that position. If a player was scheduled for 2 games during a given week, and misses a game, a sub will be used for that missed game to give a team the 2 games the starter was scheduled for, but the sub may not be used for a 3rd game as the starter was only scheduled for 2 games that week. If a starter is scheduled for 4 or 5 games in a week, and they miss a game, a sub may not be used as long as the starter did play 3 games during the week. In the event that 2 guards or 2 forwards both miss a game on the same day, a sub may only be used once on a given day, not twice for each player. If a player misses a game and the sub did not have a scheduled game that night, you must use the next available game for the sub. For example, if a starter misses a game on Friday, but the sub did not have a scheduled game that night, you will use the next scheduled game for the sub, on Saturday, Sunday or Monday. Teams may have to go backwards to find the next available game for a sub to meet the 3 game limit. For example, a starter misses his 3rd scheduled game of the week on Sunday, and the sub is not scheduled to play on Sunday or Monday, you would then go backwards to find his next available game which may have taken place already on Saturday or possibly Friday.

NBA.com will be used to determine injury status, but due to possibility of inconsistency on that website teams will also be allowed to use other websites to determine injury status if NBA.com has not been updated. Other websites may also be used to determine injury status, but any discrepancies will be resolved by the Commish based upon available information.

Fees
There will be an entry fee of $150, $75 of which is due at the draft. The balance of $75 will be due no later than December 3, 2002. In the event that the entry fee is not paid by the day of the draft, your team will be restricted from making any transactions until the entry fee is paid. The same goes for the balance, if not paid in full by the deadline, your ability to make transactions will again be put on hold.

*Entry Fee Breakdown:    $1800 Entry Fees Collected

-$150 Commish Fee
-$15 Website Registration
-$40 Draft Supplies/Plaque/Trophy Engraving
-$25 Clubhouse Rental
-$1250 Playoff Team Breakdown (6 Teams)
-$120 Division Winners (3 Teams)
-$200 Side-Pot Winners

There will not be any charges for transactions during the year. This should help owners in keeping the best team on the field during the entire season, especially when the playoff spots may be in jeopardy.

Prize Money
The total of all fees collected after expenses will be returned to the league in the form of prize money. All Eight (6) of the  playoff teams that qualify for the post season will share in the prize money.

The prize money payout breakdown will be as follows:

1ST-$450        2ND-$275        3RD-$200        4TH-$150        5TH-$100          6TH-$75

$40 Each Division Winner (3 Teams)

Side Pots:
$60-High Team Scoring Average        $50-High Team Series
$45-High Player Game                       $45-High Player Series
                    
***All sidepots will concluded at the end of the regular season***

Weekly Points Pool
The top 3 teams scores each week will receive the following prize:     1^st $15         2^nd $10       3^rd $5
The bottom 3 teams will have to pay the following amounts:     10^th $5    11^th $10       12^th $15
This will be a running total throughout the year and will be available on the website. Payoffs will be at the following years draft. Any winnings or losses from the prior year, would be the responsibility of the owner that incurred them. If a team chooses not to come back to the league the following year, they would receive any winnings they may have won, as well as must pay any losses they may have had. If a team does not pay off any losses, they would not be permitted to participate in ANY UAL Fantasy League until their debt is settled.

Post Season Play
Each Division Winner and 3 wild card teams qualify for the playoffs.  In Round One the #1 & #2 division winners will get a bye. The #3 division winner will play the #3 wildcard team, and the #1 & #2 wildcard team will play. In Round Two, the two winners from round one will play the two top division winners, with the #1 division winner playing the lowest ranked winner from round one. In Round Three, the two winners from round two will play for the league championship. When determining final order of finish, a wildcard team can never be ranked higher then a divisional winner, regardless of the teams final record.

The "home-field advantage" will continue throughout the playoffs, with the higher seeded team receiving the advantage.

Tie Breakers
If at any time during the season a tie occurs with respect to records, the league will use the same formula through out:
1) total team points (wins + top 6 finishes)
2) total wins
3) head to head
4) record within division (*only in the event of a tie between two teams in the same division)
5) total points scored for the season
6) coin flip

Transactions

****All transactions should be e-mailed to the commissioner at kkarmazyn@aol.com. If necessary, transactions may be called in to the commissioner at 303-680-0747.****

Free Agents
There will be no transactions after the draft. A supplemental draft will be held on Saturday Nov. 30^th at which time teams may place claims for free agents. The supplemental draft order is posted on the main page of the website. The first transaction day will be Tuesday night Dec. 11th at 9pm after week one is complete. After this point, any players that were not drafted are considered free agents. Any team may acquire a free agent at any time during the regular season. Players on the current injury report may not be claimed as free agents until they are no longer on the injury list.

All free agent acquisitions are on a daily basis. The cut off time for free agent moves is 9:00 PM each day, except on Tuesdays when transactions are due by 5pm along with stats and lineups.

In the event that more than one team wishes to acquire the same free agent during the same period, priority will be determined by the lowest team in the standings.

If a team wishes to place a bid on more than one free agent or waiver wire player during any given claim period, the owner must rank the players in an order of preference. The league will then award the players in a draft like manner, with the lowest ranked bidding team getting their first choice of player then the next lowest ranked team getting their choice, and so on. Players must be on an active NBA roster in order to be claimed as a free agent.

Waiver Wire
When a player is released by a team he will be considered "on waivers". All players on waivers for the week will be processed at 5pm Monday. Players claimed from waivers on Monday will be eligible for line-ups that Tuesday. The same rule for multiple free agent claims applies for the waiver wire. If a player goes unclaimed during the waiver period he will then be classified as a free agent.

When you acquire a player through free agency or waivers, you MUST retain him on your roster for that week's scheduled game (unless of injury, then the player can be replaced). A player may be claimed and then traded during the same week, but the traded player must remain on their new teams roster for the remainder of the week.

Injury List
There will be an unlimited injury list. Injury reports can be found on numerous websites, including NBA.com. If you see a player get severely hurt, or it says he is injured in print, you can also place him on the injury list. If the player is not put on the injury list, the transaction will be cancelled. If a player is listed as day-to-day for 2 weeks, that player can then be placed on the injury list. When a player is no longer listed on the injury report, teams must activate or release the player. If a player is due to come off the injury list on Tuesday, you may start that player for the upcoming week. If the player does not get activated on Tuesday as expected, teams must use their sub for the week, no lineup change will be allowed.

If a player is cut by their NBA team, and resurfaces on another NBA team, teams will still retain the rights to that player.

Trades
Trades are permitted at anytime until the trading deadline. Owners must have a complete and balanced line up at the conclusion of a trade. In the event of a "2 for 1" trade, owners must release and/or acquire free agents to fill any roster voids.

The trading deadline will be 5:00 PM on the Tuesday prior to week #9.

Fines
Fines may be given during the year for various rules violations. There will be a running total of fines listed on the standings page on the website. These fines will go to pre-draft party or hotel cost the following year.

If stats or lineups are submitted late, or if a team has an incomplete lineup due to off weeks, a $10 fine will be issued. Each team will receive one mulligan before a fine is issued. If a team has a player in their lineup that is listed as out on the injury report, teams will be issued a $10 fine for an incomplete lineup.

Draft Day Tidbits
Mulligan
During the course of the draft, if a team drafts a player that has already been drafted by another team the drafting team will forfeit that draft pick. The League will allow one "mulligan" to be used by each team for such an occasion. Each team, in effect, gets one "screw-up". The forfeit rule will go into effect with the second wrongful pick.