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Version 5.0 -- October 23, 2008
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 BASICS
1.1 Overview
1.2 Charges
1.3 Communications
1.3.1 E-mail
1.3.2 OBA Forum
1.3.3 Instant messaging
1.3.4 IRC
1.4 Cheating
1.5 Bugs and errors
1.6 Loopholes and issues not covered by the rules
2 MEMBERS
2.1 Commissioner
2.2 General Managers
2.2.1 Responsibilities
2.2.2 Press Releases
2.2.3 Quotes in articles
2.3 Assistant General Managers
2.4 WWBA General Managers
2.5 Participation bonuses
2.6 GM Checks
2.7 GM Tools
3 COMPETITIONS
3.1 OBA
3.1.1 OBA Season
3.2 OCAA
3.2.1 Players
3.2.2 Declaring for OBA draft
3.2.3 Draft promises
3.3 WWBA
3.3.1 Players
3.3.2 Rosters
3.3.3 OBA Development Players
3.3.4 Roster Freeze
3.4 Summer League
3.4.1 Players
3.5 World Cup
3.5.1 Player Eligibility
3.5.2 General Managers
3.6 All-Star Weekend
3.7 Lowdown Showdown
3.7.1 Team Competition
3.8 Awards
3.9 Hall of Fame
4 SIMULATION
4.1 Players
4.1.1 Statistics
4.1.2 Ratings
4.1.3 Health, injuries and suspensions
4.1.4 Contract Factors
4.1.5 Hidden attributes
4.1.6 Development
4.1.7 Retirements
4.2 Head coaches
4.2.1 Player development ratings
4.2.2 Game coaching ratings
4.2.3 Hidden personality ratings
4.2.4 Coach hirings and firings
4.3 League Scout
4.4 Game plans
4.4.1 Depth Chart
4.4.2 Game plan
4.4.3 Single-game plans
4.5 Cities
4.6 Finances
4.6.1 Team Budgets
4.6.2 Expenses
4.6.3 Revenues
4.6.4 Attendance
4.6.5 Team Details
4.6.6 Ticket Prices
4.7 Arena proposals
4.7.1 Poll round
4.7.2 Final round
4.8 Draft
4.8.1 Draftees
4.8.2 Draft lottery
4.8.3 Draft in practice
5 CBA
5.1 Salary Cap
5.1.1 Salary Cap Floor
5.2 Luxury Tax
5.3 Player Contracts
5.3.1 Term and Raises
5.3.2 Maximum Salaries
5.3.2 Minimum Salaries
5.3.4 Rookie Salary Scale
5.3.5 Contract Extensions
5.3.6 Rookie Salary Scale Extensions
5.4 Salary Cap Exceptions
5.4.1 Bird Exception
5.4.2 Early Bird Exception
5.4.3 Non-Bird Exception
5.4.4 Mid-Level Exception
5.4.5 Bi-Annual Exception
5.4.6 Minimum Salary Exception
5.4.7 Rookie Exceptions
5.4.8 Injured Player Exception
5.4.9 Summary of Exceptions
5.5 Free Agents
5.5.1 Unrestricted Free Agents
5.5.2 Restricted Free Agents
5.6 Team Salary
5.6.1 Impending Free Agents and Team Salary
5.6.2 Renouncing FAs
5.7 Off-Season Free Agency in Practice
5.8 In-Season Free Agency
5.9 Trades
5.9.1 Commissioner review
5.9.2 Rookie GM Trade Restrictions
5.9.3 Trading First Round Picks
5.9.4 Factoring salaries
5.9.5 Traded Player Exception
5.9.6 Base Year Compensation
5.9.7 60-day rule
5.9.8 Re-acquiring traded players
5.9.9 Trading impending free agents
5.9.10 Trading players on one-year contracts
5.9.11 Sign-and-trades
5.9.12 Three-Way Trades
5.9.13 Salaries in Off-Season Trades
5.9.14 Roster holdovers
5.9.15 Median salary FA signings
6 MISCELLANEOUS
6.1 Team Logos
1 BASICS
The Online Basketball Association is a fantasy basketball league established on May 31st, 2001. After being around for three and a half years, it is the oldest continuously running Jump Shot Basketball league in the world.
1.1 OVERVIEW
The primary goals of the game are to have fun and, of course, win the league championship trophy; the Tobias Cup donated by the late great basketball philanthropist P. T. Tobias. But only one team can win the championship each season -- and being as competitive a league as the OBA is, going all the way will not be easy! -- so making sure you're having fun is probably at least as important as winning.
Thus, all actions that make the league more fun are encouraged, all actions that make the league less fun, such as profanity and immature behavior, are strictly prohibited. Most of our members are adults, so it is expected that you'll act like an adult.
The games are simulated on Jump Shot Basketball software. All possible events (player and coach development and retirements, processing bids free agent biddings, draft lottery etc...) are controlled by the software. The OBA financial rules are based on the rules in the newest available version of JSB along with some modifications based on real-life NBA rules.
The first human-controlled OBA season was 2001. The stats from seasons 1996-2000 are called the OBA Pre-History and those five seasons were completely computer-run. However, all OBA records, player career stats etc. are tracked from the first pre-historic season onwards.
1.2 CHARGES
The OBA has been a free league to participate from the very beginning and that will never change. No money will be charged from the participants.
1.3 COMMUNICATIONS
1.3.1 E-MAIL
When sending OBA-related e-mail to any of the league members, it is advised to use [OBA] prefix in the subject field of messages, in order to make filtering e-mails easier.
The league mailing lists are meant for league announcements and press releases. OBA Forum is a better place for free-form discussions and you should not send unnecessary messages to league mailing lists.
1.3.2 OBA FORUM
OBA Forum is the league message board on the OBA website at www.obahoops.com. All members must register a Forum account and read the messages regularly in order to keep up with miscellaneous league discussions and debates.
This is also the recommended medium for announcing trade blocks rather than e-mailing them to the league mailing lists.
Also, GMs must keep their contact information in their Forum profiles accurate and up to date, because that's where fellow GMs can find how to contact you.
1.3.3 INSTANT MESSAGING
While not mandatory, members are recommended to have instant messaging programs, such as ICQ or AIM.
1.3.4 IRC
The OBA also has it's own IRC channel, which is used for many official events such as Rookie Drafts, Expansion Drafts and occasionally there will be "live games", too. Usually we'll have chat sessions at trade deadline as well. OBA members can also enter the channel for unofficial chats any time.
1.4 CHEATING
Naturally, we expect our members to refrain from any kind of actions that are considered cheating in the game. If someone is found guilty of actions that can be considered cheating, appropriate sanctions will follow.
The two perhaps most fundamental no-no's in the OBA are using fake identities and running two teams simultaneously. OBA members are required to use their real names. If someone is found pretending he's someone he isn't, he'll lose his position in the league. After a violation like that, a re-installment is not a likely possibility.
Also, one person is allowed to control one and only one OBA team. If a person is found guilty of running multiple teams, he'll be sacked from the league for life.
1.5 BUGS AND ERRORS
The OBA site is nowadays almost completely database-driven and it is a reasonably big entity running on numerous online scripts. If a GM finds a bug or misinformation on the site data, his responsibility is to report it immediately to the commissioner.
JSB is not a bug-free software, either, so sometimes we'll encounter problems caused by the software itself. The nature of such errors is unpredictable, so it's difficult to plan the exact actions that'll take place in a situation like that. Then we'll just do whatever is needed to do in order to continue the game with as little damage as possible to all parties involved.
And while the commissioner will at all times try to be as careful as possible when running the league and processing various events, quite a bit of manual work is involved and it is possible that human errors take place and a team may suffer from them.
In case there are errors on the data listed online, the rule book overrides the misinformation. For example, if a player's contract values that may affect transactions -- such as Base Year Compensation or Bird Years -- are listed incorrectly, the online misinformation does not make a transaction valid if it would be illegal according to the league rules.
As unfortunate as those incidents are, usually there events are not re-run unless it's a major issue concerning many teams or causing completely unreasonable trouble for a single team. For example, things such as wrong game plan being used for a set of games almost never results as re-simulation of the games in question.
In a perfect world of perfect people such things would never happen, but in reality they happen. We'll just have to accept it as a part of the game like an injury to your starting point guard early in Game 7 of the championship final...
1.6 LOOPHOLES AND ISSUES NOT COVERED BY THE RULES
While this publication, the OBA Rule Book, is a quite large document, it is possible, even likely that not every possible incident is covered. If there's a case that's not explicitly, accurately or specifically covered by the rules, the commissioner will try to solve the situation according to the spirit of the rules.
Sometimes GMs also may find a loophole in the rules and take advantage of it. Even trying to abuse a loophole is prohibited and in such cases, again, the situation will be handled according to the spirit of the rules and the loophole will be closed immediately.
Also, while the rules are being constantly updated, some conventions, a kind of standard procedures and policies may develop that, for some reason or another, haven't found their way to the rulebook yet. In such situations, the commissioner understandably doesn't really have other option except to do as always has been done -- simply because that's what has always been done. That's not the strongest argument, but inconsistent decisions are not any better course of action. Of course, such "unwritten rules" will eventually be added to the rulebook.
2 MEMBERS
As far as titles, ranks and statuses go, there are four kinds of people among the OBA members: the commissioner, the general managers, the assistant general managers and the WWBA general managers (with the possibility of holding both of the latter two titles). There are no other formal titles, or official organs. The free-form approach in terms of organization has worked well for us this far and there's no reason to believe it would change in the foreseeable future.
2.1 COMMISSIONER
"Educated dictatorship" is a pretty good term to describe the decision-making system in the OBA. The league is run by the commissioner who has final say in all decisions concerning the league rules and operations. However, he'll ask the GMs opinions in most major issues and GMs are also encouraged to express their ideas and suggestions for improving the league.
The commissioner is also responsible for simulating the games and other events as well as maintaining the league site.
2.2 GENERAL MANAGERS
Each team is controlled by one general manager. If a GM fails to meet the standards of participation and mature behavior, he may be fired and lose his team.
2.2.1 RESPONSIBILITIES
General managers are required to:
a) Have an e-mail address and he should check his mail regularly, once a day.
b) Maintain a legal roster. During the season, a legal roster consists of at least 12 players, maximum 14. Also, all teams must carry at least 10 healthy players at all times.
c) Send in game plans for games and always try to field the best possible lineup. Intentional mismanagement of a team in order to lose games may result as sanctions as heavy as forfeiting first round draft picks.
d) Respond to all trade offers in a reasonable time. Even a simple "yes" or "no" is enough, but even bad offers must be answered.
e) Participate in rookie drafts and free agency periods.
f) Write a reasonable amount of press releases over the course of season.
g) Read league mails, OBA Forum and rules. "I didn't know", is not an explanation.
2.2.2 PRESS RELEASES
As stated above, it is recommended that each GM writes a reasonable amount of press releases for their team every season. What's "a reasonable amount"? Well, one article per season is not.
The articles must be sent to the OBA press list by using PREd, the press release editor. Using basic HTML formatting in press releases is possible and allowed, but do not use anything advanced. The editor has not been designed for that kind of stuff and there's basically no error handling, so messing up your HTML code could mess up bigger things on the site or the press release archive database.
There is also constant need for all kind of general league articles to the site front page -- Cover Stories. If you feel you'd like to write one but can't come up with a subject, just e-mail the commissioner for an assignment; he usually has more ideas than time.
2.2.3 QUOTES IN ARTICLES
You are allowed to quote yourself, the GM, players and -- beginning from season 2009 -- head coaches in press releases.
For player quotes, which is a new feature added by popular demand at the beginning of season 2008, you should remember a few guidelines:
1) You are only allowed to quote your own players. In case a player is changing team in a transaction (trade, FA signing), you are considered the owner of the player as long as he appears on your roster page (and for arrivals, you become the owner when he shows up on your roster). For trades, this means the time the trade is processed and the rosters are updated, not necessarily the time when the trade is officially approved. For Off-Season Free Agency, the owner changes when the FA period ends and rosters are updated.
2) When creating quotes, you should take into account the players "JSB personality" -- the player characteristics under Contract Factors and his Happiness rating.
3) If you're quoting a player that has previously played for some other team(s), you should try to respect the character created by his previous GM(s).. This doesn't mean that a player's personality can't evolve over time, but a man probably doesn't become a completely different person overnight. You can find the past quotes from players by going to player profile page and choosing Media Search. It'll list all articles where the player in question is mentioned and if there's a quotation mark beside the link to the article, it means he has said something in the story.
4) Which brings us to a practical issue that must be followed. If you quote a player in your article, for example a guy named John Doe, the article must include one of the following strings, so that Media Search is able to recognize that the player has been quoted in an article:
said John Doe
John Doe said
John Doe: "
For head coach quotes, please try to look at his attributes, too, when creating the personality. For example, a very offensive-minded coach will probably look at his team like an offensive-minded coach does and it is probably safe to assume that a coach not good at teaching is more concerned about instant success than any patient long-term plans. And of course, respecting the character created by the coach's previous GM is a must.
2.3 ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGERS
There can also be up to four assistant general managers in the OBA. They'll be hired from the league waiting list by teams willing to take an AGM.
Of course, the main purpose of the AGM system is to make it easier for interested people to start GMing in the OBA. During the AGM period, one will receive all league mails and -- hopefully -- has time to learn the league. So, when we've got a free team, we'll also have educated people who are ready to step in.
For the people on the waiting list, it is not mandatory to accept an offer to join the league as an AGM and anyone can choose to wait until there's a free team and an opportunity to start as a GM. However, when there's a free team in the OBA, the GM position will be offered to AGMs first, even if he sent his application to join the league later than someone on the waiting list who did not accept an AGM gig.
Assistant GMs also receive all league e-mails and have full access to OBA Forum and IRC events.
While it's understandable that being an AGM is not quite as exciting as controlling a team of one's own, being active in the league as an AGM will be rewarded. When a team needs a GM and we have an AGM who has not done anything and has spent his AGM period silently spectating and another AGM who's contributed to the league, it's obvious that the latter will get the open GM position. It's difficult to determine what the "contribution" could be, but there are a lot of possibilities. Let's just say that the AGM should do enough to make other members of the league notice the guy is actually one of us...
And since the AGM is in his position to learn how to play the game, his boss -- the GM -- has his responsibilities, too. The veteran GM a tutor for the newcomer and he must keep in regular contact with his AGM, reply all questions the AGM has about the OBA and also help the AGM to get started when he gets a team of his own.
The GM also must give something to do for his assistant. It's up to the GM and the AGM to design what kind of duties the AGM has in the organization, but there must be something. Otherwise the AGM period will be very boring and we won't achieve the goals we're trying to achieve by the arrangement.
A political support point will be awarded to everyone who takes an AGM under his wing, but if it is found out that the GM is not taking care of his duties as a tutor, his team will be ineligible for all bonus points during the season in question.
2.4 WWBA GENERAL MANAGERS
Beginning from season 2009, AGMs also have an opportunity to learn the tricks of game plan editing by taking over a WWBA team. In season 2010, this feature is expanded on a one-season trial basis. Everyone on the waiting list can get a WWBA team under his control.
There are no transactions in WWBA, except when an OBA team signs a free agent or releases a player. The teams are populated strictly based on positional needs and -- to some extent -- player nationality (with most players signing for the team in their native country or area). For example, if a player is released by an OBA team, WWBA GMs can not make any wishes about getting player to his WWBA team.
All WWBA GMs will receive all league e-mails and have full access to all league events and the OBA Forum.
As for getting a position as an AGM, the WWBA gig is not necessarily. AGMs will still be recruited from the waiting list, with the ones who sent their application first getting the first vacant AGM positions.
2.5 PARTICIPATION BONUSES
League participation -- press releases, helping the commissioner in league tasks and Cover Stories etc. -- is not only required (to a minimum degree), but also rewarded. Active GMs will earn bonus points, which are added to their city attributes. Generally, you can earn two bonus points for each season: one for articles (or team website maintenance), one for helping with league tasks.
The bonus point for team related activity is either added to fan support or reduced from competition (less competition -> better). The league task participation bonus point is added to either political support or interest. GMs may also be penalized for poor team activity. The penalties, however, are progressive: for example, a team whose GM doesn't write more than one articles during a season, can not have fan support of 4 to 7 (but can have as high as three).
A team may lose only one fan support point per season due to lack of articles.
Also, improving attributes already high requires more activity than improving low attributes. That is, relatively low activity may earn you a bonus point if your team has fan support of 1 or 2, but significant activity -- whether it's press releases or maintaining team website -- is required in order to earn a bonus point if your team already has fan support of 6 or 7.
Correspondingly, very little activity can keep a low fan support team non-penalized, but very little activity may not be enough to keep a high value in fan support unchanged.
Beginning from season 2010, a team that doesn't produce at least one general league article, a Cover Story, will be considered a zero-team press release team and handled accordingly when the bonus points and -- in this case, more importantly -- penalties are handed out.
Also, when you promise you'll write a Cover Story, it's a commitment. In case someone repeatedly fails to deliver the articles he has promised, a participation penalty is possible regardless of other activity.
2.6 GM CHECKS
To make sure all teams have active GMs in crucial off-season time, commissioner will perform a league-wide GM check close to the end of each season. All GMs and AGMs must reply to the e-mail and confirm they'll continue in the OBA in the upcoming season.
Also, team activity -- for example, press releases and sending updated game plans during the season -- will be monitored closely. In case your team is not meeting the standards in that area, just replying to the GM check will not guarantee you'll be allowed to keep your team.
Occasionally, an individual in-season GM check may take place if a GM is completely passive for a long period of time.
2.7 GM TOOLS
The GMs are required to use the password-protected online tools when sending in team orders: Press Release Editor (PREd), Game Plan Editor (GPEd), Free Agent Editor (FAEd) and GM Editor (GMEd). The names of the former three tools should tell their use, and GMEd is a new multi-purpose tool -- which is under construction beginning of season 2009 -- which is used for the rest of team orders.
When sending team orders using either FAEd, GPEd or GMEd, any new set of orders will always override previous set of the same command. For example, if you send in offers to Free Agents and have second thoughts about them before the deadline, you can simply re-send your bids and they'll overwrite the old ones. The same for game plans and all other commands handled via online tools.
For FAEd, it is important to note that you must send all your offers for one Stage in the same set. If you first send an offer to Player A and later send in a set of offers containing Player B and Player C, your offer to Player A is discarded.
3 COMPETITIONS
Actually, there's more than just one fantasy basketball league in the OBA universe! In addition to the major pro league there's a college league, a minor-pro league and a summer league for rookies, along with some other competitions.
3.1 OBA
The OBA is, of course, the main competition where you run the operations of a pro basketball franchise.
3.1.1 OBA SEASON
The OBA season consists of the events below. This is just an overview, all events are explained in detail in other parts of the rulebook.
Off-Season initialization
- Player contracts expire and those with expiring contracts become Free Agents
- Players age one year
- Roster freeze is off -- players can be traded and released again (but not signed or picked up from the FA List)
Coach hirings
- Coaches retire and resign -- and are fired and replaced.
Rookie Draft
- New players enter OBA player pool via two-round draft.
- Roster freeze is on again shortly after the draft is completed. You can not release or trade players anymore (except for sign-and-trades)
- The season "number" also changes after the draft. Meaning that the 2010 Rookie Draft takes place after season 2010, but the upcoming Free Agency is the 2011 FAs.
Free Agency
- Players whose contracts have expired are available for all teams to sign in an 11-stage Free Agency period.
Ticket Prices
- Teams set their ticket prices for upcoming season.
Arena Proposals
- Teams may try to get the city to agree to construct a new arena, or propose relocation to another city.
Training Camps
- Player attributes are re-rated based on age, potential and their coaches' teaching skills.
Pre-season
- Trade freeze is off. All signings, releases and trades allowed, and up to 14 players can be on roster again.
- Each team plays a short exhibition game schedule against intra-conference opponents.
- Team Options on second-year players' contracts must be declined by the end of preseason.
- Team Options on third-year players' contracts must be picked up by the end of preseason.
- Contracts of fourth-year players' on team option years must be extended by the end of pre-season.
Regular season
- Each team plays an 80-game schedule.
- Contract extensions of impending Free Agents can be signed.
Playoffs
- Top eight teams from each conference advance to playoffs. All playoff rounds are played in best of seven format.
3.2 OCAA
The OCAA (Online Collegiate Athletic Association) is a fully computer-controlled 32-team, four-conference feeder league where future OBAers play at college/university level. As in real life, some of the players end up playing professionally, some of them don't.
The OCAA season consists of a 29-game regular season plus conference championship tournaments and the OCAA championship tournament, the "January Jubilee".
3.2.1 PLAYERS
After the players are entered into the OBA player database -- first on the draft list, then to the actual player pool -- the player attributes may have changed radically compared to the ones shown on OCAA listings. However, most of the time the player that has better attributes and better performance in college will also be better in the pro league.
All players enter the OCAA at the same age. The freshmen are 18 year-olds while non-redshirt seniors are 21 year-olds.
3.2.2 DECLARING FOR OBA DRAFT
A player's standard college career lasts four seasons, although sometimes a player may gain a fifth year of eligibility if he's "redshirted" ie. doesn't play a game during a season. If a player has been redshirted in the past, he will be listed with "RS" abbreviation in front of his class, and he'll be a year older than a non-redshirted player of the same class.
At the start of each season, there will be a list of pro prospects, the best players in the OCAA according to the rankings by the league scout. Most of the players declare themselves eligible for the OBA draft after they've graduated, but if a player is close to the top of the prospect rankings, he might decide to leave his school early for pro career.
For college players, their draft status may vary. If a player is listed as "Yes", it means he'll declare himself eligible for the upcoming draft and he'll appear on next draft list (if his skills are good enough to make the list of 96 draftees). This group includes all college seniors. A player listed as "No" is someone who has college eligibility left and has decided not to leave school early.
The third group, the "Undecided", only appears during the season. Obviously, such a player has not made his decision, yet. All college freshmen are listed as undecided until the end of OCAA season, but top sophomores and juniors may make their decision (which can be either "Yes" or "No") already at the start of the season. The better the player, the more likely he is to declare early.
The "Undecided" will make their final decision shortly after the OCAA championship tournament is over. Again, the odds of such a player declaring for the OBA draft are higher if the player is close to the top of the Pro Prospects list.
3.2.3 DRAFT PROMISES
Before the college prospects make their final decisions about declaring for the OBA draft, the OBA teams can influence a player's decision by promising him a high draft position.
An OBA team may make three kinds of promises for the players who haven't made up their minds yet: Top Five, Lottery and First Round. A promise that the player will be picked in top five has the biggest impact, a lottery pick (top 16) will be a little lesser factor in his decision-making and a low first round pick carries only a little weight.
Of course, a team making the promise must own the kind of pick attached to the promise and after making the promise the team can not cancel it under any circumstances (meaning that such a pick also becomes untradeable).
3.3 WWBA
The WWBA (World Wide Basketball Association) consists of two 16-team leagues -- the ABL (American Basketball League) and the WBL (World Basketball League). There's no interleague play in regular season, but the winners of the two leagues play against each other in the Global Cup Final for the WWBA title.
The WWBA is mostly computer controlled, but assistant GMs and people on the waiting list may choose to learn the tricks of setting team game plans with a WWBA team.
3.3.1 PLAYERS
There are two kinds of players in the WWBA: OBA free agents and some international prospects who have chosen to play minor pro basketball instead of college game.
The OBA Free Agents are listed on WWBA rosters with their OBA attributes, but only the last eight attributes are shown for international prospects in the league. Again, the attributes are likely to change when the players enter pro ranks, but most of the time the same applies as for the OCAA prospects: the better the WWBA prospects, the better the pro.
3.3.2 ROSTERS
There are no trades or other transactions in the WWBA. The rosters are set at the start of season, with as many players as possible returning to the same teams as in the previous season.
The WWBA rosters change only when players are cut or signed by OBA teams. In case players are released from the OBA, his WWBA team is based on WWBA roster sizes and WWBA teams' positional needs. This means that if a player is signed by an OBA team and released again, he doesn't necessarily return to the same WWBA team.
3.3.3 OBA DEVELOPMENT PLAYERS
All 32 OBA teams have a WWBA affiliate. OBA teams can assign up to two first- or second-year players to the WWBA affiliate. The development players will be inactive for the OBA team, but they will still reserve an OBA roster spot and will receive their full OBA salary.
OBA teams must carry at least 12 "non-development players", meaning that if you have 14 players on roster, you can assign two to the WWBA and if you have 13 players on roster, you can have only one development player.
An OBA player can be assigned to WWBA only two times each season and the first assignments can be made at the end of pre-season.
The WWBA teams have no obligation to play the development players provided by their OBA affiliates. WWBA GMs are allowed to use the players that they think will be the best ones to win games.
Time in WWBA as a development player does not have actual effect on the development of the player's skills. He'll develop the same way as he would if he was spending the season in the OBA, with the OBA coach's development ratings being factored in when the next off-season re-rates take place.
If a development player is traded in the OBA, he must be recalled before the trade can be processed.
3.3.4 ROSTER FREEZE
WWBA rosters are frozen at the start of Global Cup Playoffs. After the WWBA regular season is over, OBA cuts or signings will not affect WWBA rosters and development players can not be assigned to the WWBA anymore. Development players can be recalled during Global Cup Playoffs, but they'll continue playing for the WWBA team as well.
This certainly is not the most realistic setting, but taking a player out of a WWBA team's lineup in the middle of the playoffs would be a little harsh.
3.4 SUMMER LEAGUE
The OBA Draftees Summer League, or just Summer League, is played late in OBA postseason or early in off-season and the eight participating teams consist of players available in the upcoming draft. The top four teams will play in single-elimination playoffs to decide the Greenhorn Cup championship team.
The Summer League is fully computer-controlled.
3.4.1 PLAYERS
The players will appear on team rosters with their draft list ratings, which are reasonably close to their pro ratings. Some adjustment may take place, though, when they enter the actual OBA player pool.
3.5 WORLD CUP
The best of the best will also take part in international competition, the World Cup, which is played every three seasons. For now, the tournament consists of 12 national/regional teams managed by OBA general managers, and it'll take place after the off-season initialization.
The number of participating teams may change as the number of international players from different countries and regions change. A new country or a region can be added if a) it has enough good players for an entry of its own and b) taking its players out of their current World Cup team doesn't dilute that roster.
3.5.1 PLAYER ELIGIBILITY
All players have nationalities (USA unless stated otherwise) and everyone in the OBA player pool is eligible to play in the World Cup, along with all rookies from the draft list of the year of the tournament.
As those who follow international basketball know, it's fairly common for countries have players who have born in USA, but moved to play abroad and stayed long enough to acquire new (or dual) citizenship, which allows them to play in international competitions for their new country.
To simulate this, all players that have been out of the OBA since the previous tournament, three seasons -- not signed a contract, whether or not they've actually played a game is irrelevant -- are eligible for nationality change. They've listed at the end of WC Eligible Players page under title "*USA". All WC teams except Team USA can get one of those players to the World Cup.
Once a player plays in a WC tournament for a team, he can't play for another team in future WC's.
If more than one team wants a player eligible for nationality change, the decision is made randomly. And lastly, if a World Cup GM sends in a "Citizenship Application" for an *USA player, he's obliged to name the player to the team.
Non-OBA players will be eligible for new citizenship only for the country/region where they are playing in the WWBA.
3.5.2 GENERAL MANAGERS
The World Cup GM selection happens according to the OBA success. The GMs of top 12 teams in the OBA regular season standings in the season preceding the tournament. If not all GMs in the top dozen are interested in managing a WC team, then we'll move down the rankings until all WC teams have someone at the helm.
There's also another exception to the GM selection: The people who were managing medal teams in the previous tournament will return to the same teams if they choose to do so. For the U.S. team this is more strict, only the championship is good enough for Team USA, and its GM is eligible for return only if he delivered the gold medal.
If a medal GM decides not to take over his old WC team, he'll be treated as any other OBA GM in the selection process ie. he doesn't have a guaranteed WC spot unless his team is high enough in OBA rankings.
3.6 ALL-STAR WEEKEND
And the best of the best will also take part in the annual OBA All-Star competitions. The All-Star Weekend hosted by the reigning OBA championship team consists of six events: All-Star Game, Rookies vs. Sophomores Game, OCAA All-Star Game, WWBA All-Star Game, Slam Dunk Competition and Three-Point Shooting Competition.
The participants for the Rookie Game -- ten players for each team -- will be selected by the software.
All-Star teams are selected and managed by the General Managers whose teams lead their respective conferences at the half-way mark of the season (Regular Season Gameday January 27). The GMs will pick up 12 players (two from each natural position plus two "extras") from conference and also set their teams' game plans for the game.
The skills competitions participants are usually selected by a human GM. There's no particular criteria for this job. Most of the time it's the guy who replies first after the commissioner asks for someone to do it.
3.7 LOWDOWN SHOWDOWN
The LowdownShowdown is the annual OBA one-on-one championship tournament played during the OBA postseason. OBAers from non-playoff teams along with draftees and some OBA free agents are eligible to take part in the competition.
The competition starts with pool play stage, with best two players from each of the 32 eight-player pools advancing to the playoffs, which are played in best-of-three format.
3.7.1 TEAM COMPETITION
OBA teams not taking part in playoffs may select eight players from their end-of-season roster to take part in Lowdown Showdown. Teams are awarded one point for each playoff round won by their players. Three additional points are awarded to the team of the Lowdown Showdown Champion and one additional point to the runner-up.
The team with most points will get a prize of three million dollars, the second best team receives two million and the third best team one million. The prize money will be added to the OBA team's revenues for the season.
In case of a tie between top three teams, the tie breakers are: (1) games won - games lost differential in playoffs, (2) games won in playoffs, (3) games won in pool play.
3.8 AWARDS
After the OBA season is completed, it's time to reward those who excelled! Numerous awards will be handed out in the annual OBA Awards Gala.
Most of the winners are decided by the computer, but the GM Choice Player of the Year, GM Choice Team, Most Improved Player, Newcomer of the Year and GM of the Year awards will be voted by league members.
Players with less than 30 games of OBA experience prior to the season are eligible for Newcomer of the Year, regardless of age or pro seasons.
3.9 HALL OF FAME
The most legendary of the most legendary will be honored to the OBA Hall of Fame. There are three categories for inductees: Player, Coach and Builder.
Until season 2011, the inductions were handled by the software, after that the process involves league members.
The induction process takes place during playoffs and off-season. Players who have retired in previous off-season or earlier are eligible for the Hall of Fame. Coaches are eligible any time, even active coaches. At least for now, the eligibility never ends, so if a player doesn't get through one season, he's eligible again the following year.
Beginning from the end of regular season, any league member can nominate a player, a coach or a builder to the Hall, by posting the nomination to the OBA Forum (to the board HALL OF FAME: Nominations). He also must submit arguments for the induction, the reasons why the nominee should get in.
After at least four league members have seconded the nomination, an open discussion will start (in Forum's board HALL OF FAME: Discussion) and last throughout the playoffs. A poll is opened for the player (in HALL OF FAME: Ballots) at the start of off-season and if at least 3/4 league members vote for the induction, the player gets into the Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame will not accept more than four new members each season. If more than four nominees reach the 3/4 limit, only the foursome with most "Yes" votes will get in. There are no tie-breakers. If six players get enough votes and #3, #4 and #5 are tied, none of them get in.
Sometimes a player may start coaching after his retirement. In such a case, it is possible that he gets into the Hall of Fame as a player and is later on re-inducted in the coach category.
4 SIMULATION
A complete OBA season usually takes from three to four calendar months. During regular season we'll most of the time run three gamedays each day and playoffs advance one gameday each day. Preseason games are simulated a little faster, four gamedays per day, and there are also two periods of slower simming in regular season: prior to trade deadline and in last ten gamedays or so, we'll switch to the pace of two gamedays per day.
There is no fixed time for when the games take place, but there will always be at least 16 hours between each set of sims. If for some reason there's less time, the commissioner will send a note about it in advance.
The order of events in a set of sims is: games, cuts, trades, signings. In practice this means, for example, that if a team is making a trade that would put them over the maximum roster size, they can make the necessary cuts during the same set of sims when the trade takes place -- but they can not release any of the players they're acquiring in the trade until the next set of sims.
4.1 PLAYERS
4.1.1 STATISTICS
On statistics pages, the following stat categories are shown
pos -- Player main position
g -- Games played
gs -- Games started
min -- Minutes played per game
fgm -- Field goals made
fga -- Field goals attempted
ftm -- Free throws made
fta -- Free throws attempted
tgm -- 3 point shots made
tga -- 3 point shots attempted
opg -- Offensive rebounds per game
rpg -- Total rebounds per game
apg -- Assists per game
spg -- Steals made per game
tpg -- Turnovers per game
bpg-- Blocked shots per game
fpg -- Personal fouls per game
ppg -- Points per game
min -- Total minutes
orb -- Total offensive rebounds
reb -- Total rebounds
ast -- Total assists
stl -- Total steals
to -- Total turnovers
blk -- Total blocks
pts -- Total points
pf -- Total personal fouls
dq -- Ejections
a/to -- Assists to turnovers ratio
s/to -- Steals to turnovers ratio
s/f -- Steals to fouls ratio
b/f -- Blocks to fouls ratio
dd -- Double-doubles
td -- Triple-doubles
MgM -- Total Magic Metric rating
MgM/g -- Magig Metric per game
MgM/min -- Magic Metric per minutes
4.1.2 RATINGS
The following player ratings range from 1 to 99 and they are determined by taking the league best and giving that player the highest rating. All other players are rated proportionately to the league best.
The visible attributes, however, are not necessarily 100-percent correct. The players are scouted each season and those values will be shown on online pages. The margin for error for the league scout is around five percent, with bigger errors possible in very rare occasions.
Note that because the players are "re-scouted" each season, it is possible that a player's visible attribute in a certain skill has gone down, but his "real attribute" in the skill has actually improved. Keep your eye on the stats in order to find the sleepers and the underachievers!
2ga - Players ability to get 2 point shots
2g% - Players percentage of 2 point shots made
fta - Players ability to get to the free throw line
ft% - Players percentage of free throws made
3ga - Players ability to get 3 point shots
3g% - Players percentage of 3 point shots made
orb - offensive rebounding
drb - defensive rebounding
ast - passing
stl - stealing
to - avoiding turnovers
blk blocking
The following player ratings range from 1 to 9:
Outside Offense (O-O) -- Usually excellent jump shooters. These players fight through screens, move without the ball and in some cases their height allows them to shoot over people
Driving Offense (D-O) -- Ability to both dribble and drive for scoring tries. Point guards usually are the best at this.
Post Offense (P-O) -- Measures the inside game of a player. Usually higher for power forwards and centers.
Transition Offense (T-O) -- Measures the ability of a player to run the floor and finish on the first break.
Outside Defense (O-D) -- Fight screens, prevent shooters by denying them the ball and have the size to distract shots.
Driving Defense (D-D) -- Stops drives by not getting beat off the dribble.
Post Defense (P-D) -- Ability to deny the ball down low and to stop the other players inside game.
Transition Defense (T-D) -- Measures the ability of a player to get back on defense and to either stop or slow down the fast break.
Additionally, all players have a happiness rating, which can range from Mad to Grateful. A player's happiness will have some impact on his effectiveness on court.
4.1.3 HEALTH, INJURIES AND SUSPENSIONS
Players also have a health rating, which is 100 if fully healthy. Sometimes a player's health can drop below maximum, but he'll still be able to play.
Obviously, players can suffer injuries during the season. They can occur both in games or on off-days. A long-term injury may permanently damage the player, causing his ratings to drop. The ratings hit won't be shown in the player's visible attributes until after the training camp next season.
So keep an eye on the effectiveness of a player returning from a major injury -- he might not be the man he used to be!
The exact healing time of an injury is not known. The scale for injury length is:
IN -- Indefinitely, more than two months
2M -- Around two months
1M -- Around a month
3W -- Around three weeks
2W -- Around two weeks
1W -- Around a week
DD -- Day to day.
These are the evaluations by the team medical staff, so occasionally you may see, for example, a player being listed as a "2W" but then going to "3W" in the next set of sims.
Note that all pre-season injuries as well as the possible attribute hits are resetted at the start of regular season.
The game results e-mails sent by the commissioner after each set of sims will contain announcements of injuries and players returning from injuries. Note that the returning announcements are not 100 percent correct and may occasionally be a day off. Also, JSB does not always list game injuries at all, so sometimes a player can be injured without a note about it.
In any case, the player health data shown online is always correct, so if there are any kind of inconsistencies, you should believe that. If a player is listed as injured, then he is injured for the following game day.
4.1.4 CONTRACT FACTORS
When evaluating contract offers, players make their decisions based on the following factors:
loyalty - Players loyalty to the team last played for.
winner - Importance of team success in the just completed season.
play time - Importance of getting quality playing time.
security - Importance of a long term deal versus a short deal that will allow the player to test the market more often.
coach - Importance of the quality of the coach and the personality of the coach.
tradition - Importance of the success of the franchise throughout its history. Also factors in the current value of the team.
4.1.5 HIDDEN ATTRIBUTES
In addition to the visible attributes and ratings, the OBA players have the following hidden attributes:
Career Play Projections
These projections effect the development curve of players. The players tend to improve until they reach their random prime year (usually 27-29) and steadily decline afterwards.
Talent - Stronger effect on scoring categories.
Skill - Stronger effect on passing and rebounding.
Intangibles - players work ethic and desire effecting individual and team performance. These players usually reach their prime later than most players.. Also, veterans with high intangibles are good leaders, making the team play better, especially in clutch situations.
Consistency
Ranging from 1 to 3, higher means better consistency. These players performance will not waver as much from game to game.
Clutch
Ranging from 1 to 3, higher means better performance in clutch situations.
4.1.6 DEVELOPMENT
Each season at the training camp, all players' ratings will change based on random factors along with their prime age, their actual age, the coaches development ratings and the career projections.
4.1.7 RETIREMENTS
Retirements are random and fairly rare. Better players tend to retire rather than play too long. Occasionally a player will unexpectedly retire before their prime because of personal circumstances. Some players will no longer be available because their poor play did not warrant an invite to training camp.
Retiring players will announce their deicisions at the start of off-season and their contracts stop counting against the team's salary at the start of the pre-season following their retirement
4.2 HEAD COACHES
Each OBA team has a head coach, who is responsible for in-game decisions and player development.
4.2.1 PLAYER DEVELOPMENT RATINGS
Talent (ta) -- Coaches ability to maximize a players talent.
Skill (sk) -- Coaches ability to improve a players overall skill level.
Intangibles (in) -- Coaches ability to motivate a player.
Scoring (sc) -- Coaches ability to improve a players scoring ability.
Shooting (sh) -- Coaches ability to improve a players overall shooting.
Rebounding (re) -- Coaches ability to develop a players rebounding.
Ball Handling (bh) -- Coaches ability to improve a players passing and minimize turnovers.
Defense (de) -- Coaches ability to improve a players defense.
Conditioning (co) -- Affects player fatigue during games.
4.2.2 GAME COACHING RATINGS
Game coaching ratings improve effectiveness and chances of the proper play being executed when calling plays. The higher rated coaches will have players execute the called play more often.
Outside offense (o) -- Improved outside shooting.
Driving offense (d) -- Improved driving and penetration.
Post offense (p) -- Improved inside/post scoring.
Transition offense (t) -- Improved fast break chances.
Outside defense (od) -- Decreased opponent outside shooting.
Driving defense (dd) -- Decreased opponent driving/penetration.
Post defense (pd) -- Decreased opponent post/inside scoring.
Transition defense (td) -- Decreased opponent fast break chances.
4.2.3 HIDDEN PERSONALITY RATINGS
Loyalty -- Loyalty to current team, affects risk of resigning.
Personality -- Some players are more willing to sign for a team which has a coach of higher quality and personality.
4.2.4 COACH HIRINGS AND FIRINGS
The first thing to do once a new season begins, is to make the decision on your coach. A GM may go with the same coach or fire him and hire a new one. Coaches may also retire or resign, and finding a new coach is a must. Coaches cannot resign or retire at any other time than at the beginning of a new off-season, but a team can fire a coach during the season and hire a new one.
Off-Season
Coaches will resign at the end of the season if they are unhappy with the current status of their team. The better coaches are more likely to resign in hopes of landing a better job. The better a teams roster and record, the less likely a resignation.
The contracts of coaches end when the coach retires, quits the job or is fired. If none of those happen, the coach will stay with his current team. Before a team can hire a new coach, they must first fire their current coach. After firing the coach, they can offer the open position to any available coach (except the coach they fired). The software determines the contract values of coaches, teams can only send job offers and the coach decides if he wants to accept the offer (or which offer he accepts if multiple teams have contacted).
For coach hirings, teams with a coaching vacancy -- due to firing, retirement or resignment -- must submit a list of five coaches in the order of priority. There will be maximum of two days of coach hirings.
In-Season
Beginning from season 2008, a team can fire its head coach also during the regular season. The window from firing the coach is from Regular Season Gameday December 15 to Trade Deadline. Just like in off-season, the old coach must be fired before a new coach can be hired.
Most of the coaches not employed by OBA teams will work for WWBA and OCAA teams, but they all can be hired by OBA teams during the season.
After firing the coach, the team can hire any available coach except those who have been fired during the season. When firing the coach, the team must at the same time submit a list of at least three coaches who will be offered the vacant position, listed in the order of priority. If two teams teams happen to fire coaches at the same time and both have listed the same coach as the first option to be hired, the team lower at the standings will have priority and the team with better record gets their next option.
All coaches hired during the season have guaranteed contracts until the end of the following season, meaning that you can't fire him in the following off-season or the following season. The coach, however, can resign at the end of ongoing season.
4.3 LEAGUE SCOUT
The OBA league scout, whose evaluations are the basis for visible player ratings and scouting reports, is called Darrin Raggio and GMs may refer to him in press releases. A scout in JSB has the attributes below. Mr. Raggio has a 4 (out of 7) in each of these:
Talent (TA) -- Ability to evaluate a player's eventual talent level (talented players tend to become effective scorers and shooters).
Skill (SR) -- Ability to evaluate a player's eventual overall skill (skilled players tend to develop more of an all around game).
Intangibles (IN) -- Ability to evaluate a player's eventual work ethic (players with high intangibles tend to improve more dramatically and will improve consistently).
Scoring (SC) -- Ability to evaluate a player's ability to create shots and draw fouls.
Shooting (SH) -- Ability to evaluate a player's ability to make shots and free throws.
Rebounding (RE) -- Ability to evaluate a player's offensive and defensive rebounding.
Ball Handling (BH) -- Ability to evaluate a player's passing and turnovers.
Defense (DE) -- Ability to evaluate a players shot blocking and steals.
4.4 GAME PLANS
While coaches are responsible for all in-game decisions, GMs can set the guidelines via Game Plans. Game Plans consist of two parts: Depth Chart which sets the rotation and Game Plan.
All Game Plans must be sent to the commissioner via online game plan editor, the GPEd.
GPEd also shows the game plans used by the teams in the previous set of sims.
4.4.1 DEPTH CHART
Set the active players and rotation charts for your team in the current league.
You must have at least 10 and not more than 12 healthy active players. If you have injuries and are about to start a set of simulations with less than 10 healthy active players, you will be forced to activate more. In such occasion, the first healthy non-active player in your roster order as listed in the game plan will be activated. (And, if necessary, the second -- and if that's not enough, the third etc.)
In games, computer coaches the computer will use these depth charts and the actual minutes played to distribute minutes and assign starters. If a player is set as inactive, the player will not be used at all. Under each of the five possible positions you can select from the following for each player:
no - The player will only be used in an emergency
1st - Starter
2nd - Backup who will receive the majority of the minutes when the starter is not on the court
3rd - 3rd stringers usually will get some spot minutes off the bench each game
4th - Usually plays infrequently
none - Will be used only in emegency
A player can play at the positions "next" to his natural postition:
PG: PG or SG
SG: PG, SG or SF
SF: SG, SF or PF
PF: SF, PF or C
C: C or PF
This means that a player can be listed on two or three different positions in the depth charts. A player's slot on a position may be 1 (starter), 2, 3, 4, y or n. If listed as "y", the player will play only spot minutes -- for example late in a blowout game or in case of injuries -- and if he's listed as "n" he won't be used at the position in question.
Also, multiple players may be assigned in all slots except the starter (1). If that is done, two players play equal amount of minutes off the bench. And all slots except the starter slot may be left empty. You may want to do this for example if you feel your star starter is not getting enough minutes. Then you may list the starter as 1 and the reliever as 3 or 4.
4.4.2 GAME PLAN
min - minutes
Select the preferred amount of minutes per game you wish to designate the player. If set at auto, the coach decides the minutes.
of - offensive focus
Players preferred spot on the floor on offense, which will increase the number of that type of shot available, example: If a player focuses on the Post, the player will take more post shots than usual. Options: auto, outside, drive, post.
Outside - the player selected will look to get open for an outside shot.
Drive - the player selected will look to drive to the basket.
Post - the player selected will post up and look to score down low.
Auto - let the players decide the best shot type.
df - defensive focus
Players preferred spot on the floor on defense, this will increase the defense in the selected area. If you put a player in the post his post defense will improve but it can affect the defense in other areas. Options: auto, outside, drive, post.
Outside - is selected when you want a defender guarding a player close to take away outside shots.
Drive - gives a player space but can take away penetration. Post - allows a player to play strong and try to deny the player a post up inside shot.
oi - offensive intensity
The higher the number the more the player will look to score, this can have an effect on the players ability to make players better, fatigue, and defense. Options: -2, -1, 0, 1, 2.
+1 or +2 -- more shots, more fouls drawn, more turnovers, less good shots, less passing, less defense, less stamina)
-1 or -2 -- less shots, less fouls drawn, less passing, less turnovers, poorer offensive ratings
di - defensive intensity
The higher the number the more aggressive the player will be defensively, leading to more turnovers, but can impact the players defensive ratings, and lead to increased fouls. Options: -2, -1, 0, 1, 2.
+1 or +2 -- more steals, more blocks, more fouls, less stamina, poorer defensive ratings.
-1 or -2 -- less steals, less blocks, less fouls, better defensive ratings.
bh - ball handler
The higher the number the more the player will look to run the offense, pass first and shoot second, but can impact the players ability to score overall. Options: -2, -1, 0, 1, 2.
4.4.3 SINGLE-GAME PLANS
GMs can not send single-game plans. The same game plan will be used for all games in the following set of sims.
4.5 CITIES
The OBA cities have the following ratings:
Fan -- Fan support (affects primarily attendance)
Pop -- Population base of city & arena (affects primarily attendance)
Int -- Interest in team (affects primarily radio & TV revenue)
Comp -- Competition for audience in the area
Eco -- Economy, the better the economy the more money fans will spend and the higher the likelihood of selling higher priced seats
Cost -- General cost of living (higher cost of living in relation to pricing will increase or decrease the impact prices make)
Pol -- Political support (very important when proposing new arenas)
All attributes of a city should be considered when setting ticket prices in addition to your evaluation of a team. For example, a strong economy & a good team should allow one to set prices a little higher than normal but poor fan support can offset this. It is up to the GM to determine the impact of all factors in determining a means to maximize profit and thereby allowing one to spend more money during the all important free agency period.
City attributes can change each year based on the results financially & on the court the previous season. For example, the more championships you win the more the fan loyalty should increase. And of course, OBA Participation Bonuses may change your city ratings.
4.6 FINANCES
Good financial management is one of the key ingredients in building a successful franchise. The revenues and expenses in the JSB finances are explained below.
4.6.1 TEAM BUDGETS
Each team has a team budget that limits spending. The budgets are different for each team and they change each year based on the success of the team and profit of the team.
The salaries of all players on a team cannot total more than the budget in any season. The budget is determined by both a team's current value and the owners spending rating (hidden). It is possible for the owners cap to be less than league salary cap.
Unlike league salary cap, the team budget is a hard cap and teams are not allowed to go over it in off-season free agency except by signing one-year minimum salary deals. It is possible to go over your budget during the season by acquiring more salaries in trades, but doing so is allowed only if the team also cuts future payroll.
To be more precise, a team over its budget is allowed to add salary, if the pro-rated salary addition for the remainder of the season in progress is at least equal to the salary savings for the following season. For example, if a team has played 40 games, half of the season, it can add two million to current payroll if the trade cuts at least one million from the payroll of the following season.
4.6.2 EXPENSES
Salary - Current salary amount to players
Scout* - Current scouting expenses (the better the scout, the higher the expense)
Coach - Current coach expenses (the better the coach, the higher the expense)
GM* - Current general manager expenses (the better the GM, the higher the expense)
Oper - Operating expenses, teams with a higher team value tend to spend more money during a season to maintain current value and arena
Arena - Arena expenses including general maintenance of arena. Teams that are currently in the process of building a new arena will spend to construct the new arena as well. The expense is broken down equally throughout the length of construction.
Mark - Marketing expenses
Exp - Total of all expenses
Profit - Money loss or earned to date
*) All teams will be assigned random scouts and GMs inside the software, but they do not effect actual OBA game play in any way.
4.6.3 REVENUES
Tick$ -- Average ticket price
Att Rev - Total revenue on general tickets
Ste$ -- Average suite price
Suite - Total suite revenue
Clb$ -- Average club seat price
Club - Total club seat revenue
Con$ -- Average concessions bought amount
Conc - Total concession revenue
Park$ -- Average parking spots revenue amount
Park - Total parking revenue
Rev* -- Total of all revenues
Arena - Current value of arena
Team - Current value of team
Profit - Money lost or earned to date
*) Revenues also include the following:
1. Network TV deal
2. Local TV & Radio deal
3. Arena advertising & sponsorship
These increase or decrease each season based on team success, value, profit & city attributes
4.6.4 ATTENDANCE
Cap - Total arena seating capacity
Attend - Average attendance
Att % -- Percentage of seats filled
# Ste - Total luxury suites
Suites - Average suites sold
Ste % -- Percentage of suites sold
# Clb - Club seats in arena
Club - Average club seats sold
Club % -- Percentage of club seats sold
# Park - Parking spots available
Park - Average parking spots used
Park % -- Percentage of parking spots filled
Attendance figures are based primarily on the following factors:
1. Current team roster.
2. Current team record.
3. Franchise value.
4. Prices.
5. Quality of opposition
6. Popularity & success of coach.
7. City Attributes
4.6.5 TEAM DETAILS
Expenditures for cities with teams accumulated so far into the season, the averages and percentages for different aspects of the arena, along with the revenues accumulated so far into the season and the projected season value of the following contracts:
1.Television
2.Radio
3.Arena Advertising
4.Arena Sponsorships
These contracts change each season based on profits, arena value and team value (also shown).
4.6.6 TICKET PRICES
Arena prices can only be set during the off season. Prices can be changed in the following categories:
Ticket Price - Average priced ticket in the arena (typically $40-$50 dollars)
Suite Price - Average price of luxury suites in the arena (typically $3,000 -$4,000 dollars)
Club Seat Price - Average price of club seats in the arena (typically $100-$200 dollars)
Concession Price - Average price of typical concession expenses of a fan including food, drink and program (typically $20-$30 dollars)
The cost of parking is determined automatically by the software.
4.7 ARENA PROPOSALS
Each team has a home arena and capacity and quality of the buildings may vary quite a lot from city to city. If you feel your arena doesn't satisfy your team's needs, you can try to get a new one under construction via arena proposals procedure in off-season.
There are two kinds of arena proposals -- constructing a new arena and moving the franchise to another city. Moving the franchise to new city has to be accepted by the league and new city must fit geographically into the team's current division.
Note: When proposing a city move you are required to submit an arena construction proposal as well.
The higher the quality of an arena the more cash flow your team generates, thereby increasing your teams chances of obtaining key players because of both franchise prestige and money available.
4.7.1 POLL ROUND
The arena construction is a two-step process. First, there is the Poll Round, where a GM can send in three different proposals. If it's a relocation attempt, the team can send poll proposals to two different cities -- one of them can be the team's current city -- three proposals per city.
The proposals consist of total capacity, amount of club seats, amount of suites and public contribution, which can range from 51-100% of the total cost. Suites are very expensive but impact revenue very positively. Club Seats also generate cost with the benefit of revenue. Capacity generates the most consistent revenue.
Then, the GM will receive a reply where all three proposals are rated in a scale of 0 to 5 according to the possibility of the city considering the offer along with total cost and team cost of each proposal. For relocation proposals, the poll reply will also include information for current arenas of new cities, and the city's political support value compressed in a scale from 1 to 3. No other attributes of new cities will not be available until after the team has moved.
4.7.2 FINAL ROUND
In the Final Round, GM sends in his final proposal for the arena. The final proposal may be different than any of the three poll proposals. Also, a GM is not committed to make the final proposal even if he made the poll proposals. Three outcomes are possible in the Final Round: the city rejects the proposal without consideration, the city considers but rejects the proposal, or the city accepts the proposal.
The Final decisions are based primarily on the following: The current value of the team, the success of the franchise, political support and the amount of money you request the city to spend. Also, the better the attributes of the city the more reluctant the city can be to accept.
The time of construction is automatically determined by the city and ranges from 3 to 5 years. The team cost will be spread out to each of the years evenly. If a relocation proposal is accepted, the team will play one more season in its current city, then moves to new city and plays in the city's current arena until new arena construction is finished.
If a proposal is accepted, a new one can't be submitted to the same city until after 10 seasons.
4.8 DRAFT
There are three ways to acquire players to your team. Trades, free agency and the annual rookie draft, where teams select amateur players.
4.8.1 DRAFTEES
Each season, new young players enter the OBA player pool via Rookie Draft. The official draft list will be released after the OCAA and WWBA seasons have been finalized and college players have made their final decisions on whether they're declaring for the draft or not.
All international prospects playing in the WWBA will be on the upcoming draft list.
4.8.2 DRAFT LOTTERY
The draft order is determined by the teams' success in the previous season with the top teams in regular season standings picking last. The order of the first three first round picks is determined by computer-run draft lottery. Only non-playoff teams take part in the lottery, with the last team in the standings having the highest probability of ending up with the first overall pick.
The lottery will take place soon after the postseason has started.
4.8.3 DRAFT IN PRACTICE
OBA Rookie Draft is a live event on IRC. There will be two channels, #OBA and #OBA2, an GMs should join both of them. The draft takes place in #OBA2. GMs will not be allowed to speak in here. Only the draft announcer will speak in there and when he does so, it will be to announce selections.In #OBA, GMs will be allowed to freely converse and comment on selections.
When GMs join the channels, they MUST use their team name as their IRC nickname. (For example, mine will be simply: Caesars)
Regarding your selection, please keep a copy of the draft order with you and track the status of the draft with each pick along with who is taken and who is left.When it is your turn to pick, the draft announcer will send you a PRIVATE MESSAGE (do no message him) and you will have 1 minute to give him your selection (in a private message). Once you have told him your selection, he will announce it in #OBA2.
GMs are allowed to negotiate and make trades whenever during the draft. If you make a trade in the draft, both GMs MUST confirm it to Commissioner in a private message so that it can be checked before making it official.Of course, GMs should take care of their trade negotiations in private messages, not in the chat channels.
If you cannot make the draft:
a) Let the commissioner know in advance.
b) Get a GM you trust to make selections for you. If you can't get anyone else, commissioner will take care of your picks. Provide him with a 'draft list' where you rank all the players from the ones you want the most to the ones you want the least. If you have someone else drafting for you, tell it to commissioner in advance.
c) If a team doesn't submit any kind of draft list and the GM isn't in the draft, the team will get the 10th best undrafted player available according to league scout's official rankings.
5 CBA
This chapter of the OBA rule book may come second to last, but it's certainly not the second to least. The "OBA Collective Bargaining Agreement" -- the CBA -- includes regulations related to rosters, contracts, finances and trades. Among others.
The content of this chapter may be difficult to understand at first, but learning it is truly important for a successful OBA general manager. And even if it can be tricky, it is certainly not impossible to learn.
5.1 SALARY CAP
The OBA salary cap is 45 millions until the end of season 2016. Beginning from off-season Free Agency 2017, the salary cap will be tied to league revenues, the "Basketball Related Income". The total BRI is simply the total of all teams' revenues -- including playoffs, but not including Luxury Tax money.
The cap is set at the start of each off-season at 51 percent of BRI. In practice, this means adding together all revenues and dividing it by 32. For example, in 2015 the BRI was 3298 million, which would have set the salary cap at 52.56 million (3298*0.51/32).
The salary cap will be announced at the end of Tobias Cup playoffs and it'll be effective at the start of off-season Free Agency.
The salary cap the same for all teams, but unlike team budgets, it is a soft cap; teams can operate above the cap by using the available cap exceptions, which are explained in detail below.
One important thing to understand about all the exceptions is that even if they allow teams that are over the cap to sign players, all the salaries will count against teams' salary cap just like any other contract immediately after the players have been signed.
5.1.1 SALARY CAP FLOOR
In addition to the maximum a team can spend in player salaries, there's also a minimum amount beginning from season 2017. The minimum is at 75 percent of the cap or 75 percent of team budget, whichever is lower.
If a team does not spend that amount during the regular season, it'll be surcharged at the end of season.
This rule is in place to prevent teams from tanking seasons and not using their resources to win games (or at least it makes such attempts less beneficial).
5.2 LUXURY TAX
Teams that have spent more than the Luxury Tax threshold in player salaries during the regular season will have to pay a dollar of Luxury Tax for each dollar they're over the threshold. The tax money goes to Tax Pool, which will be shared equally with all the teams not paying the Luxury Tax.
The tax threshold is at 57.5 million until the end of season 2016, but will be 61 percent the BRI in the following seasons. Again, if based on the BRI from season 2015, the threshold would be 62.87 million (3298*0.61/32).
5.3 PLAYER CONTRACTS
All players contracts are fully guaranteed, except for the rookie contracts signed by first-round draft picks, who have team option seasons in their Rookie Scale Contracts.
If a player is released while under contract, the contract continues to count towards the salary cap of the team until either (a) The end of the contract or (b) The player is signed by another team.
If a player retires, his contract will be included in Team Salary until the training camp following his retirement.
A player contract year starts at the start of off-season Free Agency period and ends at the end of Rookie Draft.
5.3.1 TERM AND RAISES
The contract term can not exceed 6 year and yearly raises can not exceed 10.5% of the contract's first year salary for players with Bird Rights. For players without Bird Rights, maximum term is five seasons and maximum raises 8 percent of the contract's first year salary.
5.3.2 MAXIMUM SALARIES
No player contract can exceed the maximum salary in the first year of a contract.
Until the end of season 2016, the maximum salary for a player with six years or less pro experience is 10.63 million. For players with 7-9 years of pro experience, the maximum is at 12.75 million, and a 10-year veteran's maximum is at 14.88 million.
Beginning from season 2017, the maximum salaries are tied to the league salary cap:
0-6 years of experience -- 23.4 percent of cap.
7-9 years of experience -- 28.1 percent of cap.
10+ years of experience -- 32.8 percent of cap.
(When using the 2015 BRI, the percentages above would mean respective dollar figures of 12.29 million, 14.77 million and 17.23 million.)
A player's maximum salary can never be less than 105 percent of his previous salary. So, if the last season of an expiring contract was 18 million, the maximum starting salary for the player's next contract would be 18.9 million.
5.3.2 MINIMUM SALARIES
No contract year can not be worth less than minimum salary. The maximum and minimum salaries are determined by years of service as listed below:
MINIMUM (Years pro -- Salary):
0 -- $350,000
1 -- $510,000
2 -- $590,000
3 -- $610,000
4 -- $640,000
5 -- $700,000
6 -- $760,000
7 -- $820,000
8 -- $890,000
9 -- $1,000,000
10+ -- $1,030,000
**** NOTE: For now, these figures will remain the same even after the cap rule changes of 2017. They may increase in the future, though.
5.3.4 ROOKIE SALARY SCALE
All players selected in the rookie draft are signed automatically to Rookie Salary Scale contracts. Second round picks are signed to two-year minimum salary contracts and first round picks have two or three guaranteed contract years and one or two years on team options.
If the player was drafted in 2010 or earlier, the contract type is 3+1, while players selected in 2011 or later have 2+1+1 type contracts.
The window for exercising the fourth option year is open during the pre-season following the player's second pro season. If all option years are exercised, the player will become a Restricted Free Agent after his fourth season. If the option years are not picked up, the player becomes an Unrestricted Free Agent when his contract ends.
For players selected in 2011 or later, the third option year will be exercised unless the team declines it during the pre-season following the player's first pro season.
If a player who has a team option year in his contract is released before the option is exercised, the team option year is waived.
The option year salary amounts are shown in team contract lists and the full rookie salary scale is presented in the rookie salary scale table below. Teams are allowed to pick up the option year regardless of their total salary commitment, salary cap room and budget space for the season of the option. Once the option is picked up, it'll count normally against the team's salary cap and budget.
The salary scale for players selected in 2010 or earlier:
| Pick | 1st Year | 2nd Year | 3rd Year | 4th Option | 5th Qualifying |
| 1 | 3.21 | 3.45 | 3.69 | 4.65 | 6.05 |
| 2 | 2.87 | 3.09 | 3.30 | 4.16 | 5.43 |
| 3 | 2.58 | 2.77 | 2.97 | 3.75 | 4.93 |
| 4 | 2.32 | 2.50 | 2.67 | 3.38 | 4.45 |
| 5 | 2.10 | 2.26 | 2.42 | 3.07 | 4.07 |
| 6 | 1.91 | 2.05 | 2.20 | 2.79 | 3.72 |
| 7 | 1.74 | 1.87 | 2.01 | 2.55 | 3.42 |
| 8 | 1.60 | 1.72 | 1.84 | 2.34 | 3.15 |
| 9 | 1.47 | 1.58 | 1.69 | 2.15 | 2.92 |
| 10 | 1.39 | 1.50 | 1.60 | 2.04 | 2.78 |
| 11 | 1.32 | 1.42 | 1.52 | 2.02 | 2.76 |
| 12 | 1.26 | 1.35 | 1.45 | 2.00 | 2.75 |
| 13 | 1.19 | 1.28 | 1.37 | 1.96 | 2.71 |
| 14 | 1.13 | 1.25 | 1.31 | 1.94 | 2.70 |
| 15 | 1.08 | 1.16 | 1.24 | 1.90 | 2.66 |
| 16 | 1.02 | 1.10 | 1.18 | 1.81 | 2.54 |
| 17 | 0.97 | 1.05 | 1.12 | 1.72 | 2.43 |
| 18 | 0.92 | 0.99 | 1.06 | 1.63 | 2.31 |
| 19 | 0.88 | 0.95 | 1.01 | 1.56 | 2.22 |
| 20 | 0.85 | 0.91 | 0.97 | 1.50 | 2.14 |
| 21 | 0.81 | 0.87 | 0.93 | 1.48 | 2.13 |
| 22 | 0.78 | 0.84 | 0.90 | 1.48 | 2.14 |
| 23 | 0.75 | 0.80 | 0.86 | 1.46 | 2.12 |
| 24 | 0.72 | 0.77 | 0.83 | 1.45 | 2.12 |
| 25 | 0.69 | 0.74 | 0.79 | 1.42 | 2.09 |
| 26 | 0.67 | 0.72 | 0.77 | 1.39 | 2.05 |
| 27 | 0.65 | 0.70 | 0.75 | 1.35 | 2.01 |
| 28 | 0.64 | 0.69 | 0.74 | 1.34 | 1.99 |
The salary scale for players selected in 2011 or later:
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