Constitution

The High Above Courtside fantasy basketball league (hereto referred as HAC) is an online collection of twelve (12) franchises where owners of those teams, with fake money, or HAC dollars, bid on actual NBA players for their teams in a leaguewide auction draft. More details about the auction and salaries is below. All players that are on an NBA roster are eligible to be on an HAC roster. This league, first and foremost, is to enhance the enjoyment of watching the NBA throughout the season while interacting with other NBA fans who are HAC owners.

The HAC is designed to be a competitive league, but not a cut-throat league where anything goes as evidenced by the lack of a league payout of money to the winner. Above all, camaraderie between owners and enjoyment of following the NBA are the most important factors of the league. The rules described below are meant for a guideline for overall league play, and any disputes will be handled by the executive committee of the league. If an owner has any questions or concerns, there should be no hesitation to ask.

The league is run on Fantrax, starting in 2017, to forge a deeper league history as well as a more in depth league hosting website.

This document is long. Print it out, or fire up a laptop, tablet or phone, go to the bathroom or some other safe place, shut the door and start reading. Know the rules of the league. Surprises are no fun for anyone - for the owner who is surprised or the commissioner who has spent lots of time constructing this monstrosity and then has to deal with an owner who is unprepared and worse, has not taken the time to read this document of biblical proportions. No mercy will be shown in cases like that!

[1.1 History: The HAC Back Story]

The HAC's blueprint originally started as a completely separate entity that was called the FNBA, the Nefariously Brilliant Aristocracy or Fake NBA, from 2001 to 2006. The FNBA had an auction draft, salaries and contracts. It was disbanded after the 2006 season. However, after a hiatus, the HAC was brought to life again in 2009 from a desire to enhance the enjoyment of keeping up with the NBA and having some investment in it, especially after the Boston Celtics became perennial championship contenders again. The inspiration behind the league name started from longtime Boston Celtics play-by-play man, Johnny Most who would declare he was "high above courtside" to bring all of the action to his listeners. Most called the Celtics games from 1953 to 1990 on the radio.

The league officially started in the 2010-11 season. For the next three seasons, the league was hosted on three different websites. During this time, the league was a mere loose confederation of teams under an HAC umbrella, and that went on for several seasons until the league finally evolved in the 2012-13 season with aspirations to start a stable, enjoyable, competitive, laid back yet active league that could go on for many seasons thanks to a dependable stable of standout owners. Cumulative totals like owners' wins and losses as well as season points scored began to be accumulated in the 2012-13 season. For historical purposes, the 2010-11 season will not be factored into a franchise's all-time wins and losses because of the league setup that season. There are currently 12 franchises in the HAC, many of whom have been playing fantasy basketball with each other, in one form or another, for many years.

There are now two divisions in the HAC with six teams in each. The division names are named for the geographic location of HAC owners. Six teams out of 12 make the HAC Playoffs. Refer to Section 2.2 ("Playoffs") for more detailed information.

[1.2 Executive Committee]

The executive committee for the HAC consists of:

Commissioner John Diaz

Glen Gibson

Stuart Bassett

The Executive Committee will be responsible for resolving all disputes that are not expressly covered by this constitution, whether that be regarding a trade, a rule, an owner's conduct, or anything else that is not specifically mentioned. If a committee member is involved in the dispute, that member will excuse himself from the decision process. While all owners are encouraged to submit suggestions to the committee of all kinds, whether they be rules or anything else, the committee's decision on all matters is final.

[1.3 Living Constitution]

It is important to note that this is a living, breathing constitution that will change and evolve over the lifetime of this league. The rules are fluid, meaning changes will happen between seasons when necessary and will become effective from that point forward. 8 of 12 owners (two-thirds of the league) must approve any league rule change. All changes will be made with great effort to provide as much advance notice to all owners as possible and with input from league owners. Changes to the league are always meant with the intention to increase the enjoyment of the league owners and for the greater good of the league.

[1.4 HAC Calendar]

This timeline is generally pretty consistent, though it can change depending on if the NBA alters their timeline or if we are running behind on something.

• April through June - HAC Coins, league constitution and league rules reviewed
• Mid to late June - NBA Draft
• July 1 - NBA free agency starts
• July 15 - HAC Restricted Free Agency starts
• Mid September - Keepers to be announced
• Early October - NBA preseason starts
• Early to mid October - HAC Auction Draft
• Mid October - HAC and NBA seasons start
• Mid February - NBA All-Star Game
• February 8 - NBA trade deadline
• February 17 - HAC trade deadline
• Early March - HAC regular season ends (Week 20)
• Late March - HAC Season ends (HAC Finals) - Week 23
• Mid April - NBA regular season ends
• Mid June - NBA Finals ends

2.0 LEAGUE SETUP AND COMPETITION

The HAC is a head-to-head points based league. HAC franchises own players from actual NBA teams. Each significant action by a player earns points for his HAC franchise. These points are added up by all of the players in an HAC franchise's starting lineup and compiled to compare against a head-to-head opponent for a win or a loss in the HAC standings. Each regular season and playoff matchup takes place over one calendar week.

The HAC consists of 12 franchises, separated into two divisions of six teams each. The head-to-head schedule will be balanced, where each team will play every other team in the league a relatively equal amount. There are 19 regular season weeks, so teams may play several foes one additional time. Weeks 18 and 19 are merged into one week because the NBA All-Star game is between these weeks and it creates two partial weeks. Merging these two weeks in the HAC schedule gives one full week worth of games.

[2.1 Standings]

Teams will be ranked within each division based on this criteria. This breakdown will also be used to determine a division winner if there is a tie at the end of the season. Because of Fantrax's different options and moving to that site in the 2017-18 season, tiebreakers needed to be changed.

1. Most fantasy points for the entire season

2. Best head to head record against all teams tied with

3. Best division record for entire season

4. Most wins in the entire season

[2.2 HAC Playoffs]

After the completion of the regular season in Week 20, the two division winners will make the playoffs. Division winners will be awarded a playoff spot and the four highest ranking non-division winners from both divisions will be awarded wild card berths. The #1 through #4 playoff seeds will be determined by win-loss records. The #5 and #6 playoff seeds will be determined by season points, not win-loss record.

In the first round of the HAC Playoffs (Week 21), the top two teams, based on win-loss record will have bye weeks. The other four playoff seeds, #3-6, will play each other in the first round (Week 21), With #3 vs. #6 and #4 vs. #5. The two winners from the first round advance to the HAC Semifinals (Week 22) with the top two seeds. The #1 seed will always play the lowest seeded team to advance to the HAC Semifinals. Finally, the two winning teams from the HAC Semifinals games will meet in the HAC Finals in Week 23 to play for the High Above Courtside Championship.

RACE FOR 3RD AND 5TH PLACE:

Race For 5th Place: The two teams that are eliminated in the first round of the playoffs (Week 21) will play for a Race For 5th Place. They will play for TWO weeks, Weeks 22 and 23. The combined scores for the two weeks (much like the Consolation Bracket - read below) will determine the winner.

Race For 3rd Place: The two teams that lose in the Semifinals round (Week 22) will compete in a Race For 3rd Place. They will play their one week game in Week 23 to determine the winner. The loser will be the 4th place team.

[2.3 HAC Consolation Bracket]

AKA: Even The Losers (Get Lucky Sometimes) Tom Petty Invitational

Just because a franchise did not make the HAC Playoffs, their season is far from over! All six franchises that did not make the postseason enter into the Consolation Bracket. The Bracket is a round-robin tournament and for three weeks (Weeks 21-23), all six teams play each other to accumulate the highest combined score. The prize for winning the Consolation Bracket is 150 HAC Coins.

The HAC Consolation Bracket was designed to make owners of struggling teams think twice before trading their stars for lesser players with keeper potential. During the three week Consolation Bracket, non-playoff teams are able to acquire free agents.

NON PLAYOFF TEAMS

Even The Losers (Get Lucky Sometimes) Tom Petty Invitational Winner = 150 HAC Coins

2nd Place in Tom Petty Invitational = 125 HAC Coins

3rd Place = 100 HAC Coins

4th Place = 80 HAC Coins

5th Place = 60 HAC Coins

6th Place = 40 HAC Coins

PLAYOFF TEAMS

Race For 5th Place Winner = 190 HAC Coins

Race For 5th Place Loser = 155 HAC Coins

Race For 3rd Place Winner = 225 HAC Coins

Race For 3rd Place Loser = 180 HAC Coins

HAC Finals Loser = 250 HAC Coins

HAC Champion = 300 HAC Coins

[2.4 Tiebreakers]

For individual matchups, including playoff matchups, the first tiebreaker is most total bench points scored because hey, we can't always make the right choices in who to start. The next tiebreaker is that the home team would get the win.

[2.5 HAC Coins]

This is a system, devised in the 2015-16 season, to reward owners for success with their teams and participation in the league. Every owner wants the ultimate prize, the HAC Championship. However, only one owner per season can win that. There is more to the HAC than just wins and losses, though those matter quite a bit! Because the HAC is an online league, participation is equally as important as wins and losses. Participation is a vague word, and that can mean participation in league discussions on Facebook and it can also mean outstanding in season management of an owner's franchise. These all contribute greatly to the league. In turn, at certain benchmarks for coins accrued, rewards for franchises that increase in value become available to owners to "purchase" for their team. Click the link in the HAC Coins header to read a more complete description about how the HAC Coins system works.

3.0 ROSTERS AND LINEUPS

Rosters in the HAC consist of 17 players who are on a roster of an NBA team. 11 of these will be in a team’s starting lineup, which is spelled out in Section 4.4 ("Starting Lineups”). HAC rosters will also have a bench with six spots. Each franchise has access to injured reserve spots, without restrictions. This is discussed in more detail in Section 3.8 ("Injured Reserve"). As long as a team owner can fill a starting lineup, beyond that there are no position limits, and owners are free to construct their roster in any way that they wish.

[3.1 HAC Auction]

In the first seven seasons of the league, the HAC used a slow draft to have owners fill out their rosters. Starting in the 2017-18 season, the HAC moved to an auction style draft. After the NBA Draft and free agency, around July, the league commissioner will consult with league owners to designate a date to have the live auction as close to the start of the NBA season as possible. Each franchise will have a $170 auction budget, in which to fill out their 17 player rosters. This total may incorporate players who have been re-signed from the previous season. No injured player may be on a team's injured list in the offseason or during the auction. A player can only be moved to the IR once the auction is completed.

In the offseason, each franchise will have a $100 keeper cap. If a player chooses to re-sign a player in the offseason, this $100 budget will be deducted by the player's salary. During the season, the salary cap will be $170. However, a franchise may go up to $200 in their cap, and that is a hard cap which an HAC franchise cannot exceed. The $170 will be the in-season cap for all teams, but each franchise has the ability to trade for, at most, $30 in temporary cap for more salary room, up to $200, and only up to $10 of temporary salary cap in any one trade. Section 3.2 ("Salary Cap") explains more about the salary cap.

The annual HAC auction, which disperses players to HAC franchises, will take place on the Fantrax website. Each franchise will go in an order in nominating players for auction, determined by the previous year standings. An owner has two minutes to nominate a player for auction. If they do not nominate a player within that time, Fantrax will automatically nominate a player for auction. Immediately after the league auction, all players not on a roster go on to waivers for about 72 hours. That allows the entire league to review the free agents. No prizes may be used during this time to acquire a player even though all undrafted players are technically on waivers. Their salary is $5 like a normal free agent.

If an owner cannot attend the live auction, it is their responsibility to work with the commissioner to arrive at a solution. If they are unable or unwilling to do so, their ownership stake may be rescinded.

At a minimum, a franchise must pick players at the necessary positions to fill out a starting lineup. There are no requirements to how a franchise chooses to acquire reserve players, but all starting lineup positions must be filled and accounted for at the conclusion of the auction. The following is the league's starting lineup, and a franchise must draft a minimum of these positions:

1 point guard (PG)

1 shooting guard (SG)

1 guard of either position (PG or SG)

1 small forward (SF)

1 power forward (PF)

1 forward of either position (SF or PF)

1 guard/forward (G/F)

1 forward/center (F/C)

1 power forward/center (PF/C)

1 center (C)

1 flex spot = any player of any position

There is no order that a team must adhere to in drafting these players, just that they have them at the auction's end. The Fantrax auction room will usually police this effectively, but if it is realized during or after the auction that a team does not meet this minimum criteria, their last winning bids, which should have met the missing criteria but didn't, will be waived from their team and the franchise owner will have to acquire the player(s) at the necessary positions.

[3.2 Salary Cap]

As explained above, each franchise will have 17 roster spots and must fill them all. At no time can a franchise have less than 17 players on its roster. Exceptions can be made, such as after a trade and the team now has 16 players and has a claim in for a player on the wavier wire. Each HAC franchise has $170 in which to fill out a roster, spending wisely to acquire players through the HAC Auction Draft and with re-signing players during the offseason. However, after the HAC Auction Draft, the hard salary cap rises to $200. This is to encourage trading leaguewide. That doesn't mean that each franchise automatically gets $200. Franchises may trade for temporary cap space up to $30 during the season and up to $10 in temporary cap in a single trade. There is no salary floor for any franchise.

If a franchise goes over the $200 hard cap, the owner has 24 hours from when it is brought to his attention to lower their cap figure, or they are subject to a luxury tax of 100 HAC Coins for every day they are over the $200 hard cap.

Each offseason, HAC franchises must make difficult decisions on re-signing players from their roster. When these are due, all temporary cap money is reset, and all teams go back to a $170 cap and the season calendar starts anew. There will be a Keeper Cap in the offseason of $100, and more information about this exists in Section 5.1 "Keeper Overview". No team may have player salaries that total more than $100 after re-signings are due. Players granted Restricted Free Agency do not count towards that $100 cap. This is covered in Section 5.3 ("Restricted Free Agency").

Releasing a player on a guaranteed contract (GC) will incur a penalty on a franchise's salary cap, depending on how many years that contract is set to run for.

These are the cap penalties for releasing a player on a GC:

• 100% in the 1st year
• 50% in the 2nd year
• 25% in the 3rd year
• 10% in the 4th year
• Penalties will round up. So, in the event a player is released who has a $9 salary on a two year GC, the franchise will be assessed a $9 hit on their cap in that first year of the contract. In the second year, they would be assessed an $5 hit ($9 x 50% = $4.50).
• The smallest cap penalty is $1. So, if a $2 player is cut in the first year of a 4 year GC, the penalties would be $2 for the first year, then $1 for the second, $1 for the third and then $1 for the fourth and final year of the GC.

[3.3 Free Agency and Waiver Wire]

NBA players who are not drafted by an HAC franchise then become free agents. Immediately after the draft, all free agents are on waivers for 48 hours. This is to allow all league owners time to review the free agent list and make a claim on a player if they would like. No prizes may be used during this time to acquire a player even though all undrafted players are technically on waivers. Their salary is $5 like a normal free agent. After this period though, the minimum bid for a player on waivers is $1. HAC franchises have a season transaction limit of 50 free agent and waiver signings which includes the postseason. This transaction limit does not include trades. While this would likely never happen in HAC, this is simply to close a loophole and prevent a team from continuously "streaming" players from their roster (signing and releasing players repeatedly) to gain an edge in games played or to prevent other teams from adding a player to their team for 48 hours. The minimum amount of time a player needs to be on a roster is for one night's games; that is every free agent's contract. After one night's games, the player can then be released to the waiver wire. However, if this minimum is not met, and a player is signed, then cut before staying on a roster for one night of games, the player will not go to the waiver wire. His status will be reversed to that of a normal free agent whose salary is $5 and the team which signed and cut him will be taxed one transaction.

All players acquired as free agents come with an automatic salary of $5 on a non-guaranteed contract. If a player contract (any kind of contract: guaranteed, non-guaranteed, option year) higher or lower than $5 is released, and clears waivers, a team that acquires the player as a free agent will get him at a salary of $5, and whatever contract the player was on is reset.

When a player is released from an HAC franchise, that player will go to the Waiver Wire for 48 hours. The minimum bid for a player on waivers is $1. Only players who have been released in the past 48 hours are on the waiver wire. In the HAC, a team's salary cap determines if a franchise has salary space to acquire free agents. All HAC franchises can submit a blind bid to acquire a player on waivers. The highest bid signs the player. If there is a tie, meaning, if two franchises bid the same amount, the team lower in the standings would be awarded the player.

The franchise that submits the highest bid for a player on the waiver wire will acquire that player, and the winning bid will become the player's new salary. In the event that a team goes below the salary cap because they released a high salaried player, they will have 24 hours to rectify the situation and meet the league's minimum salary cap of $140. If they do not meet this time limit, the commissioner will raise the salary of the most recently acquired player by the requisite dollar amount to bring the team to the minimum salary cap. If a signing brings a team over the salary cap, they will also have 24 hours to make the necessary transaction to get under that maximum. If they do not, they are subject to HAC coin penalties and other penalties that would make Chuck Norris cringe.

All teams in the Consolation Bracket may make transactions during the entire postseason.

[3.4 Trades]

Trading is allowed and encouraged in HAC, and may be conducted between any owner. The trade deadline is February 17 of every season.

There is a moratorium on trading during the HAC Auction. That moratorium is also active for a week before the HAC Auction so owners can prepare for the auction without any big changes in the league. However, trading can happen up to a week before the HAC Auction as well as immediately after. After the February trade deadline, there will be a league moratorium on trades until the end of the HAC season. After the season concludes and the league is renewed on Fantrax for the next season, trades may take place again.

Trades may include multiple players from any position, as well as temporary cap space and HAC Coins. A trade does not have to include one player on either side. For example, a trade can consist of a player only for HAC Coins to create cap space. However, something must be traded from both teams. There is a limit of $10 of temporary cap in any one trade. The team trading cap must have the available cap *before* the trade to send to the other team in the deal. There is no limit on how many HAC Coins that can be included in any one trade. Unbalanced trades (two players for one player) may occur. However, the team that is accepting more players must release the corresponding number of player on their roster in order to make sure their roster conforms to league roster requirements within 72 hours or confer with the league commissioner or the commissioner reserves the right to release the corresponding number of players from the roster to make the roster legal again. The players who have been acquired through free agency most recently will be released first. Hopefully it never comes to this, but if so, the offending owner's future ownership status will be reviewed.

[3.5 Trade Review]

There will be no trade review by owners not involved in a trade. The commissioner will review each trade that happens and generally, the trade will then be immediately processed after review. With trades involving one or more members of the executive committee, a trustworthy and objective owner not involved will be consulted about the trade. In very rare circumstances a trade will be taken to the executive committee for further review. More detailed information about this is in Section 3.5.2 ("Trade Vetoes”).

Repeated unfair and harassing trade offers are grounds for HAC ownership status to be revoked. Additionally, not responding to trade offers is as much of an offense as sending objecitvely one-sided trade offers to HAC owners.

[3.5.1 Trade Vetoes]

The executive committee reserves the right to reverse any trade that they deem inconsistent with league competition and fair-play standards. Admission into the HAC as an owner requires a level of trustworthiness which extends to trades. It is expected that collusion, the dirtiest word in fantasy sports, will never become an issue in the league. A veto will only be invoked in extreme cases where it is obvious that one owner is trying to give another owner an unfair advantage. It is not the commissioner's duty or desire to involve himself in an agreement made between two HAC owners. However, if a trade is considered to be very unbalanced by the executive committee, the owners in question will be asked to offer reasons why the trade should be allowed, and may be asked to rework the trade, but the decision of the executive committee is final once it has been rendered. If the trade involves a committee member, they may offer reasons for the trade to be allowed but will not have a say in the final committee decision. If the trade involves two members of the executive committee, another objective owner will be asked to confer with the other executive committee member on the trade.

[3.6 Starting Lineups]

Starting lineups in HAC will consist as follows:

1 point guard (PG)

1 shooting guard (SG)

1 guard of either position (PG or SG)

1 small forward (SF)

1 power forward (PF)

1 forward of either position (SF or PF)

1 guard/forward (G/F)

1 forward/center (F/C)

1 power forward/center (PF/C)

1 center (C)

1 flex/utility spot = any player of any position

Players may be added or removed from the starting lineup up until 5 minutes before the start of their individual NBA game. Once a player's NBA game begins, that player's status is locked into their lineup status. However, players who have not played yet can be traded, released or acquired through free agency as well as subbed in and out of a team’s starting lineup.

In addition, the league's Fantrax website will be the final determination of whether an owner can change his lineup. So, for an example like this:

F: F Larry Bird

Utility/Flex Player: F Julius Erving

After Bird's game starts, but before Erving's game, the owner decides he'd rather have a guard in his Utility Player spot. He would like to move Erving from the Utility spot to the required F spot, and remove Bird to put a guard in the Utility spot. For the sake of simplicity and to eliminate any need for confusion, this situation will not be allowed if the Fantrax website does not allow an owner to do this on his own. The commissioner will not manually change a lineup in this instance. However, HAC Coins can be spent to make a change to a roster after a game has started.

[3.7 Position Designations]

From time to time, Fantrax may change their designation of a particular player from one position to another or a player may seem to play multiple positions throughout a game. For example, a guard may be switched to a forward and vice versa. For the purposes of HAC, a player's designation by Fantrax will be deemed official; any disputed designations will be resolved by the executive committee. Players may only start and score points based on their HAC distinction. See the League Scoring section for scoring details (Section 4.0).

[3.8 Injured Reserve]

There are an unlimited amount of injured reserve (IR) spots on a roster, but they are not free. Every injury replacement player acquired as a free agent will count against a franchise's salary cap. In addition, the IR is for *injured* players. Players on suspension or a leave of absence like paternity leave are not injured; they must stay on the active roster.

We all agree that injuries stink. A franchise can use HAC Coins to pay for the $0 Injury Replacement Player prize which will allow an owner to acquire a free agent to be an injury replacement at a salary of $0.

[3.9 Inattentive Owner Penalties]

Every owner in the league is asked to be committed to the league as an active participant. All 12 owners are counting on each other to be competitive and make an effort to be active with communication on the league Facebook group and with trade offers. When an owner does not meet this standard, they let the entire league down.

It is each owner's responsibility to submit a valid lineup every day and no exceptions will be made. This is the absolute bare minimum duty of an owner in HAC. Hey, we all have busy lives and things to do, and we are all likely to miss a day here and there. It is an owner's responsibility to notify the commissioner regarding any long term absences and what arrangements will be made for their franchise. However, an owner's consistent inability to set his team's lineup will cause that owner's status in the league to be reviewed.

In addition, having an injured player in a team’s starting lineup for more than 48 hours is unacceptable. The commissioner will not adjust a franchise's roster even if players on the bench have games that night and can be put into the starting lineup. As soon as this happens, and is noticed by an executive committee member, it will be addressed by the commissioner with the offending owner as soon as possible.

[3.10 Active Ownership Requirements]

A frequent level of activity in some form, is an expectation, rather than a hope for an HAC franchise owner. As stated above, simply submitting a valid lineup is the bare minimum of an HAC owner's duties and doing this alone is not enough to ensure future ownership status in the league. After all, being that HAC is an online league, it survives on the active participation of its owners. This includes, but is not limited to, posting on the league's Facebook group, responding to owners when offered trades and improving a roster through free agency. However, if an owner cannot fulfill even the most basic duty of entering a valid lineup, what is the point of being in the league? Not doing this is an offense towards all owners in the league and the integrity of HAC. And thus, if an owner cannot comply with these requirements, their ownership status will be reviewed. If it is determined that an owner is not contributing to the league in a meaningful way, it is likely their ownership will be revoked.

Each owner is expected to actively manage their team week to week for the entire season, even if they are eliminated from playoff consideration.

The penalties for starting an injured player or not starting a player who should be in a lineup described in Section 3.9 ("Inattentive Owner Penalties") are important to insure the integrity of the HAC and that the league has owners who care about the league and want to be active in it. If an owner has been guilty of inactivity and of an offense described in the previous section more than once, the executive committee will have the right to assume control of the team and manage it for the rest of the season. An executive committee run team may make trades and can add or release players when needed in the aim of improving the roster and maintaining the league's level of competitiveness.

Having an ownership stake in a franchise in HAC requires a level of trustworthiness which extends far beyond fantasy basketball. HAC owners are held to a standard where fair play and camaraderie come before wins and losses. If an owner does not respect this, then they likely will not be invited back into the league as an owner for the following season, and their franchise will be awarded to a prospective owner who better embodies this credo. This will be judged on a case by case basis.

In addition, HAC is an online league, and unfortunately, because of distance, owners can't get together in person to exchange banter and hang out together. Therefore, a presence in the league's Facebook group is essential for an owner in the HAC. If an owner is unable or unwilling to participate in this meager expectation, then their ownership status will be reviewed by the HAC’s executive committee on a case by case basis.

[3.11 Anti-Tanking Provision]

The HAC is a competitive league, created for the league owners to have fun, first and foremost, while sharing a bond playing fantasy basketball. While the competition may be fierce, this is not considered a cut-throat league, and a spirit of camaraderie is vital. As such, there is no franchise fee for an owner to pay outside of a meager one to operate the league on Fantrax, and it is hard to envision any kind of significant franchise fee in the future. This is to ensure that there is no serious money is on the line. In the spirit of competition and league fairness, owners are not allowed to intentionally create a legal starting lineup that gives the opposing team, or another team, a clear advantage. This could conceivably come up during the final weeks when teams are fighting for playoff position. This is also a clear definition of collusion, and it will never be tolerated. The executive committee reserves the right to step in and adjust the starting lineup of a team that is clearly trying to intentionally lose a game. Examples of this would be leaving injured players in a starting lineup or benching players who are slated to play on the team's reserve roster that could easily be inserted into the starting lineup, or simply having no player in a position slot at all. Simply put, transactions (lineup decisions, trades and add/drops) must be conducted with the intent of improving the owner's team.

If the executive committee must adjust a team's lineup for this reason, and that team's owner has not given notice that they will be away or an emergency has arisen, that owner's status in the league will be reviewed for potential removal from the league. If needed, the executive committee would then assume ownership of the team. However, if the executive committee feels the need to adjust a team’s lineup for even several days, it is doubtful that the owner of that team will be invited back into the league the following season.

4.0 SCORING SYSTEM

Scoring in the HAC will be computed to one decimal place. This will allow points to be awarded or deducted for every positive or negative action and will dramatically reduce the chance of a tie game. If a tie occurs, the standings will show a tie for that week's game as Fantrax does not allow tiebreakers for regular season games. Players are awarded fantasy points for each day that they are included in the team's starting lineup.

HAC Player Scoring:

Field Goals Attempted (FGA) = -0.5 points each

Field Goals Made (FGM) = 1 point

Free Throws Attempted (FTA) = -0.75

Free Throws Made (FTM) = 1

3 Point Shots Attempted (3PTA) = -1

3 Point Shots Made (3PTM) = 2.857

Points Scored (PTS) = 1

Offensive Rebounds (OREB) = 1.5

Defensive Rebounds (DREB) = 1

Assists (AST) = 2

Steals (STL) = 3

Blocks (BLK) = 3

Turnovers = -2

[4.1 Point Totals and Final Scores]

The HAC will be hosted on Fantrax. Head to head scoring will be determined each week by the stats from that website. From time to time, the NBA may go back and change the scoring of certain plays later in the week. Fantrax will then reflect those scores, but it is expected that scoring issues will be resolved by Fantrax within 48 hours. Any scoring changes that come out from the NBA after that time will not be applied to the league.

As far as stat corrections for a player, the owner of the player is responsible for coming forward to state an error. However, if the commissioner notices it, he can make the scoring change while notifying both the player's owner as well as that team's opponent in the current week. After 48 hours, no change will be considered by the league.

5.0 OFFSEASON

Owners are expected to maintain their current contact information with the league commissioner as well as with Fantrax. During the offseason, the HAC Facebook group will still be in use as the league's main mode of communication and the league home on Fantrax will be active. Each owner should expect to be contacted during the offseason with information about next year's season. That could involve potential trades, re-signing players and general mischief.

Every offseason, the league commissioner will have to do a certain amount of housekeeping. This involves making necessary revisions to the league constitution, proofreading for mistakes and accounting for any rule changes adopted by the league. It also includes resetting franchise salary caps from any temporary cap traded during the previous season and awarding the necessary HAC coins as well as revising the language of those as well. Further, communicating with league owners is an essential part of the offseason and making sure that the league is in good shape as it goes on for another season. This entails listening to owner concerns regarding rules and anything else and taking the appropriate actions as needed.

The HAC keeper system, from the 2014 offseason when it began, to 2017, allowed owners to re-sign an unlimited amount of players from their roster in the previous season to one year, non-guaranteed contracts. This was predicated on draft position and owners would "pay" a cost two rounds higher than the player's previous season's draft value. During the 2016-17 season, HAC owners voted to overhaul the league's system and incorporate an auction draft. Salaries would then be brought into the equation and with that, signing players to long term contracts as well. The 2017 offseason was used as a bridge to bring the league from draft rounds to salaries. The 2018 offseason is officially the start of long term contracts into the league. And with that comes new offseason keeper rules.

• KEEPER CAP: Each franchise will have a cap of $100 in salaries to re-sign players.
  • There is no minimum cap for non-playoff teams. However, playoff teams must have a minimum of $25 in salaries re-signed for the next season.
• CONTRACT DURATION: The longest any player can be signed a contract for is four years.

[5.1 Keeper Overview]

The following is a system that took place officially in the 2018 offseason to become the league's official keeper system going forward. The 2018 offseason was the first where HAC franchise owners had complex decisions on whether to re-sign players for the long term future, rather than going year to year.

This subset of guidelines is for HAC franchises to be able to re-sign a number of their players from one season to the next. Each franchise will have a cap of $100 to re-sign players from the previous season. There is no minimum cap for non-playoff teams. However, playoff teams must have a minimum of $25 in salaries re-signed for the next season. Information on ways to re-sign players is in Section 5.2 ("Keeper Guidelines") below.

The HAC keeper system has always been predicated on a five year maximum for a player being able to remain as a keeper before being auction eligible and allowing other franchises the chance to acquire that player. Above all, parity is always strived for in the HAC. While the HAC is a keeper league, and franchises may keep any player that they want as long as they can afford him under the league keeper cap, the maximum length of time that a player can be retained by a franchise is four consecutive seasons. After the fourth consecutive season owning the rights of a player, that player will become an unrestricted free agent and auction-eligible in the next season's HAC Auction. However, a franchise could pay HAC coins to grant a player who has spent four years on a contract 4 Year Restricted Free Agency which would allow every other team the chance to acquire the player. This is further explained in Section 5.3 ("Restricted Free Agency").

The due date for each franchise to submit their offseason signings will be sometime in September. It will be clearly communicated to owners by the league commissioner well in advance. HAC Coins will be awarded to owners who submit their keepers earlier than the due date. In the offseason, if an owner releases a player and wants to bring them back, they will have to pay coins for the Back From the Dead prize. The price will increase depending on what stage of the offseason the league is in (pre RFA, post RFA, post keeper submission, etc.).

[5.2 Keeper Guidelines]

An owner will have a player's rights for one season on no contract after acquiring them either during the auction or through free agency or the waiver wire. After that first season, the owner will have to make a choice as to what kind of contract he wants to sign the player to. Again, contracts run, at most, four years in length. There are several choices the owner could make with regards to a player's status.

Guaranteed Contract (GC): Up to four years in length, this contract involves modest increases per season. However, if the player is released, the franchise will incur a penalty on their salary cap, depending on the length of the player's contract and salary. This is explained in Section 3.2 ("Salary Cap").

Non-Guaranteed Contract (NGC): Up to four years in length, this contract involves higher increases per season than the GC. The plus side is that the player can be released at any time with no obligation to the franchise. A franchise can switch an NGC to a GC or Option Year in the 2nd or 3rd year, but not the final (4th) year.

• If an owner signs a player to a 4th year NGC, it triggers a 5th year option for that player. That 5th year salary would be frozen at whatever the 4th year NGC salary was. The owner is under no obligation to keep the player for that 5th and final season. It is simply an incentive for choosing the 4th year NGC.

Option Year Contract (OPT): This is a one year non-guaranteed contract where the player's salary is frozen. However, after that one season, the player earns unrestricted free agency and becomes auction eligible again, available for any team to bid on him in the annual HAC Auction. Though, with HAC Coins, an owner can re-negotiate this contract and pay to offer a player a long term contract or one more Option Year. However, after a second Option Year contract, a player must go back into the league auction and their contract cannot be renegotiated.

Restricted Free Agency (RFA): Each franchise will be able to grant one player RFA at no cost. This player will not count towards that franchise's keeper cap. The RFA period will last for one week after keeper submissions. A franchise may offer multiple players RFA but at a cost of HAC Coins. More information is in Section 5.3 ("Restricted Free Agency").

With the Non-Guaranteed Contract (NGC) for a player, that player's cap figure would only affect the very next season, as there is no penalty to release that player. For a Guaranteed Contract (GC), however, this would affect the franchise's cap for the life of the contract. In years 2 or 3 of a non-guaranteed contract, an owner could switch to a guaranteed contract to lower the cost of the contract. However, if a player retires or leaves the NBA, and is in the middle of a GC, that owner can cut this player with no penalty. The owner can pay 90 coins for the Vagabond Voyager prize to retain the player's rights and this player will not add to the team's salary cap.

If a player of any contract type or salary is released, his new salary will be dependent on how much the winning bid is for him during waivers. If the player goes through waivers without a bid, he will become a free agent, and his new salary will be $5.

Releasing a player on a Guaranteed Contract:

The penalty for cutting a player that is on a guaranteed contract would be a salary cap hit depending on the player's salary and length of their contract. As stated in Section 3.2 ("Salary Cap"), these are the cap penalties for releasing a player on a GC:

• 100% in the 1st year
• 50% in the 2nd year
• 25% in the 3rd year
• 10% in the 4th year

For example, if a player with an $8 salary was signed to a three year guaranteed contract, the player's salaries for the next three seasons would be $9, $10 and $11. A team that released this player in the first year of the contract, at a $9 salary, would take a cap hit of that $9 in the first year (100% penalty), $5 in year two (50% penalty - $10 x 50% = $5) and then $3 in the final year of the contract (25% penalty - $11 x 25% = $3).

An owner may use HAC Coins to negotiate a buyout with the player that would substantially lessen this penalty. Or, for many more HAC Coins, simply tear up the contract with no penalty at all. Another option is to pay HAC Coins and deal with the normal cap hit, but in just one season. Refer to the HAC Coins page for more information on this.

These are the guidelines in per-year contract increases to sign a player.

GUARANTEED CONTRACT

Increase of salary per season

$1 to $10 salary = $1 increase

$11 to $20 salary = $2 increase

$21 to $30 salary = $3 increase

$31 to $40 salary = $4 increase

$41 to $50 salary = $5 increase

$51+ salary = $6 increase

NON-GUARANTEED CONTRACT

Increase of salary per season

$1 to $10 salary = $2 increase

$11 to $20 salary = $4 increase

$21 to $30 salary = $6 increase

$31 to $40 salary = $8 increase

$41 to $50 salary = $10 increase

$51+ salary = $12 increase

[5.3 Restricted Free Agency]

Restricted Free Agency (RFA) is an option for HAC owners to take advantage of to have more flexibility with their offseason moves. It is also a way for the league to have some activity in the offseason and create some excitement. Every team will have a chance to nominate one player as an RFA at no cost. A team does not have to participate in this, either by nominating a player or bidding on any nominated RFA players by other franchises. RFA will take place in the offseason after keepers have been submitted on the Fantrax league message board. Once a player is granted RFA by a team, that team commits to that player as a keeper if there are no bids on the player. Any player acquired or retained during the RFA process will not count against a franchise’s $100 keeper cap; they will only count against the overall $170 salary cap. And any player that is acquired during this process will be on a one year, non-guaranteed contract. A player acquired through or retained after RFA must be retained until after that year's league auction.

An owner can only grant a player RFA during a non-guaranteed contract or a player not on a contract that was acquired in the previous year’s auction or as a free agent. RFA is a way to re-sign a player back at a discount due to lack of interest from other teams, or maybe use as an alternative when an owner isn't completely sure about re-signing a player. An owner cannot grant a player RFA while on a guaranteed contract or Option Year. An owner can pay 80 HAC Coins to buy the right to offer RFA to an additional player.

Bids start at $1 more than the player's salary from the previous season. If no one bids on the player during RFA, the original team will retain that player at a discount based on the chart below. Other owners will have one week to bid on each RFA player. If, at the end of the week, there was a bid on a player higher than the starting RFA salary, then the original owner would have a choice: match the highest bid for the player, or let the player go to the high bidding franchise. Whether the original team retains the player after RFA or if the player is allowed to go to the highest bidding team, that player's contract status *will* reset on the new team.

These are the discounts that are available to a franchise that granted a player RFA but had no bids on that player.

• $2 to $5 = $1 off current salary
• $6 to $9 = $2 off current salary
• $10 to $15 = $3 off current salary
• $16 to $19 = $4 off current salary
• $20 to $29 = $5 off current salary
• $30 to $39 = $6 off current salary
• $40 to $49= $7 off current salary
• $50 plus = $8 off current salary

Another aspect of Restricted Free Agency is through the "4 Year RFA" option, purchased with HAC Coins. A franchise can spend HAC Coins to offer a player RFA who is at the end of his four year contract. No less service time under contract will qualify. It is a way of re-signing the player and preventing the player from entering the HAC Auction again. However, the player will still be exposed to the league.

RESTRICTED FREE AGENCY SETUP:

Franchise owners must submit their RFA players at the same time as their keepers. If there are many players that are granted RFA, the players will be staggered for bidding so that not every player is available for bidding at the same time. There will be a deadline for bids for each player and if an owner waits until the last day to bid on a player, that player's restricted free agency bidding timer will be reset for another 24 hours. This will continue until there are no bids in the last 24 hours. An owner who acquires a player through RFA with a high bid or retains a player because he got no bids does not have to sign a player to a contract. The owner simply acquires the rights to the player for another season much like how a player is acquired for one year in the auction.

Some other notes about Restricted Free Agency:

• Why choose RFA? - The draw of RFA is that a player may be able to be retained for another season at a discounted cost. If there are no bids for a player on RFA, the team that granted that player RFA will get the player back at a discount. This is the reward for taking the risk of granting a player RFA. The risk is exposing that player to other teams so that they may be able to bid on the player at a cost too high for the original team.
• What does RFA mean for a player and a team - If a franchise grants a player RFA, they have committed to retaining that player as a keeper if there are no bids for that player or they decide to match the highest bid. A player cannot be granted RFA and then be released into the general auction.
• How many times can a player be granted RFA? - A player can be granted RFA as many times as an owner wants to. If a player is nominated once as an RFA in one off-season, he can be nominated the next off-season too.
• What will a trade mean for RFA? - There are no restrictions on when a player can be traded after the RFA process.
• What is a player's starting RFA value? - The player’s starting RFA value would be $1 more than his current HAC salary.
• How does the bidding go? - Every other team would have the ability to bid on the player for one week once the RFA process starts.
• Matching the high RFA bid - The team that places the player on RFA would have to match, but not exceed, the highest bid if they want to retain the player.
• Compensation for losing a player in RFA - There is no automatic compensation for losing a player through RFA. That is part of the gamble with granting a player RFA - the player may get bid up too high for an owner's liking. There is an HAC Coins option where an owner can purchase “RFA Compensation” for 50 coins. An owner would purchase this *before* the RFA period with coins. With this purchase, the owner would get compensation of HAC Coins should the owner decide not to match the highest bid for that player. However, there would be no refund if the owner decides to match the high bid or the RFA player the owner nominated gets no bids, and the owner retains the player at a discount.
  • For a Level 1 player, the owner would get back 200 coins. Qualification: 3000 HAC season points OR 40 HAC ppg OR NBA All-Star.
  • For a Level 2 player, the owner would get back 150 coins. Qualification: 2000 HAC season points OR 30 HAC ppg.
  • Any other player qualifies as a Level 3 player; the owner would get back 100 coins.
• Is an RFA player a keeper? - A player acquired from a different team through RFA, or retained at a discount during RFA is not considered a keeper as that player would not be factored into a team's keeper cap. Therefore, no coin bonuses may be used like they would on a normal keeper, like to reduce a player's salary, for instance.

[5.4 Rule Changes]

As referenced in Section 1.3 ("Living Constitution"), the rules of this league may need to be amended in order to adjust to a changing league and to make the league more enjoyable for everyone involved. This league is nothing without tremendous owners as a part of it. Every owner in the league should feel welcome to closely examine the league constitution. For that reason, every rule is subject to change if a league owner brings up a rule to examine.

If an owner feels a rule should be changed in any way, that owner should bring the specific rule to the attention of the commissioner who may consult with the executive committee and review the rule and the suggestion of the owner. From there, if the commissioner agrees that the rule should be modified, it would be brought to the league owners. If a rule proposal has not been covered or has not been voted on previously and clarification is in order, a simple majority vote from the league owners will be needed to set the rule in stone. Otherwise, if a rule is being voted on in order to potentially change it, a 66.7% vote (8 out of 12 owners, in other words - two/thirds) is necessary to change a rule in the league constitution. All ideas from league owners will be gratefully accepted.

REVISED January 2020

HAC History of Rule Votes