The Detroit Bad Boys Playoff Quest

March 17, 2014

The final week of the HAC regular season is upon us and there is still a race for the sixth and final playoff spot. Three teams have 10-10 records, but one of those teams - Nate's Donkey Crankers - look safe as a playoff team. However, the other two - Wes' Long Shot and Christian's Durantula - have some risks. Detroit Bad Boys and owner David is one game behind with one week to play with a 9-11 record. The Bad Boys have more season points than both Long Shot and Durantula, but not the Donkey Crankers.

The biggest risk for Long Shot and Durantula is that they play each other this last week for the Walt Frazier Division title. So one of these teams has to lose. Detroit is playing the struggling Vegas Vicodins and obviously the Bad Boys must win. If the Bad Boys lose, it doesn’t matter what happens with the Frazier Division.

There is another interesting wrinkle in the Bad Boys' season points lead over Durantula and Long Shot. Detroit's lead is just a slim 100 points over Long Shot and 200 ahead of Durantula. So, not only do the Bad Boys have to defeat Vegas this week, but they also need to outscore Long Shot and Durantula at the same time!

I'm not sure anyone in the league expected David's Bad Boys to be in this position earlier in the season after starting the season 3-6. By week 16, they were almost an afterthought in the standings with a 6-10 record. A funny thing happened though. In the past four weeks, they've gone 3-1 and have put up a bunch of points along the way, scoring over 1,270 points in every week but one. Anything can happen in the HAC.

But can the Bad Boys overtake one of these three teams? You won’t have to wait long to find out, because by Sunday, it will all become clear.

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Trade Deadline Flurry

March 7, 2014

Hickory High owner Wes may have thought the trade deadline lacked excitement, but it seemed to me that many owners were talking trades. Three deals were made in the last hours before the trade deadline. It was a big difference from last season when not many trades happened. I think another indication is that four message board posts were made by owners, and Wes’ own trade deadline message board post generated 25 replies which was great to see.

The greatest thing to see was that even owners who had resigned themselves to looking forward to the Consolation Bracket were still active in the trade market. Gary’s Vegas Vicodins, always the most active with trades, was involved in all three of the last minute trade deadline deals. Phi Slamma Jamma, also looking towards the future, was also active as owner Mark acquired F/C Taj Gibson with an eye towards the future and Gibson’s terrific 13th round current value.

But, of course, owners looking for a playoff push were involved too. Hickory High was arguably the most active of these teams and backed up their big trade talk by acquiring G Russell Westbrook who, last year, was a first round draft selection by Washington Spin. This year, he has 4th round value and will surely be a big addition. And he better be as Hickory High sent a big third round draft pick to Vegas for Westbrook. Washington Spin also helped themselves with depth in picking up F/C Andray Blatche and swingman G/F Kyle Korver, also from Vegas. Time will tell if these moves will make a difference, but after losing the Stockton Division lead, Hickory knew they had to make an impactful move. Only one game behind (for now), Hickory could still reclaim the top spot.

Granted, the last trade made before these last three was on February 23 where The Big Deng Theory sent a 4th round draft pick for next season, G/F Jimmy Butler and F/C Enes Kanter to Phi Slamma Jamma for a 10th rounder, G Deron Williams and G/F Rudy Gay. But this trade brough Rudy Gay and Chardonnay back to owner Ken and his Big Deng Theory.

Deron Williams sparks up another trend in that Williams was also dealt ten days earlier, on February 13, from Left Coast Gravity to Phi Slamma. This also happened to Kyle Korver who was actually traded twice in one day, on trade deadline day, from Phi Slamma to Vegas, and then on to Washington Spin. With Williams, and his 2nd round value, it looks highly likely that he will be an unrestricted free agent in next year’s draft, hoping for a big role with a new team. Anything is possible though, and with the new possibility, though expensive, of giving an option year to high draft picks, maybe Big Deng Theory will keep Williams if he helps the team down the stretch?

Over the past month before the trade deadline, there were eight trades completed. This is more than twice the total of all of last season’s trades! I don’t know if that has to do with the fact that being able to trade next year’s draft picks or that three active owners were brought into the HAC association or something else. Certainly both of those reasons are part of it. The keeper aspect has to be pointed to as another big reason, as the Taj Gibson deadline deal likely would not have happened last season. Of course, Phi Slamma Jamma’s Mark wasn’t in HAC last season either. Thank heavens for the fantastic HAC active owners.

There were a few teams who were definitely talking trade but ultimately did not get anything done. Long Shot Wes as well as Glen’s Left Coast Gravity were talking to teams a lot. Latrell’s Hub Caps, the most active 2-16 team ever, was peddling Damian Lillard but couldn’t find a taker. Also, Durantula’s Christian was very open to talking trade too. Washington Spin had floated Kyrie Irving’s name around to a few teams, but ultimately decided to keep him in the nation’s capital after acquiring him from the Vegas Vicodins in an earlier season trade. Maybe Washington’s front office felt that at one time they felt strongly that Irving could catapult them to a championship, and that a trade of Irving would admit that it was a mistake?

Either way, at least from this writer, it seems that the HAC trade deadline was a rousing success with many teams involved with wildly varying intentions. Some teams wanted to strengthen their roster for a championship run like Hickory High’s acquisition of Westbrook. Other franchises were looking towards next season such as with Phi Slamma Jamma’s pickup of Taj Gibson. Still other teams’ silence during the deadline might have been a focus on keeping their team as competitive as possible for the Consolation Bracket to try to get that #1 overall pick in the 2014 HAC Draft. Latrell’s Hub Caps owner Erik was asking a lot in return for Lillard, as he should have, and with his recent post on the message board, wasn’t all that disappointed that a Lillard trade couldn’t happen. The Hub Caps are ready for the postseason...and with just two and a half weeks left, other teams better get ready soon now that the trade deadline flurry is over!

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Your Team is Struggling? So What?

March 3, 2014

If your team is struggling, and you don’t have confidence your squad has the horses to make the HAC Playoffs, you might be eagerly anticipating the postseason, where your franchise has the opportunity to play for the #1 overall pick in the 2014-15 HAC Draft. Thing is, the offseason has a lot to offer your franchise as well. Maybe you don’t have very many keeper-worthy players? Your guys have not been pulling their weight? That’s ok...don’t just hand them an expensive contract extension to bring them back next year at a price they may not deserve. Instead, use what other options are available for your franchise in this year’s offseason.

For example, there will be Restricted Free Agency. You can choose one player on your team to offer RFA to at his current value. Every other team will get a chance to bid on this player, but if he gets no bids, you could get this player back at a discount. Thing is, if another team bids the player up, you’ll have the difficult choice of whether to match that high bid, or let the player go with no compensation. This will likely deserve its own article eventually, but there isn’t all that much more to explain.

Or, what about an Option Year contract? You can retain any player on your team (except for 1st or 2nd round draft choices) for one more season at his current value. The catch is that this is a one year extension, and after that, the player is an unrestricted free agent and would go back into the draft.

Even if your team is doing quite well, you’ll likely want to take advantage of some of these options. And there are also going to be league prizes for achievements. What if a team doesn’t make the playoffs, but had more season points scored than the #6 seed? They’ll likely get a reward for a good season. What about a team that struggled during the season, but kept active, tried to make trades and free agent acquisitions, but it just didn’t work out? This owner is a very valued member of the league and deserves a reward for putting in the time and effort.

What are these prizes you’re asking? Well, they range from pretty small, but still valuable, such as a Free Agent Coupon. This is where a team could acquire a free agent, and the player would have a 16th round value, rather than a 12th round value. That is a sizeable discount for keeper purposes. Or, it could be something more helpful, such as a Hometown Discount. This is where a franchise could re-sign a player for a one round increase, rather than the normal two. The parameters of the prizes will likely change each season depending on the league’s economy, which means if a lot of prizes are handed out one offseason, and there are a lot of players re-signed very cheaply, few will be handed out the next offseason to try to keep inflation in check. And don’t worry, they won’t be given out like candy either. The owners that deserve and need them will get them. The ones that don’t, well, they may get something small as a door prize.

The prizes will be separated in significance. There is the Restricted Free Agency Multiplier which will allow an owner to grant an additional player restricted free agency, rather than just the normal one. This prize isn’t as significant though as the Bonus Contract. The “BC” will enable an owner to free a player’s value for up to four seasons. That is a big deal and won’t be given out lightly. However, the RFA Multiplier will be awarded to franchises more often.

Here are all of the prizes that I’m pretty certain to go with after the season:

Bonus contract - this contract can be used to freeze a player's value for up to four years.

Hometown Discount - this contract is used to increase a player's keeper value by just ONE round instead of the normal two.

Frozen In Time Contract - this will freeze a player's value for one season, but the player will not become a free agent at season's end like an Option Year Contract.

Free Agent Coupon - this can be used to acquire a free agent and affix a 16th round value on him.

Time Machine: Reduce a player’s draft status a round.

Restricted Free Agency compensation: If a player is bid on during RFA and not matched, the team losing the player will get an extra draft pick. Where that draft pick is will depend on the quality of player lost. This will be determined by the player’s season points scored the previous season.

RFA Multiplier: This award allows you to grant another player restricted free agency. Limit: one use per offseason.

Franchise Player Tag: This will enable you to keep a player drafted in Round 1 or 2 the previous season on an Option Year Contract.

Mercenary Player Option: This will give a team five extra free agent transactions during the season.

The Franchise Player Tag is a wildcard. Originally, I was set to give one to every team and allow them to use it once every three years. I still may do that, but I’m leaning more towards giving it out as a prize instead to make it more valuable.

Prizes will be able to be traded for less valuable ones. Most prizes will be a use-or-lose-it type deal. However, some prizes, like the RFA Multiplier probably won’t be, and can be saved for another offseason. Some prizes may be added and some may be subtracted year to year. Part of it will be based on how keepers are going and if the values of players are too high or low. Some of it will be based on the creative HAC owners and if they bring forth some good ideas for prizes in the future. But the prizes listed above are likely the ones that will be in place this offseason.

I will explain all of the prizes again right after the season. Prizes will be awarded This was meant more of a teaser than an official explanation of the prizes, but hopefully it did that as well. The prizes will be added into the constitution for future reference as well so you can go back to it at any time and see what a prize means. I’ll also add a message board post, with whatever website we ultimately use for the 2014-15 season, listing all of the league prizes as well so it will be easy to find there. This was meant to be an introduction to it so everyone knows what is coming so when it is brought up again, no one will be caught unaware and also know that they’ll have something to play for no matter where their team finishes.

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Contracts?

February 12, 2014

High Above Courtside owners, right now, the way the impending keeper system is set up, a player’s keeper value, or re-sign value, is a draft pick two rounds higher than where he was drafted last season. For example, if Hickory High wanted to retain Anderson Varejao, who was drafted in the 11th round, next season, Hickory High would “pay” his 9th round draft pick next year to keep Varejao.

However, I’ve been recently thinking about a contract system. Before this season, I wanted to have guaranteed and non-guaranteed contracts. With a guaranteed contract, it would be a one round increase to retain a player, and it would be a binding contract. Meaning, to release a player on a guaranteed contract, there’d be a penalty...which I hadn’t determined. A non-guaranteed contract would be a two-round draft pick increase to keep a player, but you could release the player without penalty at any time. I compromised with just the two-round increase, mainly for simplicity, but I may go back to guaranteed/non-guaranteed contracts.

The other thing I didn’t include was a time limit for how long you could retain a player. For example, in the event that a team makes a terrific draft pick, say like the Donkey Crankers with G/F Lance Stephenson. Stephenson was drafted in the 15th and last round of this year’s draft and is looking like a terrific young player. It would be a no-brainer for Nate to keep Stephenson, and theoretically, he could keep Stephenson for seven more seasons. That is a LOT. I was conflicted on an unlimited amount of time, or a limit of say, a four year contract to keep a player.

Part of my thought process on both rules was keeper imbalance. Eventually, teams like the Donkey Crankers will have players at keeper values much lower than their market value. This will create an imbalance and draft inflation. Four seasons is a very long time and the rebirth of the HAC is only in its second season. I want to be ambitious, and looking five years down the road is nice, but probably unnecessary.

I’m not sure what you all think of this, and there is still time to amend this before the offseason, but I wanted to get your opinions on it before I made a definite decision on it. So you all know, I am leaning on going back to my original thought about the guaranteed/non-guaranteed contracts because I think this year, with the owners we have, you guys can handle a more complicated keeper structure. I honestly wasn’t sure what would happen this year after last season. Not because anything bad happened, but between two AWOL owners that needed to be replaced, and then another good owner who decided he needed a year off, three new owners is a big change for a league.

Not only that, but I would love for a more involved, deeper keeper system, and most importantly, I think the all of the owners in this league, including the first year owners, can handle it. I think it will add for more twists and owners will have to take on more risks, such as with a guaranteed contract. I went for the more simple system of straight keepers, but with a price, before the season, because I didn’t know how this year would go, but this season has gone better than I could have hoped. And obviously, I hope you all feel the same (except for Erik and his Latrell’s Hub Caps!), because I hope you’ll all stay with the HAC for a long time.

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Before You Think About Next Season

February 11, 2014

As the regular season goes on, you may start thinking about next season. Should you start building for next year instead of going for the title this year? This is even more pointed with two recent trades taking place, one with LaMarcus Aldridge going from Phi Slamma Jamma to Big Deng Theory. If you decide to do that, fair enough. Before you do, think about this first. The draft order will be based on how teams do in the postseason *this* year. The six teams that do not make the HAC Playoffs will go into a Consolation Bracket. The winner of the bracket will get the #1 overall pick. So, this year’s performance is still important!

In years previous, the draft has always been at random. I almost hesitate to use “all years” as really, only last year should factor in to the modern inception of High Above Courtside. Still, the new system for determining the draft order has never been used before. However, with the advent of keepers coming into the league as well as other offseason activities, such as a potential idea of Restricted Free Agency, a system of fairness needs to come into play.

Fairness was also the idea behind no first or second round picks from the previous draft being keeper-eligible. Next year, the principle will stay the same on this, but will be modified slightly. I would like to see all teams have the opportunity to retain first or second round picks, but it will only be able to be done rarely. That is for another time though.

The point is, with the Consolation Bracket, every single team in the HAC has something to play for. If not an HAC Championship, then the #1 pick. The worst team in the league will not be gifted anything! It very well could be the case that a team that just barely misses the HAC Playoffs and goes into the Bracket could get the #1 pick. This is the HAC version of a draft lottery. For a bit of history, last year, the first Consolation Bracket in HAC’s history did feature the top two teams that did not make the HAC Playoffs, Hickory High and Left Coast Gravity with Hickory High emerging as the winner. Because of this, as a reward, Hickory High chose their draft position after league champion Vegas Vicodins chose theirs. As a result, Hickory was able to draft Kevin Durant with the first pick overall, and that has helped the team surge to an 11-4 record!

So, by virtue of that, it may even make sense for a team that is struggling and building for the future to actually make a trade that strengthens their team for this year AND the future. For example, maybe you are looking at your team and realistically can’t see a way into the playoffs. Well, a team that is in that position could trade a player who was a high draft choice who they cannot retain anyway to a contending team. In return, they could get a slightly lesser player but a draft pick as well.

That is just one possibility. Or, a team could have a player that was a high draft choice and simply hang on to the player in hopes that that player’s impending HAC free agency will inspire him to perform well in the Consolation Bracket and deliver the #1 pick.

Last year, the prize of being able to choose your draft position for winning the Consolation Bracket may not have been enough of an incentive for some teams to really fight it out in the Consolation Bracket. I’m hoping the incentive of the top picks will be, however. So, if you are thinking of being a seller at the trade deadline, think again...you may still have a lot to play for!

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Fork in the Road

February 6, 2014

Counting this week, there are seven regular season weeks before the postseason begins for all teams (the HAC Playoffs and the Consolation Bracket for non-playoff teams). That is a lot of time to fight for playoff position and in division races.

Still, with the league trade deadline coming in about a month, on March 6, it is time for a great many teams in the league too have to decide if they are going to be buyers or sellers and that will be very interesting to watch.

There have already been three huge trades which have seen quite a few NBA All-Stars change franchises. These trades have changed ownership of so many good players, the league’s owners have been forced to continually recheck the landscape of the league as my Washington Spin and Durantula seek to strengthen their squads. The Vegas Vicodins and their owner, Gary, has been behind two of these big trades as he firmly establishes his team as a seller, even though he is just outside of the playoff picture.

And there lies the risk of deciding to make trades. Vegas could still make the playoffs even though Gary has traded away the likes of Ricky Rubio, DeMarcus Cousins, Kyrie Irving and Bradley Beal. Still with a bunch of high draft picks in return along with Russell Westbrook, I don't think anyone could be more aggressive with their plans, no matter what they might be, than Gary.

Teams like Long Shot, Donkey Crankers, Durantula, Phi Slamma Jamma, Left Coast Gravity, The Big Deng Theory and Detroit Bad Boys are seemingly in the middle of the pack and need to make a decision. Go all in for this season to make the playoffs? Start thinking about next season and selling off assets? Or maybe the best of both worlds...try to get stronger for the playoff push and acquire solid keepers for the future?

I just named more than half of the league above who are in a good position to make a run for the HAC Playoffs, and that is why this is such a big deal; the league could change completely in one month! Durantula seems to have made the decision to go for it this year with the acquisition of Rubio, Bradley Beal and Evan Turner in one fell swoop from Vegas. Other teams’ intentions are a lot more difficult to figure out.

The one element that has and will continue to change the face of the HAC is keepers. Already more trades have happened this year than in three previous HAC seasons combined. Every trade but one that has happened this season has involved future draft picks. If that doesn't tell you that keepers have changed the game, nothing will.

So, who is on the trade block? Recently, not too many players have been publicly advertised, though Vegas has been pretty consistent in trying to unload some of his productive players. Left Coast Gravity has also trumpeted his eagerness to make a trade.

The time is coming for the trade deadline and that fork in the road is in the distance. It is only one month away! As Latrell’s Hub Caps seemingly fade from having any hope to recover from their 12 game losing streak to start the season, the focus then turns to the 11 other franchises in the league. Three (Washington Spin, Hickory High, Sacramento Oaks) already have 10 wins. There is no guarantee that these three teams will make the playoffs, but as each week goes by, it is increasingly likely. However, for the next three spots, there are eight other teams in the league that are quite alive for a playoff position. It should be an exciting race to the HAC Playoffs!

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Trade Negotiations and Decorum

February 3, 2014

I wanted to communicate to everyone about trade offers and interacting with them. I’ve experienced that much of the league simply does not respond to trade offers for quite some time. I wanted to address the fact that at least responding to the offer, even with a quick “no” or reject, is better than nothing.

Look, I get the fact that you might be happy with your team, and that is good! I get that it takes effort to look at the other team’s squad and try to make a counter-offer that might help address the other team’s needs as well as your own so the counter-offer makes some sense. I also understand that simply rejecting a trade offer or saying “no” is not fun to do, especially after an owner took time and effort to make a trade offer...even if it wasn’t a great offer! No one likes rejection. But being ignored is worse!

Think about it: if you are quick with trade negotiations, even if you never actually complete a trade, just the fact that you respond will make other owners come to you first for trade negotiations in the future. They’ll think, ‘hey, at least I get an answer from him, even if it takes a day or two.’ But more importantly, it is just considerate to at least respond to a trade offer. How you do that is your choice (email, text, simply hitting “reject” or “accept”), but at least respond. Responding to trade offers is just as much of being an owner in the HAC as setting your lineup. This is a purely online league, and interaction is pretty minimal. So, the few interactions that do happen are pretty important.

I probably wouldn’t have said anything if I was the only one that knew for certain that this was happening to. However, another owner has also said something about it, so I wanted to bring it to everyone’s attention. It is entirely possible that many in the league do not get email alerts from Yahoo when they get a trade offer. I get email alerts for everything: trade offers and when people post on the league message board. It helps me to feel more connected to the league and it ensures I won’t miss anything. I’m not saying anyone else has to do that, but at least activating e-mail alerts when you get a trade offer will ensure that you see offers. I’m pretty sure I would overlook a trade offer if I didn’t get that e-mail alert because Yahoo doesn’t make trade offers stand out.

The moral of this story (a.k.a. the synopsis here) is that if you don’t have e-mail alerts set up, I strongly suggest you do that. I promise it is easy to do and it won’t take long. I bet it takes less than a minute. Here it is:

• At the league home, go to the “My Team” tab and hover on it.
• Get the pull down menu and click on “Edit Team Info” (it should be the fourth option down).
• Scroll to the bottom of the screen to “Email Preferences”.
• The option, “Notify me of Fantasy Basketball events (pending trades, etc.) via email?” is what you want.
• Select “Yes”.
• The other option of “Notify me of Fantasy Basketball message board posts via email” is also something I’d suggest getting alerts for too.

So, that’s all there is to it! Make sure you never can use the excuse of “well, I didn’t see it!”. That’s akin to the dog eating your homework. You don’t want to miss out on an opportunity that would have helped your team in the long run, because there ARE owners who want to make trades! Notably among them, of all people, Erik, owner of the 1-13 Latrell’s Hub Caps is very quick to respond to trade offers. But Vegas Vicodins Gary and Glen of Left Coast Gravity deserves a ‘thank you’ as well because they are always very fast to respond to trade offers, no matter how their team is performing. Good work, guys!

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League Scoring Thoughts?

January 31, 2014

We are a little past midway through the 2013-14 HAC season, so my thoughts are like a 4th grader with a progress report. How are we doing? What do you think of the HAC scoring so far? Do you like it? Hate it? I tried to keep the scoring mostly identical from last season, and it seemed then that everyone was ok with it. Or am I not right in thinking everyone’s lack of feedback last season was agreement that the scoring was a good setup?

With regards to the scoring setup, I will be honest; last season I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted outside of a points-based, head-to-head scoring style. I looked at different setups of this type of scoring, and liked the one that I eventually picked for the HAC. Emphasis is given for steals and blocks which makes a guy like Hickory High’s Al-Farouq Aminu a worthwhile player to own in the HAC even though he averages just 7.3 points per game for the New Orleans Pelicans. In fact, he is owned by Hickory High who is a top team in the league.

Another example of a daily score is between two players, and I’ll take two from the Detroit Bad Boys on Friday night. Paul Millsap scored 39.25 points which is a really nice output. Millsap scored 12 points on 4 of 11 shooting. He went 4 of 7 from the free line, had 4 defensive rebounds, 4 assists and 6 steals. The 6 steals was huge since the scoring system gives three points for each steal. Millsap also had two blocks and three turnovers. All of those things Millsap got points for or had points deducted (field goal/free throw attempts and turnovers).

On the other hand, what about Jose Calderon, also of the Bad Boys. He scored 27 points on 6 of 14 shooting and 1 of 2 from the free throw line. He only went 1 of 6 from three point range which certain hurt his score. Calderon had one defensive rebound, 7 assists, 1 steal and 1 turnover.

What I can take from this is that a guy like Aminu is that he averages 7 rebounds, a steal and half a block. Those are pretty valuable in this scoring system. So, a guy like Aminu can put up 20-30 points per game and be a role player on his NBA team. Still, he ranks 36th currently in fantasy points scored by small forwards in the league, and that seems quite accurate.

Further, here are the top ten fantasy point scorers in the league: Durant, Love, Aldridge, Curry, LeBron, Griffin, Carmelo Anthony, John Wall, Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard. To me, that seems like a pretty accurate picture of the ten best overall players in the league right now. Some guys, like Chris Paul, aren’t there because of injury, but he is #14 overall. Still, there are some notables that poke holes in the theory that the scoring system is perfect which is why I am asking all of you for your opinions. For example:

Kyle Lowry of Left Coast Gravity is 12th overall in points scored.

DeAndre Jordan of the Donkey Crankers is 15th. Paul Millsap is 20th. Andre Drummond of the Donkey Crankers is 21st. I’m not sure Paul Millsap is the 20th best player in the league or that Drummond is the 21st best player, so this gives me pause.

Mostly, I see pretty good point totals that are fairly accurate, but it is obvious in some instances, the point totals are a little out of whack. Is it representative of good basketball? Can we deal with the strange outliers like Kyle Lowry as the 12th best point total in the effort to give players the best overall picture of their talents that matter for statistics? In fairness, Lowry is averaging over a steal and a half per game this year and just 2.2 turnovers against 7.6 assists per game. I think it also shows that if a player plays a lot of minutes and puts up a lot of statistics, they can score a lot of fantasy points. I don’t think this system is kind to a player like Long Shot’s Andrew Bogut. Bogut averages about 27 minutes per game, not a lot for a starter. He doesn’t score many points, but does get about 10 rebounds and 2 blocks per game. His field goal percentage is amazing at 64%, but he simply doesn’t put up a lot of numbers. A guy like Bogut would likely be more valuable in a roto or categories league where his field goal percentage is top notch.

What do you think of the scoring system? Does it make sense or could it use improvements?

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A Look Forward in the HAC

January 25, 2014

We’ve barely gotten halfway into this season yet, but I’m so excited for the future of the HAC that I wanted to take a look forward as to what is in store for the league. Is it too soon? Maybe....but there are so many things I’d like to do with the league, making it an in-depth league, while keeping it straight-forward and simple to follow. Not only that, but any rule that I consider to be worthy of adopting that would, in my opinion, be beneficial to the league, is not one that I would take lightly and even more importantly, I would communicate it to everyone first. For changes to rules, I’ll likely ask all of you on some things if they are significant enough. I want everyone to be aware of every rule and definitely to be ok with it before going forward. This league is nothing without all of you.

Injured Reserve! More Roster Spots!

One of those things that I’ve been thinking about a lot is certainly an injured reserve spot for next season, and probably another bench spot in addition to (at least) another starting lineup spot. I am not too interested in expansion for a good long while if ever, as we have a terrific group of owners now and I hope you all are willing to go forward with the HAC. But it seems that there are too many good NBA players on our free agent list. I’d like to change that, and I think with these changes, that’ll help thin out the free agent pool a lot without it being ridiculously thin.

There is a lot more regarding offseason additions with keepers that can happen such as a restricted free agency idea and other ways to make keepers and the offseason more interesting.

Keeping a 1st and/or 2nd Round Pick...Eventually

For example, I’d also like to make it where a franchise has an option to keep a first or second round pick if they want. It won’t happen this offseason partly because Phi Slamma Jamma has already released Derrick Rose, a player drafted with a first round pick, and Latrell’s Hub Caps is already thinking about trading away their players drafted in the first or second round because they cannot be kept, so it wouldn’t be fair to them. More to come on that, for sure. But it wouldn’t be cheap, and it wouldn’t be a possibility every season. Meaning, each franchise might have an opportunity to keep a 1st or 2nd round pick once every three years. I’m not even sure what you’d call something like that. Maybe the term “Franchise Tag” could be stolen from the NFL.

Restricted Free Agency, You Say?

Restricted Free Agency can be done this offseason, and I’m definitely thinking about it. With the new setup of postseason performance dictating where your draft position will be, everyone will know their draft position as soon as the postseason ends. So, a Restricted Free Agency idea could play into that.

For example, if someone wanted to put up Player A as a Restricted Free Agent who was drafted in the 8th round, pick #90, anyone with a pick with a higher slot than that could “bid” on that player. It would be a slow bid process that would take roughly two weeks. At the end, if a team bid their #82 overall pick for Player A, the original team would have the right to match (give up the draft pick closest to #82) or allow Player A to go to the high bidding team.

What is the benefit for an owner choosing to grant restricted free agency to a player? It seems like quite a risk to do it, if other teams can bid on one of your keepers. Well, if a player gets NO bids from any team at the end of two weeks, the player would be available to that team on a discount. Player A was an 8th round pick the year before. If Player A gets no bids, he would go back to his original team as a 9th round re-sign value. The year after that, Player A's re-sign value would be a 7th round pick. All players without a bid would get a one round discount on their previous year's draft round; that would be the reward for a team granting a player RFA status.

I’m curious what everyone thinks about this idea. I’m sure it could use some refinements, but it is one way I’d like to make the offseason more interesting AND give everyone more of a stake in their franchise.

Postseason Performance Will Dictate Draft Position Going Forward

More on the postseason performance dictating draft position. I hope everyone is aware of this. Now that keepers are being brought into the fold, it will be important not to have random draft orders anymore, but draft orders predicated on how a team finished the previous season. And as an incentive and reward for teams that did not make the HAC Playoffs, but get dumped into the Consolation Bracket, the winner of the three week long Bracket will get the #1 overall pick. It is a just reward for teams fighting all the way to the end of the season and remaining active in the league even though things may not have gone their way. The runner up in the Bracket will get the #2 pick, the 3rd place finisher will get #3 and so on until the team that comes in last (or 6th) in the Bracket gets the #6 draft position.

It will work in the same spirit for the HAC Playoffs too. For the two teams eliminated in the first round, they will play in a Race For 5th Place game and the winner will get the #7 pick, the loser, #8. The two teams who lose in the Semifinal round will play in a Race For 3rd Place game and the winner will get the #9 pick, the loser #10. The only place where the winner doesn’t get the higher pick is for the HAC Finals. The eventual league champion will get the #12 draft position, and the team who comes up short in the Finals will get #11. I hope this makes sense; if not, don’t be shy and ask a question! I hope that by now, you know how to reach me by text, Facebook, e-mail, and on the league home on Yahoo.

HAC Prizes!

Another thing that I want to start doing is giving out prizes that our applicable to the HAC for notable achievements by HAC franchise owners. Things like a frozen contract where a player would be frozen at the same re-sign value for a certain amount of time. These prizes wouldn’t be given out liberally, but I think it would make things interesting and also reward owners for their activity with league posts and interactions or with draft picks and free agent acquisitions.

New Hosting Website For Next Season: Fleaflicker

I know I’ve spoken about stability, yet have brought up moving the league to its fourth different hosting website next season. The thing is, I want to compile historical data somewhere for the league, such as all-time records, how long players have been with a team, things like that. I can do some of that on my own, though it is really time consuming. I have some of it here on the HAC Guide.

Here is what I’ve found from the several websites we’ve used for the league: ESPN is really user-friendly and they have a great app for iPhone and Android. Unfortunately, it is a deal breaker for me that any expanded league history, such as player point totals are gone after two seasons. It is a deal breaker especially since there are so many free choices that are great. Yahoo is ok, and they have an outstanding Android app, but like ESPN, only compiles very basic historical data, though it is better than ESPN. They at least keep all-time records such as winning and losing streaks which I appreciate. The thing is, it seems like Fleaflicker could be better than both. Right on a player page, it shows the player’s transaction history throughout his career. Not only that, but cycling between the current season and seasons in the past is incredibly easy. Also, there is no application to download like Yahoo and ESPN: their website is built to be able to be viewed on a desktop browser, tablet or phone. I’ve tested it out and the live scoring seems quite accurate. Finally, Fleaflicker keeps the league open all year long which fits in with more things that I want to do in the offseason (I promise, not that much) and they have the ability to organize slow drafts through e-mail through their site, which is attractive to me so I don’t have to organize it as much like this past season! Take a look yourself at fleaflicker.com.

So, I just wanted to update you all on my thought process and I hope you all are aboard going forward. You guys are what makes this league worthwhile for me to organize and enjoyable for me to do so. Like I wrote above, don’t be shy and ask a question if you have one...or a suggestion...or a concern! I hope that by now, you know how to reach me by text, Facebook, e-mail, and on the league home on Yahoo.

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New Year, Same Results?

January 16, 2014

2014 has started, so what can we expect in the HAC? All of the division races are very close still, and every team in the league has a realistic shot at the playoffs. Like last year, six teams will make it with the three division winners getting the first three seeds. For me, 2014 has already been full of learning the preferences of league owners as it seems more and more that the HAC is primed and ready to be a long-term league with keepers. That will certainly change the landscape of the league, but in my view, for the better. It will promote stability and long term ownership hopefully once owners have an identity with their franchise and players that they can retain for several seasons.

So, while I’ve learned some new things, such as the league needing at least one injured reserve spot next season, some things have stayed relatively the same. Latrell’s Hub Caps are who I first gravitate towards. As of press time, they still have not won a game, and have a historic (at least for the HAC) 11 game losing streak. At the same time though, never forget Latrell owner Erik guided his team to a spot in the HAC Finals last season before succumbing to the Vegas Vicodins.

And because of that and a host of other evidence, Erik is a tremendous owner with a long track record to support it, and he has already started looking to next season with regards to trades. He has completed two and likely will not stop until the trade deadline to better position himself for next season and beyond. This is the way to recover from a season that may not be going your way, and why Erik only makes this league better. When the team that is struggling the most in the league is leading the league in trade negotiations, things are looking good for a league.

The Sacramento Oaks started off 0-4, but now are suddenly 7-4 (add that together and you’ll get a current 7 game winning streak). The Oaks were in the HAC the first two years of its existence, then took a year off, but they are back now and making their presence felt, steadily rising up the standings and now find themselves with the fourth best overall record in the league. This week, the Oaks are battling a franchise in its first year in the HAC, Durantula. Durantula has done exceptionally well recently, going 5-1 in the past six weeks to recover from losing four games in their first five weeks in the league. All of a sudden, Durantula finds themselves in the sixth and final spot for the playoffs. But this is a big challenge, going against Mike’s Sacramento Oaks.

Vegas Vicodins, the defending HAC champion, is having a mid-season dry patch, going 2-4 over the past six weeks. However, if we’ve learned anything, it is never to count out Vegas Gary. He’ll use every one of his 40 player transactions, and will put up lots of points in the process. Thing is, Vegas has to worry about lots of teams like Durantula who is on their heels and historically consistent teams like Nate’s Donkey Crankers. The Crankers just won last week against Durantula after losing four in row. But they still find themselves in great shape to make a run for the playoffs. This was a team that last year, spent all season jockeying for the division title against Glen’s Left Coast Gravity and Wes’ Hickory High, just barely nosing them out in the last week of the season. That was a great race, and it just might happen again, though introducing a terrific owner like Mike with his Sacramento Oaks puts a wrench in that.

Speaking of Hickory High, they’ve had a terrific season so far, but are currently on a two game losing streak, with one of those coming against division rival Sacramento. Oh, and Left Coast Gravity? The franchise who came this close to winning the Dick Stockton Division title last year? You could dismiss them and say they’re in last place. But that wouldn’t be looking at the full picture. For one, the Gravity has the 8th most points scored, and are very close to Vegas for the 7th most points. Last week, they lost to Vegas by less than TEN points, and that wasn’t a fluke. Of their six losses on the year, the Gravity has lost two other games by fewer than 60 points and another by approximately 110 points. So, they have been right in a majority of their games, and once Deron Williams and Nikola Vucevic comes back, the Gravity are going to be a feared team that no one wants to play.

By the way, I am absolutely not set on the league name of High Above Courtside. It was something I thought of on a whim. The same goes for the division names. When I thought of High Above Courtside, I thought of radio and TV announcers who used to sit well above the court, but they don’t seem to as much anymore, as radio and television announcers seem to always be near the scorer’s table these days. I’m serious...if anyone has any better names, I’m always ready to hear!

It is fascinating how much I can write when I just set aside 20 minutes to only write about the league. You might not want me doing that too much! I’m sure I’ve missed a lot with what is going on currently with some teams. And I am pretty confident that you guys will add a lot of stuff. And that is just one reason I have to say...I simply love this league. I could spend 2 hours writing about this league. I wanted to re-start the league last season, kind of as a last minute brainstorm, and we started the season very late, missing the first five weeks of the season. Still, the guys in the league last season, took it in stride, and even with two dead teams for most of the season, we had a competitive year and more activity than I ever thought we’d have. Even guys who had some real bad luck and bad breaks, like Wes’ Long Shot were active all season long, and for that reason, Wes (both Wes’s actually), but Long Shot Wes has a spot in HAC for however long he wants. You can see last year’s standings here as a reference. I’m excited to see how a full season goes with an active league, which I think HAC has really become as opposed to past years. I’m really looking forward to going forward with the league, bringing in more things like keepers and building some history with the league. And I’m really happy all of you guys are in the league to participate with me!

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High Above Courtside 2013 Draft Talk

August 27, 2013