2016-17 articles

Week 20 Flex Week Matchups

March 6, 2017

Week 20 flex week matchups have been updated on FleaFlicker! I posted what I thought they'd be earlier last week and I saw no reason to change them. So, copying and pasting my post about it.

Hickory High vs. The Greek Freak: the two division leaders face off.

Donkey Crankers vs. Phi Slamma Jamma: inter-divisional rivalry, and maybe a future playoff matchup?

Left Coast Gravity vs. Sacramento Oaks: This is the test for the Oaks, and they'll have to do it against a longstanding rival. Can they stage an enormous week for one final playoff push or will the Gravity finally eliminate them from playoff consideration?

Washington Spin vs. Durantula: Who will come out on top!? It could determine the 6th and final playoff position!

Halftime Hoopers vs .Bed, Bath and Biyombo: They are going to have to face off for three straight weeks in the Consolation Bracket round-robin. Let's get it on right away!

Latrell's Hub Caps vs. Detroit Bad Boys: Two owners who have been in the league since 2010 when it started. Another smackdown of many between these two!

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HAC Coins Have Been Updated

February 28, 2017

HAC Coins are updated!

Last time, I took the easy way out and only updated the Facebook posts. This time, I updated it with the current posts as well as standings up until last week. Let me know if you see anything awry.

This offseason, I'd like to ask you all about the status of coins and if you think they are too liberal or if awards need to be more expensive, less expensive or what. Well...I guess I'm asking now; please don't be shy in your critiques. Constructive criticism is always welcomed.

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HAC Trade Deadline Review

February 24, 2017

After some stops and starts by the lamebrained commissioner with when, exactly, the trade deadline actually was, ultimately, some of the very best players in James Harden and Steph Curry were traded. James Harden was even traded twice within one day!That alone created some attention and interest among owners.

Naturally, the league’s most active traders, Left Coast Gravity’s owner Glen, The Greek Freak’s owner Gary and Halftime Hoopers owner Stuart were predictably active with trade negotiations and offers flying around. Not only were Harden and Curry dealt, but Chris Paul was acquired by The Greek Freak, the Washington Spin traded for Damian Lillard, and arguably, one of the league’s best keepers, Jae Crowder and his dirt cheap 15th round value got dealt by the Gravity to the Hoopers. No other franchises completed a trade near the trade deadline. Still, reportedly there were negotiations held without success by contending teams like Hickory High and the Donkey Crankers, but neither team could come to agreements with any deal.

Langston Galloway was involved in an NBA trade this week in the DeMarcus Cousins deal, going to Sacramento, but he was also involved in an HAC trade too! The Gravity and Greek Freak completed a trade with Victor Oladipo, Steph Curry and Robin Lopez going to the Gravity. The Greek Freak got Chris Paul and Tristan Thompson, but the Gravity had to release a player to clear a roster spot and Galloway was the casualty.

Will any of these trades actually help the teams that were involved? That is a good question. There are only three weeks left in the regular season, and all four teams involved in trades are still alive for the postseason. Halftime Hoopers has the longest shot with a 5-12 record, currently, and with over 2,000 season points behind the 6th seed Washington Spin. Perhaps this is why they traded for Harden and then immediately flipped him for a spectacular keeper in Crowder and two other young players, Julius Randle and Marquese Chriss. The three other teams, Greek Freak, Gravity and Spin are all gearing up for the playoffs. The Spin has a less tenuous road than the Hoopers, but their hold on the 6th and final playoff spot is very far from certain. Their decision to trade Harden, one of the best players in the league, is a curious one, but they did land a standout in Lillard as well as two young players who could potentially be re-signed. So, it appears the Spin were trying to put one foot in the playoff race, and one foot out in already preparing for next year to get something for Harden, who would be exceedingly difficult to re-sign as he is on the second year of a Franchise Tag.

The Greek Freak trading one of the top five players in the league in Curry could be termed bizarre. However, it is not new for the Greek Freak owner to get restless and want to make a trade for the sake of it. Landing Chris Paul and Tristan Thompson were nice acquisitions, but to give up Victor Oladipo too is a steep cost. Left Coast Gravity is only about 400 season points behind the Freak, and their trades, acquiring Curry and Harden could very well make up that ground. The Greek Freak has pretty solid control over the 2nd seed with a 13-4 record while the Gravity is in the 5th spot now, at 10-7. The Gravity likely won’t make up three games with three to play, but while hard to believe, it wouldn’t be impossible for the Gravity to overtake Phi Slamma Jamma who at 12-5 are two games ahead with three to play.

Even though several important players were dealt, there were only three trades that took place right at the deadline!

THE TRADES:

The Greek Freak gets PG Chris Paul, PF/C Tristan Thompson

Left Coast Gravity gets PG Steph Curry, SG Victor Oladipo, C Robin Lopez

Left Coast Gravity gets PF/C Frank Kaminsky, SG/SF Nick Young, G James Harden

Halftime Hoopers gets F Jae Crowder, PF Julius Randle, PF Marquese Chriss

Halftime Hoopers gets PG Seth Curry, G James Harden

Washington Spin gets SG/SF Rodney Hood, PG Damian Lillard, C Jusuf Nurkic

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Frozen In Time Cost Reduction

February 23, 2017

I lowered the cost of the Frozen In Time award from 250 coins to 130. Here is the explanation of that award:

FROZEN IN TIME (130 coins): This will freeze a player's salary for one season, but the player will not become a free agent at season's end like an Option Year Contract. The player's keeper status will continue as before.

It didn't make a lot of sense since the Time Machine award, which has a bigger benefit, was just a little bit more expensive before. The Time Machine award allows an owner to reduce a player’s salary by 25%. There was little incentive to do the Frozen In Time. I'm hoping to tempt more owners this offseason to take advantage of this with the cheaper cost. And like with all trial and error, if it doesn't work out well...then I'll change it again on you bastards!

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Option Year Contract

February 1, 2017

So? Will there be any changes to the Option Year Contract going forward? In a brief word, no. That will be the same as it has been. C.J. McCollum, having a great year with Wesley's Hickory High, and a big reason for their great season is on an Option Year Contract right now. He will likely make big HAC bucks in next year's auction.

There are a couple of wrinkles, and I guarantee you I'll forget most of them unless they are written down or I'm asked, so I will try to do the former as much as I can. But, one key wrinkle is that if you sign a player to a non-guaranteed contract (NGC), that is fine. However, in the final year of a contract, or year 5 of ownership of a player, you cannot go from a NGC to an Option Year. The reason for that is pretty simple: you are not putting yourself out anymore for any risk.

What I mean by that is, before the final year of a contract, you can definitely switch from an NGC to an Option Year. The reason for that is because you might want to freeze the player's salary to conserve on cap space. But there is inherent risk in that because you will have to give up the player at season's end, and he may have had a great year and be worth more than what you would have paid to extend him another year on an NGC. So, the inherent risk is, it could be a bad decision doing that. The point is, there must be inherent risk to make the HAC League Office interested in a contract switch like that. If there is no inherent risk for the franchise owner, then it likely will not be allowed.

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Developmental Squad With College Players?

January 31, 2017

I suggested a developmental squad idea a while ago, but that was consisting of existing NBA players and didn't get much support. This is different in that it would *only* consist of college players. It seems that Fantrax has the top college players in their system, so it seems in theory, that this could work. Basically, what would happen is, we would have a 3-4 round regular style draft of college players. It could be difficult since many players are one and done, but I haven't thought in depth about this. I'd like to see if there is interest first and then I can. Please follow the below posts as more detailed explanations will likely follow.

UPDATE: This idea was voted down by HAC owners.

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More About Guaranteed Contracts

January 27, 2017

So, Zach Lowe inspired me to cover a portion of the Guaranteed Contract aspect that will come into the league this offseason for retaining players. There will be a four year maximum contract for all players. Even if a player has already been re-signed previously before being exposed to the draft, that player can be signed to a guaranteed contract that does not exceed four years combined from however long he's been re-signed to the fourth year in the future. For example, if a player has been re-signed once, he can be signed to at most, a 3 year guaranteed contract (1 season already re-signed, + 3 years in the future = 4 total). Hopefully that makes sense.

What about in a situation where you just signed a guy to a guaranteed contract and he gets a season ending injury before the season starts! Well...sorry. You decided to save money with the guaranteed contract which is a benefit and an injury is part of the risk. Had you gone with the non-guaranteed contract and spent more, which is a downside, the benefit is, if the player gets a season ending injury, he can always be released with no penalty.

Zach Lowe details how Monta Ellis of Durantula is struggling this season. But his NBA team, the Pacers, have him on the books for quite a while longer. And Ellis has a $11.7 million player option -- in 2018-19. Yowza. If you had an overpaid player who wasn't performing on a guaranteed contract, well, too bad. You could release the player and deal with a severe salary cap penalty for the life of the contract. Or pay HAC Coins to purchase the Buyout reward. But otherwise, too bad!

Oh, also, I am definitely going to be bringing a player option and team option wrinkle into the new keeper framework, but that is for another post.

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Restricted Free Agency

January 26, 2017

Restricted Free Agency is another, fairly straightforward wrinkle, that I’d like to bring into the league *after* the 2017-18 season, once salaries have been determined for players. Since we are more than a season away from it, it is not a pressing thing, but I wanted to bring it up, because I’m generally always brainstorming with HAC ideas.

Restricted Free Agency (RFA) is an option for HAC owners to take advantage of to have more flexibility with their offseason moves by naming one player as an RFA who would not count towards their keeper cap (to be determined). An owner does not have to participate in RFA, either by nominating a player or by bidding on any players. It is a way to re-sign a player back at a discount, or maybe use as an alternative when you aren’t completely sure about re-signing a player. RFA would be a two week process. You can only use RFA with a player under a non-guaranteed contract, or a player who has no contract yet, that was acquired in the previous year’s auction. A player in the last year of his contract or on a guaranteed contract cannot be granted RFA. An owner can use HAC Coins to buy the right to offer RFA to an additional player. Other owners would have two weeks to bid on the RFA players. If no other owner bid on a player, then the original owner would get the player back on a discount. If, at the end of RFA, 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.

While a player nominated as an RFA does not count towards a franchise’s keeper cap, by nominating the player, a franchise has committed to retaining the player in the event that the player does not receive any bids through the RFA period.

I am trying to figure out a system for RFA compensation, if you decide not to match a player because he got bid higher than you were willing to match. I am thinking that it will not be automatic. That is part of the gamble with granting a player RFA - he may get bid up too high for your liking. Rather, it will likely be an HAC Coins option where you can purchase something like “Restricted Free Agency Insurance”. You would purchase this with a certain number of coins. If you decide to not match the highest bid for that player, you would get a higher amount of HAC Coins back. The number of coins would depend on the quality of player that you lose, based on the previous season’s fantasy points. An elite player would net more coins, a less productive player would bring back less coins, but still more than the insurance cost. I’m working on this.

These are the rough figure discounts that an RFA player would get on his salary if no one bid on the player through the RFA period. They are rough, but I think they are pretty close to the final product.

$2 to $3 = -$1 off current salary

$4 to $5 = -$2 off current salary

$6 to $7 = $3 off current salary

$8 to $9 =$4 off current salary

$10 to $19 = -$5 off current salary

$20 to $29 = -$6 off current salary

$30 to $34 = -$7 off current salary

$35 to $39 = -$8 off current salary

$40 to $49= -$9 off current salary

$50 plus = -$10 off current salary

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One Month To League Trade Deadline

January 25, 2017

Prepare, you turkeys! Already this year, we've seen elite players like LeBron James and now Kawhi Leonard get traded, and other teams acquiring assets like HAC Coins and influential players on inexpensive contracts to hopefully retain for the future like Myles Turner. It'll be interesting what happens in the next month as the playoff picture gets clearer and teams try to position for a run at the HAC championship or to re-tool for the future.

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What the Hell is a Non-Guaranteed Contract?

January 21, 2017

I'll bet Stan Van Gundy wishes Josh Smith had a non-guaranteed contract!

First, I want to write, I'm going to keep posting stories everyday, a lot of times about the switch to the auction, and the new rules that will come from that, like contracts, the salary cap, things like that to demystify things for everyone as much as I can. And since I know you aren't all glued to Facebook all the time like Gary, Stuart and Glen and I, (why aren't you!), I'll some stuff multiple times, I bet.

Now, I went into the difference between the guaranteed contract (GC) and non-guaranteed contracts (NGC) several days ago, to try to explain what will happen with the new keeper system once we switch to an auction. Let's go back to that with a focus on the non-guaranteed contract.

Remember, the league voted for a maximum length of a four year contract, earlier this season. So, the most you could own a player before he is a free agent again is five seasons, counting the first year you own the player, after acquiring him through free agency or through the auction, where he does not yet have a contract. After that first season, you'll be able to re-sign the player or release him.

If you elect to re-sign him, you'll have to decide whether you want to sign him to a GC or NGC or an Option Year Contract. Now, a non-guaranteed contract carries with it many benefits.

• You only have to commit to one year (versus 2-4 with a GC) on your salary cap. No future years will be affected. It will be a year to year proposition with the player on an NGC.
• You can release the player at any time with no penalty. That's as opposed to a GC where there is a stiff penalty to release a player. I'm thinking that it will be a 50% penalty on the next year's salary, on top of having to eat the current year's cap space, to release a player on a GC. Basically, if the player has 3 years left on his GC (the most a player could have at any time), the penalties would be 50% of his salary the next year, 25% for the 2nd year and 10% for the 3rd year. What this means is that if a player's salary is going to be $20 the next year, which would be his 2nd year on a GC, a team's cap would be deducted by $10 - 50% penalty - to account for the penalty. I feel like I'll need to get into that more.
• Another benefit to a NGC is that the player can be switched to a GC in years 2 or 3. This could be in an effort to save money, as the NGC salary increases are twice as expensive as the GC. I'll post this below as a comment.

I'm not exactly sure if this is a benefit, but one tactic that could be used is that if a team isn't sure they want to re-sign any player, but has to meet the keeper cap floor, they can sign a player to an NGC in hopes of releasing him eventually or better, finding a trade partner that would find that NGC contract status attractive.

I'm sure I'll post more about this as time goes on to try to explain it more. Or when I think of other points to add to a non-guaranteed contract. But I hope that this is at least somewhat of a primer.

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The Curious Case of Deron Williams

January 20, 2017

Deron Williams was traded for the THIRD time this season in a trade that was completed just today, between The Greek Freak and Hickory High. In the deal, The Greek Freak acquired Williams while Hickory High got PF/C Serge Ibaka. This is interesting because, Wesley had only traded FOR Williams just two weeks ago, in a deal with Stuart and his Halftime Hoopers. To get Williams, Hickory High sent C Andrew Bogut and 35 HAC Coins packing. So, ultimately, Hickory trades one center (Bogut) for another (Ibaka) and basically paid 35 coins to do it.

But that isn't the entire story with Williams this year. After being drafted in the 7th round this season by Glen's Left Coast Gravity, Williams had to know that with his relatively high cost and being on the Gravity, there was a strong likelihood he'd be dealt. That happened back in November, when the Gravity and Halftime Hoopers completed a six player deal with Williams involved. The deal broke down with the Gravity getting PG Elfrid Payton (ORL), PG Ty Lawson (SAC) and PF/C Mason Plumlee (POR). The Hoopers picked up Williams, C Robin Lopez (CHI) and SG/SF Thabo Sefolosha (ATL).

Williams had that same 7th round value last season too after being selected in the 2015 HAC Draft by my Spin. However, there was no interest by the Spin to re-sign Williams, and Williams was happy to move on. But could Williams have forseen being traded three times in one year? There is still a month before the league's trade deadline and being on The Greek Freak almost assures you of a daily exercise of having to check to see if your locker has been cleaned out in case of a trade.

With the league moving to an auction next season, and Williams's current 7th round value translating to a $22 salary next year, it doesn't look likely that he will be retained by Greek Freak owner Gary (Gnj). However, Williams is having a good season this year, averaging 13.7 points per game and 7.1 assists per game. He also ranks 23rd among all point guards in the league with 875.8 points right now on the season. So in the event that he is not retained by The Freak, he will definitely be acquired by some HAC owner when his name gets called in the first ever HAC auction.

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Keeper Cap

January 20, 2017

How the hell are we going to be able to re-sign players in the offseason!? It will be a challenge with not only translating draft round value to HAC $$, but at least everyone will be playing by the same rules there. It will likely take a season to see the true ramifications about that. The best scenario would be starting off clean, but that isn't the most convenient for this league, I know.

So, how will you keep players? There has never been a maximum number of players that a team could re-sign in the offseason. And that has probably been a mistake by me. So, here are my thoughts going forward.

• There will be a keeper salary cap, and my first thought is a $75 figure. Keep in mind that the overall team salary cap would be $200. This is not absolutely set in stone; I may change this if I find it necessary.
• Also, I would like to make a keeper cap salary floor, where a playoff team would have to keep at least $25 of player salaries. A non-playoff team would not be held to that rule.

I would be curious to know how you all feel about these things.

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Guaranteed Contract: What is it?

January 19, 2017

I've written stuff about a "guaranteed contract" coming into play once the switch to auction happens next year. What on earth is that you ask! It is really quite simple. We have no contracts right now, and a pretty easy keeper system. However, in the offseason, we'll translate current value for players from draft rounds to auction dollars. Once that happens, you'll have to make a choice - do I want to retain that player?

One way to retain that player is a guaranteed contract. Another is a non-guaranteed contract, and a third is the Option Year Contract which you all know by now. There are other options too, but we'll get into that later. For now, the guaranteed contract means just that. As opposed to now, where you can cut a player willy nilly with no penalty, a guaranteed contract will incur a penalty. I haven't figured out exactly what that will be, but I'll do that hopefully soon. The benefit though, is that you can re-sign the player at a low cost.

This is on the Auction page that I made, but here it is again - the increases that you'd face with a guaranteed contract. You will also have to determine the length of the contract. With a guaranteed contract, it cannot be just a one year contract. You can do that with a non-guaranteed contract (I'll discuss that in a future post). Or an Option Year Contract.

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

Compare this with the increases with a non-guaranteed contract, where you can release a player anytime with no penalty.

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

As you can see, a guaranteed contract could save you precious dollars on your overall cap. However, with that comes a commitment for the future, up to four years. You will acquire a player during the auction, have the first year with the player at that price, and then in the first offseason of owning that player, you'll then have to decide whether to retain the player or release them. If you decide to sign them to a guaranteed contract, it will have to be a pre-determined length of up to four years. You can also sign a player to a non-guaranteed contract and switch that to a guaranteed contract in years 2 or 3. This may be a bit muddled, so if you have any questions, please don't be shy to ask. This is to promote discussion anyway, and I can always learn new things from points that you all bring up. I'm sure I'll bring this up again in the future anyway as we get closer to the offseason.

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Thoughts About the Fantrax Switch

January 17, 2017

Here's a thought about the switch to Fantrax. I'm not going to lie to you, it is kind of a selfish choice. But let me explain. I like FleaFlicker a great deal. But it is really good for a straight forward, draft league. Or other than that, a league whose main activity is say, a message board. That way, contracts, salaries, anything else can be concisely listed. Unfortunately with FleaFlicker, there is little to no customization. Though I'm hesitant to say that you get what you pay for, because I love that with FleaFlicker, every season in the league and every transaction is listed in an easy to see way.

Back to the point with Fantrax. From just a little bit of use, it is visually more appealing and there are more efficient ways for league communication (rather than another page on FleaFlicker for the message board). But maybe most importantly, is the room for customization, which is essential, in the switch to a league with an auction, contracts and salaries. With FleaFlicker it really couldn't be done easily, and it would have given me fits. It also wouldn't have been very easy for owners to look up a player's salary and their contract on the Google sites page in trade talks, for example. But with Fantrax, you'll be able to go to another team's page and easily see the contract and salary and know right then and there if you want to try to make a trade.

Also, the fact that we have a league and owners who will be around for a long while influenced my thinking. Because then I could ask to split the $80 Fantrax cost which then would come out to be less than $7 per person. Another thing I loved about Fantrax was their very easy to use auction software. Even more, was with a few emails with Fantrax customer service, they assured me that league transactions should be kept historically forever with the league, just like FleaFlicker. So, that all made me happy and optimistic. Hey, like everything in this league (and life too to a point), it is trial and error, and I should say it more, but I appreciate all of you being flexible and giving me leeway to screw up here and there, because it has happened, and it'll surely happen again...but hopefully not with Fantrax! Thankfully I'm pretty sure that you all won't rush the court on me.

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Hickory High's Great Season

January 16, 2017

It is time to give a well deserved shout out to Wesley and his Hickory High squad. I can't believe that this is Wes's fifth year in the league. And he's had some up and down years, though one spectacular season in 2013-14 when Hickory went 16-5 and made it all the way to the HAC Finals before losing. This season is shaping up to be another excellent season for the 10-2 Hickory High. a

And while Wes's competitiveness has never been an issue, he's never been, shall we say, very vocal on the message board or on Facebook. However, this year has been totally different. While Wes hasn't shown us his ravishing wit in too much detailed prose, he has bombed in on discussions quite a few times and it has always been a welcomed sight. So, good show to Wes for having the best record in the league right now, but just as importantly, contributing to the HAC community. Because if everyone was silent, it would just be a faceless, voiceless group, and no one wants that. This year's Hickory squad is a team Jimmy Chitwood would want to be a part of!

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Two Trades To Announce

January 5, 2017

The new year arrived days ago, and I need to get back into my habit of HAC announcements! It'll take a while, but I'll get there, I promise.

We have TWO trades that have happened just in the last week!

FIRST TRADE:

Halftime Hoopers trade Rudy Gay to Left Coast Gravity for Rajon Rondo

SECOND TRADE:

Phi Slamma Jamma trades Nerlens Noel, John Henson and 50 HAC Coins to Halftime Hoopers for Ryan Anderson, Dirk Nowitzki and Klay Thompson.

Some interesting moves in the HAC as Mark's Phi Slamma squad looks to make a move in the standings.

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Spotlight on Phi Slamma Jamma's Improvement

December 20, 2016

It should be noted how much Mark and his Phi Slamma Jamma squad has improved over the years. Though that would make it seem like they were ever an easy team to play. That couldn't be further from the truth; they have always been competitive, even from their first year in the league, in 2013-14. Can you believe it has been that long?

However, in Mark's first season in the league, while he was competitive, Phi Slamma Jamma didn't threaten for a playoff berth, going 8-13. That changed in 2014-15, their second season, as they got the 6th and final seed for the playoffs with an 11-9 regular season, but suffered a first round exit. Last year was tough with a 7-13 record.

But all of a sudden, even though the team has a 4-4 record, Phi Slamma Jamma also sports the 2nd highest total of season points in the league, and just 300 points behind league leader Hickory High. Phi Slamma Jamma has never been higher than 6th in season points before this year.

Landing an additional first round pick besides their own was a great move, and now they have DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis to anchor their squad this season. To augment that, they have impressive players on cheap contracts like Phoenix Suns teammates Devin Booker (12th round value) and T.J. Warren (13th round value). Not only that, but Mark has made quite a few trades, wheeling and dealing to acquire point guards Isaiah Thomas and Reggie Jackson as well as a preseason trade to acquire a 4th round pick that turned into Jabari Parker.

Early signs are positive that Phi Slamma Jamma will not only eclipse their best franchise record of 11-9, but also threaten for a division title for the first time in franchise history. Good job, Mark!

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How An Auction Can Be Relatively Easy

December 6, 2016

Here’s the thing - we have a great group of owners right now in the HAC. That is my very biased opinion. And with that alone, we can pull off an auction and I’m here to tell you how.

Back in 2010, when I decided to form High Above Courtside, the idea was expediency. I wasn’t sure if I was a big enough NBA fan anymore to stick with fantasy basketball. Because of this, I decided a slow draft was the best way to do this, and while it was a good idea in theory, in more than one season, the draft process burned me out. That isn’t a direct reason why I wanted to move the league to an auction, but it is one component.

I’m pretty sure I’m not as big of an NBA fan as I was ten years ago, but I still love the sport. I think the auction could change that for me personally, but I think we have the ownership group where it could positively change the experience for others too. Let me expound on this.

Over ten years ago, in 2003, I decided to form another league, called the FNBA - The Fake NBA, standing for Nefarious Brilliant Aristocracy. Don’t judge - I was a lot younger and equally as unimaginative with creative names as I am now! The Greek Freak owner Gary and Sacramento Oaks owner Mike were both in this league. Because of a fantasy baseball league I was in at the time that also employed an auction, I had the grand goal to make it an auction league with contracts and salaries. And guess what - with an inferior group of owners (not counting Gary or Mike!), it worked. And in an AOL chat room, no less.

For three seasons, the casual FNBA was able to pull off a live auction quite easily each year. I think with the size of the rosters being smaller than in baseball, any errors in the auction could be corrected during the season by active owners. Now, in 2016, with maybe a more thoughtful approach to the ownership group, and more options with a live auction, several of which were brought up to me by Glen, Stuart and Gary, I think a successful auction could be even easier to produce.

The options that Glen, Stuart and Gary brought up were having the auction take place in an ESPN or Yahoo auction room. There, the entire player list would be available to everyone as would every team’s budget and roster. The only rub here is that I would have to make a temporary league on one of those sites and input everyone’s keepers. That probably won’t take that long. However, the other option, and the one that I’m leaning with more is moving the league to Fantrax. At less than $7 per person, I feel like this is manageable, and it would allow for so much more flexibility and ease of use for every owner.

I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts on an auction, and I’m sure I’ll ramble on and on about them soon enough. I would like to personally contact every owner just to get their feelings on it. I think this is a better strategy than to schedule mock auctions at difficult times. I know everyone has a busy life and to set aside time can be a difficult request. So prepare to hear from me eventually to talk about things with the league, your concerns, things that could be improved, things you like, and, of course, your thoughts about the auction.

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Sacramento Oaks Start Season 0-5

December 3, 2016

2012 HAC Champion Sacramento Oaks are now 0-5 on the verge of going 0-6 to start the 2016-17 season. This, from a franchise who went 16-4 last season, and 46-15 over the past three seasons including last year.

Oaks Owner/GM Michael Koeth gave franchise cornerstone Stephen Curry a big raise, by giving up his first and eighth round picks. Kemba Walker, Paul Millsap and Paul George are all struggling to varying degrees. Curry ranks just 12th in season points scoring currently with 779.5. Walker, who cost a 4th round pick, ranks 18th among all scorers with 727.5 points. Millsap has posted just 579.3 points, 40th in the league. The real culprit has been Paul George. While George is at a bargain cost at the 6th round, he hasn't been pulling his weight as an elite player in an injury plagued season. Injuries seem to be a consistent theme with the Oaks this season, from George to George Hill, Millsap, Tyreke Evans and Kelly Olynyk.

Can the Oaks right the ship? Currently, Sacramento is 360 points behind the Donkey Crankers, and the Crankers don't usually give up those kinds of leads easily once the weekend starts. So, once next week starts, the Oaks will have 14 weeks to go on a winning streak.

Mock Auctions

November 25, 2016

My goal with the mock auctions is to try to get everyone involved to answer questions and get the basic pace down...only if people want to. There is never any pressure to do one. I'll do a fair amount of pestering, but I'm not going to go out of my way. I'll schedule a bunch of mock auctions, but if the same couple of people are willing to do each one, that doesn't really help my goal. And that is to de-mystify the auction process.

If in the end, it doesn't work out, and we stick with a regular draft, that's fine. However, I would like to know one way or another, sooner rather than later, for myself in being able to go forward with the framework of the league in terms of keepers, the draft process and a lot of things that it entails. And for other owners so that they can make plans for the long term of their franchise, because that is also my goal for the HAC: that this league will be around for however long the majority of the outstanding owners in this league want it.

Yet another goal? To continue to make this league better all the time. And I confess, as I've written a couple of times, yesterday being one, I've been remiss in the organization and administration of this league, and it has been unacceptable to me. Like I wrote yesterday, I'm grateful you all have been tolerant of that. And having the same basic framework of the league is also a goal so that all owners know what to expect. While little changes to continue to make the league fresh, unique and exciting is also important to me, I don't want to continue to change fundamental parts of the league. So, I will work hard in the next couple of months to do what I should have been doing for the past 2-3 seasons and make sure the fundamental rules are ironed out. I can't wait to keep going on the HAC journey of a bun toastin', rump roastin', kick ass fantasy basketball league. Thank you guys for doing it with me.

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Halftime Hoopers With Top Overall Pick

October 13, 2016

The Halftime Hoopers have come into the league as a new franchise, and owner Stuart has already made his mark. Among many big moves this offseason for the Hoopers has been the biggest move by any team, which was the acquisition of the top overall pick in the 2016 HAC Draft.

The first significant transaction the Hoopers made was re-signing young swingman Justise Winslow and forward Al-Farouq Aminu who helped re-energize his pro basketball career. Both players could form the core of the Hoopers going forward in their new existence as both players are on very team friendly contracts. Winslow has an 11th round value while Aminu will cost the team just a 13th round pick.

Next, among the four trades completed this offseason, the Hoopers were amazingly involved in two of them! One was with Left Coast Gravity and owner/GM Glen which transferred the first overall pick in the draft. It cost the Hoopers a fair amount, including guard Reggie Jackson, but the first pick will certainly be an enormous part of the core of the new Hoopers franchise.

Stuart gets to basically start from a blank slate and design his franchise the way he wants to. It was probably a very good idea to not re-sign many of the players on the roster that he had inherited. Not having many players on the roster didn’t stop Stuart from making trades, that’s for sure! But being able to draft most of the roster, it will have the fingerprints of Stuart and no one else, and I think that, for me, this was probably the most important thing that Stuart has done so far.

So, who will it be? I also like Stuart’s decision to keep his first pick a secret! He has given no hints and has left his rival owners wondering. There are so many great options: LeBron, John Wall, Chris Paul, Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins. The list goes on and on. Any of these players will be a great first face of the Halftime Hoopers franchise. Get the press conference ready to announce the first pick in the draft! The suspense is coming to an end soon!

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