For our newest owners, and for a refresher for others, I wanted to touch on a general article about HAC Coins. And then, as the offseason beckons, I wanted to start covering each coin prize as I’ve added a bunch, and maybe not everyone has time to comb through them. And one question I came up with is - do coins only help the most active owners? After all, Chauncey Billups got prizes for his play - why can't HAC owners?It is a question that stuck out because I do not want any owner to feel behind the 8 ball and feel overwhelmed with things to read or feel like they cannot compete because the deck is stacked against them. The point of this is to have fun first, and also to add layers of competitiveness and in-depth management with your franchise - not to make you feel like you have to do homework like you were in 10th grade. And that is why I wanted to try to demystify the coins and the prizes available. Maybe that isn’t even needed with the wonderful group of owners that we have now, but I figure it can never hurt.The Coins were originally devised in 2014 as a replacement for a flawed system that was previously used to reward owners for season performance. It didn’t take into account Facebook activity because we weren’t really using Facebook then as a league. Thankfully, this Facebook group has really caught on and has increased league activity exponentially over the past few years. But before 2014, I liberally gave out end of season prizes that drastically altered the player market and gave deep discounts to some players. Coins were able to give me a check and balance and gave me a system to go by so that I wasn’t too liberal, but at the same time, allowing owners to help their teams.And I want coins to be able to do that, but the intention of coins has always been to have them be an add-on. Never should coins get in the way of actual team management. Coins should never drastically change player values. It is only meant to be an augment to team management, to be an incentive to already good management or to give an owner who is struggling some help. Whenever an owner feels that the coins are gaining too much importance and are taking the place of actual team management as the most important thing, then I want that person to tell me as the coins system will never be perfect. It will always be like a rubber band - adjusting constantly with push and pulls to get the right balance at a certain time. But that balance changes as player salaries fluctuate, and the the coin system needs to be reviewed periodically to make sure the prize amounts are fair but challenging to attain.

And to actually answer the question after four long paragraphs, objectively, I do not think coins only help the most active owners. Sure, you might look at owners like Stuart and Gary who are extremely active and posting a lot, and I hope these guys don’t mind me using them as examples. And Stu has obtained several prizes through coins, like adding $5 to his salary cap or adding five transactions to his limit for the season. And sure, Stu also lowered James Harden’s keeper salary, but don’t forget that it cost an expensive 450 coins and while Harden’s salary went to $29 this year, Stu’s options are limited with Harden since he is on an Option Year Contract. Gary, on the other hand, has hoarded coins, potentially to spend them this offseason and that is a different strategy. He’ll be able to *help* his team, but not necessarily *change* it because of coins. And that is the point of it all.

But what about two valuable, standout owners in the league who are integral, but don’t post as much? What about two teams in the HAC Playoffs, the team that tied for the best regular season record this year in Hickory High and a former two-time league champion, Donkey Crankers? Let’s look at Wes first. He has 227 coins and that is after he used 140 to bring back C.J. McCollum this offseason on a second Option Year Contract. He was also able to send over 100 coins out in three different trades as an incentive to other owners to make trades to help Hickory’s title hopes. Wes is going to get more coins depending on where he finishes in the playoffs, and that could allow him to purchase the Keeper Cap Zap at 300 coins which would allow him to prevent one player from counting against the keeper cap. Or maybe the Hometown Discount at 275 coins where he could re-sign a player at a 25% cut in their salary. Both of these are pretty valuable and they could help Wes keep a player he really likes. But it more than likely won’t change the landscape of the league or the power dynamic.

And what about Nate? Was he able to get any coins to help his Donkey Crankers even though he rarely posts on the HAC Facebook group? Well heck, he has more coins than Wes does and Nate has the least posts of any owner in the league. In fact, Nate has 418 coins right now, partly because he has rarely used them. If he gets to 500, which he could with the end of season bonus, he could obtain the holy grail of a prize - the Bonus Contract for 500 coins which would freeze a player’s salary for up to four seasons. Nate knows the power of this prize, as he was the beneficiary of it in years past before the coins system was adopted. A couple of his players, namely Jimmy Butler and Andre Drummond got tagged with Bonus Contracts which definitely helped the Crankers form great teams. But it wasn’t the only thing that helped as Nate has long made great decisions in the draft and with acquiring free agents.

With that, I think that the question - do coins only help the most active owners - would be answered as a conclusive “probably not”? Really, there is no definitive answer, which likely means that the coin system is working. Arguably, the two least active Facebook posters (though Wes and Nate are both very active in managing their teams), have tremendous teams and a significant amount of coins. Some of the more active owners in the league don’t have many more coins than Nate with over 400, and while some are the playoffs, none could put together more wins than Wes this season. It is every owner’s prerogative in how active they want to be in our Facebook group. Several owners choose to be very active, which helps the community and creates discussion. However, others choose not to be. Either way, posting a lot on Facebook is not the only way to acquire coins to help assist your team as Nate’s example shows. Being active and combing the free agents and making good acquisitions, whether it be a free agent or a trade, is always the best way to help your team.

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HAC Postseason First Week Review

March 13, 2018

In the first round of the HAC Playoffs, two teams survived to the semifinals to meet the top two seeds, #1 Hickory High and #2 Left Coast Gravity. #3 Halftime Hoopers thumped #6 Enter Glassman, 1655.2 - 996.7, while the #5 Donkey Crankers pulled off an upset against #4 Trust The Process, 1467.6 - 1347.1. Even though they were on a bye week, Hickory eclipsed 1600 points with 1606.5, and they will get the 5 HAC coin bonus for that. The Hoopers will as well, in addition to getting the high score of the week with 1656.7. The Gravity (1524.1) scored over 1500 points and will get the two coin bonus for their stellar week.

Looking ahead to the semifinals, here are the matchups:

#1 Hickory High vs. #5 Donkey Crankers

#2 Left Coast Gravity vs. #3 Halftime Hoopers

The Hoopers take on the Gravity in a long awaited Sacramento based clash. Two-time HAC champion Nathan and his Donkey Crankers take on Hickory High which should be a test of the Crankers’s mettle. Hickory, who tied for the best regular season record in the league at 16-4, has not won an HAC championship in their five year franchise history. They’ve made the playoffs three out of those five years, and the other two years, they won the Consolation Bracket. Could this be Hickory’s year? Well, defending champion Gravity wants to be the second franchise to repeat. No team has won three championships in the league’s history, and the Donkey Crankers could be the first to do that. There is no secret that Halftime Hoopers are gunning for their first HAC championship.

RACE FOR 5TH PLACE:

#4 Trust The Process vs. #6 Enter Glassman

The Race For 5th Place is a two week battle royale where the two teams that lost in the first round of the playoffs will look to avenge their disappointing previous weeks. The winner will get 100 coins and the loser will get 75.

At 14-6, most league observers felt that Trust The Process had a legitimate shot to compete for a title this year. However, they sseemingly started to hedge their bets late in the season with a few trades looking towards the future, and then paid for it with a tough loss against the Donkey Crankers. 6th seed Enter Glassman simply flopped in the first round against the Hoopers. Even though Enter Glassman had six less wins than the Process in the regular season, this should be a close fought contest.

In the Even the Losers (Get Lucky Sometimes) Tom Petty Invitational, there have been few surprises. The top two teams, Jive Suckas and Trick Swishers did not disappoint as they put up the top two scoring weeks. These two franchises were the best teams not to make the playoffs and they also happen to be in their first years in the league. That service time is completely the opposite for the next two highest scoring teams in the first week, Washington Spin and Latrell’s Hub Caps, who have been in the league since its inception in the 2010-11 season. Then, the 5th highest scoring team, Calipari’s Kids, are also in their first season - actually their first month of existence! Durantula is bringing up the rear. With over a 700 point deficit from the Jive Suckas, Durantula has little hope of winning the Tom Petty Invitational, but they may be able to make some ground to get a significant number of coins. Durantula fans come to games and gaze at the team’s banner celebrating their division title in the 2014-15 which seems so long ago.

Here is the scoring for the first round of the Even the Losers (Get Lucky Sometimes) Tom Petty Invitational:

Jive Suckas - 1441.6

Trick Swishers - 1372.7

Washington Spin - 1328.7

Latrell’s Hub Caps - 1249.2

Calipari’s Kids - 1238.4

Durantula - 694.5

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The NBA Schedule Sucks

March 12, 2018

By George Utter

I'm with Lebron. The NBA schedule really sucks this week. Just 8 teams play 4 games. Last week wasn't great, but there was 13 teams and it was spread out much better. Next week, we're back to feasting with an obscene 18 teams playing in 4 games.

Not only are there so few teams hitting the wood for the week, the dispersion of games over the week is maddening. Tonight we started the week off with a bang - 4 whole games played! 11 games on the slate for tomorrow night, giving me more starters than I need. Wednesday, we're back to this 4 games crap! C'mon! 9 on Thursday, 6 - SIX on Friday night! 11 on Saturday, and you guessed it - back to 4 games on Sunday....

I checked in with other franchises to see how this week was impacting them, especially in the Playoff bracket. TTP owner Gary Magnus was unavailable. He was trying to take out a 2nd mortgage on his home in order to purchase the likes of Garrett Temple and JaVale McGee. Meanwhile, Hoopers brain trust Stu Bassett wasn't as picky about the players that he's searching for. He was quoted as saying "Check the play grounds and check the retirement homes!" Asked about picking up Derrick Rose, Stu quipped "Please...even I have standards!"

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Final Day of First Round

March 11, 2018

With one NBA game already completed (Toronto vs. New York), three others currently underway and still five left to play, the time is now for the one playoff game that is very close in the first round of the HAC Playoffs between the Donkey Crankers and Trust the Process. Currently, the Crankers have a slim lead of less than 100 points, and that can change in a hurry in the HAC.

In the other first round playoff matchup, #3 seed Halftime Hoopers have a convincing lead over #6 Enter Glassman of over 600 points. It was a tough week for Robert as he was straddling between keeping players on his bench for next season like John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins and trying to compete with the Hoopers who led the entire HAC in season points scored. For what it is worth, the two franchises who earned bye weeks in the first round, #1 seed Hickory High and #2 seed and defending champion Left Coast Gravity, have not let their foot off the gas as both teams have scored over 1300 points this week. Whether this is an HAC Finals preview or not is up to the other remaining playoff teams.

As for the newly named Even The Losers (Get Lucky Sometimes) Tom Petty Invitational, every franchise but Durantula has scored over 1000 points already. These teams want their HAC Coins if they can’t have anything else!

Only three players in the league, as of midday on Sunday, have scored over 175 points for the week: Kevin Durant, LeBron James and the shining light among Left Coast Gravity fans for the last five seasons, Kyle Lowry. Lowry was quoted after Sunday’s game where he scored 37 HAC fantasy points, “I remain convinced that the Gravity will not let me go, and will give me restricted free agency. But either way, I want a big payday this offseason.”

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New HAC Coin Additions

March 6, 2018

So, I made a post yesterday about how winning the Consolation Bracket could be a big deal for a rebuilding team, as the winner gets 100 coins while the 6th place finisher gets just 25. And I mentioned that the coins can be used for a bunch of things, and I mentioned some prizes, and one of them - the RFA Compensation Prize - was just added recently. So, I figured I should highlight the newly added prizes that can be purchased with coins. As always, if anyone spots any errors, please point them out to me.

Just a warning: this will always be a work in progress and will never be perfect or even somewhat complete. Some fine tuning will likely always be needed to adjust for the changing tides of the league economy. The HAC Coins system will affect it somewhat. And now and again, depending on how many coins there are in circulation and what prizes get used the most, the coins system will need adjusting.

Here are the newly added prizes:

ANTHONY BENNETT BAYONET (225 coins): This prize allows you to cut one year off of a guaranteed contract.

PLAYER OPTION (180 coins): For taking a risk on giving a player a player option, a team would get a 20% discount on the player's first year salary on a new contract and start the salary increases from that new number. With a player option, if the player scores over a certain mark for in season fantasy points in the last year of their GC, the player will declare free agency. But if he scores under that, the player will opt in for the last year of his contract.

TEAM OPTION (180 coins): Doing a team option, a player would start a contract at a salary 20% more than they ordinarily would. In exchange, in the last year of a team option, the team then can decide to cut the player with no penalty or keep him.

SAM BOWIE BREAKER BUYOUT (160 coins): This prize can be used to break a guaranteed contract (GC) like Sam Bowie broke his ankles. However, this buyout prize is different from the above ones. This one will frontload all of the salary cap penalties in one season, rather than spreading them out for the life of the contract.

-----For example, if a player with a $9 salary on a 3 year GC ($10 and $11 upcoming salaries) is released, the normal cumulative cap hit would be $9 (100% hit) + $5 (50%) + $3 (25%) = $17.

-----Using this prize, you can take that $17 cap all in one year. Pay another 100 coins, and you can slash that cap hit in half.

RFA FRENZY (80 COINS): This will allow an owner to grant an additional player Restricted Free Agency.

INJURY EXCEPTION (60 COINS): This prize will allow an owner to get salary cap relief for a player who has been deemed out for the season with an injury. Determination on eligibility will lie with the executive committee. If approved, the owner will receive an increase in their cap equal to the player's salary, up to the $200 hard cap limit.

RFA COMPENSATION (50 COINS): This prize will allow an owner to grant a player Restricted Free Agency and in the event that the player's salary is too high to match, that owner will get 100 coins back as compensation for losing that player. This prize *must* be purchased before RFA starts.

There have also been some changes to the amounts that some prizes are worth. For full descriptions of these coins, be sure to check the HAC Coins explanations.

HOMETOWN DISCOUNT: UP to 275 coins from 250.

BUY IT NOW: UP to 250 from 225.

BIRD RIGHTS: UP to 210 from 200.

BUYOUT: DOWN to 325 coins from 350.

FREE AGENT COUPON: DOWN to 170 from 175.

BACK FROM THE DEAD: DOWN to 70 coins from 75.

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Postseason Preview

March 5, 2018

The last week of the regular season did not present any new surprises in Power Ranking. Hickory had an 11-0 record in Breakdown (Hickory’s score against every other team in the league) with their high score of the week of 1738.8. With that, they maintained their top spot in the Power Ranking. Still, the Hoopers weren’t far behind because they had the most season points of any franchise in the league. Due to the Gravity tying Hickory for best record in the league, they narrowly got the 3rd spot in the Power Ranking over Trust The Process, even though Left Coast Gravity had less points and a weaker Breakdown record than the Process. Spots 5-8 were very tightly bunched. The Donkey Crankers were in the #5 spot, followed by Enter Glassman, Jive Suckas and Trick Swishers. This will be the last week that Power Rankings are done...because the Second Season is here - the 2018 HAC Postseason!

This postseason may be one of the most exciting in recent memory. As for the HAC Playoffs, four teams had at least 14 wins in the regular season and that doesn’t even include 5th seed, and two time HAC champion Donkey Crankers. #1 seed Hickory High and #2 seed Left Coast Gravity have earned first round bye weeks. #6 seed Enter Glassman (8-12), in their inaugural HAC season, enters into the playoffs as an underdog having to face the #3 seed Halftime Hoopers (15-5) in the first round. The other first round playoff matchup pits two-time champion and 5th seed Donkey Crankers (11-9) against #4 Trust The Process (14-6). This will be a great one to watch as these are two long time HAC owners - the Crankers are in their 8th season in HAC and Process owner Gary in his 7th year in the league.

2018 HAC PLAYOFF MATCHUPS:

#3 Halftime Hoopers vs. #6 Enter Glassman

#4 Trust The Process vs. #5 Donkey Crankers

Don’t forget, after the first round of the playoffs, the two losing teams go to a Race For 5th Place which will consist of the last two weeks of the postseason and the winner will be determined by the highest cumulative score of Weeks 22 and 23. The winner will get 100 coins and the loser will get 75 coins.

In the HAC Consolation Bracket, the six teams that did not reach the playoffs are shoveled in, but the disparity in HAC Coins that the 6th place finisher will get and the top finisher is significant. The top finisher will get 100 coins, equal to what the 5th place team in the playoffs will get. However, the last, or 6th place team in the Bracket will get just 25 coins. A 100 coin boost could help a rebuilding team quite a bit, paving the way to purchase prizes that could re-negotiate a player’s Option Year contract, could ensure compensation in the event that a player who is granted Restricted Free Agency signs with another team. It could also help to freeze a player’s salary for one year and not have to deal with an increase in pay.

Jive Suckas and Trick Swishers have to be viewed as the favorites in the Consolation Bracket since they were closely vying for playoff spots. The Jive Suckas at 11-9 have the best regular season record in the Bracket. The Hub Caps were competitive all season long and with an 8-12 record, have the same record as the Swishers. Washington Spin and Durantula, well, they have much to prove. New owner Aaron though has a blank check with his training wheels still on!

2018 HAC CONSOLATION BRACKET TEAMS:

Jive Suckas (11-9)

Trick Swishers (8-12)

Latrell’s Hub Caps (8-12)

Washington Spin (5-15)

Aaron (4-16)

Durantula (4-16)

Word is that Charles Barkley will come forward and solicit bets for the Playoffs and Consolation.

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Regular Season Wrap-up

March 4, 2018

So many close NBA games today! Houston barely beating Boston to win their 15th in a row. Milwaukee beating Philadelphia by 8. The Hawks beating the Suns by ONE point. Three other games with a 3 point margin and one other by five! Seven total games and just ONE that had at least a ten point margin.

As far as the HAC, with the Gravity's win over Trust The Process, the Gravity has not only won their first division title in the East, but also secured their best regular season record in their seven year history at 16-4.

16-4 also happens to be the regular season record for Hickory High, but that great performance isn't even their best. Last season, Hickory went 17-3, tied for the third best record in league history with the Donkey Crankers who have attained that lofty record twice in 2014-15 and 2015-16.

And going on about records, this is the first season in league history that four franchises have won at least 14 games. This seems to be the highest scoring week of the year with Hickory High scoring over 1700 points and one other, Left Coast Gravity, scoring 1698. In addition, four other teams scored over 1500 points, Trust The Process, Jive Suckas, my Spin and Halftime Hoopers.

Finally, the Playoff and Consolation matchups have been set for Round 1. But know that the Consolation matchups will stay the same for the next three weeks (Weeks 21-23). That is because it is a round-robin tourney where there are not individual matchups, but all six teams in the Consolation are all playing against each other for the highest three week cumulative score. Forgive me if you’ve read that before, but I want to make sure our new owners know what the setup is for the postseason.

Congratulations to all playoff teams and best of luck to the teams in the Consolation Bracket in the effort to redeem their season!

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Postseason Tabs on Fantrax

March 4, 2018

HAC HAPPENINGS: I wanted to share something with my fellow HAC franchise owners that I recently discovered and put into the Fantrax Standings page. It directly relates to the HAC postseason which starts tomorrow!

When you click “Standings”, at the top of the page, you’ve always seen tabs that list our two divisions: “Western HAC Boys” and “Eastern HAC Boys”. Then another tab for “All”. Then tabs for “Combined”, “Season Stats” and then “Playoffs”. Now, that last one I want to focus on, for obvious reasons.

Now, the “Playoff” tab is good enough. It lists the Round 1 matchups, but it doesn’t differentiate between the teams that are in the HAC Playoffs and teams that are in the HAC Consolation Bracket. Also, while I do want all 12 teams in the league listed, it just looks like one big 12 team playoff, and it is weird. That said, I do like that it accrues standings for the postseason among all 12 teams.

Still, this is not what I want. So, I started to poke deeper and you should be able to see two more tabs that I recently added: “HAC Consolation Tourney” and “HAC Playoffs”. I’ve attached a picture where those two extra tabs are circled in blue and highlighted. Now these will differentiate which teams are in which grouping which is exactly what I wanted. While the “HAC Playoffs” tab will not list the two franchises who earned Round 1 bye weeks, their performances can be tracked on the general “Playoff” tab.

I will update the matchups for Round 1 (aka Week 21) either tonight after games have concluded or early tomorrow. And both of the last two tabs should accurately reflect it. However, like always, I will depend on my other 11 HAC’er owners to proofread my work and point out an error.

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Friday Night HAC Musings

March 3, 2018

Geo and his Jive Suckas are finishing the season strong, going for their fifth straight win and leading Robert and Enter Glassman by over 100 points 1175 - 1041. Robert surely knew the schedule gave his squad no favors this week.

Glassman was trying to hold off Monte and the Trick Swishers for the 6th and last playoff spot with a 300 season point lead entering the week.

Jackie Moon and the Swishers are in a dogfight with my Spin, and it looks nearly impossible that the Swishers will overtake Robert's Glassman. For the Spin’s part, there is a good chance to stop a five game losing streak.

Old reliable Nathan and his Donkey Crankers are cranking their way to a win, the 11th of the season to assure an over .500 finish for the year. They have a playoff berth well in hand, the Crankers’s 6th straight playoff appearance. They've made the HAC Finals three straight years - winning two championships - can they make it four straight? They'll have to defeat some good teams in the process for it to happen!

Aaron came in midway through the week, but he is steering his adopted franchise in a new course with a lead over the 14-5 Hoopers! Who knows if it can hold on over the weekend, but it's a great beginning.

The Gravity hold a 1238 - 1178 lead over the Process in what could be a potential playoff matchup. If it happens, it'll likely be as close as this game between the two frequent trade partners. Can Glen win this week to extend the Gravity’s six game winning streak? Can he repeat as HAC champ? Can Gnj Magnus finally win his long awaited first title?

Currently, Wesley and Hickory High is leading the pace for all teams with 1289.3 points. Still, the Gravity, 50 points behind, has a shot for the high score of the week. The Process and the Suckas are on the outside looking in as they are a little over 100 points behind right now.

Devin Booker of the Gravity has the most points this week, so far, with 168. Karl-Anthony Towns, playing for new owner Aaron is trying to make good first impression and is second in the league in season points in Week 20 with 154.7. Will Towns be re-signed by Aaron? It is too early for that talk, but we can certainly start the rumor mill. Not only for Towns, on Aaron's new franchise but HAC teammate Otto Porter too who is 5th in the league in scoring for this period.

As the weekend beckons, only Christian and his Durantula roster and Erik and Latrell’s Hub Caps are at risk to not reach the 1000 point plateau this week which is a good sign because it shows that nearly every team is competing well. Still, the Caps are having as good of a rebound season this year following last season's 0-20 as Durantula did last year following their own 0-20 in the 2015-16 season. There is still time for Durantula to rebound themselves and repeat their feat as Consolation Bracket winners like last year.

Every team being engaged is good momentum to take into the postseason, whether a team is hoping for the HAC Championship or first place in the Consolation Bracket. I'm excited for it!

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Aaron Takes Over For Ken and Bed, Bath & Biyombo

March 1, 2018

It is a sad but also exciting day in HAC, as we say goodbye to a charter owner of the league, but also say hello to a new and well regarded owner. Ken of Bed, Bath and Biyombo, and of many tremendous franchise names in the past like Rudy Gay and Chardonnay has decided to put up his HAC sneakers and relinquish his franchise. Taking his place will be Aaron, who was suggested by Geo, as a longstanding and reliable owner of his fantasy baseball league and has been for over a decade.

Ken has been with HAC since the very first season, in 2010-11. My relationship with Ken goes back even further, from a pro basketball simulation league over ten years ago that Nathan ran. So, it was a difficult conversation to have with Ken about going forward in the HAC. I didn’t want to disappoint him, he didn’t want to disappoint me and we locked horns in politeness. But that is nothing new with Ken, who has long been one of the most good natured, most considerate and best sportsmen that I’ve ever come into contact with. He was instrumental in me wanting to form HAC in the first place, and was also a vital reason why the league has existed for as long as it has. My sincere hope is that Ken stays in the HAC facebook group and pokes his head in as often as possible to impart his witty one-liners about the Bulls and anything else. To me, Ken is an HAC emeritus owner, and I never want him to leave.

Even though I don’t know Aaron well, he has long been on my radar...because George would never stop talking about the guy! From how great he was as a fantasy baseball owner, to how good of a guy he was simply to talk about life with, I’ve had my fill of hearing about Aaron. It is time to actually compete with him and get to know him better. And if George gets along with him well, I’ll put a sizeable bet down that the rest of the league will too.

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Player Contract Statuses

March 1, 2018

You all may not even have noticed, and there were only about 20-25 players that needed adjusting, but I went through every team's roster and compared it to the offseason re-signings list. There were some players who were re-signed last offseason and then were cut and were acquired by different franchises...and some were cut who are still on the free agent list! In any case, I reset all of those players's contract statuses on Fantrax to the default "---" which equates to not being on a contract right now. As opposed to being listed as being retained for one season.

This is important as this offseason, it would prevent a team from signing a player to a 4 year max contract if they wanted...and the team would only be able to offer 3 years. As always, if you see anything awry on your team's roster or any other roster, please point it out to me - it is very possible that I missed something.

Much to the disappointment, I'm sure, to Glen, longtime Gravity point guard Kyle Lowry did not have his contract status reset. But it will be this year as he becomes draft eligible for the first time in five years in the HAC!

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Playoff Update

February 28, 2018

By Stu Bassett

I tried to do a playoff update but man, the scenarios for the 1 and 2 seeds are everywhere. Too much to type!! Hickory and Gravity have the easiest paths. With wins, they will have the top two seeds (#1 to Hickory, #2 to Gravity) which would put Hoopers at #3 and Trust The Process at #4 (unless Hoopers lose then switch that!). Hoopers are rooting hard for Gary's Process because if Process beats Gravity, the Hoopers can win and slide back into 1st overall. However if Process and Hickory are victorious and Hoopers lose, Hickory is #1 and Process is #2. Many combinations of outcomes for top 4.

Hickory is guaranteed no worse than 2nd by winning the East! So congrats on the bye week!

Upon even more review the Hoopers cannot drop to 4th due to matchups and points scored so its either a bye week or 1st round matchup vs Glassman for them.

However #5 (Crankers) and #6 (Glassman) looked to be pretty much locked in their spots. Hope that makes sense!!!

See what I mean!! There's more scenarios with points scored and placing teams as well but doubtful they will come into play.

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HAC Power Ranking

February 26, 2018

HAC Happenings: Geo brought up a terrific idea for Power Rankings, and I want to start doing this going forward in future seasons. Power Ranking is the true picture of the standings, moreso than just wins and losses. Power Rankings take into account three main things: record, team points scored and a team’s record against every other team each week, also called “breakdown”. I noticed many trends through the season.

Things like Nathan’s Crankers are having their best run of the season at just the right time. ... Wesley's Hickory takes over best breakdown for the season over the Hoopers in Week 19. Robert's Enter Glassman may have gone 0-11 two weeks ago, but have had two solid weeks since to stay in the playoff race. The Jive Suckas went 9-2 in Week 17, then 2-9 in Week 18...then back to 9-2 last week. I’m not sure what Gnj Magnus and Trust The Process is doing, and if they are even gunning for their first HAC Championship this year, but the breakdown says that they should. 28-5 in the last three weeks is their best three week stretch of the season. Ken tied his best week all season in the breakdown with a 6-5 record all teams, which he also did in Week 2.

WEEK 19 BREAKDOWN:

Trust the Process 11-0

Hickory High 10-1

Jive Suckas 9-2

Donkey Crankers 8-3

Left Coast Gravity 7-4

BBB 6-5

Enter Glassman 5-6

Halftime Hoopers 4-7

Latrell's Hub Caps 3-8

Washington Spin 2-9

Durantula 0-11

Trick Swishers 1-10

FOR THE SEASON:

Hickory High 176-33

Halftime Hoopers 174-35

Trust the Process 146-63

Left Coast Gravity 137-72

Enter Glassman 110-99

Donkey Crankers 108-101

Trick Swishers 99-110

Jive Suckas 85-124

Latrell's Hub Caps 83-127

Washington Spin 54-155

BBB 46-152

Durantula 30-179

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Rundown on Facebook Posts

February 19, 2018

Ok, so the Facebook posts are done for coins up to this point in the HAC timeline. However, I have a long ways to go with accounting for wins and high point totals, so give me some time and patience on that. Hopefully it'll be done this week? That's my goal anyway.

Just a rundown on Facebook posts in the group. I was remarking to George yesterday at what a difference this Facebook group has done for league activity. When we tried Yahoo, ESPN and FleaFlicker, one thing was consistent: league activity and posts were not very frequent for whatever reason. There could be a lot of reasons for that, but probably the biggest one is that everyone in this group uses Facebook anyway, and it isn't a big inconvenience to see posts in this group. It probably wasn't convenient on the websites that we've used with the message board. In any case, I think this season is the most active for league interaction in the history of the league, and I'd be curious if anyone disagreed. And that is SO important as this is the only method for our communication. It isn't like we can just meet up for a happy hour and watch games in person together, so to me, this is vital for communication.

And that goes into the HAC Coin system. I'll try to keep this as brief as possible, but I've modeled it after an idea of what a friend suggested who isn't in the league and a lot of George's ideas with his fantasy baseball league. I have always wanted to reward active owners. And Facebook makes this pretty easy to do with awarding coins to owners who make unique FB posts in the group. And what I mean by "unique" is if say Stuart posts something, he'll get a coin for that post. However, if he posts a reply to that same topic that he started, he won't get another coin. It is just for the first post someone makes in a topic that they'll get a coin. They won't get 5 additional coins for their 5 additional replies to the same topic.

I also give extra "post credits" to people when they make a really good and/or really helpful post, in my opinion. Basically, this is like the person made two posts instead of one, so they'll get two coins instead of just one. This is different from a league article where a person will get 10 coins for that.

Thank you to everyone who makes this league active, as without that, there is no league. If there were no posts and no activity, then we could all just disband this and join anonymous Yahoo Public leagues where no one knows each other and no one communicates. To me, this is about more than the NBA or fantasy basketball. It is about building a community of likeminded basketball fans and forming friendships.

312 - Stu (extra credit for one)

232 - Me (I actually have 465, but I halve them for coin credits)

204 - Gary/Gnj (extra credit for one)

193 - Glen

176 - Erik

140 - Geo (extra credit for six)

84 - Robert

58 - Monte (extra credit for one)

37 - Christian (extra credit for one)

26 - Ken

21 - Wesley

2 - Nathan

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Hub Caps Owner's Outstanding Activity

February 16, 2018

HAC HAPPENINGS: Hub Caps owner Erik’s activity on Facebook this season has been amazing. He’s been more active this season than the last 5 years combined! I know that with a busy family life and a taxing job, that doesn’t often lend itself to posting Lavar Ball obsessed posts on Facebook. And in the past, that was the case for Erik, who has been with the league since its very first year, the 2010-11 season. Erik has often been a bystander, willing to comment on others’s posts infrequently, but rarely jumping into the fray on his own. This year has been wildly different, though. Six owners have over 100 posts this season on Facebook, and Erik is one of them. And it makes me really happy until I talk to the real boss of the Hub Caps, Latrell Sprewell.

Latrell knows the real story, and after calling him up, it made a lot more sense. “I’ve been after EA to step it up in the talking department for years now. I’m not sure exactly how I got through to him, but maybe I threatened to choke him one too many times. I’d keep saying, ‘I don’t hear you, I don’t hear you’ talking on you guys’s group page. I got no beef with that Lavar Ball, though I am pretty sure EA camps out at his house most nights. Just don’t tell him that Lavar is in another country right now.”

I used to have awards in the fantasy football league that I previously ran. I haven’t had owner awards in HAC’s history primarily because it wasn’t as active a league as it is now. I simply couldn’t form a relationship with owners as I have, especially this season. Maybe there should be HAC owner awards?

With only two games left in the regular season, it is unlikely the Hub Caps, currently sitting in the 9th seed, are going to make the postseason. Though they have not been mathematically eliminated! But it would take a lot to go right for the Hub Caps with three teams sitting ahead of them in the standings. For one, it would take two losses by the #6 seed Jive Suckas and two wins by the Hub Caps. Then, the Caps would have to score a ton of points to make up for the nearly 2,000 point season deficit that the 8th seed Trick Swishers have over them. That’s not to mention #7 seed Enter Glassman who is a game ahead of EA’s squad. Either way, it has been a return to glory for Erik after last year’s 0-20 season...which was record setting in all the wrong ways. With his competitive squad, and just as importantly, vocal nature on Facebook, 2017-18 has been a rousing HAC success for the Hub Caps.

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Can HAC Coins Take Place of Draft Picks?

February 14, 2018

HAC Happenings: It's been a while for one of these! But since HAC owners can't acquire draft picks in trades to help push deals over the finish line, are HAC Coins sufficient enough to take the place of draft picks?

The reason I'm thinking about this is, one brain (mine) is fine when thinking about the inner workings of the league, but 11 more brains are better. The talk around the NBA trade deadline of trading players for a 1st or 2nd round pick had me thinking. We can't quite do that.

When guaranteed contracts come into play this offseason, owners are eventually going to want to get out of contracts. In the NBA, desperate teams can attach a 1st round pick with a crappy contract to entice another team to take it. Since we don't have guaranteed contracts yet, there isn't a market value to get out of bad contracts, but eventually there will be. I'm considering increasing the amount of coins to be traded from 50. Maybe that can be a separate poll or be discussed here. Anyway, more of a brainstorming post than anything else.

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Year End Update: Week 18

February 12, 2018

By Stu Bassett

3 weeks left in the regular season!!! Week 18 ends Thursday with the start of the All Star Break.

Trade deadline is 12 days away!! 2/24 8:59 pst. Get those trades in for your championship push!!!

The 1st 4 teams are already in the playoffs however seeding is up for grabs!

1. Hoopers

2. Hickory

3. Left Coast

4. The Process

With the 1 and 3 seeds and 2 and 4 playing each other its a huge (yet shortened due to ASG) week!!

The Race for 5 and 6 seeds: (Total points scored)

5. Crankers 20,634 (9-8)

6. Trick Swishers 20514 (6-11)

7. Jive Suckas 19171 (8-9)

8. Latrells Hub Caps 18980 (6-11)

9. Enter Glassman 18946 (8-9)

With 3 weeks to go Crankers hold a 120pt lead on Swishers. They both hold a 1400+ lead on Jive in 7th. 100 points further back than jive are Latrell and Glassman.

Looking like Crankers and Swishers will make it in but a 1400 makeup in 3 weeks is possible!!!

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Trouble in Trick Swisher Land?

December 2, 2017

Reportedly, there is unrest in the Trick Swisher locker room that looks to be spreading all the way up into the executive suite. Coach Jackie Moon has long wanted to add player-coach to his resume, but owner Monte has consistently refused up to this point in the season. The season is only a month and a half old, but it hasn't taken long to sense a frosty relationship happening between coach and owner. Several players have requested their release from the Trick Swisher roster recently.

Assistant Coach Woody Harrelson said, "it isn't as it seems. The players that have been released was part of a coordinated change in philosophy for the franchise to try to secure our first win."

According to Adrian Wojnarowski, Jackie Moon has retained the services of attorney Tim Duncan, the former pro basketball legend who last played for the Washington Spin in the 2015-16 season. We don't know why, except that Duncan is on record as saying that he simply trying to protect Mr. Moon's interests.

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Surprise Party Planned For Durantula Owner

October 28, 2017

Blake Griffin, the saddest professional athlete in the world who has never had fun playing basketball, but does it because he's tall, has had no fun this season playing once again. But, being paid well and being on the same team as Michael Beasley, the greatest player in the world (in Beasley's estimation) has given new life to his game. Not only that, but being on the same team as Zaza Pachulia means he won't be injured in a bush league fashion as long as he stays on Zaza the cheap shot artist's good side.

Blake has empathy though. And he sees when someone is even sadder than him which is hard to believe. But it has been true with his team's owner, Christian, recently. After his kidney stone scare, the Durantula roster was concerned. Would their checks clear? Who would set the lineup? Would they all be benched? Well, Christian made sure all of that was taken care of. And in appreciation, last night at the local Chuck E. Cheese, Blake organized a surprise party along with the animatronic band to sing Christian's pains away.

All was fun and joyous until Christian recalled that these were mere employees and had two chances to be re-signed at the end of the season by the notoriously disloyal owner: slim and none. Hellfire rained down from the team boss. "Kanter, have you ever heard of defense? Roberson, have you ever heard of offense? Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, we don't have enough letters to sew on your jersey. Steph, the mouthguard chomping. Everyone else is right, and I've been wrong all this time. Fix it. Pachulia, you're a disgrace. Griffin, I take pleasure in your dissatisfaction while on the court. Think about that for a while. I'm sure it'll make you sadder. Chris Paul, I'm paying you $37 to sit on your ass? I'll just get 37 Marcus Morris's instead! Neither of you play! Beasley? Michael Beasley, where are you! You...well...you carry on. You're terrific."

With that, everyone went to their phones to get Ubers to get out of there as quickly and quietly as possible.

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DeAndre Jordan: Impending HAC Free Agent

October 22, 2017

HAC Happening: DeAndre Jordan of Nathan's Donkey Crankers is set to become draft eligible again for the first time since 2013. Back then, he was a pretty good, but nothing special big man who couldn't hit free throws. That is why Nate was able to snag him in the 11th round of the 2013 HAC Draft. That year, he blossomed and grabbed 1000+ rebounds for the first time, and has done so each of the last four years.In the fourth and final year of his contract in the 2017-18 season, Jordan is making a very modest $15 for a player who has evolved into a defensive stalwart, a rebounding machine and a very effective scorer who has a career 67% field goal percentage, leading the NBA in that category for the last FIVE seasons.It is always possible that the Donkey Crankers will try to keep Jordan by using the 4 Year Restricted Free Agency prize that Walt Frazier and the HAC brain trust have brought in, in advance of contracts coming into the league after this season. However, that would still expose Jordan to the open market. In an auction setting, how much would Jordan go for?

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Fantrax Lineup Issues

October 18, 2017

So, in the first week of the Fantrax Era for HAC, there have already been a few things that I've had to learn. And I am very thankful you all have been patient while I learn them. Another has cropped up where apparently you will simply have to have a legal lineup set every day. I was sure that I set it the opposite way: that if you did not want to put players who were not playing on your bench, and only have players with games in the lineup, you could. I just double checked to make sure. But yet an owner stated that he was not getting awarded points in live scoring because he had a vacant spot in his lineup.

I wish I could make some kind of sense of it, but I can't. I may try to contact Fantrax customer service, but they have been impotent at best in my previous contacts. There must be a setting that I'm missing because this makes less than no sense. So, all I can say is, just make sure you have all active spots filled. It shouldn't be too big of a deal, but I want you all to get your points. If you see something amiss, let me know. I don't want anyone to miss out on points and I don't think anyone wants to play another team not at their best. Thank you again everyone for your understanding with the learning curve here and I'll do my best to fully understand what's happening here.

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Fantrax Free Agency Issues

October 14, 2017

I'd like to continue the free agency discussion, and I know it is probably tiresome to some of you, and part of me agrees, believe me. However, this is all new to me, trying to juggle the salary cap with the $5 minimum bid which was understood to be the rule. But I did notice a pretty big issue with regards to waiver wire bidding.

First, it looks like free agency went off without a hitch which I am grateful for. So, it is good that Fantrax was able to process the free agent requests without a hitch, and moved over to first come, first serve (FCFS) free agency immediately after noon eastern which is what I wanted.

However, there are some flaws here and I hope you will all bear with me. I am not able to make two separate minimum salaries - one for $5 FCFS and then another for $1 bidding for players recently released on waivers. So, at the current moment, if a player is released, waiver wire bidding will unfortunately start at $5. I can manually change it to $1 for Friday's "Free For All" bidding, but another solution is probably going to have to be arrived at here. Basically, I am just looking for open discussion here because I really don't have any spectacular alternatives. And even if I did, for someone who didn't have the foresight of looking into the Fantrax control panel and seeing that Fantrax couldn't support two different minimum salaries.

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Free Agency Notes

October 12, 2017

Just a few notes about free agency. I actually decided to open it up right now...*but*...I put all players on waivers. You shouldn't be able to acquire them for under $5 right now, however. It is just open bidding for all players for 48 hours to allow everyone to put in claims, and revise them if needed with no stress. Once Saturday noon eastern time hits, I will make free agency first come, first serve...until Thursday night, as Friday will be open bidding where the minimum salary will be $5.

You have all been extraordinarily patient with this hiccup in the process and I am grateful for that. I made it so that a team should not be able to complete a transaction if it will put them over the $170 salary cap. I'll have to monitor that closely, and hopefully it will stick.

Another thing, and I'll repeat this request for help. I usually put all HAC news on this Facebook group. But I know not everyone can check Facebook every day. I have this group enabled on "all notifications" so that if anyone posts in this group, I get a FB notification on my phone so I don't miss anything. Call it HAC FOMO. The point is, if a HAC owner can't check FB all the time, let me know. I can figure out alternatives for communication. But I don't know unless you tell me! I don't want any owner missing important league information. Also, Bill Walton is not a HAC free agent!

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Minimum Free Agent Salary Discussion

October 7, 2017

HAC'ers, I froze free agency for a moment, partly because we have a bit of time before the beginning of the NBA season, and because I was undecided on an important rule.

Since keepers began in the league several years ago, it was set that players acquired as free agents assumed a keeper value of a 12th round pick. Now that we have switched to an auction format, that 12th round translated roughly to a $5 salary. My question to all of you is - is this fair? Or should free agents be a flat $1 salary and allow bidding for free agents and let the league decide, much like the auction?

I bring this up for a couple of reasons. For one, it is difficult to acquire players if you spent your entire $170 budget. However, some owners likely saved some because of the $5 free agency cost for players. I don't want to assume that, so that's why I'm asking. Also, since we have first come, first serve free agency whenever NBA games are not being played, I think most free agents would be $1. I'd like to get input though from you fellas of sound mind.

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HAC Tweets

October 6, 2017

Woj: Just spoke to Isaiah Thomas. He says he is prepared to sit out the season on the Cavaliers bench rather than put up fantasy points for Halftime Hoopers if the Hoopers win him in the auction after being bailed on by owner/CEO Stuart. He is prepared to take NBA fines in order to not contribute to the Hoopers. He has already given warnings and apologies to Cleveland GM LeBron James.

Mannix: Thomas's message has sent shock waves throughout the NBA. Few players have ever heard of a stance taken like Thomas's. Am speaking to some players now who seem to have a lot of opinions.

From David Aldridge: In light of Isaiah Thomas's stance of a boycott only if the Hoopers draft him, Carmelo Anthony has let me know that he plans to do the same, only if The Greek Freak and owner Gnj Magnus wins him in auction. When asked why, Carmelo responded: "I busted my ass for Gary for years hoping to earn his affection as a fan. When I agreed to be traded to Oklahoma City, which I didn't have to do, Gary has seemed to disown me, having very little interest in my fortunes. It doesn't feel right to play for his team if he does win me in the HAC auction. I understand it is even less than a business - fantasy basketball - but at this point in my career, I want to play for a franchise in HAC that cares about me."

Chris Broussard tweet: no player has reached out to me. About this, or any other topic.

Mannix: I did hear from Larry Sanders who has declared himself available in the HAC auction and is hoping some team will select him. However, he said, after Thomas's message, while he is very much hopeful to be on an HAC roster, that only includes 11 rosters. He will *not* play for Erik's Latrell's Hub Caps no matter what. Sanders doesn't get along with team president Latrell Sprewell and despises team owner Erik for issues that are years old now. Erik unceremoniously dumped Sanders after re-signing him as a keeper many years ago. Sanders hasn't forgotten.

Woj: LaMarcus Aldridge has said that he wouldn't mind playing for the Trick Swishers. "From what I've read, Monte seems to run a loose ship over there, and since I didn't try in the playoffs last season, it seems I'd be a great fit on that team. Jackie Moon and I could drink beer together."

Zach Lowe tweet: Tried to get a word from HAC president Walt Frazier. Frazier is a big players-rights proponent and he himself is skeptical of the Sacramento boys, Stuart and Glen. He will not stand in the way of a player doing what he wants. But he will not tolerate any strikes or boycotts. If won in auction, the player will play for the team he goes to. When told this contradicted his first point, Frazier said league would step in to settle disputes.

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Auction Preparation

October 5, 2017

So, one...or two (or none) of you might be wondering. How the heck will any of this auction business work? Basically, there will be an order of nomination. Glen as the defending league champ with his Left Coast Gravity will kick things off. The order has been set to the inverse of the league standings so that non-playoff teams will go first, new owners after them and then it'll be in order after that.

You can nominate any player you want and at any dollar figure you'd like. You can nominate Lance Stephenson for $30 if you'd like. Just make sure you can afford that maximum bid for your roster. You'll have to allocate at least $1 for every open roster spot you have. What you have left is your maximum bid. Thankfully, the Fantrax draft room looks pretty straight forward in explaining things and your (and every other franchise) budget and open roster spots will always be visible. In addition, the players you have won in the auction will be visible too.

There are 113 players that need to be auctioned off. That is how many open roster spots there are among the 12 HAC franchises. Also, there is a timer and I gave a lot of time for 'nomination time limit', 'initial bid time limit' and the 'bid reset time' (meaning, if there is a bid made with 10 seconds left, what happens to the timer?). My intention here is that after just a few players, you guys are all smart enough to get the hang of it, and then I will sharply lessen those times. My thinking is 60 seconds for a nomination, 30 seconds for an initial bid and then maybe 10 seconds for the bid reset time should be plenty.

I fully admit, I will be learning with all of you. And while I do love the NBA, I won't lie - part of the reason that this league is starting its eighth season is because of the good men that are in this league who have been always flexible, patient and understanding. That has enhanced my enjoyment of this league and the sport on the whole. The last auction I participated in was in 2006, and the last one I ran was around the same time, so I am definitely out of practice! We may take a few breaks just to give ourselves a little breather here and there. The great thing is, no mistake is irreversible. With some patience and understanding, I should be able to roll back a nomination and hopefully be able to rewind the auction if need be. Fantrax customer service, unfortunately, has not been very helpful, so I'll be learning on the fly, but I'm sure we can figure it out. Especially if you do not try to print out this dollar and try to use it...after nominating Michael Jordan!

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Auction Talk

October 3, 2017

Auction talk! So, I would love to tell my fellow HAC'ers owners that I had a glorious solution to having a person able to fill in for Durantula in the auction. However, I don't, and that is a lesson learned for me going forward for the future with live auctions. I can't do anything about it now, but I'll chalk it up to inexperience and not doing enough due diligence. And that is sort of a variation on a theme that I'll be preaching *all day* on Saturday is a plea for patience. One thing I can promise you is that things will not go according to plan, and alternatives and solutions will have to be thought of on the fly. Patience from each owner is the way we'll get through it somewhat painlessly.

As of now, I'm trying to get Christian's Fantrax ID as only Christian can make bids for his team. At least as far as I can find out from the Fantrax FAQ. That said, I went into the draft room and there is a slight possibility that I might be able to make bids for other teams. But there's no guarantee. I've asked Christian to set up his queue and max bids. At worst, I will simply bid from the list I am working from for his team if I can get his ID.

And this is just one issue that we have. There will be more that pop up, that is a guarantee. I know that the owners who have been in the league have all been in HAC for at least three or four seasons and they know to extend a little patience towards me! For the new owners, I beg you for your patience, and I will try hard to earn it.

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Jabari Parker's HAC Future

August 11, 2017

Would You Give Jabari Parker an Offseason Prize?

You won’t find many people who consider Jabari Parker lacking in talent. This was the main motivation of Latrell’s Hub Caps when owner/GM Erik Andersen when he noticed that Parker was released late last season. His many assistants, who are usually busy doing other things like their paper routes and mowing lawns in the neighborhood, supported their boss putting a claim in for the young forward. Even with a 4th round value that translated to a $17 salary before re-signings, many around the league feel that a rebuilding team like the Hub Caps should keep a player like Parker for the long term. Still, there are many risks since Parker is not supposed to be ready to play again until the second half of this coming season. Is that too much risk for the Hub Caps at Parker’s current salary?

How much of a commitment should the Hub Caps make towards Parker? For this final offseason, there is very little risk for the Hub Caps in extending his contract, which would then cost $19 for the 2017-18 season. Currently, the Hub Caps have less than 300 HAC Coins. This would allow them to use a Frozen In Time prize on Parker for 130 coins. This is the equivalent of an Option Year Contract, but instead of becoming an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, the Hub Caps would still retain Parker’s rights going forward. This prize could allow the Hub Caps to kick the can down the road and not have to make a decision on him this season.

Another option, though pricier, is the Hometown Discount prize, which costs 250 coins. This prize is used to re-sign a player to very modest 5% or $1 (whichever is greater) yearly increases for the life of the contract, but it is more for high salaried players. I’m not sure a $1 reduction in Parker’s $17 salary is worth it.

For a High Above Courtside historical context, Parker was drafted in the NBA with the 2nd overall pick in 2014 and was drafted in the 5th round of the 2014 HAC Draft as a rookie, before he ever played a professional game, by Bed, Bath and Biyombo. Owner/GM Ken Gardner was so excited to land Parker, he renamed his franchise in his young star’s honor, naming it, “Play Sorry For Jabari” hoping that his favorite NBA team, the Chicago Bulls, would also get Parker. Not only did the Bulls not get Parker, Ken also got frustrated with Parker’s frequent injuries. After re-signing Parker in the 2015 offseason for an expensive third round cost, Ken decided that he’d allow Parker to become draft eligible again in the 2016 HAC Draft, a sign of how his star had fallen. It didn’t fall too far though as Parker was then selected in the 4th round of the 2016 Draft by Phi Slamma Jamma. But unfortunately, another injury curtailed Parker’s season last year and with Phi Slamma going for a playoff spot, Parker’s roster spot was deemed too valuable. He was cut, and the Hub Caps acquired him off of waivers.

Next offseason, when long term contracts are an option, this will be a different story as the risk could be greater as well as the cost. Don’t want to commit to a guaranteed contract? Ok, fine, but while a non-guaranteed contract will just be year to year and no penalty if a player is cut, the salary increases are higher than with a guaranteed contract.

However, all of this is assuming that Erik will retain Parker for next season. And like usual, even with press camped outside of his home, the Hub Caps boss has been his usual secretive self, not allowing any plans to be divulged...assuming he has a plan. He learned the hard way when he stated that the Hub Caps wanted Larry Sanders’s uniform number to be retired in Latrell Sprewell Stadium’s rafters. That backfired in a big way, and now the HAC Press and fans suffer for it.

In conclusion, it would make a lot of sense for the Hub Caps to simply re-sign Parker to an Option Year Contract and make him prove that he is worth his “rising star” status this coming season. Then, GM Erik could use a Re-negotiation prize on Parker to sign him long term next offseason. However, the consensus is, after the brutal season the Hub Caps had last year, becoming the second team in league history to not win a regular season game all year, the team needs talent, and Parker provides them with a player who has star potential.

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$10 Max Cap in Any Trade

August 10, 2017

This is something that hadn't been communicated before, and now with a salary cap and HAC dollars floating around, it should be covered. Potentially to grease the wheels for trades this season, there will be a max of $10 temporary cap that can be sent with any trade. Say two players involved in a trade have significantly different salaries, and the team taking the higher salaried player doesn't have enough space to fit the player under their cap. This temporary cap, which will vanish at season's end, will allow them to afford the player.

Currently, we have two separate economies in this league, one with HAC Coins and the other with player values. Soon, we are going to enter in a third and that is the soft $170 salary cap that every team will enter the auction with and the hard $200 cap that every team has the ability to get to in any one season. Everyone just saw the Halftime Hoopers and Left Coast Gravity exchange 50 HAC Coins in their recent trade. That is the limit of coins to be able to be exchanged. Hopefully the temporary cap that can be exchanged will allow for more freedom with conducting trades.

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Harden Trade: Sign of the HAC Future?

August 7, 2017

Zach Lowe, courtesy to HAC

When Left Coast Gravity traded perennial all-star James Harden to the Halftime Hoopers on July 29, among league observers it was expected to create a tidal wave in the HAC. The Gravity traded Harden, who has a first round draft equivalency, equal to $38 in the 2017 offseason transition chart, for three much cheaper and many would say, much less talented players in guard George Hill (making $3 pre-keeper announcement) center Thon Maker ($1, and who has already been traded again), and Evan Fournier ($7).

The fact that prospect Maker has already been traded underscores the point of a tidal wave sure to continue happening, potentially through next season and the 2018 offseason. The tidal wave that will obsess hyperactive and nervous owners in cutting costs and lurching for cheaper, but not necessarily more talented or higher ceiling players. League commissioner Walt “Clyde” Frazier offers, “what is the problem with trades going back and forth? Once the auction takes place, there will be stability of some players on teams for fans to identify with, just like it happened during the draft period of the league. Think about it, you have DeMar DeRozan, Andre Drummond and Jimmy Butler who are coming into their fourth year on the same teams. This will happen once contracts come into play and some players are simply undervalued and deemed too important for their teams to give up. But high salaried players will stay put as well. Steph Curry stayed on the same team for three seasons even though he was a first round pick. Trades get on SportsCenter and give us free press. To me, that says style, baby!”

James Harden

Maker was traded away just a week later on August 4 from the Gravity to the new All In Pelicans Playoffbound with forward Aaron Gordon in exchange for Devin Booker. It is obvious that Maker’s youth and ceiling are attractive to HAC franchises, but maybe just as much as his $1 current salary, before keepers. Hill and Fournier are not going to be all-stars but are simply steady rotation players who will not move the meter for any franchise. They will come through for an unexpected 40 fantasy point day in February but neither is a difference maker. Yet they were traded for a player who was second in the HAC in fantasy points.

The Gravity did it again barely a week later on August 4 when they traded another perennial all-star in guard Steph Curry, making $38 like Harden to the Jive Suckas for guard-forwrd Khris Middleton who has been injury plagued recently, but maybe more importantly, making just $5. The Gravity is not the only team trying to cut costs though. Pelicans Playoffbound also sent off a high salaried player for cheaper players, sending guard Isaiah Thomas making $26 for a package headlined by forward Brandon Ingram ($10) and JaMychal Green and Allen Crabbe, both making just $5.

Bobby Marks, already a guru of HAC finances who tweets about it often, warns to get used to this ongoing tidal wave. “With keepers already in the league on rosters at below market salaries, inflation is going to be the name of the game for the next few seasons. Not only that, owners will just reflexively overspend on some players driving up prices even further. By midseason, when they aren’t contending, they will sell off these high priced players for who they deem to be prospects. And if it doesn’t happen then, they’ll do it in the offseason. And with the Gravity’s case, other teams will trade for these high salaried players as rentals to try to put their team over the hump and win a championship, and just move them in the offseason so that they don’t have to be bothered to offer a very expensive contract.”

Deputy HAC commissioner George “Iceman” Gervin, has not been pleased with this development. “We want players to have power to name their own price and name their own home. This business with players getting shuttled around weekly, Ice thinks that this is for the birds. But, at the same time, the check clears, and Ice likes that part.”

Given that conflicting reasoning, player agent David Robinson feels that this is just the cost of doing business. “While there is only a finite amount of money to go around for all players, and I’d like to see all mouths fed, to be able to play this sport for a living comes with some risks, and that means that once you sign a contract with a team, no trade clauses don’t exist in the HAC. And when you get drafted by a team, there is no time limit that prevents you from being traded immediately. It isn’t a perfect system, and other agents are trying to talk to Mr. Gervin and Mr. Frazier about it.”

There have been discussions in commissioner Frazier’s office about potentially instituting a luxury tax system that would allow a team to go over the keeper cap after re-signings are announced or during the season, even over the vaunted $170 soft cap or $200 hard cap. However, since the league hasn’t even gone through its inaugural auction, this is putting the cart before the horse, so to speak. Right now, the league is going through a definite transitional period, but it felt like this every year before a draft. With a new, but ultra functional league hosting site which should make league record keeping easier and a more capable draft room and chat room on the main page, the HAC is continually evolving and owner tolerance of expensive players is a key component of that going forward.

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Devin Booker, Aaron Gordon Traded

August 4, 2017

A trade that may have flown under the radar in the past day, defending champion Left Coast Gravity swung yet another deal, landing Devin Booker and sending forward Aaron Gordon and center Thon Maker to one of HAC's newest owners, Robert and his Pelicans squad.

Booker ranked 51st among the overall HAC points scoring leaders last season, and with a current $5 salary, he stays with Gravity owner/GM Glen's penchant for inexpensive young stars.

While Gordon is currently on an Option Year Contract, Pelicans GM and owner Robert has already been in contact with Gordon and his agent to try to renegotiate this contract to both parties liking. Robert is very optimistic about Gordon, and he should be. After the All-Star break last season, Gordon averaged 16.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and one steal per game while shooting 50.5% from the field.

Gordon is a nice haul, but the Pelicans will add another young player, Thon Maker who is at a mere $1 salary. Maker is filled with all sorts of potential as a 7'1'' center who can shoot from downtown.

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Trade Protocol

August 2, 2017

HAC Happenings: It is about trade protocol and the decent way to conduct trade negotiations and the chairman of the league’s betting room, Charles Barkley is wondering if he is going to have to add league enforcer to his job titles. Sir Charles has now heard from two disappointed owners who were in separate trade negotiations, only for both to have the rug pulled out from under them and the team owners they were dealing with did another deal without informing these disappointed owners first, or really saying anything at all to these owners. The first these owners heard that the negotiations were over was when they saw completed trade announced publicly!

Now, this is no way to conduct relationships with your fellow owners. First of all, it is the off-season. For good reason, not everyone has tunnel vision about the NBA right now. Some of us do though, and that is great! But when you make a trade offer to an owner, let the person respond before making a deal with someone else. Contact them through Facebook messenger, get their phone number and shoot them a text, send an email. I have everyone’s contact information and I will update the league file that I have so that it is easily accessible for everyone. Give some basic consideration to your fellow owners. Games aren't being played and there is little reason for some to be looking over their rosters with a microscope. I'm grateful that some of you are doing that even in the off-season! But there are only 12 teams in the league. You don't want to be burning any bridges unnecessarily. You never know when you'll need to contact that person later. Games are not starting tomorrow; keepers are not due for a long while yet. There is no rush to complete a trade. Give your fellow owners time to thoughtfully respond to your query. They may have a lot on their plate: jobs, family, and many other things can take up a lot of time. Every owner in the league is in the league because they love the NBA and they want to see your trade offer! In the future, please let them do it.

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Oladipo On the Move Again

July 27, 2017

Victor Oladipo’s HAC career has not been one of stability. Virtually ever since he was drafted by Latrell’s Hub Caps in the 8th round of the 2013 HAC Draft, Oladipo has been packing his bags consistently. Even worse, Oladipo’s HAC life has been met with many false promises. Promises of that long awaited stability, of being made the face of a franchise, only to be double-crosses later. This continued yesterday, in the first trade of the 2017 offseason, which unofficially turns the league calendar to 2017-18, as Oladipo was dealt to The Greek Freak franchise for the third time in his four year career from Left Coast Gravity in exchange for F/C Bobby Portis and forward Dario Saric.

It all started with the Hub Caps when they chose to re-sign Oladipo in the first year keepers were available, in the 2014 offseason. Hub Caps general manager Erik didn’t hesitate to retain him, and Oladipo felt that he could be with Latrell for a long time. Unfortunately, that dream was dashed in the second half of the 2014-15 season when Erik traded Oladipo to The Greek Freak, then named Balls to the Wall. Right away, Oladipo felt at home, being lavished with attention from his new boss, general manager Gary. What the young star didn’t realize was that Gary gets enamored quickly with his new players. Gary even renamed his entire franchise around his young star, Ola-Dippity-Do. Oladipo started shopping for houses in the area, and all was great. Until Gary decided to trade Oladipo away. And this is when Oladipo realized this was strictly a business. Until Gary traded for him again less than a calendar year later!

All was fantastic...until Gary traded him away yet again, this time to Glen’s Left Coast Gravity, and the romance was dead. So the HAC observers thought. Until last night, when Gary traded for Oladipo a *third* time! It has begun comparisons of George Steinbrenner and Reggie Jackson.

With the translation from draft rounds to dollars, Oladipo is now on a $8 salary which is quite manageable. However, the wrinkle is, he was signed to an Option Year Contract last offseason, which would have ensured that he’d become draft eligible for the first time since he was a rookie in 2013. Now that he is back again with Trader Gary though, he wasn’t acquired just to be cut when the re-signing period begins. So, this should make for yet another interesting saga in Oladipo’s HAC career.

As for Bobby Portis, he knows Oladipo’s plight all too well after also having Gary rename a franchise for him. Portis got the call last night from The Greek Freak lackey Derrick Rose and grunted in response. As a late season free agent acquisition last year, Portis’s $5 salary is affordable as is the other player in the deal, Dario Saric who is making $10 but awaiting a contract extension from his new team, the Gravity. Glen also loves to make deals, but he obviously has seen something in these two young players. Stay tuned from news around the HAC as we learn more from the parties involved in the trade.

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HAC Translation: Rounds to Dollars

July 24, 2017

First off, HAC Owners, you all got an invitation to the HAC Auction which will be October 7 at noon eastern. About half of you have seen it, but other owners haven’t yet, so I wanted to call attention to it.

I wanted to write this article here so that it would be an easy reference in the near future when needed. The translation from draft rounds to dollars is finally done. It took a few drafts of my own, and an immense amount of help from George Utter, but it happened! I think it will be fair for everyone and most importantly, it is as accurate as could be hoped in an inexact undertaking. You’d never get it exactly perfect, but since it incorporates last year’s league statistics in addition to the amount of available money in the league, a rudimentary and equitable, average dollar price per round was attained.

George was instrumental to the process in devising a spreadsheet that incorporated last year’s top 200 or so players ranked by their fantasy points. 17 players by 12 teams equals 204 players. Then, he took the amount of available money that would be in the league, forgetting about keepers, which is $200 per team. $200 among 12 teams is $2,400. He then took the baseline player, the 204th highest total player, Iman Shumpert, determined by HAC points last season - not a subjective figure - and determined each player’s variance from Shumpert’s total. So, factoring in fantasy points and a baseline, a $ per point figure was derived. Then, with the available amount of dollars factored in ($1 per roster spot in the league = $204, so $1,836 total), a raw value per player was arrived at.

What was more important to our needs was not what specific players were worth based on last year’s HAC points. It is what an accurate measure the top 204 players are worth in the league. Yes, Hickory High’s Russell Westbrook was far and away the top player on the board, but it was more important to take the *average* value of the top 12 players - which would constitute the average first round keeper price. Then, the next 12 players (13-24), then the next 12 (25-36) and so on, all the way down to what would constitute the 17th and final draft round average keeper value, which would be $1 because it is the last draft round.

On Friday, I finished importing all of the rosters on Fantrax, and under the “salary” column, I put down the draft round (or keeper price) that the player was selected in. However, now that these figures are done, and not all owners are registered on Fantrax anyway, I may replace the draft round on every roster under salary to instead include the translation number to dollars. I hope all of you will review this translation and let me know what you think, positive or negative.

Rounds to Dollars Translation Guide

HAC Happenings: The Voyage to Auction

July 18, 2017

A few owners have asked, and I’m sure a few more are wondering - what is the deal with the auction and current rosters? I want to make sure everyone knows what’s happening, so I wanted to write something now and in the future, if an owner asks, hopefully I can just point them to this article which will theoretically spell most things out.

As a compromise to the owners last season, I suggested that we continue keepers and carry them over to this season, even though we would be going from a draft to an auction. The theory was that I would formulate a guide that would translate draft rounds to auction dollars. For new owners and those who need a refresher, our keeper system in the past has been that if a player is drafted in the 8th round, the price to retain that player is that the owner pays a 6th round pick - a price two rounds higher than the previous season. If the owner wants to retain that player the next offseason, then he would pay a 4th round pick, and so on. We have never had contracts, but in the 2018 offseason, that will come into play, but more about that later.

Rosters are currently intact, and owners will soon choose to retain or cut players from their 2016-17 rosters. This will happen after I present the translation guide to the league. For instance, a 1st round pick would theoretically be worth $45 and a 2nd round pick would be worth $35. Something like that. Owners will then look at their roster and decide whether LeBron James is worth $45 to retain through the auction. If so, that $45 would come out of your auction budget.

I need to do math stuff to get a fairly accurate landscape of the league to decide what is a fair rounds-to-dollars translation structure. Then, I can get equitable figures on what a first round pick is actually worth and then that will help with determining what the auction budget really should be for each franchise. My early thought is that with 17 rosters, a $170 soft salary cap ($10 per roster spot) seems like a good target for an auction budget. There would be a hard salary cap after the auction of $200. Teams could trade for temporary cap which would be lost after the season. I’ll explain more on this later.

There *will* be a keeper salary cap in place this offseason. Historically, since we’ve had keepers, there has been no limit to how many players could be kept. I should not have done this, and rightly, there have been complaints from some owners about this. I’ll determine what this will be once I get embroiled in the maths.

I know there is a lot to take in here, so forgive this long winded post. There is a lot of changes this offseason, so a lot needs to be written. Feel free to ask me any questions, whether it is here, on Facebook, over text, Facebook messenger...whatever. I’m always available and happy to talk fantasy basketball. Hopefully I’ll have an answer for you, but if not, I’ll look more into it and get it to you.

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New Owners, New Era

July 18, 2017

This is shaping up to be a year of changes in the league. New league hosting site, new format, and now new owners.

I already announced that Geo Utter and his Jive Suckas were taking over for Mike's Sacramento Oaks. Losing Mike is tough and we are also losing Mark of Phi Slamma Jamma and David Bosek of Detroit Bad Boys. All very tough losses. To replace them will be Monte Castellano and Robert K So. David was with the league from its inception in 2010 while Mark has been a HAC'er for three seasons. While I'm sorry to be losing three good guys, I'm really excited to be bringing in these three for the new era of HAC.

I've known George for 15 years (!) and while I've just met Monte and Robert (as much as you can meet someone on fantasy basketball forums!), their willingness to deal with my many questions is a great harbinger for the future. Please welcome Monte and Robert to the fold!

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