2019 Offseason

HAC League News

Michael Beasley has had an interesting NBA career to say the least. It began before the HAC started, in 2008, as the 2nd overall pick in the NBA Draft by the Miami Heat. By the time the HAC started in 2010, the Heat had grown tired of Beasley and had already traded him.

In Beasley’s nine year career so far, and it is hard to believe it has lasted that long, he has played for five different NBA franchises. He has also played for five different HAC franchises. That is only one similarity, though granted, Beasley also spent a cup of coffee with the Memphis Grizzlies in training camp in 2014, before bolting to China to play there. Another similarity is that he has been on the Miami Heat roster on three separate occasions as GM Pat Riley just can’t get enough of Beasley’s basketball charms. Well, Nathan and his Donkey Crankers have rostered Beasley two different times as of 2016. He has also played in China on in two separate seasons for two different teams. Could the third stint with the Crankers be coming this season?

2010-11 - Drafted in the 9th round by Newark Purple Drank

2011-12 - Drafted in the 8th round by Newark Purple Drank

2012-13 - Drafted in the 9th round by David's Detroit Bad Boys

2013-14 - Undrafted

2014-15 - Undrafted

• Donkey Crankers signed Beasley as a free agent late in the season in late February upon the news of Beasley returning to the NBA and to the Miami Heat, but waived him two weeks later.
• Balls to the Wall then signed Beasley in late March, but Gnj Magnus released him just one day later.

2015-16 - Undrafted

• Donkey Crankers just couldn’t quit Beasley; Nathan signed Beasley again late in the season as a free agent in March. This followed Beasley returning once again to the NBA from overseas. The Crankers bid $20 for Beasley’s services and kept him until the end of the season, but did not re-sign him.

2016-17 - Undrafted

• Halftime Hoopers signed Beasley for one glorious, wondrous, whirlwind weekend. The dalliance lasted only three days as Stuart signed Beasley on December 10 only to release him on the 13th.

I'll add to this as Beasley's HAC career has gone on. In 2017-18, he was acquired in the first ever auction for the league at $2 by Christian's Durantula franchise. And he stuck with him the entire year! Beasley rewarded Christian by averaging 22 HAC points per game that year.

In the 2018 HAC Auction, guess who got Beasley? Of course the Donkey Crankers with a $1 bid to match the Miami Heat with three different stints on the roster. Well, unfortunately, it wasn't a happy reunion, as it only lasted for a week after the auction.

Could that be the end of Beasley in the HAC? For the entertainment of basketball fans everywhere, let's hope not! After all, this is the guy who offered the world this: “If you’re only using 10 percent of your brain, you don’t even know that you’re using 10 percent of your brain.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Carmelo Weighing Options

August 2, 2019

Longtime NBA veteran Carmelo Anthony is writing his professional options as the NBA off-season goes on. He has been on the record in desiring to play a 17th NBA season. However, behind the scenes, there are other bidders for his services.

Hoping his New York connection plays well with Carmelo, HAC commissioner Walt Frazier has offered the high scoring forward a featured spot on the HAC Press team. "This bunch of muckrakers uncovers stuff about the league I couldn't dream of. I love it… except when it is about me. I usually like when it is some expose on Stuart's Halftime Hoopers." We still don't know what problem Clyde has with the 2017 HAC champions.

Carmelo is a bit skeptical as Frazier has been critical of Carmelo in the past in his other job as commentator for New York Knicks games. Carmelo was also put off that Frazier made clear that there was no option to be on an HAC roster if he took the journalism position.

While we await word of Carmelo's plans, the HAC Press will be eagerly awaiting a return email from the Houston Rockets about a character reference on Carmelo.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Giannis Has Been Traded

July 15, 2019

WRITTEN BY HOOPLEHEADS OWNER GARY MAGNUS

Las Vegas, NV

Welp, Earl Monroe said he wasn't done and he was not lying.

In a HAC shaking move today, The Hoopleheads(maybe living up to that title to much) have shipped all world Giannis Antetokounmpo to the River City Thundercats in exchange for the KAT, Karl Anthony Towns.

2 heavyweights trading places in the 2nd trade between these franchises in less than a week.

"We wish the Greek Freak nothing but the best and all the success that comes to him" Monroe said this morning after the trade was completed. "It's no secret how good he his and what he brings to a franchise. We had a glaring hole last season in one of the harder stats to fill, offensive rebounds, and we feel the addition of Towns, who is no slouch himself, will address that weakness,hopefully"

"We're now focused on the auction, getting our cap strategy set"

Monroe also added that the franchise has added Gary Trent Sr as it's new strength and conditioning coach.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is already possible that the Denny’s was frequented, as it took the Thundercats’ front office not even one full day to complete their first trade in franchise history. The Thundercats sent out big man Myles Turner to the newly christened HoopleHeads for swingman Jayson Tatum. Both players are on guaranteed contracts, with Turner slated to make $11 this year on a contract that has two more years on it. Meanwhile, Tatum will be on River City’s salary cap this year for $8 on a deal that has three more years on it.

The brand new HAC franchise also cut bait with guard Luke Kennard who tried to appeal to the new ownership by sending a notarized letter expressing his desire to play for them. That did not get a favorable response, and the letter was returned as undeliverable...with notification of Kennard’s impending release - a doubly cold hearted message that River City is only interested in two things: the bottom line and wins.

For his part, HAC Commissioner Walt “Clyde” Frazier is optimistic amid the early reports coming out of River City. Caught while visiting different HAC team offices, he stated that “it looks like we got a guy who wants to be engaged in league discussions and that’s what it is all about. Well, that and hoisting the league championship trophy. But when you can’t do that, mixing it up is the next best, and important thing!” Frazier then threw a deft fake and evaded more questions, but he seems pretty satisfied. Reached by text, which amazed this writer given his age, HAC analyst Hubie Brown responded quickly with optimism. “I love this guy so far! And he’s got plenty of time to do more with his squad - let’s see what he does with it.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

End of an Era

July 11, 2019

WRITTEN BY HOOPLEHEADS OWNER, GARY MAGNUS

Las Vegas,NV

Wednesday nights in the summer are usually a quiet time of the year. You’re out doing things, enjoying the warm weather, not really expecting anything major to happen.....and then it hits!

After some back & forth between 2 of the tenured HAC franchises, a deal was reached to send Joel Embiid to the Hub Caps in exchange for Jaylen Brown & Lauri Markkanen.

When reached for comment, newly hired team president of the unnamed franchise, Earl Monroe said “We love Joel, he’ll always have a place in our hearts. We’re disappointed we couldn’t win a title with the big fella, but HAC is a tough league. We also trust our scouting department, led by new advance scout Patrick Ewing, that Lauri & Jaylen are ready to contribute to the chase”

Monroe also added, “We’re not done tinkering yet, our phone lines are always open”.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome Back

July 11, 2019

WRITTEN BY HOOPLEHEADS OWNER, GARY MAGNUS

Las Vegas,NV

No, this isn’t the beginning of theme song from Welcome Back Kotter.

In continuing the promised roster tinkering by Earl Monroe, the unnamed franchise has brought back big man Myles Turner. “We know Myles can play, and it’s on the whole coaching staff to help get him to that next level”

The price for bringing back Myles was Jayson Tatum. “Hell of a player, hell of a talent” Monroe said. “Unfortunately it costs talent to get talent, so we made a deal that we think helps us in the long term. We wish Jayson nothing but the best with his new home with the Space Jamz & new owner Chris White”

“Still not done yet” Monroe was heard saying as he left the arena.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rule Suggestion for PF/C Starting Lineup Spot

July 10, 2019

WRITTEN BY JIVE SUCKAS OWNER, GEORGE UTTER

Random thought while I'm winding down to go to bed. I remember us voting on changing one center spot to a PF/C, but I don't remember why the change to PF/C per se. I bring this up because I was looking at my roster and noticed we really cater to forwards, especially PF. As it stands you could start a max of 4 PG or 4 SG, 5 guards max. You can start a max of 4 centers as well. Now for forwards - you can start 5 SF, 6 PF with a max of 7 forwards.

Now it occurred to me that if that C spot that was changed to a PF/C spots had been changed to 2nd flex spot, you wouldn't lose any of the SF/PF/C possibilities, but you would bring the PG and SG up to 5, and Guards up to six. Seems to me that you shouldn't be at a disadvantage for being heavier on guards than forwards. I thought I'd bring it up now, considering the season hasn't started and if we were interested in changing it, it wouldn't impact your keeper work by taking something away. Not trying to step over the commish on this, he went to bed. 😁 Any thoughts?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crowder was not retained by Glen and his Left Coast Gravity after the 2017-18 HAC season and then Crowder was not bid on in the 2018 HAC Auction. However, he was acquired right after the auction, on October 21 by Erik and the Hub Caps. After over three months with the Hub Caps, Crowder was released and picked up by another HAC Celtics fan in Wesley to play for a championship push with Hickory High. While that didn't work out and he was cut by Hickory, Cal's Kids snapped up Crowder on waivers giving the big forward the distinction of only playing with HAC squads that made the HAC Playoffs last year.

If Aaron re-signs Crowder to a low risk, non-guaranteed contract for next season, it would push Crowder's salary to $5. Crowder averaged 20.5 HAC points per game last season, scoring 1,474.2 HAC points over 72 games in the HAC season. His total HAC points scored ranked him 44th among small forward eligible players last year.

Crowder has only been traded twice in his HAC career, once in 2016-17 and then once in 2017-18. Glen's Gravity traded away Crowder during the 2016-17 season in a package to Stuart and Halftime Hoopers in their push to the HAC championship to acquire James Harden.

The Gravity had drafted Crowder in the 2015 HAC Draft in Round 21...the last player selected, pick #205! The Gravity then re-signed Crowder in the 2016 offseason and then proceeded to trade him to the Hoopers.

In the 2017 offseason, before faced with a decision on whether or not to retain Crowder, the Hoopers traded Crowder in an eight player deal to the Jive Suckas and Neo Geo Utter to acquire a package headlined by Joel Embiid. So Crowder does help fetch some great players! The Suckas later cut Crowder and he did not get a bid in the 2017 HAC Inaugural Auction.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Being granted restricted free agency comes as a slight surprise since he was acquired as a free agent on February 27 by Atomic. In the 2018-19 season, Zubac played with three other teams: Process, Jive Suckas and Calipari’s Kids, and he spent less than a week with all three teams.

Zubac’s HAC history is pretty sporadic. To start his HAC career, he was acquired midseason in the 2016-17 HAC season by the former Phi Slama Jama franchise. He was not re-signed as a keeper, then he was acquired with a $1 bid in 2017 HAC Auction by the former Trick Swishers franchise, but then he was cut two months later and no other team picked him up that season.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guaranteed Contracts

May 30, 2019

This will be an exciting offseason, as it is the first one where league owners will have to deal with guaranteed contracts for the first time. Last offseason was like playing with Tonka trucks, where owners were able to merely sign players to guaranteed contracts. This year however, it will be like an 18 wheeler Mack truck bearing down as those guaranteed contracts become a reality.

I looked over each roster and three franchises have six guaranteed contracts - Nathan’s Donkey Crankers, Patrick’s Hoopy Froods and Glen’s Left Coast Gravity. And only Erik’s Latrell’s Hub Caps have absolutely zero GC’s! Three other franchises - Wesley’s Hickory High, Gary’s Process and Geo Utter’s Jive Suckas have just one guaranteed contract.

I’m not really sure what to expect from this offseason with regards to trades. Will some teams want more guaranteed contracts rather than go into the auction not knowing the interest that some players will garner on the open market? There could be some allure to having a player whose salary is known and won’t budge for a time. It could make budgeting easier. Will some teams want to shed a guaranteed contract or two to open up cap space for the auction?

We’ve got an interesting mix of owners, some of whom are risk averse and do not make many trades, and others who love making trades and who like to take on risky players. And there are no shortage of risky players with guaranteed contracts! The Donkey Crankers have one in Kristaps Porzingis. The 7’3’’ center was acquired last year from Stuart’s Halftime Hoopers for center Hassan Whiteside who was on an expiring contract. Porzingis is set to make $9 in the last year of his contract in 2019-20. While he is certainly a risk, it was a good risk to take by Nate since it isn’t a long term investment and if Porzingis can get healthy, there is certainly a lot of upside.

Complete list of franchises and their guaranteed contracts:

Atomic Supermen - 2

Calipari’s Kids - 3

Donkey Crankers - 6

Halftime Hoopers - 3

Hickory High - 1 (but four option year deals!)

Hoopy Froods - 6

Process - 1

Jive Suckas - 1

Latrell’s Hub Caps - 0

Left Coast Gravity - 6

Uncle Drew and The Europeans - 2

Washington Spin - 3

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HAC Player Profile: DeMar DeRozan

May 25, 2019

DeMar DeRozan has had a long and storied career in the HAC with a surprising amount of stability. But not in 2018-19! In the 2018-19 HAC season, DeRozan had to begin again with a new team after spending four and a half years with my Washington Spin and was acquired by Aaron’s Calipari’s Kids with a $23 bid in the 2018 HAC Auction. Cal’s Kids then traded DeRozan to Stuart’s Halftime Hoopers on February 7 in an interesting move, taking back F/C Myles Turner and an injured guard Victor Oladipo. The Hoopers then traded DeRozan just ten days later, sending him to Geo Utter’s Jive Suckas in a package where the Hoopers got back F/C Wendell Carter.

DeRozan ranked 20th among all guard/forwards in this past HAC season with 2,727 HAC points over 69 games. That was good for an impressive 39.5 per game average which ranked 22nd among all HAC swingmen. DeRozan also finished with a 47% field goal percentage, 6.2 assists per game and 21.4 points per game.

While DeRozan came into the NBA as a rookie in the 2009-10 season, the first year he was drafted in the HAC was in the sixth round of the 2011 HAC Draft, which was in advance of his third NBA season. It didn’t go as well as his second, so surprisingly in the 2012 HAC Draft, DeRozan lasted until the 10th round and was selected by my Washington Spin. Then in the 2013 HAC Draft, DeRozan lasted until the 9th round and was taken by, who else - the Spin! DeRozan was re-signed in the 2014 offseason and a Bonus Contract was affixed to him at a 9th round value.

DeRozan was retained by the Spin for four straight offseasons through the 2017-18 season when the decision was made, with just one year left with his rights, to trade him and get something for him. On February 20, 2018, after being part of the 2014 HAC title winning team with the Spin, DeRozan was traded to Glen’s Left Coast Gravity for G/F Khris Middleton. In that 2017-18 HAC season, between the Spin and Gravity, DeRozan ranked 13th among all guard/forward eligible players with 2,695.9 HAC points over 73 games in the HAC season.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Random Thoughts on NBA Retired Numbers

May 9, 2019

Some random things I noticed when looking at NBA retired numbers. This became a lot longer than what I was expecting!

--The Los Angeles Clippers have no retired numbers. None, not even from Buffalo Braves days like Randy Smith or 3 time scoring champ (with Buffalo) Bob McAdoo? Weird.

--The Charlotte Hornets haven't retired Larry Johnson's or Alonzo Mourning's numbers? Or Muggsy Bogues? Hmm. Yet the Heat retired Mourning’s #33.

--On the other hand, other teams are desperate to retire numbers. While Nate Thurmond played 11 great seasons with the Warriors, and justly has his number 42 retired by them, he played TWO years with Cleveland and they retired his number 42. Granted, before the 1990s, their history was pretty sad.

--I love when role players get their numbers retired. I hadn’t realized that Tony Allen had his #9 retired by Memphis. And only contemporary fans like us would know that it was deserved as without Tony Allen, maybe there is no “Grit and Grind” era in Memphis.

--The only other retired number in Grizzlies history? Zach Randolph! I didn’t expect that one.

--The Mavericks had sustained excellence in the 1980s and their leading scorer in that decade, Mark Aguirre, does not have his jersey retired. However, I’ve read that Aguirre had been difficult during his playing days and his separation from the Mavericks was acrimonious. Usually time heals all wounds, but maybe not here.

--I’m always intrigued when players have their numbers retired with multiple teams like Thurmond, partly because there aren’t many. Julius Erving with the Nets and 76ers, Dikembe Mutombo with the Nuggets and Hawks, Clyde Drexler with the Rockets and Trail Blazers, Charles Barkley with Philadelphia and Phoenix, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with the Bucks and Lakers, Shaquille O’Neal with the Lakers and Heat (but not the Magic). I’m sure I’m forgetting a bunch of players.

--Speaking of which - Drexler has his #22 retired with the Rockets? He only played four years in Houston, but helping to deliver a championship is pretty important.

--At first I was surprised that Mitch Richmond nor Tim Hardaway had their numbers retired with the Warriors since I would read about them a lot in my youth with the Run TMC trio with Chris Mullin. But then I saw that Richmond only played three seasons with the Warriors and while Hardaway played a few more, it wasn’t like they had crazy success with then. Hardaway does have his #10 retired with the Miami Heat.

--And on the subject of the Miami Heat, they’ve retired Chris Bosh’s #1, Hardaway’s #10, Shaq’s #32, Mourning’s #33, but they also retired Dan Marino’s #13 and Michael Jordan’s #23. Looking at the retired numbers, this is rare.

--Kevin Garnett’s #21 is not retired by the Timberwolves yet, and I have to suspect that it is partly because of his fallout with current owner Glen Taylor some years back. They have no other retired numbers except for Malik Sealy who only played two seasons with the Wolves, but died at 30 years old in an automobile accident.

--On that subject, the only number the Charlotte Hornets have retired is #13 for Bobby Phills who also died of a car accident in the middle of his career.

--Smartly, the New Orleans Pelicans, who have no real history, retired Pete Maravich’s #7 for his contributions to basketball in Louisiana. He played for the Jazz when they were based in New Orleans and he also played for Louisiana State University.

--How is Bernard King’s #30 not retired by the New York Knicks!? Or with the Washington Wizards?

--What should really burn Geo Utter, I was surprised that the Oklahoma City Thunder kept the Seattle SuperSonics’s retired numbers. I knew they took their history with them, but it was still jarring to see.

--Kind of interesting that Jeff Hornacek has his #14 retired by the Utah Jazz. Not weird that it is retired, as Hornacek was an excellent player; it is more weird about the timeline of his career. His first eight seasons were with Phoenix and Philadelphia, and he doesn’t have his number retired with them. He spent his last six and a half years with Utah, and they weren’t his best years, and he had his number retired there.

--I’ve never liked that the Celtics don’t explain whose number it is that is retired. For those who don’t really know what I’m talking about, look at the picture attached.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the 2018-19 season, Hayward ranked 46th among all shooting guards and 44th among small forward eligible players with 1,478.6 HAC points, a 22.8 per game average over 65 games which was 122nd overall among all HAC players. You could also say that Hayward’s 2018-19 season was a tale of two seasons. There was the beginning of his season, where he struggled to come back from injury. From October to December, Hayward shot just 40% from the field (114 for 287). From January to April, Hayward shot 52% (182 for 348) from the field. Hayward was a smidge above a replacement player with Value Over Replacement Player with a total worse than any season except his rookie year. At the same time, he had a True Shooting Percentage of 57.5% which was the third best in his eight seasons, and it was 51st best overall.

Hayward was traded three times this season as published before in a previous HAC Press article including the final time on Christmas Eve which brought him back to the Hoopers. Stuart's Hoopers acquired him in a trade right after the season started when he was newly signed to that guaranteed contract by the Process. Then, once the Hoopers were in the midst of a rebuilding year, they got him back almost two months later after trading him to Jake's Atomic Supermen. The Hoopers owner is on record in saying that he hopes that Hayward can become a top 30 player again. HAC Analyst Hubie Brown agrees. “The way Hayward played near the end of the season, he looked like his old self. He was a top 30 player once, why can’t he do it again? His jumper didn’t betray him, his court vision didn’t either.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hickory High: Season in Review

April 29, 2019

Hickory High, and owner Wesley, by all accounts had a fantastic season, with a 14-6 record which was second best in the league. With that, the team earned the #2 seed and a first round bye for the playoffs. Most owners would be pleased with that outcome.

For a quick retrospective of Hickory’s franchise history, since their first year in HAC, the 2012-13 season, Hickory has won 93 total games. That is tied (with Nathan’s Donkey Crankers) for the best win total of all franchises. And before you think that it is only because they’ve been in the league for seven seasons, Hickory High also has the highest average win total of any team in the league with 13 wins per season.

However, those 93 regular season wins have not translated to an HAC championship as of yet. Five times in seven years Hickory has made the playoffs, and the team has made two HAC Finals, but has come up empty handed. In the last four years, Hickory has made at least the semifinals round, and has been sent home which makes the 2018-19 bittersweet.

Hickory had many bright spots this season, highlighted by forward Paul George. George was re-signed last offseason to an option year deal at just $15 and produced an amazing 48.5 HAC points per game. Center Al Horford, acquired in a trade, sent packing, and then reacquired in January gave Hickory an outstanding 32.8 HAC ppg at a $16 salary. Point guard Ben Simmons was acquired in the early parts of the season, and at a mere $14 salary, could be a fixture for Hickory for several years to come after putting up 42.3 HAC ppg this year.

Hickory also got terrific support from less heralded players like front office favorite Trevor Ariza, who scored 26.4 HAC ppg at a bargain basement $1 salary. Center Serge Ibaka was reliable as always with his 28.7 HAC ppg and costing just $7. Hickory fan favorite J.J. Redick ($4 salary) played well with a 25.6 HAC average as did forward Jerami Grant ($1 salary) at 26.1 ppg.

However, before the season, Hickory re-signed franchise star Anthony Davis to an option year, freezing his salary at $40. Obtaining Kyrie Irving in the 2019 HAC Auction at $31 was supposed to give Hickory that second necessary star. Justly, Hickory entered the season with confidence that these two would carry the franchise to their first HAC title, especially as the team opened the season with a 4-1 record, with a big win over my Spin to open the season and a high scoring, close 50 point win over long standing rival Gravity in Week 3, but it wasn’t to be. Davis had a bizarre trade demand in midseason which self-destructed the second half of his year while Irving suffered from hurt feelings part of the year and had difficulties playing in consecutive games a lot of the time. As a result, neither star could be fully trusted when the playoffs came, and that ultimately was the deciding factor.

In addition to the bad luck suffered with their two major stars, Hickory suffered a third tough break losing another franchise star, guard Victor Oladipo to injury. The team recovered quickly, trading Oladipo for Hickory fan favorite Al Horford (for a second time) and point guard Ricky Rubio. This was thought to be a major win for Hickory in their push for a title. After all, besides opening the season at 4-1, they had a five game winning streak midway through the year, defeating a well established rival in the Donkey Crankers and winning a close 26 point game over Uncle Drew. They also had a 13-3 record before things started going south. At that point, Hickory had a clear shot for the top overall seed, but starting in Week 17, the team went 1-3 to finish the regular season and their win was a very close battle against the Crankers in the shortened Week 18, 728.6 - 717.0. The first round bye temporarily stopped the bleeding, but the team then lost to Jake’s Atomic Supermen in the semifinal round of the HAC Playoffs. Wes’s squad then lost the Race For 3rd Place to Glen’s Left Coast Gravity to ultimately go 1-5 from Week 17 to the end of the year. While Hickory finished third among all teams for season scoring with an awfully impressive 1,388.9 average, the team only finished 111.5 points ahead of fourth place Left Coast Gravity. Still, for how Hickory finished the season, it is a credit to them to have been able to hang on to the #2 seed.

While Irving did finish 18th in HAC scoring (46.4 average) from Week 17 to the end of the season, Davis was the player who really let the team down ranking 83rd in the league in the same time frame. While his 37.5 HAC points per game were excellent, the team needed so much more, especially when Davis was viewed coming into the season as the top overall fantasy player. Davis’s 562.9 points during this period was less than half the points scored by James Harden who finished as the top scoring HAC player.

WHERE DOES HICKORY GO FROM HERE?

As previously mentioned, Ben Simmons’s very affordable $14 salary and outsized production gives team a franchise start to bank on. It is anyone guess what will happen with Kyrie Irving and his $31 salary. Irving is not currently on a contract, so could restricted free agency be in the plans? It may be hard for the Hickory front office to let Horford go once again. His $16 salary was justifiable given his production. Serge Ibaka and his $7 salary on a non-guaranteed deal seems like a good value.

Hickory will have to hope that forward Nikola Mirotic, signed to a GC2022 and currently making $6, will come back strong after missing part of the season this year. On that note, Mirotic is the only player Hickory has on a guaranteed contract coming into next season at this time. That gives Hickory an enormous amount of flexibility with trades and re-signings.

Partly because of that and because of a lot of players on option year deals on the roster, more than anything, it is going to be an offseason of change for Hickory. They have four players on option year contracts that were important to their team this year. Davis is the central player at $40. Hickory still has rights for two more years with Davis should they choose to re-negotiate his contract, but after this season, that is a very tough decision. Paul George is another mainstay and after four years of being out of the auction and draft, he will be an unrestricted free agent. Draymond Green was acquired during the season in exchange for Horford. Before the season, he was re-signed to an option year contract as he too has been out of the auction and draft for four years. While more was certainly expected of him, his 30 HAC points per game was certainly helpful. Finally, front office favorite Trevor Ariza and his meager $1 salary was signed to an option year deal last offseason. However, Hickory has rights to him for three more years, and he did average 26.4 HAC ppg, so maybe a re-negotiation could happen.

For 2019-20, with all of this uncertainty, it is anyone’s guess what the team’s roster will look like. While not the most active trader in the league, there could be an offseason trade or two, and don’t forget about restricted free agency. While Hickory did not grant anyone RFA last offseason, that could change this year. Either way, expect Hickory High to be an active participant in the 2019 HAC Auction and also expect Hickory to be threatening for a top seed next season as they usually do.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who's Better: Bogdan Bogdanovic or Bojan Bogdanovic?

April 26, 2019

I wanted to try something different that was inspired by the old Basketball Digests that I grew up religiously reading. They had a feature called “Who’s Better?” where they would take two players of the same quality and of the same position and compare them in eight different aspects of their games.

Bogdan and Bojan aren’t exactly the same position, but I just couldn’t resist with their names. Bogdan may not be quick, but he’s a 6’6’’ shooting guard with a 6’11’’ wingspan that allows him to hold his own physically with NBA shooting guards, though he played a lot of small forward this past season. Bojan is two inches taller and three years older and plays small forward for the Indiana Pacers after having been traded three times in his career.

Bogdan was drafted in 2014 by the Phoenix Suns in the 1st round with the 27th pick from Serbia. He was then traded by Phoenix to Sacramento so that the Suns could move up in the draft select Marquese Chriss.

Bojan was drafted by Miami in 2011, and on the same day traded to Minnesota, who then traded him the very same day to the Nets. However, he wasn’t going to play for any of these teams as his Turkish pro team wouldn’t let him go to the NBA until 2014. He played with Brooklyn for two and a half years before getting traded at the 2017 trade deadline to Washington where he played for 26 games and then signed with Indiana.

Bojan has a deeper NBA career to draw from in his 399 games played to Bogdan’s 148, but both players’s athleticism was questioned before they came to the NBA, and maybe that was simple suspicion because they are Europeans, even though they were both stars in Europe. But, as Basketball Digest would ask...who’s better?

SCORING:

Before Bojan came into the NBA, he was scouted as a skilled all around scorer, and it has been his three point shooting which earned notice this past season. Bojan has consistently scored in double digits in his five year career, with his field goal percentage improving steadily with his best year coming in 2018-19, shooting a career high 50% overall from the field, 42% from three point range, and 18 points per game, all career highs. It coincided perfectly with Victor Oladipo being injured. Before this past season, Bojan was viewed as a pretty good player, but firmly behind Oladipo in the pecking order, and was not in Indiana’s long range plans. However, Bojan responded better than anyone anticipated to the increased volume of shots that came his way. His teammates have noticed too, finding him more often when he slashes to the rim. He scored his two’s off an assist on 64 percent of his shots inside the arc this season. This number is much higher than last year where 53 percent of his two’s were off an assist.

Bogdan was scouted as an all around scorer before he came to the NBA. More of a slasher type than a long range shooter and this has been true in the NBA. In his second NBA season in 2018-19, Bogdan’s field goal percentage took a hit compared to his rookie season, but his efficiency stayed the same. He’s scored nearly 130 points per 100 possessions in catch-and-shoot situations, which ranks better than 89 percent of the league, per Synergy. That his percentages went down could partly have been because Bogdan missed the first 10 games of the season due to a knee issue. However, Bogdan was third among the Kings in field goal attempts and his usage was up this season. His True Shooting percentage, which takes into account two pointers, three pointers and free throws was relatively unchanged from his rookie year. Bogdan improved his finishing in his second year, both in volume and efficiency, which is in contrast to Bojan’s improvement in three point shooting.

Still, Bojan has shown an upward trajectory in his scoring prowess. Bogdan has improved in some metrics, but the drop in field goal percentage last season was concerning.

EDGE: Bojan

PASSING: Bogdan was called on to handle the ball quite a bit in the pick and roll in former coach Dave Joerger’s offense, and he averaged 3.8 assists per game this year, up from 3.3 assists in his rookie season. He is the primary playmaker in the second unit. Bojan dished out a career high two assists per game this past season, and his career average is just 1.4. Bogdan is better in this area, though not by much.

EDGE: Bogdan

BALL HANDLING: A key reason why Bogdan was trusted this season to be the primary ball handler in the second unit is because his turnovers per 100 possessions drastically fell from his rookie season. Not only that, but his usage rate significantly increased in his second year from his first season. Bogdan averaged just 1.7 turnovers per game this season and Bojan averaged the same. Bojan’s usage spiked in lieu of Oladipo’s injury but his turnovers per 100 possessions was actually a smidge lower than Bojan’s (10.2 for Bojan, 11.7 for Bogdan). Both are skilled ball handlers and they both had the same usage rate, but I feel this is a toss up given Bogdan’s responsibility as the second unit ball handler.

EDGE: NONE

DEFENSE: Neither of these guys is a particularly good defender. Bogdan fouls a lot (two fouls per game) for not being a perimiter stopper, averaging only a steal per game. He rotates well enough, and his 6’6’’, 205 pound size allows the Kings to hide him on a non-threatening offensive player. He had a 113 defensive rating this season while Bojan had a 110 rating, which is basically a below average number. Nate Silver listed Bojan on his 2nd team No-Defensive Team in the 2018 offseason. Ouch. Still, his steals per game has crept up the last three years to 0.9 this past year while his defensive win shares this year was a career high at 2.8, almost double any previous year. There is hope for Bojan, but not enough to show that he’s much better than Bogdan.

EDGE: NONE

REBOUNDING: For a 6’9’’ forward, Bojan does not rebound much, averaging just 3.4 for his career. Bogdan averages less at 3.1 for his career. These are perimeter shooters, whose responsibility is not to mix it up inside. Both players’s career total rebound percentage is abysmal, which is the estimate of percentage of available rebounds a player grabbed while he’s on the floor. Both players average around 6% while the league leaders generally average around 30%.

EDGE: NONE

LEADERSHIP: Bogdan is only in his second year, albeit for a very young Kings team, but has had a few veterans around him. In addition, he was just fourth in minutes played on the team, and he has better players around him so there is no need for him to lead. Bojan, on the other hand, led the Pacers in minutes played this year. Sure, Oladipo is the unquestioned leader on this team when healthy, but without him, Bojan scored over 400 points more than any other Pacers player. As opposed to the Kings, there are many veterans on the Pacers, but Bojan’s improved offense helped keep the Pacers in the upper half of the Eastern Conference for much of the season.

EDGE: Bojan

DURABILITY: In his five year NBA career, Bojan has never played less than 78 games in a season. He has played at least 80 games in his last three seasons and has averaged at least 30 minutes per game in his last two seasons. Bogdan has played 78 games in his rookie year and 70 games this past year, so he doesn’t have much of a track record for durability yet, and certainly not as much as Bojan.

EDGE: Bojan

CLUTCH PLAY: While Bogdan hasn’t played in a ton of meaningful games in his career, his now former coach Joerger had confidence in him, drawing up a late season game winning play for him. “That’s a shot I’ve really worked on,” Bogdan said. “I always believe nothing comes from luck and everything comes from hard work and dedication. Teammates and coaches still believe in me, even if I missed two shots before that, and they still drew the play up for me. I knew I was scoring that.” Still, Bogdan isn’t the team’s first option, but had the fourth most points on the team in NBA.com’s Clutch stats which is defined as the last 5 minutes where the point differential is 5 points or less, but with an unimpressive 35% on 11 of 31 shooting.

Bojan had the third most points on the Pacers in Clutch stats this year, but with just a 37% percentage on 40 field goal attempts. This coincides with Bojan’s poor career playoff performance, where he has shot just 40% over 30 games. He is a career 46% shooter from the field in the regular season. Bojan needs to improve here while maybe Bogdan simply needs a bigger role.

EDGE: NONE

CONCLUSION: Bojan has been doing it a little longer and a little better than Bogdan. Bojan had his breakout this year as the first option on a playoff team. Bogdan is the sixth man on a young, improving team. The interesting thing is that Bojan is an unrestricted free agent in 2019. Bogdan is under contract with the Kings next year and then the year after has a team option. I could see Bojan going to a lot of teams and being one of the top scoring options for a long time. I’m not sure I can see that yet with Bogdan. Neither are great defenders or great rebounds. Is Bogdan better than a key reserve? He’s started just 70 out of 148 career games. The jury is out there while Bojan has proven to be a reliable scorer on a playoff team. Between these two talented and similar players, the more experienced Bojan is also the better player.

Scoring (15): Bojan 13, Bogdan 11

Passing (15): Bogdan 13, Bojan 11

Ball handling (15): Bogdan 13, Bojan 13

Defense (15): Bogdan 9, Bojan 9

Rebounding (10): Bogdan 6, Bojan 6

Leadership (10): Bojan 9, Bogdan 7

Durability (10): Bojan 9, Bogdan 8

Clutch Play (10): Bojan 7, Bogdan 7

TOTAL: Bojan - 77, Bogdan - 74

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rudy Gobert's HAC Career

April 24, 2019

I’d like to start doing retrospectives on HAC players who have spent five years out of the draft or auction, like with Hassan Whiteside previously. Besides the fact that they will likely be re-entering the auction, they are all significant players and have contributed mightily to HAC success. With Whiteside and Rudy Gobert, they featured prominently in the Donkey Crankers winning two straight HAC championships in 2015 and 2016. But these are long (what a shocker coming from me), so prepare yourself.

Coming off an unimpressive rookie season in the 2013-14 season, it did not deter the Donkey Crankers from drafting Rudy Gobert in the 14th round of the 2014 HAC Draft. In his rookie season, Gobert only played in 45 games, averaged less than 10 minutes and three points per game, but still the Crankers drafted him. And Nathan might tell you that Gobert was a gamble, and could easily have been cut if he didn't work out, but league analysts suspect that the Crankers franchise was cautiously optimistic with the French big man.

The Crankers stuck with Gobert through the 2014-15 season as he scored 2,356.3 HAC points according to our league’s old Fleaflicker site where we used to host the league until 2017. That point total was good for a 28.7 HAC point per game average. While it wasn’t a spectacular season, as Gobert’s point total ranked behind other players like Marc Gasol, Andre Drummond and Nikola Vucevic, this likely made it an easy decision for Nate in the 2015 offseason to re-sign Gobert at a 12th round value.

In 2015-16, Gobert had another good season, but unfortunately it was hampered by injury. Still, the Donkey Crankers big man still improved his per game HAC average from 28.7 to 29.3, though his overall HAC point total dropped to 1.786.8 simply because he played less games. Maybe because the Crankers front office wasn’t sure what to make of the young center, they invested in a Hometown Discount prize to re-sign Gobert in 2016 for a second season. Instead of costing a 10th round draft pick, the Hometown Discount allowed the Crankers to re-sign Gobert with an 11th round price. And Gobert, nicknamed The Stifle Tower, surely repaid that value and then some in 2016-17.

In 2016-17, Gobert legitimately became a premier center in the NBA, leading the NBA in blocks with 2.6 per game and increasing his totals across the board. He was also named to the NBA All-Defensive first team for the first time and he was also named to 2nd team All NBA. For the Crankers, he put up an outstanding 3,072 HAC points and a 37.9 point per game average. The point total was better than any center in the league not named Anthony Davis or Karl-Anthony Towns.

As HAC made the transition to an auction draft in the 2017 offseason, Gobert’s 11th round value was translated to a bargain basement $6. This made the Crankers decision to re-sign Gobert for a third time a no-brainer at just $7. Unfortunately, Gobert missed time due to injury again, but he was still named NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2017-18. Gobert ranked 11th among centers with his 35.7 HAC points per game. He scored 1,711 HAC points.

This past season, in 2018-19, the Crankers were faced with an unpleasant reality - that re-signing Gobert again would be the fourth and last season they could extend him unless they were willing to pay the stiff HAC Coin cost of the 4 Year RFA prize. The Crankers extended Gobert an option year to freeze his salary at $7, but as the season went on and the Crankers fell out of the playoff race, it became apparent that Gobert could be a valued trade asset for a contender. After three straight years of HAC Finals appearances, the Crankers had to adjust to a different reality as a seller as the trade deadline neared. In arguably his finest season yet, Gobert was traded in mid January to Atomic Supermen as Atomic tried to make a championship push. The Crankers predictably made a fine trade to acquire a surefire keeper in Jamal Murray as well as another potential prospect in guard Damyean Dotson.

As for Gobert, he went on to play in a fourth straight HAC Finals with Atomic Supermen. For the HAC season, he averaged a career best 41.0 HAC points per game and ranked sixth among centers with 2,993.8 HAC points. Atomic still has Gobert’s rights, and maybe Jake and his front office might purchase the 4 Year RFA prize to keep Gobert! Either way, whether he’s a restricted free agent in July or unrestricted in the 2019 HAC Auction, Gobert is finally likely due a healthy raise from the perennially discounted salaries he’s played under in his HAC career to date, and much bigger salary than $7.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hassan Whiteside's HAC Career

April 22, 2019

As previously reported by the HAC Press, Whiteside has an ongoing grievance filed with HAC. Partly in attempts to assuage the tension with Whiteside, and partly due to the HAC Press’s diligent reporting, this look back at Whiteside’s HAC career could also be viewed as an attempt to make sure the keeper page is easy to read!

It all started on a gray Monday morning (trust me, I looked) in the 2014-15 season. On January 5, 2015, Nathan’s Donkey Crankers used a Free Agent Coupon prize on Whiteside. This was in the era of HAC before coins, where prizes were awarded to teams based on the previous year’s finish. Whiteside would help bring the Crankers their first HAC championship later that season.

Based on that Free Agent Coupon, Whiteside had a 16th round draft value and was quickly re-signed as a keeper with a 14th round value in the 2015 offseason by the Crankers. That faith was rewarded handsomely as Whiteside led the league in blocks per game and the Crankers repeated as HAC champions in the 2015-16 season. In the 2016 offseason, the Crankers wasted no time in re-signing Whiteside for a second year at a 12th round value. That next season in 2016-17, while the Crankers didn’t three-peat falling in defeat to Left Coast Gravity in the HAC Finals, Whiteside once again justified Nathan’s hopes, as Whiteside led the league in rebounds per game.

In the 2017 offseason, HAC made the transition from a draft to an auction. Players with draft values as keepers were translated into auction dollars. Whiteside’s 12th round value was translated to a $5 value, and because of his strong previous season, the Donkey Crankers franchise secured Whiteside for a third season at a $6 salary. And the burly big man had another good year in the 2017-18 HAC season. Although Whiteside’s season was shortened by injury, he averaged 33.6 HAC points per game, ranking in the top 20 among centers. For the fourth and final year that the Crankers could re-sign Whiteside, they made sure to do so in the 2018 offseason, keeping the center at a $6 salary on an option year contract.

Whiteside would not spend all five seasons with the Crankers however. With Nathan’s franchise struggling midway into the 2018-19 season and in hopes of getting some value for a player that wouldn’t be able to be re-signed, the Crankers traded Whiteside to Halftime Hoopers on January 7, 2019 for PF/C Kristaps Porzingis. The Crankers are surely hopeful that Porzingis can lead the franchise back to glory in the 2019-20 season.

The story doesn’t end there, however. The very next day, on January 8, Whiteside was traded yet again in a six player trade. This time, Whiteside was headed from the previous season’s champion Hoopers to the eventual league champion, the Washington Spin. In that trade, the Spin got SF/PF Otto Porter (WAS/CHI - $19 - FIT22), Whiteside and PG Bryn Forbes (SA - $2) while the Hoopers got PG/SG Dennis Smith Jr. (DAL/NY - $5), C Marc Gasol (MEM/TOR - $20 - FIT22) and SF Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (CHA - $1).

Whiteside averaged 31.8 HAC points per game and helped the Spin to the league crown. Of course, here is where the animosity between Whiteside and the Spin originates. The Spin released Whiteside on the final day of the HAC Finals in hopes of signing a free agent who would be available to play on the final Sunday, which Whiteside wasn’t. This ended Whiteside’s uninterrupted tenure with a franchise, though he would have become an unrestricted free agent in the offseason anyway and been in the 2019 HAC Auction. This has created an uproar from Whiteside and it is anyone’s guess when it will be resolved. Maybe when a new team acquires him for the 2019-20 season!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hassan Whiteside Filing Grievance

April 18, 2019

HAC Press is reporting that center Hassan Whiteside is filing grievance with the league over being released by the Washington Spin on the last day of season.

The Spin were locked in a tight battle in the HAC Finals with Atomic Supermen and needed to get more production, which Whiteside was not providing. Whiteside's salary was $6 and he was on an option year contract due to being in the last year of his keeper eligibility, having been re-signed as an HAC keeper for four straight seasons. So, on March 24, the last day of the Finals, Whiteside was cut for forward Cedi Osman who was on waivers. Osman proceeded to score a terrible 6.5 HAC points in his one day on the Spin roster. He has also since been released.

While Whiteside could not have been re-signed by the Spin unless the team spent 375 coins to use the 4 Year Restricted Free Agency prize, it was still a cold move as this has potentially impacted his future HAC pension because of service time questions. Whiteside, on the advice of his agent Robert Parish, offered little in terms of a meaty quote which disappointed league reporter Hubie Brown. Whiteside did offer, “I feel I deserve to earn that year of service time and not only that, I want an HAC championship ring!”

Asked for his stance, Spin head coach, Basketball Hall of Famer and former US Senator Bill Bradley used at least a little spin. “Listen, he wasn’t good. We had to make a move and he wasn’t factoring into our long term plans. He was going to be a free agent either way at the end of the season and he’ll be able to play for another team next year, so I’m not sure what his gripe is about.”

Whiteside, his agent and HAC player union president Spud Webb have submitted their case to HAC commissioner Walt “Clyde” Frazier and after the league office hears from the Spin, a determination will be reached as to whether it needs to go before league arbitrator Hakeem Olajuwon.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Frank Ntilikina Off the Books

April 17, 2019

With the new calendar for the league starting, Stuart and his Halftime Hoopers are officially paroled from Frank Ntilikina's HAC four year guaranteed contract until 2021-22! The Knicks guard had a salary of $4 last season when he was cut. Predictably, while Ntilikina spent two week cup of coffee with Gary’s Process, no other HAC franchise showed interest in him the rest of the season.

The Hoopers originally acquired Ntilikina on December 6, 2018 in a massive, league altering, 10 player trade from Jake and Atomic Supermen who inherited the guard's crappy contract.

Just four days later, the Hoopers decided to cut bait and suffer the first and biggest cap penalty in league history of $10 last year after using the Sam Bowie Buyout prize for 160 HAC Coins on Ntilikina. With that, Hoopers owner Stuart was able to pack the cap penalty of all four years of that contract in one year. Without the Sam Bowie Buyout prize, the cap penalties would have consisted of:

2019-20-$5 salary (50% cap hit=$3)

2020-21-$6 salary (25% cap hit=$2)

2021-22-$7 salary (10% cap hit=$1)

The Hoopers were able to take care of all $10 of that (including the $4 original salary) in one season, last year, which was fortuitous since it was a rebuilding season for the franchise. Ntilikina finished the 2018-19 HAC season with 536.8 HAC points which ranked 167th among all HAC guards.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Atomic Supermen Owner Injured

April 16, 2019

WRITTEN BY: GEORGE UTTER, JIVE SUCKAS OWNER

Atomic Supermen CEO, President, and GM Jake Wyatt has suffered a broken collarbone in a recent trip to San Diego. The official press release was that he he took a spill from a scooter while cruising around with the family. HAC insiders believe it happened in an after season pick up game with his star players. James Harden told him prior to the game that "you're going to get hurt" to which Jake set down his non GMO beer and Avocado Toast and said "Maybe so, but I'll do it in style." Atomic Supermen's PR Department is trying to keep things under wraps, perhaps they need to turn to an organization good at "spinning" the truth? More to come I'm sure....

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hickory Comes Up Short Again

April 15, 2019

Hickory High owner Wesley Flis and head coach Norman Dale had their exit interviews with their players today, and things did not go without fireworks. Both owner Wesley and Coach Dale, neither of whom are short of sharp opinions, did not hold back today, even with star players Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis. Though many would deem Hickory’s season a success while securing the #2 overall seed in the playoffs before falling to Atomic in the Semifinals, the team expected more. After three losses in the HAC Semifinals and one in the HAC Finals in the last four years, owner Wes and Coach Dale are searching how to get over the HAC hump. You can bet HAC analysts will be offering their many thoughts on the best path forward for Hickory throughout the offseason.

What is the plan for the future for Hickory? To make a deep playoff run in HAC, star players are needed to put up points. When role players don’t rise to the occasion, you can usually depend on stars to keep putting up points. Unfortunately, with Irving and Davis, neither player could be counted on late in the year. Fans tore the team apart on social media and at Hickory FieldHouse. Owner Wes and Coach Dale heard many of the barbs fans threw the team’s way.

Anthony Davis was re-signed to a one year, option year contract, but Hickory does control his rights until the 2020-21 season. As of now, sources around the league envision Hickory not re-negotiating Davis’s contract and letting him go back to the league auction. His inability to play late in the year was a brutal blow to Hickory considering his expensive $40 salary in addition to the fact that he was so dominant when he did play which is evidenced by his 55.7 HAC points per game and the fact that he finished 11th in the league in HAC points scored (3,120.4) even while playing less games than other star players. The same people around HAC estimate that Irving, acquired in the 2019 HAC Auction, will be one year and done in Hickory. They feel his presence did not mesh with Coach Dale or the roster as well as the franchise’s expectations of him at his equally lofty $31 salary even though the point guard finished an impressive 18th overall in HAC points scored (2,844.4, 45.9 points per game)...just a few spots behind Davis. Unfortunately, like Davis, getting on the court to dominate the opposition was the biggest problem.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Olynyk, Bell Contracts Purged by League

April 13, 2019

As Patrick takes over the Hoopy Froods franchise fully, as a gesture to the new franchise, I’d like to purge two objectively bad contracts from the team. I wanted to inform the rest of the HAC’er owners that PF/C Jordan Bell and his GC22 at $6 and PF/C Kelly Olynyk with his GC22 and $2 salary will be cut from Patrick’s roster.

Patrick had nothing to do with signing these mediocre players to exceptionally long contracts. You might not think two players making a combined $10 next season is a big deal, but those two roster spots might be worth more than the $10 on the cap. Still though, $10 used up on two substandard players is a waste.

When informed of the league’s administrative decision and requested to clean out their lockers, both players were predictably unhappy. Bell stated, “I thought I was going to be here for a long while. I need some time to think about this and decompress.” Olynyk offered, “While I was looking forward to playing for this new franchise, maybe i’ll get a raise in the auction. I think it is a bad decision by the league though.” League analyst Hubie Brown was asked what his thinking was about this move by the league, and as usual, he wasn’t short of words. “I think that these two contracts were pretty terrible and I have a hard time believing that either player will get any interest in the auction. It is nice for this new franchise to be able to have a cleaner slate on their payroll.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While I was doing it, it dawned on me that I should be transparent about how I count Facebook posts just so everyone knows. And if I've explained it already and I'm repeating myself, feel free to skip all this as I've got a poor memory, but not everyone is aware of my system, I'm sure.

For every new post on Facebook, the author gets a coin. Each subsequent post by another new person yields them a coin. The starter of the post/thread doesn't get any extra coins. And no one gets anything extra for a second post in that thread. Only the first post by a new person gets a coin.

I don't get a coin for a post that I make. To me that would be ridiculous. I'm sure you all notice that I try to keep the group active by posting frequently. I feel that is my duty as the organizer. Because of this, I get 1 coin for every TWO posts that I make, so 50% of everyone else. Not just posts that I start, but it could be a reply to a post that someone else makes on FB. If a post takes me a while, like say an article, I'll give myself credit for one more FB post, but not another coin.

At the same time, I will give anyone else an extra coin or two for a thoughtful FB post. And don't forget, I'll reward others handsomely with coins for writing articles. I also try to do that for other contributions to the league. For example, Stu and Gary got 20 coins each for originating the idea of the NCAA tourney and NBA playoffs tourney, respectively.

I want to make sure that you all know what I'm doing at all times with coins. While it is meant to augment team management and not change the league balance, it is still an important part of the league. I also want you all to know what I'm doing because if I do change a prize or the cost of a prize or eliminate a prize altogether, I do not take that to you all for a vote as opposed to any change I am considering to the league rules. I would like to have some autonomy with coins, but I will always communicate any change I make to them. Ultimately, it is very important to me to be transparent to you all and make sure you know what I am doing. After all, it is your league too, and none of this can happen without you. If, at any time, you are concerned with anything, I hope you will bring it up and I will try to explain the best way I can. You all deserve nothing short of that. Thank you to everyone for being owners in this league and having the necessary patience with me at times!

TL;DR - HAC Coins are updated!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Injured Reserve Revision Poll

April 1, 2019

To give a quick back story, I didn’t do a very good job as league organizer in the 2017-18 season, and concurrently, we had a slight crisis with injured players. In that season, we had a league rule that stipulated that no team could have more than one IR slot. This created a problem where players like DeMarcus Cousins and Gordon Hayward were cut from their teams, and then subsequently signed by other teams for cut rate salaries as evidenced by Cousins now at $5 and Hayward at $6, both owned by Halftime Hoopers.

As a result of this, and also my guilt, I knew I had to do something, but I wasn’t quite sure what. The first thing to do was to get rid of the limit on IR slots for each franchise which seemed to work out very well. However, we also adopted another rule that stated:

“No currently injured HAC free agent can be acquired and then immediately be put on the IR. The player must take up one of the reserve spots on a franchise's roster for at least one month before that can happen. The player will be identified as an injured player acquired through free agency on their team roster page as "IR-FA". After a month, the owner may place the player on their team's IR and the "IR-FA" designation will be removed.”

In hindsight, to me, this rule seems not only harsh, but actually punitive towards struggling teams. After the halfway point in the season, we can start to see the contenders and pretenders separating themselves. It is a long season, and it is always a challenge for me to try to think of ways to keep struggling teams involved. One way to keep those teams involved is allowing them freedom to start preparing for future seasons. To me, this rule is an obstacle to that, creating an unnecessary hindrance. Why shouldn’t struggling teams (or any other team for that matter) acquire injured players as free agents or on waivers and stash them immediately on their IR? After all, the HAC has a $170 salary cap for a reason; wouldn’t that halt a team from continuing to acquire players? I feel that the salary cap would indeed enforce roster constraints and prevent potential “stashing” of players.

To me, this year showed me two things. Firstly, allowing unlimited injured reserve spots for each franchise worked wonderfully, and owners did not have to make a decision if they had more than one injured player. They did not have to be hamstrung by having to keep one of those injured players in a reserve spot, taking up a spot that could be used on a player that actually produced. And they did not have to be forced into the terrible choice of having to cut one of those players.

However, the second thing that I found was that the rule forbidding an owner from acquiring an injured player and immediately placing that player on their injured reserve was not helpful for the league. That said, this is just my opinion, though after having talked to a few other owners, they have agreed with my opinion. I would like to take this to the league owners to see if we can strike this rule from the rule book going forward. To do that, and change the HAC Constitution, it will take two-thirds of the league (or 8 of 12 owners) voting in favor of it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trading Moratorium

March 29, 2019

I know we have some crazies in this league that want to trade almost daily, but right now there are some complications with that. Since I cannot renew the league for the 2019-20 season right now, if I allowed trading, I would have to then manually enter in the trades once I do renew the league. I don’t mind that too much, but I don’t want to presume how many trades there will be. For my sanity alone, it might be best to wait, and it doesn’t look like it will take too long.

This is from the Fantrax FAQ page:

When can I renew my league for the upcoming season?

The new season will generally become available/creatable the day after the regular season is over. For example, after the MLB regular season is over at the end of September, you'll be able to renew your MLB league for the upcoming season via Commissioner --> All Options --> Copy/Renew League. You will be able to copy over aspect of your league, including the league settings, teams, players, contracts, salaries, etc.

So, since the NBA regular season finishes on April 10, hopefully a day after that I will be able to renew the league. That doesn’t prevent any of you all from talking trade and even verbally agreeing to trades! Treat it like the NBA free agency period where players and teams still sign contracts - they just can’t make it official.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New HAC Owner: Patrick!

March 28, 2019

The HAC has changed almost 180 degrees from two years ago, not just with the fact that the league has brought in an auction, salaries and contracts, but that the league owners have continually been receptive to these things and other ideas like restricted free agency in the offseason to make the league more of a 12 month league. I’ve been so grateful for that, and it has made me want to be more imaginative with new wrinkles to bring in to the league. And with that, my perception of the league has had to change in addition to my expectations of myself as organizer and my expectations of owners now, in this new chapter of the league going forward.

Because of all of this, I felt a change was needed in the ownership ranks. This past season, around christmastime, Patrick came in to HAC and admirably assisted Erik with Latrell’s Hub Caps. I wasn’t sure how it would go, but I’m excited that Patrick not only liked the league and desired to be an active participant in it, but wanted to stay on past the 2018-19 season. I’ve always respected Patrick’s intelligence and I was delighted about how he seamlessly became part of the group in the league chat. This has long been my hope for the league, that all owners will want to chat about the NBA as a community, and having more owners like Patrick is my goal.

Once I am able to renew the league for the 2019-20 season on Fantrax, Patrick will have his own franchise and Erik will go back to being sole owner of the Hub Caps. As of now, Patrick will assume full control over the Trick Swishers franchise and will be able to start talking trade and have all powers as a team owner would in HAC.

Some of you may have seen that I removed Monte, previous owner of Trick Swishers, from the league chat and the Facebook group. Before the 2017-18 season, two seasons ago, when Monte joined HAC, I wasn’t sure what the future of the league was going to look like. Monte helped out the league when he joined, as the league was transitioning from a draft format to what I was hoping would be something greater. However, two seasons later, the league has blossomed more than I could have expected. Because of that, a new type of owner is needed, one who wants to be an active vocal participant and is an NBA wonk and loves dealing with the challenge of a salary cap. I had a brief discussion with Monte last night about the HAC going forward, and we both came to the agreement that it was best that a change was made. I know Monte won’t read this, but I am grateful to Monte for the last two years when the league needed his friendly presence.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------