What is Fast Break Basketball (FBB)?
Fast Break Basketball 2001 is a text-based basketball simulation modeled after the world of professional basketball. It allows you to take control of a basketball team in the role of coach and general manager. You do not need the game to participate; the commish and simmers will enter all transactions and other moves for your team that you post on the forum.
Season Progression
The Regular Season: The regular season consists of 120 days. During this time, each team will play 82 games. All-Star Weekend occurs during day 60. Day 100 is the trading deadline. After this day, no more trades can occur until the offseason. ThreeTheHardWay league will sim 10 in-game days per actual day. For example, Sim 1 will be days 1-10. Sim 10 will be days 90-99 to give an extra day for the day 100 trade deadline.
The Playoffs: The top team in each division as well as the next 6 teams in each conference advance to the playoffs. The Playoffs consist of four rounds. All rounds are best out of seven games. Three The Hard Way league will sim rounds 1 & 2 on one day and will sim rounds 3 & 4 the next day.
End Season: All players are aged one year. Some players may choose to retire at this time. Any players on your team who wish to re-sign with your team will inform you of their demands. There is no negotiating. If you do not accept their demands the players will test free agency.
Rookie Draft: The Rookie Draft consists of two rounds. Each team originally owns one pick in each round. The draft order for first round is set in reverse order for the playoff teams with the league champion picking last. The order for teams not in the playoffs is determined by the Draft Lottery.
Free Agency Period: The Free Agency Period consists of five in-game days of contract offers and signings. During the first four days, players will evaluate their offers and decide whether or not any of the offers are worth signing. On the final day, the players will always accept what they rate as their best offer. Three The Hard Way league will sim FA periods 1-3 on one day and 4-5 the next day.
Training Camps: During training camps, players experience growth or decline in their attributes. This process is entirely random and your team/players are at the mercy of the simulation. TC's can either make or break certain players - so good luck!
Roster Management
In Fast Break Basketball, each team is allowed to carry up to 15 players on their roster. During the regular season and the playoffs, there must be 12 players on the active roster at all times. There are several options for removing a player from your active roster:
Place on Injured Reserve: Placing a player on injured reserve will make him ineligible to play in any games (but they don't actually have to be injured). Each team may have up to three players on injured reserve at once. To add a player to the injured reserve list, you simply specify who is added when you post your depth charts. Players on IR are marked on the index with a * after their name.
Cut: You can cut players by posting their name in the appropriate section of our forum. When you cut a player, he will be released into the free agent pool. Any salary that was still owed to the player will continue to be charged to your team salary cap.
Waiver: Three The Hard Way league will allow waivers. When you are placing a player on the waiver wire by posting in the appropriate section of the forum, other teams may claim said player and will inherit their contract in full so it is entirely off your books. A player will remain on the wire for 24 hours to allow any interested teams to claim. If no one claims your player, they remain on your roster.
Trade: Trading a player will remove him from your team along with any salary owed to him.
If at any point during the season your team has less than 8 healthy players on its active roster, the game will not allow you to proceed. Please always keep track of how many players you have and how many are active. If a commish/simmer must make a decision about your team to keep the pace going then one will be made without your approval.
Salary Cap
Fast Break Basketball uses a Salary Cap on team salaries. The purpose of a salary cap is to prevent certain teams from signing every player that they want with no regard to salary. Three The Hard Way league will follow real-life salary caps, so our starting cap will be set at $43,870,000 to coincide with the 04-05 season.
There are some exceptions to the salary cap:
*A team can always offer a player who played for their team the previous season a contract starting at 120% of the salary the player made the previous season. The player may receive up to a 10% raise each year in the contract.
*Each team has a mid-exception (MLE) and a low-exception (LLE) that it can offer players. The mid-exception is a one-season contract for $4,500,000. The low exception is a one-season contract for $1,200,000.
*If a player has gone three full seasons without changing teams via free agency, they are considered to have Bird Rights. A player with Bird Rights may be re-signed by his previous team without any restriction from the salary cap. The number of seasons a player has gone without changing teams via free agency is reflected in their Bird Years.
The regular Salary Cap is called a Soft Cap. Three The Hard Way league will have a Hard Cap that is the allotted amount you are able to go over the Soft Cap. You CANNOT exceed the Hard Cap. If you do, you will be required to immediately shed salary or face repercussions including the loss of draft picks, coins, availability of your best player, etc. The current Hard Cap has been established at $30 million.
Player Contract Rules
How much a player can be offered by a team is determined by a number of rules.
If a player is signing with a new team:
1) The contract can be for up to 5 seasons.
2) The player can receive a raise each year of up to 10% of the value of the first year of the contract.
3) The maximum value of the first year of the contract must fit within your available Salary Cap and match the maximum salary the player can receive based upon his experience in the league (see table below).
If a player is re-signing with his previous team and has 3 or more bird years:
1) The contract can be for up to 6 seasons.
2) The player can receive a raise each year of up to 12.5% of the value of the first year of the contract.
3) The player can receive the larger of the maximum salary based on his experience and 120% of his previous salary in the first year of the contract.
If a player is re-signing with his previous team and has less than 3 bird years:
1) The contract can be for up to 5 seasons.
2) The player can receive a raise each year of up to 10% of the value of the first year of the contract.
3) The player can receive the larger of the team's salary cap room (up to the maximum salary based on experience) and 120% of his previous salary in the first year of the contract.
Teams over the salary cap also may offer a player one of their two salary cap exceptions:
1) Mid Exception - one-year offer of $4,500,000
2) Low Exception - one-year offer of $1,200,000
Each exception may only be used once per season.
Bird Years:
Bird years are the number of seasons a player has gone without changing teams via free agency. When a player is traded, he maintains his bird years.
Salary based on experience: Exp Min Max 0 $332,817 $10,625,000 1 $465,850 $10,625,000 2 $540,850 $10,625,000 3 $565,850 $10,625,000 4 $590,850 $10,625,000 5 $653,350 $10,625,000 6 $715,850 $10,625,000 7 $778,350 $12,750,000 8 $840,850 $12,750,000 9 $965,850 $12,750,000 10+ $1,000,000 $14,875,000
Trading Rules
1) Each team may give up a maximum of five players and/or picks in a trade. If your mega-trade involves more than five assets from one side, it must be processed as two trades.
2) A team must always own at least one first round draft pick in alternating years following the current season. You can always trade your current first regardless of the status of your future picks.
3) A team that is over the salary cap can receive up to 115% in total salary of the salaries it is trading away. If you need assistance, use this trade checker.
4) MLE and LLE players are allowed to be traded.
Tanking
It's pretty obvious when a team is tanking and if you have the patience to do it, go for it. HOWEVER: you must always play your best players and have the best scorers as options. So, if you want to lose, you better trade them. You will also not be allowed to fill your roster with the absolute worst free agent players.