Rules

Please read through these rules carefully. If you still have any questions please contact the League per mail or simply ask an Official or another GM on ICQ.

Dates & Deadlines
Regular Season
Playoffs
Offseason
Gameplay
Submitting Games
Standings
Players
Rosters
Injuries
Salary Cap and Exceptions
Contracts
Contract Options
Trades
Re-Signing
Waiving
Free-Agents
Draft
Awards
All-Stars
League Leaders
GM Rating
Change in Ownership
Waiting List
League Interference
Rule-Changes

1. Dates & Deadlines

The deadline for submitting games and roster-changes is Sunday 11:59pm EST of a given week, unless stated otherwise on the site.
The deadline for requesting sim-assignments is Friday 6:00pm EST of a given week, unless stated otherwise on the site.
The patch for the next week will be released shortly after the deadline. (Since this a manual task, there might be an occasional delay.)
The Trading Deadline is in Week Twelve of a given season. The exact date will be announced on the League News every season.
The All-Star Weekend is held during the weekend of Week Ten.
The League reserves the right to take breaks due to holidays. For such a holiday, the league-time will be frozen. No transactions can be performed during a break.

2. Regular Season

The Regular Season follows the NBA-Season and takes twenty weeks.
The aspired period is December to June.
The NLL schedule is based on the matchups from the NBA Schedule of a given season. The order of games and is randomly determined to fit into the NLL format.
All 82 games will be simmed.
If a team fails to submit its game before the weekly deadline (or doesn't have a GM), the game will be simmed in the following week, using that week's patch.

3. Playoffs

The best eight teams from each conference qualify for the playoffs.
Ties are broken according to NBA tie-breaking rules (see Standings).
All Playoff-rounds and the Finals are played in a best of seven series within a week. (H-S-H-S-S-S-S)
Unlike regular season games, playoff games are to be simmed on a specific day of the week, that will be announced before the start of each series.

4. Offseason

Draft
Re-signing / Signing Rookies
Signing Free-Agents

5. Gameplay

Games must be simmed with nine minute quarters.
All Rules ON (including Illegal Defense).
Foul Out Level: 6.
The roster patch assigned for a given week must be used for the game.
The following Slider Settings from the settings.dat file in the patches section must be used for NLL games: NBA LIVE 08 for Sims, CUSTOM for Human Games

6. Submitting Games

Take a screenshot of the final score and convert it to jpg-format. You will have to reduce size and/or quality of the picture.
Save the player-statistics into text-files for both teams using the 'Save Stats' button.
Submit files mentioned in 1.-2. through the Game-Submitter ('My Team'-section) on the site.
Then type in the scores after each quarter and select the Player of the Game.
New GMs, please consult the How To-Section.

7. Standings

Standings are updated immediately after a game is submitted.
Tiebreakers are
1. Better record in head-to-head games.
2. Higher winning percentage in conference game.
3. Higher winning percentage within division (if teams are in the same division).
4. Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in own conference.
5. Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in opposite conference.
6. Higher point differential between points scored and points allowed.
7. Three-Team Tiebreaker
8. Best head-to-head winning percentage among all teams tied.
9. Highest winning percentage in conference games.
10. Highest winning percentage within division (if teams are in the same division).
11. Highest winning percentage against playoff teams in own conference.
12. Highest point differential between points scored and points allowed.
Division leaders are guaranteed top 4 seed, but might not have homecourt advantage.
The tie-breakers may not be approprietly used when displaying standings for technical reasons, but will eventually be employed when determining seeds for the Playoffs.

8. Players

Each player is described by the attributes listed in NBA Live.
All ratings are between zero and ninty-nine.
In addition each player has a Loyalty Attribute: It influences whether a player will re-sign with his current team once his contract expires. This attribute is subject to adjustment according to the player's real-life counter-part.
The exact rating listed in 3. is not revealed to GMs. Instead they are grouped into the categories A-F.
GMs can edit the primacy ratings of their players within the following limits.
1. Each player's primacy rating can be lowered by up to 10 points.
2. Each player's primacy rating can be increased by up to 10 points.
3. The total number of primacy points on the team cannot increase.
During each offseason players will retire, based on real retirements.
Player-ratings are subject to regular change. Some are calculated from NBA Stats (FG, 3P, FT, Dunk, OReb, Dreb, Ast, Stl, Blk, Fat, Prim) before the season starts, after week 5, week 10, week 15 and week 20. The other ratings will be taken from the most recent NLSC patch with each update.
Detailed Information and the formulas for calculation of ratings can be found herehref="/ratings.php".

9. Rosters

During the season a team may have no more than fifteen players on the roster without a special permission from the League.
A team may have no more than twelve active players.
During the season teams are required to have at least twelve players on their roster (either active or on IR).
A team may not place a non-injured player on the injury-list if that would give them less than twelve active players.
If a team does not fulfill the requirements listed in 1. to 4. at the end of a week the GM is fined. (See GM Rating)
During the offseason a team may have up to 18 players on it's roster.

10. Injuries

Injuries are effective starting with week one.
Injuries are based on real injuries in the NBA. The NLL injury-list is updated Saturday morning of a given week, unless stated otherwise on the site.
All players injured (ie on the IR or hurt in their most recent game in the NBA) will not be available for the next week in the NLL.
Injured players and their injuries will be announced on the Injury List.
Injured players will be transferred to the team's IR immediately and cannot be taken off by the team's GM.
Injuries are either listed as 'Out Indefinitely' (if a player is currently on the IR of his NBA team) or 'D-League' (if a player is currently on the IR of his NBA team and also assigned to D-League affiliation).
GMs will have until that week's deadline to submit any lineup changes through the GM-Section.
Once a player is healed, it will be noted on the Injury List.
A GM has until the week's deadline to bring a recovered player back into the lineup through the lineup submitter. Otherwise, the player stays on the IR.
A team may apply for an Disabled-Player-Exception (message to NLL Inbox). If granted (this goes in accordance with the NBA), the team receives half the player's salary as a Disabled Player Exception (DPE) or the average NLL salary (whichever is less).
A player waived/without a team during the season in the NBA will be placed on the NLL injury-list until he returns to active play in the NBA.
A team with less than 8 healthy players must petition the league for a replacement. The league will then place the lowest rated FA, (not under bid) on the team. This player will be removed by the league once the team has 8 healthy players again. Not petitioning for such a player will result in a GM-Point penalty. (see 22.)
On the patch all injured players are moved to the Free-Agent pool. (Since there are only three IR slots per team in the game which might not be enough and would mess up the patch.)

11. Salary Cap and Exceptions

The Salary Cap is $ 58,680,000 but is handled as a soft cap with two exceptions listed under 2. and 3.
NLL Bird Rule: If a player has had a running contract for three full NLL seasons, he can be resigned by his team regardless of the team's cap-situation. Bird years are reset if a player is waived or leaves the team via free-agency.
Mid-Level-Exception: Each team may use $ 5,585,000 to sign players each season, regardless of its cap-situation. (Unlike in the NBA, NLL teams originally under the cap also get to use the MLE.
Players signed with the MLE do count against the Salary Cap once they are signed. So use any available cap-space before using the MLE!)
Luxury Cap: If a team goes over the Luxury cap of $ 71,150,000 during a transaction (trade, signing, re-signing) the team's GM suffers a GM-Point penalty. (also see below.)
Minimum Team Salary: The GM of a team below the minimum team salary suffers a GM point penalty (see below). The minimum team salary is set at 3/4 of the current salary cap.
The GM of a team that stays under the Salary Cap for 10 full NLL weeks is rewarded with a 1 GM-Point Bonus. A team trying to obtain this reward has to report its salary weekly to the NLL Inbox, around the deadline. (also see 22.)
Above Salary-Cap, the Mid-Level-Exception and the Luxury Cap are subject to yearly adjustments following the NBA.

12. Contracts

NLL salaries and contract-lengths are determined NBA contracts.
A player's salary is adjusted every offseason.
A free-agents eventual salary might differ from that of his NBA-counterpart. The salary is still subject to the limits from the NBA's CBA. During the next off-season it will be adjusted by same percentage as the salary of the NBA counterpart.
Unsigned free-agents will start lowering their demanded salaries by 20% each week once the Regular Season has started. Players signed at such a discount will only sign for one year and cannot be traded.
Regular contracts may run from one to six years.
Contracts may include (an) optional year(s) at the end.
Option-years are not included in the number of years listed as left on a contract, but are listed seperately.
Details for NBA salary restrictions can be found here.

13. Contract Options

If a player picks up his player-option in the NBA, his NLL contract is automatically extended.">here.
If a player declines his player-option in the NBA, the option is removed and he goes through the FA-process in the NLL.
If a player's NBA team picks up a player's team-option, the NLL team has the chance to do the same or let the player go into free-agency.
If a player's NBA team declines their team-option, the option is removed and the player goes through the FA-process.
If a player's NBA team declines their team-option, the option is removed and the player goes through the FA-process.
Options are not considered to be new contracts. (No penalties arise from contracts extended by options if a team is over the luxury cap.)

14. Trades

Only players, draft-picks for the upcoming year, rights on players and GM points can be traded.
Future considerations may be included in a deal, but at the risk of the team receiving them. If a team hires a new GM, he will not be held responsible for such undocumented agreements.
Starting with 2004/05 multiple-team trades are allowed.
A team cannot go over the Salary Cap when trading (expect for 5.).
If a team that is over the Salary Cap, is participating in a trade, salaries included in trades may differ by 25% +$100,000 of the lower amount without 3. kicking in.
Rule 5 is adjusted for teams over the Luxury Cap (see Salary Cap and Exceptions). If such a team takes back more salaries than they traded away its GM is fined with GM-point penalty. See below
Draft-picks are considered to have a salary of $ 0.
Like picks, rights are considered to have a salary of $ 0.
A player may only be traded once every three (real-life) weeks.
However a player can be traded within 48 hours upon his arrival with a new team, before being blocked as listed under 8.
In order for a trade to be valid:
a) each team must have the same or a bigger number of healthy (none X or # players) as they did before the trade.
b) If a team begins with more than 12 healthy players, they can trade away more than they receive as long as they still have 12 healthy after the trade.
A team may only trade its own first-round draft-pick every other year.

15. Re-Signing

Once NBA Rosters are set, NLL re-signings are determined.
The following factors influence a player's decision: Loyalty, playing time during the previous season, team-record, GM-rating.
Players deciding to stay can later be re-signed by their teams.
Those deciding to leave will immediately become free-agents. A player who is sign and trade in the NBA will receive a D loyalty and go through the FA process. If he stays with his team, he can be re-signed but must be traded before the season starts. If he is not traded, he will be inactive and the team will lose -1 GM point per week until he is traded.
A team can try to re-acquire a player who decided not to re-sign through the normal bidding process.

16. Waiving

A player may at any time be waived using the according form in the MyTeam-section.
A waived player's salary will count against his team's salary-cap until either his contract expires or another team picks up the his contract, whichever happens first.
A team cannot release a player if that would result in the team having less than 12 (twelve) players total and a team cannot release a player if that would result in the team having less than 12 (twelve) non-injured players.

17. Free-Agents

Free Agents are signed by bidding on them from the MyTeam-section. Each Free-Agents has his individual demanded salary and contract length (depending on his current NBA contract)
Restricted free agents exist in the NLL. If the player signs an offer sheet in the NBA, he will automatically become an F in the NLL. These players will go through the same free agent process as others. If a restricted players opts to become a free agent, he will enter the pool. Any team can bid on this player. Once a bid is processed, the original has 48hrs to claim this player. During this period, the bidding team will have the money allocated to that player locked. If the free agency period ends and a restricted player is still in the pool, his old team will then have the option whether or not to claim him.
Each player is available for bids from teams on a certain date (as indicated in under Transactions.)
Once a player is up for bids, he will be available for 3 days. If hold the cursor over the player's name, you can see how many teams are bidding on him at that moment. You will see which teams are bidding but not how much is being offered to him. At any time, you can rescind your bid or edit your offer. After the 3 day period expires, the player will decide using the traditional formula which team he will sign with.
The factors 'considered' are salary, team-record, GM-Rating and number of players with higher CBS-rating on that team. With "minimum" contract players, GM-rating does not apply.
A player who has not received a bid will continue to be available on the next day.
Players that have been waived and are still getting paid by a team will again be available for bids starting with their NBA salary. This amount can be lower than what the player is still paid by his last NLL team. This team is prevented from picking the player back up for less than his original salary for 5 NLL weeks.
If a team already has 15 players on its roster it has to select a player to release upon a successful bid on a Free-Agent.

18. Draft

During each off-season a two-round rookie draft will be held.
The draft will be held live in the NLL chatroom.
The teams that did not make the playoffs enter a draft-lottery to determine the draft order.
The remaining teams draft in inversed order of the league standings. The order of the second round is a copy of first round (with the exception of ties).
Scouting reports for rookies are available at nba.com and nbadraft.net.
The ratings of rookies will only be revealed after the draft (after the next NLSC patch has been released).
If a rookie does not join his NBA-team in real life he will not join his NLL team either. Instead the NLL team will hold his rights (can be traded as a player with $0 salary) until he actually joins the NBA.

19. Awards

There are four awards given out at the end of every week of the Regualar Season. Selections are made by League Officials.
1. Eastern Conference Player of the Week.
2. Western Conference Player of the Week.
3. Eastern Conference Rookie of the Week.
3. Western Conference Rookie of the Week.
There are six awards given out at the of every season voted on by GMs.
1. Most Improved Player of the Year.
2. Sixth Man of the Year.
3. Defensive Player of the Year.
4. Rookie of the Year.
5. Most Valuable Player of the Year.
6. Most Valuable Player of the Finals.
Nominations for above awards are handled by League Officials.
All-League, All-Rookie and All-Defensive teamsd are selected by League Officials.

20. All-Stars

Each team may nominate three players from its roster for the All-Star-Votes, before the deadline of Week 9 (nine).
From the nominations in 1. each GM can then vote for two centers, four forwards and four guards per conference, before the deadline of week ten.
A GM may not vote for his own players.
The 2 (two) centers with the most votes in each Conference are selected to the All-Star-Teams.
The 4 (four) forwards with the most votes in each Conference are selected to the All-Star-Teams.
The 4 (four) guards with the most votes in each Conference are selected to the All-Star-Teams.
The last 2 (two) slots on each team are filled by the remaining players receiving the most votes, regardless of position.
The All-Star-Game is simmed by one of the commishioners.
The All-Rookie and All-Sophomore teams are determined by League Officials and are simmed by a selected GM.

21. League Leaders

To be considered for league leaders a player must have played in 2/3 (two thirds) of the total number of games played so far.

22. GM Rating

Each GM has a rating that tells how he is respected by players.
The GM rating ranges between 0-99. Once you accrue 99 points, you can no longer gain additional GM points.
Gains
1. Completing an entire season in the NLL: +1
2. Writing up the Power Rankings +1/week. There will be a sign-up in the forum. Each GM will be limited to twice per season.
3. Activity: Regular Postings on the site (Team-News, Recaps): +1 after each week 5, 10 and 20.
4. Winning the Division: +1
5. Winning the Conference Finals: +1
6. Winning the Championship: +2
7. Staying under the Salary Cap for 10 full NLL weeks: +1
8. For each 10 games simmed: +1
9. If you finish the season with 10 of the same players you had at the start of Week One. You will be responsible for turning roster comparisons at the end of the season. +2
10. Games of the Week +1. There will be a sign-up in the forum. Each GM will be limited to three games per season.
11. More opportunities will be available during the playoffs to gain GM points.
12. Rookie Rankings +1. There will be a sign-up in the forum. Each GM will be limited to twice per season.
Kick-out Points
1. Not submitting a game on time (without excuse): -3
2. For each player more than 15 on the team's roster at the end of a week (active & IR): -2
3. For each player less than 12 on the team's roster at the end of a week (active & IR): -2
4. For each non-injured player on the IR, if there is an active open slot for him: -2
5. Not having submitted a starting five for your line-up (due to injuries, trades, ...): -2
6. Not sending All-Star-nominations: -1
7. Not petitioning for an 8th healthy player: -1
8. Not having a minimum team-salary (3/4 of salary cap) at the end of a week: -1
9. Not setting the number of sim-requests before the Friday deadline: -3
Franchise Fines
1. Trading a player you acquire this season: -3 (There will be no more freebies.)
2. Increasing your team's payroll beyond the Luxury Cap through a transaction (trade, signing, re-signing): -1 for each new $2 million (ie- $1-$1,999,999 = -1, $2,000,000-$3,999,999= -2)
3. You will lose -1 GM point per 5 weeks that you are over the luxury cap. You can lose a maximum of 4 GM points this way per season.
4. If you do not gain a point from participation rewards, you will lose -1.
5. If you trade a player you acquired via free agency -2. (Players signed to a minimum deal are exempt).
Improving the GM-Rating gives the following benefits:
1. Resigning: Each point over/under 50 increases/decreases the chances to for a player to resign with his team by 1%
2. Bidding: GMs with a higher rating will get a bonus while bidding against GMs with a lower rating.
GMs start the game with a rating of 50 (players are indifferent to the GMs abilities).
Once a team reaches 45 GM points or below:
1. They cannot sign any FAs who are non-minimum. This includes returning players with expired contracts. They can claim restricted FAs at the expense of losing more GM points.
2. They cannot make any trades where they take on more salary.
3. If the GM can trade so he is below the salary cap, he will automatically return to a 46 GM rating. This can only happen once per year.
GM Points can be included in trades.
Changes in the GM-rating are determined by the League.
A low GM-rating may lead to the dismissal of a GM from the league. (See Change of Ownership)

23. Change in Ownership

A GM may leave by resignation or dismissal.
A person from the waiting list replaces an outgoing owner, upon league approval.
When a team hires a new GM, that GM does not get full rights right away. To protect the franchise the new GM is not allowed to perform any roster-changes (trades, waivings, signings) for three NLL weeks.
Losing a GM-Point (from luxury-cap-related fines) before acquiring full GM-Status immediately leads to a dismissal from the League.
After three weeks the League will decide whether the GM is granted full GM status or fired.
Once a GM accumulates 5 kick-out points or more points during a single season, he is dismissed from the League or placed on probation again.
If a GM is fired any trades made in the current or previous week will be void.
Dismissed GMs will not be allowed back into the League.

24. Waiting List

In order to join nbaliveleague.com one must have signed up on for the waiting list.
To sign up for the waiting list a valid email-adress and an ICQ account are required.

25. League Interference

The League reserves the right to cancel any trades that are to a severe disadvantage of one involved team.
The League reserves the right to remove GMs that behave in an offensive way towards other GMs or League Officials or in another way threaten fair play.
The League reserves the right to remove GMs that violate or try to violate the one team per person rule.

26. Rule-Changes

nbaliveleague.com reserves the right to make adjustments to above rules.

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