Q. What does UTL stand for?
A. It stands for "utility" and is a roster spot that can be filled by any player at any position.
Q. In a head to head league, what are the tiebreakers for making the playoffs?
A. 1) Overall win percentage
2) H2H record
3) Total Points (points based leagues)
Points For (total of all categories won - roto leagues)
4) Points in last week of season
5) Points in second to last week of season
6) Points in third to last week of season
7) Coin toss
Q. In a head to head league with each category being a win, what are the tiebreakers during the playoffs?
A. The playoff tiebreaker for all standard H2H (each categories is a win) leagues is higher playoff seed. Therefore, the team with the better playoff seed will automatically advance in the case of a tie.
Q. I tied my opponent 4-4 last week, but I received a loss in the standings, why?
A. The weekly tiebreaker for all standard H2H (most categories is a win) leagues is bench performance. If the bench performance for both teams is also tied, then a tie is awarded to both teams.
Q. How can I change my lineup daily instead of weekly?
A. That is not an option in head to head leagues. All head to head leagues are allowed to set lineups weekly only. Roto and points based scoring leagues allow for daily lineup changes.
Q. Can I upload a custom logo?
A. The ability to upload a custom image as a team logo will not be an option this season.
Q. How do I pre-rank players for my draft?
A. Click on My Team and then on "Pre Rank My Draft Selections."
Q. When will a player gain eligibility at a certain position?
A. Players will gain position eligibility after starting 10 games at that position this season in a standard league. If you are in a private league, your commissioner can adjust these rules.
Q. Can I place a player on the IR?
A. No, just like in the NBA now, an IR roster spot is not an option in fantasy basketball.
Q. What is the difference between a public and private league?
A. Public leagues offer set league rules and settings that cannot be altered. Unlike a Private League that has a commissioner that sets and alters the rules and settings, Public Leagues are limited to a certain number of teams, statistical categories, roster configuration, etc. If you choose to play in a Public League, you will be placed into a league according to your preferred scoring and draft type. Participants in Public Leagues will be eligible for prizes (see Official Rules).
There are two main types of private leagues: 1) Private League with restricted Public League rules and settings and 2) Private League with full commissioner control over rules and settings. The benefit of playing in a private league with restricted rules and settings is that your league will be eligible for prizing. However, you will not be able to alter many of the basic rules of the game. If you are looking to have a league with more than 10 people, stray from the standard eight statistical categories, or accept any of the non-default league settings, you should join a private league with full commissioner control.
Q. How much does it cost to setup a league?
A. Nothing. All leagues are free to play.
Q. Can I send emails to owners in my league?
A. Yes, will have the option to send email through the league site to individual teams or to all teams at once.
Q. I have a keeper league, can I track keeper players and retain rosters season-to-season?
A. Yes. There is an option in the league setup for commissioners to enter rosters for all teams. There is also an option to mark players as "keepers." Any player marked as a keeper will automatically be removed from the player pool during an online draft.
Q. Will my league have its own message board?
A. Yes, each league will have access to its own private league message board.
Q. Can I assign co-owners to teams in my league?
A. Yes. Any number of co-owners can be assigned to a team on the owners page during league setup. An email invitation will be sent to each co-owner.
Q. How will other owners know to access the site?
A. After the commissioner submits the owner names and e-mail addresses during setup, each owner will be sent an email invitation with the league name and password and instructions on how to join.
|
Q. Can the same player be drafted on two different teams in my league in different divisions?
A. No. The same player cannot appear on two different teams even if they are in different divisions.
Q. Can I set up a league using only players from one conference?
A. Yes, you may choose a player pool that consists of all players (West/EastC mixed), just Western Conference players or just Eastern Conference players.
Q. How many teams can my league have?
A. You may have a league size anywhere from four to 30 teams.
Q. Can I give other owners access to the commissioner functions?
A. Yes. In the league setup, under TEAMS, select the "Commish Access" box next to any owner you want to have commissioner privileges.
Q. Can I assign teams in my league to different divisions?
A. Yes, if you are in a Head-to-Head league, you can choose between one and six divisions depending on the number of teams in your league.
|
Q. What scoring systems are available?
A. You may choose between rotisserie, head-to-head or total points scoring.
Q. What is a points-based league?
A. Points-based leagues simply use a number of statistical categories with a point value assigned to each to determine each team's score. For example, if one rebound is worth two fantasy points and your player in your starting lineup records 10 rebounds on a given night, that player will earn 20 fantasy points for that category. The total of all fantasy points (league category multiplied by categorical weight) is a team's overall score. There are no playoffs in Points-based leagues.
Q. What is a rotisserie league?
A. Rotisserie leagues rank each of the teams in the league from first to last in a number of statistical categories. Points are then awarded according to the order of finish in each category, and are totaled to determine an overall score and place. So, the team with the most blocks year-to-date will receive 10 points, the team with the second most will receive 9 points, etc. Therefore, the overall ranking of your team will rise and fall depending on how it performs relative to the performance of other league members. There are no playoffs in Rotisserie Leagues.
Q. What are head-to-head leagues?
A. In head-to-head leagues, standings are determined by intra-league match-ups. Two league members face off for each week of the season. After a predetermined amount of time prior to the end of the regular season, the fantasy playoffs will begin. At that point, the number of teams advancing to the playoffs will be determined by your league settings. The winner of the fantasy playoffs will be the league's overall champion. There are three variations of Head-to-Head action:
Most Points is a Win - Points-based version of Head-to-Head. Two teams face off during the week and the team with the most fantasy points (sum of each league categorical stat multiplied by the respective categorical weight) during that week gets a win; the team with the least points gets a loss.
Most Categories is a Win - Rotisserie version of Head-to-Head that requires a more well-rounded team to be successful. In a standard eight category league, the team that wins the most categories in a given one-week match-up gets the win for the week; the team that gets the least categories in that match-up earns a loss.
Each Category is a Win - Similar to "Most Categories is a Win" above except that a win is earned for each category over a given week. For example, take a match-up in which Team A out-performed Team B in all eight standard categories during a given week. For "Most Categories is a Win" scoring, Team A would earn one win, Team B one loss for that week. If the scoring system was instead Head-to-Head "Each Category is a Win", Team A would earn eight wins for the week, and Team B would earn eight would earn zero wins and eight losses. The goal of "Most Categories" is to simply win - regardless of how close the match-up. "Each Category" rewards the team that dominates the competition.
Q. Will live scoring be available during the season?
A. Yes, live scoring is a feature included at no extra cost.
Q. What is FSPI?
A. rating system utilized by NBA.com to evaluate player performance in rotisserie style leagues. The FSPI considers several factors:
Balance: Your goal is to own well-rounded players. These players should not only be strong in as many categories as possible, but you do not want players with glaring weaknesses that are tough to counterbalance. It's ok if your point guard makes the league average in three pointers. You can fill that in with a three-point specialist. What is hard to correct, however, is a situation in which your point guard doesn't make any three-pointers. You have an uphill battle.
Comparison Points: The true value of your player has to be determined by comparing him to the rest of the league. To be considered "good" you need to be above the league average in a particular category. To be considered "great" you need to be far and above the best in a particular category. So all players are compared to the league average and league maximum in each category to determine their FSPI.
Totals: Once every regular season game has been played, all that will matter is a player's totals. Whether or not Baron Davis has the potential to be a top-three point guard won't matter to you at that point if he spent half of the season on the bench nursing an injury. Totals are the most accurate reflection of a player's value today. It doesn't tell you what he will do tomorrow, but this is what he has done up until this point.
Averages: You can't, however, ignore averages. Baron Davis may be an injury risk, but chances are that you would value an injured Davis over a healthy point guard who gets 20 minutes per game. If you look at only totals, the backup is more valuable. If you only look at averages, Davis is clearly more valuable. By using averages you are taking into account potential. This player may be hurt, but when he returns to the court we expect a certain level of performance.
FSPI uses all of these considerations to give you an accurate assessment of player value. Each player is given an FSPI value for each standard rotisserie category (FG%, FT%, 3-pointers, Points, Rebounds, Assists, Steals, and Blocks) for both totals and per game averages. They are then given a total score for each of those stat collections that averages out all of their per-game and totals FSPI. We then give you a "Combined FSPI" that averages the scores for both totals and averages. If a player leads the league in a particular category, he gets a 10.00. If he is at the bottom of the fantasy barrel, he scores a 0.00. Easy, right? You want as many 10.0's - or numbers close to 10.00 - as possible. Once you dip under 5.0 in a category, you are looking at an area of weakness that will need to be compensated for elsewhere.
Q. What is Jump Analysis?
A. In rotisserie leagues, the most valuable category in a trade is not necessarily the one that you are doing most poorly in, but the category in which you could pass or be passed by the most teams with a single move. This is determined by finding the teams within your "window of opportunity" - those who are plus or minus a certain number of you in that category. Quite simply, we find this by determining the difference between the average fantasy player in a certain category and subtracting that number from the average Top 10 player in that category and pro-rating over the remainder of the season. That difference is what you can make up or lose by making the right or wrong deal. Likewise, it is the difference that someone else can make up - and potentially pass you - if they make the right deal. The score you see for each category is determined by adding the players within your window of opportunity - number of teams within a certain number above and below you - and also adding a bonus point if you can pass or be passed by the overall leader in that category. The higher the score, the more important the category - and the more important it is that you concentrate on that category in a deal.
Schedule
Q. My league uses a head-to-head system. How will the league schedule be determined?
A. Your schedule will be set randomly based on the settings you choose in the schedule portion of the league setup. Or, the commissioner can choose to manually enter the entire regular season and playoff schedules.
|
Q. What are waivers?
A. Typically, fantasy leagues use a waiver system to allow all members of a league a fair opportunity to add a player to their team. Players that are dropped from a roster of another team in your league can be placed on waivers. Any team may claim a player on waivers, but will not be awarded the player until the waiver period has ended. When the waiver period ends, the players are awarded to teams based on the waiver system selected in the setup. After a player "clears waivers" he becomes a free agent and can be picked up by any team.
Q. What choices do I have to award players on waivers/free agents?
A. You can choose to use a waiver priority list that does not reset, a priority list that resets each week based on standings, a free agent bidding system, or you can choose to handle all free agent/waiver pickups offline through the commissioner of the league.
Q. Can my league use a bidding system for free agents?
A. Yes, you will have an option to use an automated way to track this type of free agent system. Each team will start out with a designated amount of money to bid on free agents during the season, with the top bid awarded that player. The commissioner of your league can set the total dollars each team starts the season with to bid on players. All bids during the season must be made in $1 increments and the minimum bid is $1 for all leagues.
Q. My league uses an auction bidding system to add free agents. If only one bid is submitted for a player, will the entire winning bid amount be deducted from that owner's free agent balance, or just $1?
A. The entire bid amount is always deducted, regardless of the amount of the second place bid, if any.
Q. When do my waiver claims get processed and when can I use new players?
A. Any player added to a roster will be placed on a team's roster effective for the following lineup period. The commissioner has the option to choose the amount of time a dropped player remains on waivers. If your league uses a bidding system or a system where players not on rosters are always on waivers, you will have the option to choose the day and time when the bids/waiver claims will be processed. At the time the claims or bids are processed, the players are awarded to each team and can be used for the following lineup period.
Q. How often can teams in my league set lineups?
A. You can choose for rosters to lock at a predetermined time: 1) Five minutes prior to a given player's game time; 2) Five minutes prior to the first game of a given scoring period (day, week, or month); or 3) Players lock at a set deadline at the beginning of each transaction period.
|
Q. What type of drafts are available?
A. During setup, the commissioner may choose from five different draft types; live, email, single-list automated, multi-list automated, or an offline draft.
Q. What is a live draft?
A. The live draft option allows you to control every athlete that is placed on your roster. The draft will last as many rounds as you specify during setup. Draft order for the first round will be selected by the commissioner during setup. The order in which team owners draft reverses in each successive round, so that the owner who drafts first in the first round, will draft last in the second round, and so on. You will also have the option to choose how much time each team has to make a pick during a live draft and the commissioner will have the option to draft for any team in the league during a live draft.
Q. Where do I go to enter my pre-draft rankings?
A. Click on "draft prep" under DRAFT on the league navigation bar at the left.
Q. Can the commissioner draft players for any team in the league during a live draft?
A. Yes, there will be an option for any owner with commissioner privileges to select a player for any other team during a live draft on the html draft page only.
Q. What happens if an owner fails to show up for a live draft or misses a pick?
A. If an owner is not present for a live draft, that owner will have players selected automatically based on pre-draft rankings made by that owner.
Q. What is "auto-pick"?
A. During the league setup, the commissioner will have the option to choose the number of successive missed picks needed before a team is placed on auto-pick. This is done to help speed up a draft that would slow down with a missing owner. When a team is placed on auto-pick, the live draft will automatically select a player for that team, based first on any players placed in the owner's queue, then based on pre-draft rankings.
Q. What is an email draft?
A. An email draft works similar to a live draft, just over a longer period of time (the java applet is not used during an email draft). All owners make player selections online when it's their teams turn to pick. An email is then automatically generated and sent to all league owners when a pick is made. The commissioner has the option to choose how much time each owner has to make each pick.
Q. What is a "list" draft?
A. There are two different types of automated list drafts available: single-list and multi-list. With a single-list draft, the automated system will automatically draft each owner's team based on player rankings defined by the owner. In a multi-list draft, the automated system will automatically draft each owner's team based on player rankings by position defined by the owner. The multi-list draft also allows the owner to specify what position should be drafted in each round.
Q. Can I set the draft order for every round of my league's draft?
A. Yes. You may specify the draft order for the first round of your draft. By default, the draft order you set for the first round, will automatically "snake" every round, meaning the order you set for the first round will apply to odd-numbered rounds, and teams will draft in the reverse order during even-numbered rounds. So, the team with the first pick in the first round will have the last pick in the second round. If your league uses different draft rules, or trades draft picks, there is the option to change the draft order for any round in the league setup.
Q. My league already exists and we keep players year-to-year. Can my league still use a live draft since each team already has players on their rosters?
A. Yes. The commissioner will have the ability to place players on team rosters prior to the draft. When the live draft begins, those players will already appear on the owner's rosters and will not be listed as available players for the draft.
|
Q. What abbreviations go in here?
A. We'll find out soon.
|
Legal Guidelines and Disclaimer
To ensure that NBA Ultimate Fantasy Commissioner is a positive experience for everyone, we expect you to respect other members at all times. Please note that we are not responsible for any content posted on the Ultimate Fantasy Commissioner. The photos and other content reflect the views of individual members and do not represent the NBA. We do not pre-screen or monitor all content, but we reserve the right to remove any content we deem harmful, offensive or in violation any law, regulation or standard, advocates illegal activity, or infringes upon the intellectual property or other rights of any entity or person. While we encourage you to be creative in your postings of content, if you post or display content that we decide (in our sole discretion) is inappropriate for the NBA Ultimate Fantasy Commissioner, we reserve the right to remove it. We reserve all rights to seek appropriate relief for against users who violate these guidelines, the NBA.com Network Terms of Use or any applicable law, regulation or standard, through their posting of content on the NBA Ultimate Fantasy Commissioner.
For complete details on NBA.com’s community standards and participation on NBA.com, please read the NBA.com Network Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
Dated August 31, 2007
|
|
|
|
