Here's the tentative deadline. Feel free to post your thoughts and suggestions about it.
Wednesday, November 30th (3 PM EST): Team Announcements
Thursday, December 1st (5 PM EST): Rosters Must Be Posted (ROSTERS FROZEN)
Friday, December 2nd: Free Agency Begins
Friday, December 2nd: Trading Begins
Friday, December 9th: Free Agency Ends
Saturday, December 17th (5 PM EST): Trading Ends
Monday, December 19th: Rosters Must Be Updated
Tuesday, December 20th: Rankings Due
Wednesday, December 21st: Winners Announced
I know that seems like a really, really short game but after looking at the schedule a couple of times, this appears to be the best schedule that doesn't get distorted. I know some people might not be really happy with this being a short game, but my arms twisted with the '11 FA period.
Onto the CBA issues, if anyone is curious this is the link, which I'm using as my feeler to what the new CBA is going to look like. Larry Coon hasn't updated his CBA website that I'm aware of, so this is pretty rough. If anyone sees anything wrong, post a link trying to fix what I've set as the rule. I'll take it up until when rosters are due.
Salary Cap
The salary cap will be set at 60 million, with the luxury tax level being at 75 million. With the new luxury cap rules don't apply until 2013 season, I'm setting the hard cap at 100 million for this game. I believe the Lakers are the only ones that are even close to that level.
Amnesty Clause
Every team is allowed to amnesty one player off of their roster. All they have to do in order to make this happen is post in the FA thread, which will be posted sometime later today. You are allowed to use this clause at any point in this game, but if you do it anytime AFTER free agency occurs, you must shoot me an e-mail OR hit me up through AIM and let me know that you've amnestied the player AND you must post in the FA thread. Any players amnestied AFTER FA will be on a waiver claim process of sorts. Your claim must not be beaten for 24 hours. The order is based on the 2011 NBA Draft order.
Free Agency
I'm looking to do free agency fast and furious
First off, for any teams that are below the salary cap are free to sign players as they wish provided they're legal contracts. Here are the legalities involved.
* Contract lengths: All the same as in the previous proposal. Bird free agents can get five-year deals with their own teams, with other deals being capped at four years. Each team can designate one player eligible for a five-year extension of his rookie contract with his own team. A team can have only one player so designated on the roster at a time. The owners had been pushing for four- and three-year contract lengths until recently.
* Annual increases: 7.5 percent for Bird players, 4.5 percent for others. This is up from 6.5 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively, in the owners' prior proposal.
For any teams that are above the salary cap, but below the luxury tax level are allowed to offer up to four-year deals starting at $5 million in the first two years, with the starting point increasing by 3 percent in subsequent years (four years, 20.5 million will be the maximum contract allowed to be offered).
For any teams above the luxury tax level, you are allowed to offer at most three years starting at $3 million in the first two years, with the starting point increasing 3 percent in subsequent years (three years, 9.1 million is the maximum contract allowed).
Bird right players are allowed a maximum of five years, while non-Bird right players are allowed a maximum of four years in their deal.
Sign & Trades
I'm doing things a bit differently than in the past. The only players I will allow to be part of S&T will be RFA as well as Nene, David West, and Tyson Chandler. Those are the only three UFA I will allow to be S&T. I believe in some of the past games I've participated, this was a shortcut to get around trade restrictions and people were using them as trading chips. Not to mention, S&T aren't overly common in the NBA either.
Trade Rules
These are new so make sure you are familiar with them.
Taxpaying teams can acquire no more than 125 percent plus $100,000 of the salaries they trade away (same as 2005 CBA). Non-taxpaying teams (based on their post-trade salary level) can acquire up to the lesser of 150 percent plus $100,000, or 100 percent plus $5 million of the salaries they trade away. The cash a team pays or receives in trade is limited to $3 million annually.