General Rules
PLAYERS
1. Players will progress forward one year at a time from one season to the next. A drafted player will belong to the Franchise until his ABA seasons have been exhausted, or CUT by the Sim Owner. The player would then reenter the draft for the next Challenge season, starting over with his first ABA season.
2. The ABA Progressive Season ONE will coincide with the first real year of a players ABA service.
3. Season two for players, regardless of being drafted or a free agent would coincide with their second RL or calendar year season after their initial ABA season. Gaps players had in their career (season / year) will be reflected with gaps in the ABA Challenge.
5. None participating players (injuries or moves to the NBA who later returned to the ABA i.e. Jim McDaniel), who later resumed their ABA career, can be retained by a franchise, and not count against their 12 man roster.
6. Allowing trades, but requiring that salary totals need to be close (20%) to reduce ‘buddy trades’ Or trades that compromise the integrity of the league.
7. · Players that are drafted later in the Challenge that have more RL seasons than remain in the Progressive Challenge could have weaker seasons deleted so that his RL years fit with Challenge seasons remaining. This may further stimulate quality in the player pool and later seasons of the challenge would be ‘spiced’ to a degree.
DRAFT
1. The initial draft order for each conference will be random. We will utilize a lottery to determine a random order, specifics determined as the league fills.
2. I assume the draft should snake from the 1st to second round (24th gets 25th selection), but to ensure that the lower picking Franchises are not at long term disadvantage, I feel like the 24th team should get the Number one pick of the third round. I am open ito feedback on this cocept and toward the subsequent rounds being a SNAKE format or restarting each round.
3. TRADES may involve initial draft order, but not draft picks. Example: The Miami Floridians randomly got the 23rd pick can trade that position with another owner, (16th draft position?) but not individual draft spots. No trade allowed such as my third round for your 5th & 6th.
4. The first two rounds of the draft will be untimed. This is to ensure that each Franchise has the building block players that will be the key to their Franchise. This may be untimed, but it is within reason. When this league starts, you're expected to be active in the draft. Within 48 hours of going on the clock without a pick, your team will likely be offered to another owner.
5. Rounds 3-12 will have will have one hour time slots between 10 am and 10 pm.
6. Rounds 3-8: An owner that misses his time spot can be skipped by the next owner in line. The skipped owner can continue to be skipped until it’s their turn to pick again.
7. Rounds 9-12: Owners can be skipped twice.
8. If an owner drops out during the draft, the draft will be stopped until a conclusion is met. I will develop and generate a proxy list in case of an emergency.
9. I will ask for the GC’s before the draft, to ensure that no one drops out during the first draft.
10. Owners need to site-mail the next two people behind them in the draft order after picking.
11. If you know you may miss your allotted draft time, the owner should send a proxy list to the commissioner and the remaining owners to ensure the execution of the pick and the remaining selections of the draft.
12. Between seasons the draft order for the next Challenge season will be based on accumulated wins, with the worse overall accumulated record for a Franchise determining the draft order.
13. Owners with multiple teams will have one in each conference. The two Minnesota Franchise be seperated between conferences, as well as the L.A. Stars and Utah Star being seperated from each other.
Off Season
1. Players, who exhaust RL ABA eligibility, end their tenure with ABA Challenge Franchise and reenter the draft for the Challenge’s next season.
2. Each Franchise will eventually lose players to exhausted ABA careers.
3. Each Franchise will have a minimum number of vacancies before the off season draft. This is open to debate, but I feel like the more numbers that are available, the more parity and potential for struggling Franchises. Replacing Owners may be easier if there is available talent each off season. The mercurial nature of player movement and their tenure in the ABA should also contribute to a rich talent pool.
4. The draft order will be traditional and NOT A SNAKE draft during the off season, again to ensure support to the struggling Franchises.