Ever wondered what would happen if Giannis or Steph Curry came into the league in 1995?

I have, which is why I'm wondering how much interest there is in this concept.

Here are the basic principles:
(Disclaimer: These are not the final rules. The league charter will be written and finalized if there is enough interest. I will hear and respond to all criticisms of anything I come up with. This would be your league, not mine. First and foremost, my job would be to respect majority rule)

1. The league starts as a double progressive inaugural draft, using players from the 1975-76 and 1995-96 seasons. (I wanted to find different starting points without starting in the 60s)

2. Similar to the contract league which, to my knowledge, is no longer active, you can sign players to three, two, or one year contracts after the initial draft.
As with the initial contract league, you will sign
a. four three year contracts
b. four two year contracts
c. and four one year contracts

All players drafted in subsequent drafts will sign three year contracts. You can sign one player to a three year extension, which would begin after the last year of a player's contract.

3. "And One"/Exception:

During any draft, you may draft one player from any season, as long as that player will not be a rookie during his "exception" contract, or is part of the natural time span of the league (i.e. the non-exception seasons we are using).

Here's how it works:

Let's say we're in 78-79/98-99, and you want to draft Michael Jordan in the 1979 draft. You can do so if:
a. no team has the player you intend to draft under contract for next season
b. you do not have an exception player already under contract, including trading for an exception contract
c. the player you intend to draft does not have a natural season coming up that coincides with his exception contract

You cannot draft or extend an exception player if any of the following conditions are met:
a. the player's natural rookie year is eligible to be drafted in the next three offseasons
b. the player has available minutes in any of the next three natural offseasons
c. the player is under contract on another team, regardless of whether he has minutes

You will be able to draft any season of an exception player, but there are still limitations to this. For example:
a. you start with any season of the eligible exception player's career. The player progresses through time, one season at a time, until his contract expires. Then, he goes back to the database/aether.
b. you must declare the season with which you intend to start prior to the start of the season
c. as previously stated, his exception contract or extension cannot coincide with his natural years of the league

The official time for a contract year to end is 12:01 AM on the first official day of each draft. If you intend to extend, trade, keep or cut a player, you must do so before the beginning of each offseason draft. This means you can trade expiring contracts during the offseason as if they still have one year left on their deal.

In the original contract league, you could amnesty one contract per offseason. In this league, the only way to free up a roster spot is by trading for an expiring contract, which opens up a roster spot, or by freeing up a roster spot when one of your existing contracts expires. There will be a separate "Expiring" section of the keeper thread for all contracts set to expire

Opinion: It's possible someone will use their exception on 65-66 or 66-67 Wilt every offseason. First of all, if your team isn't good, it doesn't make sense to start with 66-67 Wilt, so timing is everything. Second, someone might extend Wilt, which means you can't draft him for up to six years of the natural life of the league.

There are a number of ways to use the exception pick, so I don't see a competitive balance issue there. If anything, I think the exception will make the league more interesting and competitive. I don't think every team will have an exception contract every season, because some teams won't be good enough that an exception player would make a huge difference. They might be better off drafting natural contracts until the pieces fit, instead of wasting a first round pick on an exception contract when the rest of the team is still rebuilding.

I liked the contract concept a lot. I thought this might be a fun, doable twist.

If you're interested,
a. comment below
b. sign up with a city and franchise name
c. tell me how this concept could be improved

dBKC - Kansas City Jazz

I’m in.

Kansas City Jazz.

How does IR work? Maybe a higher minutes threshold since there’s no add/drop for contracted players (under 1000 mins can be IRed? Or 500?) What if a player only has one year left in the sim when he’s drafted? If they can’t be dropped, how does a team enter a full 12 man roster the next two years? Would they just be IRed until their contract runs out?

maybe consider a rule where exception players can’t be extended to 6 years? That way your Jordan/Curry/Wilts are constantly re-entering the player pool? Ooooh or what if they also progressed in FA? Example. I draft 13-14 Curry and keep him for three years. Three years later 16-17 Curry enters FA. Just a thought.

Posted by dBKC on 12/31/2018 3:11:00 PM (view original):
I’m in.

Kansas City Jazz.

How does IR work? Maybe a higher minutes threshold since there’s no add/drop for contracted players (under 1000 mins can be IRed? Or 500?) What if a player only has one year left in the sim when he’s drafted? If they can’t be dropped, how does a team enter a full 12 man roster the next two years? Would they just be IRed until their contract runs out?

maybe consider a rule where exception players can’t be extended to 6 years? That way your Jordan/Curry/Wilts are constantly re-entering the player pool? Ooooh or what if they also progressed in FA? Example. I draft 13-14 Curry and keep him for three years. Three years later 16-17 Curry enters FA. Just a thought.

Let's say IR is under 1000 minutes, as I want this league to be as competitive as possible every season.

If you sign a player with one year left in the SIM to a three year contract, that contract stays on the books. You would have to use IR to find minutes. If you don't want to run into that problem, make each contract year count. IR replacements do not have to be signed to their own contracts; they play the duration of the contract year, then go back to the database.

I do want exception players to be extension eligible. For one, it makes them harder to get. You'll have to make decisions about your franchise timeline, and whether an extension makes sense. If they aren't extension eligible, we'll have 15-16 Curry every three seasons, and that would be incredibly hard to beat.

If we are able to extend exception players, forcing exception players to progress through free agency means they'll be harder to use, especially if they run out of years. I want rebuilding teams to have access to exceptional players at their peaks. That's how we get a great league balance.