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And the Executive Committee will draft for it. If you know of a friend or relative that wants this team, let me or Mark Long know ASAP.

The barn door is open a little early. Please keep up with the draft via Mark Long's emails and on this website at our 2004 Draft link.

New Orleans picked Anthony (Den) and New York picked Wade (Mia) and Bosh (Tor) next

New York has already finished it's draft. Next up, Brooklyn at #7 in the first round.

This completes the top 10. All further picks will be listed on our 2004 Draft link and, of course, our Rosters link.

Tierre Brown, Derrick Coleman, Sean Lampley, Scottie Pippen & Scott Padgett. They are in the draft.

37. New York sends Galactic 1st, St. Lucie's 1st & 2nd to San Francisco for its 1st and Brian Grant

35. NY sends Horry and Padgett to Galactic for Cave Creek's 2005 3rd round pick.

34. Springfield trades Karl Malone to Brooklyn for Atlanta's 2nd pick and Brooklyn's 2005 2nd

33. Cave Creek trades Camby, Jerome Williams, & E. Strickland to Bettendorf for Bettendorf's 1st, 2nd and John Salmons

32. Indy sends Stackhouse and G. Robinson to NY for M. Blount and NY's 2005 3rd

29. Holcomb trades R. Hamilton & Fort Hays 2005 1st to Chandler for Terry & A. Walker

23. Cave Creek trades Snow & Anthony Johnson to Akron for E. Strickland, Szerbiak, D. Staudamire

20. Holcomb trades Iverson, Wells, C. Robinson & Fort Hays 2nd & Holcomb's 2nd to Galactic for R. Hamilton, E. Jones & M. Rose

The following is based on won-lost records and includes penalty point adjustments. Divisional, Conference and World Champions draft last, unless penalty points alter the order. Where won-lost records were tied, penalty points, autoplaying and other league records were used to break the ties:

1. New York 2. Atlanta 3. Chandler 4. New Orleans 5. Tulsa 6. San Francisco 7. Brooklyn 8. River City 9. Bettendorf 10. Chapel Hill 11. Fort Hays 12. Iowa 13. Cave Creek 14. Akron 15. Galactic 16. McLean 17. Richmond 18. Holcomb 19.Tri-City 20. St. Lucie 21. Tucson 22. Springfield Bulldogs 23. Minnesota 24. Indy

Let's give a big SABL welcome to our final Expansion coach, Ron Tidrow! Ronald is taking over our fourth and final expansion team, effective immediately and naming it the Indy Rebels.

Ron's email is ronsue14@insightbb.com. His vitals: 5624 N. Jamestown Dr., McCordsville, IN 46055. Phone (317) 335-1615.

Again, welcome to our passion, Ron, the Second American Basketball League - where you are free to be the best that you can be. Good luck!

Tony Disibbio, our Expansion Tuscon Sky coach, is a former North Division winner in the SABL. He did it in 1995-96 with a 53-29 record. That franchise is now the River City Renegades, coached by Mike Resnick, an Amazing Feeney nephew.

OK, the Expansion Draft is over and the Regular Draft is two weeks away. It's time for everyone to know what division they are gonna be in:

SOUTH - New Orleans, Chapel Hill, St. Lucie, Galactic, Atlanta, Springfield Bulldogs

Even if we get a coach for our remaining expansion team, our divisional alignment will not change. This is it for this season. I want all of you to make your final judgments based on where you are gonna be playing.

From Monday, Nov. 1 until the end of our Regular Draft at 1 PM EST, Saturday, Nov. 6, our rosters will be frozen once again.

Please note that any players you have cut and that were not taken are automatically back on your team. If you want to re-cut them before the Regular Draft, you have until Oct. 31 by 11:59 PM to do so. Make sure you send your Regular Draft roster cuts to Player Agent Director Mark Long at mark@awardinnovations.com.

Please check our Rosters link to make sure I have your roster and draft picks correct.

And great job to all that participated in the draft and to the man who conducted it, Player Agent Director and Cave Creek Coach Mark Long. Now let's get ready for the Regular Draft!

It's at our 2004 Draft Preview link. It's best to have a few brewskis in ya' before you read it. That way, you'll forget most of what I said and your team will be much better off.

As soon as the Expansion Draft is over on Oct. 24, our expansion teams can make trades. In our league, you are free to be the best that you can be. Once the Expansion teams have their players, there is no reason they shouldn't start sharing in that freedom.

On our Expansion Draft Pool link. And they are in alphabetical order, with their real-life teams listed.

Or until the Expansion Draft of Oct. 24 is over, which probably will be close to midnight on Oct. 24. So, from today, Oct. 18 until the Expansion Draft is over, we cannot make any deals.

11:59 p.m., Oct. 17 – Expansion Roster cuts due to Player Agent Director Mark Long. Rosters freeze. No trades can be made until the Expansion Draft is over.

7 pm, EST Oct. 24 – Expansion Draft conducted by Player Agent Director Mark Long. Trading resumes after the draft is over.

11:59 p.m., Oct. 31 – Regular Draft List due to Player Agent Director Mark Long. Rosters freeze. No trades can be made until the Regular Draft is over.

1 p.m., EST, Nov. 6 – 2004 SABL Draft. Trading resumes after the Draft is over.

11:59pm, Nov. 14 - Post draft trading period ends. Traded rosters must be used from Dec. 6-31

11:59pm, Nov. 28 - Post Draft Rosters & League Disk available to Coaches, from Operations Director & Statistician Steve Walters.

11:59pm, Nov. 30 - Second trading period ends. Traded rosters must be used from Jan. 1-31.

11:59pm, Dec. 31 - Third trading period ends. Traded rosters must be used from Feb. 1-28

11:59pm, Jan. 31 – Final trading period ends. Traded rosters must be used from March 1 until the end of the season. All trades from now on are for the 2003-2004 season.

16. St. Lucie trades Artest & Jason Williams to Fort Hays for Kobe Bryant

13. St. Lucie trades B. Simmons & its 3rd pick and 2005 1st pick to Atlanta for E. Watson & Ward

12. St. Lucie trades Wells & B. Barry to Holcomb for Jason Williams, Christie & Holcomb's 2005 3rd pick

11. Holcomb trades Ben Wallace, Billups & its 3rd pick to Finney for Iverson, Christie, Finney's 2nd and Finney's 2005 1st

8. St. Lucie trades Kobe Bryant to Finney for Artest & Finney's 1st pick.

6. St. Lucie trades Davenport's 1st & Yao Ming to Akron for Kevin Garnett & Chris Mihm

5. New Orleans trades Louisiana's 1st and New Orleans' 1st to Davenport for Bettendorf's 1st

4. St.Lucie trades Shaquille O'Neal to Davenport for Davenport's 1st pick

3. St. Lucie trades Zach Randolph to Bakersfield for Shaquille O'Neal & Brent Barry.

2. New Orleans trades Terry, Welsch, Ervin Johnson, Samaki Walker, its 3rd pick and its 2005 1st pick to Louisiana for Boozer, Bibby and Louisiana's 2004 1st pick.

Look out Evil Druids, former SABL skipper Tom Jargo, the former wise-cracking of the Miles Bulldogs (now Tony Fuoco's Chandler Monsoon) is coming back to the league. Tom's bulldogs were unleashed in our North and East divisions of the Royal Conference from 1997 to 2003, six years that will live in infamy.

Yes, that fun-loving Jargo, a journalist of ill-repute, has agreed to become the third coach to take an exhibition team. Tom will draft third in the Expansion Draft Oct. 24 and draft third among the expansion teams in the regular draft. His email is Tsamcub@aol.com. Team name info, phone and address will follow shortly.

For all our new coaches that aren't trained in psychoanalysis, let me explain: Tom Jargo is the nemesis of Bettendorf Druid Coach Mark Feeney. The Amazing Mark Feeney should be afraid, very afraid, now that madman Jargo is returning. Here is how Tom re-applied for membership:

"This is Tom Jargo, former owner of the former SABL franchise known as the Miles Bulldogs. Due to the fact that I miss having a team and I'm a glutton for punishment (and the Evil Druid must be stopped at all cost), I am offering to take on the duties of trying to build an expansion team . . .

"-Tom Jargo, former Miles Bulldogs Coach and nemesis of the Pure Evil that lurks in Bettendorf, Iowa."

Hey, with an application like that, you're hired!

Tom, sincerely, welcome back. We missed ya'.

New coaches and new, six-team divisions means our annual realignment may be interesting this year. Remember, alignments are decided only on the basis of geography. Here's how it's shaping up, based on our current coaches:

SOUTH - New Orleans, Chapel Hill, St. Lucie, Galactic, Atlanta, Springfield Bulldogs

Obviously, if we get one more expansion coaches, that may affect the alignment. But if we get no more expansion coaches, the above is the best geographical alignment.

Dan is the second coach to take an expansion team, so he'll get to draft second in the Expansion Draft and second among Expansion Teams in the Regular draft order. Dan is lives in Missouri, and he's going to be sending me his mailing address, team name and phone number ASAP. His email is razzman1946@hotmail.com.

"I am a long-time stratomatic hoops enthusiast who bought my first board game at age 13 back in 1983. My first season cards were the '82-83 cards, the year Philly won the championship (remember Moses Malone saying "fo, fo, and fo"?).

"Although I haven't bought the season cards for the board game in almost 10 years, I have the first version of the computer game, and am about to order the newly released second version."

Dan is naming his team the Springfield Bulldogs. His address is 1946 S Newton, Springfield Missouri 65807, phone is 417-864-4872.

Again, Dan, we all welcome you to our passion and hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Everyone drop Dan an email and welcome him to the good old SABL. We are sure glad to have you! Good luck!

Since they are gonna be so dad-burned bad this year, we are gonna waive the $15 dues for expansion teams this year. Next year, of course, they'll have to pay like everyone else, or they don't play.

Let's all give a big SABL welcome to the Coach of the Tucson Sky, Tony Disibbio, our first SABL expansion coach. Since Tony was the first to bite the expansion bullet, he gets to pick first in the expansion draft and be the first expansion team to pick in our regular draft, too.

Tony is an old Strat friend of mine, a character with a bold sense of humor and a heart of gold. I'm so happy he's with us. Here's his address, etc:

The final vote was 9-9, a deadlock. That means we will not use this rule this year.

It will not be automatically adopted next year, though. We will vote on it again.

With just a few hours to go, the vote so far is 13-4 in favor of going ahead with expansion on Oct. 24, even if we don't have any expansion coaches.

The only thing that would stop it now is another original franchise coach quitting and us not being able to get a replacement going into the Expansion Draft. No way are we going to expand with 5 openings in our league. 4 openings is the most openings that's ever happened in league history and I don't want to break that record.

But things look full-steam ahead for Expansion, so the SABL Executive Committee will draft players for Expansion Teams without coaches. Hopefully, it won't come to that and we will have coaches. But if not, here's how it's basically gonna work:

1. Everything in the email Player Agent Director Mark Long has sent you is what's going to happen.

2. The committee will make all the picks, with all members doing it jointly, in conference, team-by-team, picking from all teams with no regard to life or limb. I can tell you definitely that we will pick players from our own teams if we think they are the best available. Perhaps I will murder Steve Walters after the draft, but doing the draft, he will be allowed to live and perform his duties.

3. Any teams the committee has to draft will have a maximum of 8 players. The committee is lazy and doesn't want to do any more work than necessary. If actual expansion team coaches do the drafting for their own teams, of course, they can pick from between 8-10 players.

However, we have decided against a Round Robin format, because no consultation is involved with that kind of format and we could end up with one committee member picking more for one team than another does. As commissioner, I will always be the one to suggest the player to be drafted first, throwing it to the other two committee members to be shot down or OK’d. If it’s shot down, then they will make suggestions on who to draft instead. Our only object will be to make the expansion teams as strong as possible for the future, while giving them enough minutes to reasonably cover what's needed to make it through this year.

Once we at least get a 2-1 agreement between us, the pick will be made.

Now that's a name worthy of succeeding the best named team in SABL history, the Davenport Dazzlers. Joe's phone number is 631-567-7172.

If you haven't done it already, go to www.yahoo.com and get Yahoo! Messenger. It's the chat engine Player Agent Director Mark Long is going to use for both the expansion and regular drafts.

However, for the past few years, we have started our regular draft a week early, right after the rosters cuts are in. I've usually telephoned each of you individually and last year, we got the entire draft done before the official draft day.

This "early drafting" has proven extremely popular with everyone, but I'm not doing the drafts this year, Mark Long is. If he wants to do this, cool. If he doesn't, that's cool, too. It's his babies.

But, nothing prohibits you from emailing, Yahooing or telephoning Mark with your early picks. If we all do that, I see no reason why we can't do a lot of drafting or even finish the draft before draft day on Nov. 6.

As for the expansion draft, if we have no expansion coaches, the Executive Committee, in a Round-Robin method, will pick for whatever coachless expansion teams there are, round-by-round. The Executive Committees draft order will be 1. Whatever Expansion Coaches We Have, 2. Scott Ellis, 3. Steve Walters 4. Mark Long.

I know I will be making my picks and sending them to Mark long before the official expansion draft day of Oct. 23. In fact, I'll be sending them to him just as soon as we all know who has been cut, probably on Oct. 18 or 19.

BTW, any expansion teams drafted by the Executive Committee will only draft 8 players. Any drafted by actual Expansion Team Owners can draft between 8-10 players. No expansion teams can draft more than 10 players. Their last 4-6 players must come from the regular draft.

So, I'd get your Yahoo! Messenger set up, have the phone lines clear and keep checking your email beginning Monday, Oct. 18. You'll need to let us know who you are pulling back from your cut list so we can keep the drafting train running.

And, of course, you don't have to pick early if you don't want to. You don't have to do anything until the actual draft days of Oct. 24 and Nov. 6.

Just got some more votes in on both these items and it's too close to call! Remember, if there is a majority vote to postpone expansion, it will be postponed until next year, even though we have our 20 original franchises covered.

The expansion vote ends at 11:59 PM on Oct. 10. The new defense rule vote ends at 11:59 PM on Oct. 13.

When I set this vote, I made a mistake when I looked at the calendar. I wanted to give you all one week to vote on this, just as I'm doing for expansion postponement. Some are sending in votes, some are not.

This was originally set for Oct. 23, but I want everyone to realize that it's been changed to Oct. 24. Cave Creek Coach Mark Long has been sending out excellent and detailed instructions with this date it in it, so mark your calendars!

From two gone coaches to two new coaches. From despair to joy in Mudville, the SABL did not strike out.

We are currently voting on whether to expand without expansion coaches and Oct. 10 is your deadline to get your vote to me. Unless the majority of us vote it down by Oct. 10, we will expand on Oct. 23.

Tony is real good Strat man, having played Strat basketball since 1988. He's also a huge Detroit Pistons fan, having grown up near the Motor City.

Tony is changing his team name to the Chandler Monsoon. His address is 1050 W. Kingbird Drive, Chandler, AZ 85248. Phone: 480-888-9816. Email: usspmadmen@aol.com.

Drop Tony an email and welcome him to best Strat basketball league in America, the Second American Basketball League. Glad to have you, Tony.

Joe is a veteran Strat player and he is taking over Kevin Feeney's Davenport team effective immediately. I don't have Joe's phone number or new team name yet, but I do have his address: 124 Bishop Lane, Holbrook, NY 11741. His email is joechris96@aol.com.

"I'm 35 years old, married, and have 3 children. I live on Long Island and work in Manhattan. I'm a licensed CPA in NY with an MBA in accounting. I have been playing Strat baseball since I was 12 years old and have participated in numerous leagues. I have even run a few leagues myself including the RFBA (www.rfba.net), which I co-founded. In addition to Strat baseball, I play Strat football (15+ years), basketball (12 years) and hockey (10 years). I have also owned each of the computer games from their inception.

I am a sports addict. I have been a New York Mets and New York Rangers season ticket holder, and I am currently a Dallas Cowboys season ticket holder. I subscribe to numerous online and print sports publications including Sports Weekly, Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, Baseball America, and SOM World. I own a satellite dish and have subscriptions to all major sports programming through Direct TV (MLB Extra Innings, NFL Sunday Ticket, NBA League Pass, and NHL Center Ice)."

Sounds like Joe's gonna fit right in. Drop him an email and welcome him to our club!

Phil tells me he's lost interest in the NBA and thus is giving up his SABL team.

That gives us another original franchise opening to fill before Oct. 22 to keep the expansion dream alive. Scour the bushes.

He's been with us almost since the beginning of the league, but now, Davenport Dazzler Coach Kevin Feeney has told me that he has to resign from the Second American Basketball Association.

The Amazing Kevin Feeney is one of the best friends our league ever had. He was always there for us, to listen, help out and compete. With Shaq and the third and fourth picks in the draft this year, he was gonna roar back and perhaps even win his division and conference. He didn't want to leave that great new beginning, but he told me he had to. And he did not leave because of expansion or the new computer defensive option.

Kevin always played our annual All-Star series every year. He enjoyed that, along with everything else about our hobby. He loves looking at the cards and trying to figure out how to make his team better. Calling him a pillar of our league doesn't even begin to describe his contributions over the years.

He was one of the best friends I ever had in Strat. I can't imagine our league without him. He told me he might be able to come back in a year or two and he certainly is welcome back anytime.

Kevin's resignation has forced us to change our expansion plans. No matter how our current vote comes out, it would be irresponsible to expand if we have an opening in one of our original franchises. So, in the best interests of our league, this is what has to happen:

If we do not get a new coach for the Davenport Dazzlers by Oct. 22, the expansion draft of Oct. 23 will not take place and we will try to expand again next year.

I have pushed, begged and cajoled all of you to get this expansion done. Calling a halt to it is one of the hardest and most reluctant things I've ever had to do as your Commissioner. But it's the right thing to do.

I know this is gonna disappoint many of you and perhaps make many of you angry if you made rosters moves and trades like I have in preparation for expansion. Some of you will be happy about it. I'm stopping expansion not to anger or please you. I'm doing it because it has to be done.

Due to the new Windows basketball game, there is a lot of new interest in the basketball game. Last winter, we had 7 coaches ready to take teams. We didn't have any teams available.

This year, the interest is still there, but there's a difference. Due to the new game, there are many new leagues forming and they are taking up those extra coaches. We waited a year too long to expand.

As is the case with most new leagues, they will fold and those coaches will become available to us again. We've been around 10 years and we will be around for those extra coaches when those leagues fail. But it looks like it will probably not happen this year.

I did the best I could to get this expansion accomplished. I failed. I apologize to all of you for it.

We may not be expanding, but we do have one really great existing franchise available for a new coach - the venerable Davenport Dazzlers. It has Shaquille O'Neal, the third and fourth picks in the draft and more!

Interested? Contact Player Agent Direct Mark Long at mark@awardinnovations.com, or me, your friendly neighborhood Commissioner Scott Ellis at scottiefl@bellsouth.net. We'll tell you how to do it!

The game company's website has listed all the new features for this year's computer basketball game. Almost all of them are reporting/stats/utility improvements, expect for one. From the Strat company site, here is the new computer optional game feature I really like:

"Emphasize Individual Defense - The Rules tab under League Options has a new checkbox "Emphasize Individual Defense", this option is geared towards draft leagues. When you use this option the game will swap the X's and D's on the black die so that more results depend on the individual rather than the team cards."

OK, now here's what that really means: Just like all Strat games, the basketball game goes to the offense half the time and the defense half the time. Half the time in basketball (1, 2 & 3 chances), it goes to your players' offensive ratings and half the time (4, 5 & 6 chances) it goes to the defensive team card or your players' Defensive X Column on the bottom right of their card.

Of that 4, 5 & 6 chances, chances 4 and 5 (33% of the time), it goes to the team defense card. We and almost all draft leagues use the standard defense card, which is always really crappy. It's one reason why we score so many more points every year than the real NBA does.

Only on one chance, chance 6, 16.5% of the time, does it go on your players' Defensive X column at the bottom right of the card.

This new option will change that. With it, on chances 4 & 5, it will go on your players' Defensive X column. Chance 6 will go on the crappy team defense card.

This makes individual defense much more important, much closer to like it is in Strat baseball. More importantly, since we are a draft league, it puts the power to shape your team more in your hands instead of an uncontrollable and inept team defense card. You can draft and trade for those defensive studs like Ron Artest and truly shape a Detroit Piston-like defensive bone crusher. Or you can go for the points, baby.

Up until now, it's been offensive teams that have always won our championships. Now, a defensive team could do it.

However, there are some other effects, too and that's why I'm asking for a vote on whether to implement this option this year or next year, just like we did with expansion. I want you consider these things, too:

1. Three-point shooters are exempt from this option. The computer will continue to go on the team defense cards 1/3 of the time and only on individual defenders 1/6 of the time. This makes good three-point shooters much more valuable.

2. Intimidation block ratings at the top left of the cards come from the team defense card. It will cut those kinds of blocks in half. Bottom line, it makes most shot blockers less effective.

3. PGs and LGs with good FB defense columns will have more value, too. This is because their FB defense is checked almost twice as much as any other position. Again, however, this simply dovetails with making good individual defenders more valuable across the board, which I believe is only a good thing.

4. Double-teaming may be affected. Currently, if you double-team a player, every time it hits on the individual defender's card guarding the double-teamed player, the double-teamed player misses the shot (16.5%). And if it hits on the individual defender's card that was supposed to be guarding the open player, the open player makes the shot (16.5%). Both these things will double under the new option (33%).

Except for the reduction in the effectiveness of shot blockers, I see everything else in this a big, big positive change. It's worth all of it to make your individual defender's defense really mean something for the first time.

So, give me your on vote on this by Oct. 20: Do we implement this in this season or next season?

Every year, we have brief periods where our rosters freeze before our annual draft. This year, we have two drafts, so we'll have two freezes. Check our schedule below for how it's gonna work:

I'm getting great responses from you, along with your votes, about our upcoming expansion. Richmond Coach Frank Rowley asked me to share his response with all of you:

2.) The number of retained players of existing franchise(s) will never be fair, equitable, or satisfy all of the current franchise owners.

3.) The reason given that you had to turn away (7) potential G.M./owners does not seem to be a good rational for expansion. (DOES THIS MEAN THAT WE HAVE TO EXPAND EVERY YEAR TO SATISFY THESE POTENTIAL G.M./OWNER WANTABES)? That, in fact, seems to be what your 1st line of rational #4 seems to imply!!

4.) A better way to dilute the talent in the league would be to institute a wage scale!

5.) If expansion is that great a solution, then #2 isn't a good rational because the vote would ALWAYS be in favor of expanding!!

6.) The 1st rational now seems to be the best rational, because some owners I am sure have conducted trades to try to improve their teams status due to the imposed expansion idea. But I think the reasoning (for expansion) was that expanding would be absolutely NO PROBLEM, (because finding expansion owners would not be difficult) and now I am not so sure that is going to be the case.

I just felt that my "longstanding coach/G.M." voice should be heard. And I hope that you publish my reasons for voting "NO" and take this in the spirit that it was intended!! I am not personally upset with you or anyone else in the league, and I fully intend to participate in the league this year, and for many years in the future, regardless of the result of expansion!!

I vote an emphatic "Yes." And since the cards will be arriving any day throughout the country, I still believe we will get all the coaches we need before the season starts on Dec. 6.

But I want a league vote on this one. You will make the final decision. Here's why I want to expand by 4 teams, even if we don't get all of the expansion coaches we need by Oct. 23:

1. Many coaches have made trades and structured their teams in anticipation of an expansion draft this month. If we don't go ahead with it, some coaches may feel they've rearranged their teams for nothing.

2. We have a solid consensus to expand by four teams this year. An expansion delay could unravel that consensus, possibly forcing a new vote. I want to avoid that at all costs. In fact, I just flat don't want to go through it again. The time is now, the window of opportunity will close if we don't do it this fall.

3. We really need to dilute the talent in this league. This is the fairest way to do it, because Trade Committees suck.

4. We need to have franchises available when folks ask to join our league. I had 7 people ask me for a team last fall after the game came out, but I had no teams to give them. I'm sure that will happen again if we don't expand. We have to have the teams ready when folks come a' callin'. It's a chicken-and-egg situation.

If we do expand without having enough coaches for all four expansion teams, the SABL Executive Committee will draft for those open franchises, with each member taking round-robin turns making picks.

We are not going to delay our season over this. We had enough of a delay last season. I want to have a normal season this year.