Volume 2 Issue 48 October 1998
FROM COMMISSIONER SCOTT ELLIS, 2ND AMER. BASKETBALL LEAGUE
1998 Draft is over! Let the trading begin!
Garden City Coach Josh Marquardt picked San Antonio's Tim Duncan first in our 1998 Second American Basketball League Draft. Our draft is now history. Check the 1998 Draft Order link above for who drafted what and where.
Congratulations Ron & wife!
Great Lakes Coach Ron Karbowski is celebrating the birth of his new daughter, Genna Marie, who was born Oct. 12, at 7 pounds and 14 oz. Congratulations to Ron and his wife!
Draft and Season Previews are up!
Just in the nick of time before our draft, check out the 1998 Draft and 1998-99 Season Previews on the links above!
Legal SOM programming, lesson 1
As you prepare your game plans and instructions for the upcoming season, remember some basic rules:
1. It's OK to rearrange the minutes played by position as long as you don't schedule minutes at a position not listed on a player's card and as long as you don't EXCEED the amount of minutes per game a player played on his card.
2. It's OK to alter a players Inside Percentage, but you can't play a guy inside unless he's rated inside.
3. It's OK to alter the Steal Shoot percentage and to program the Normal, Close and Sag portions.
4. IT'S NEVER OK TO CHANGE THE AMOUNT OF GAMES PLAYED OR GAMES STARTED.
5. ALL GAMES MUST BE PLAYED WITH NO AUTO REST, NO INJURIES, STATIC FATIGUE, NEUTRAL COURT, WITH SAVED GAME FILES AND BOX SCORES.
These rules are unchanged from last year, but I want all our new coaches to understand the ropes, too.
League schedule is compact this season
I have finished the 1998-99 SABL regular season schedule. It's programmed onto to the official SABL league file, which will be available Nov. 9 after our pre-season trading period ends. You'll be able to download this from our website on a link which I will provide.
Please check out the Schedule Of Events link to understand how our trading periods work. Basically, you are always trading at least a month ahead of time. Players you trade and draft for in October and the first week of November, you can use in December. Players you trade for in the last three weeks of November, you can use in January. Players you trade for in December, you can use in February. Players you trade for in January, you can use in March. Players you trade for in February, you can use next year.
Also, you can trade draft picks one year into the future. You can trade 1999 draft picks now and after our 1998 draft, you can trade year 2000 draft picks.
Finally, when you get the league disk with our schedule, you will notice a more compact schedule. Most of our regular season games are finished in February, with only a few games in March. I did this for two reasons:
1. It gets the season over faster and let's us all go on to other things.
2. If you get behind, you'll still get penalty points, but you have a better chance to catch up.
You'll find that the new compact schedule still will give you plenty of time to email or even snail mail instructions and results. My advice to keep from falling behind: SENDYOUR INSTRUCTIONS AND RESULTS EARLY AND KEEP TRACK OF EVERYTHING YOU DO SO ANOTHER COACH CAN'T BLAME YOU FOR BEING LATE!
A friendly reminder: Check our constitution for your responsibilties on instructions and results. I ain't gonna nursemaid any of you. You can't just tell me "I never got anything from that coach." If you wait to send me your stats because you are waiting on results from somebody else, you are late, too and you'll get penalty points, too! SEND ME THE STATS YOU HAVE and try and contact the other coach a couple of times at least to get some results.
LATENESS KILLS PLAY-BY-MAIL LEAGUES AND I WILL NOT LET LATENESS KILL THE SABL.
If you don't have time to play, then go away. We'll get another coach for your team.
By the way, send me your stats just like you did last year - SEND ME GAME FILES AND BOX SCORES ON A FLOPPY DISK OR EMAIL THEM TO ME ON THE INTERNET. I'll import them into our SABL league database and post the stats on our website. I have a more stable computer this year and forsee no major stat problems.
Just like last year, you will have to download my self-extracing Official SABL League Disk (sabl.exe) and use our official league disk to play your SABL games. Due to the stupid programming limitations of SOM Basketball, we have no choice. If you don't use our league disk, I will not be able to import any of your league stats into our official league database. I do not have time to set up individual spreadsheets for all our SABL teams and for league leaders, so PLEASE PLAY ALL YOUR SABL LEAGUE GAMES ON OUR OFFICIAL LEAGUE DISK OR YOU WILL BE EXPELLED FROM THE SABL.
If you have any questions about how any of this works, please contact me.
1998 Draft is 1 pm EST, Oct. 24
It will soon be that exciting time again when SABL coaches pick their favorites in our annual draft!
Here's the instructions for the draft, which I anticipate will last until about 5 pm, EST. These instructions are lifted straight from the SABL Constitution:
If a coach cannot participate in the annual SABL phone draft, he can send a paper (or
email) instruction sheet to the commissioner or let the commissioner draft for him. The
commissioner will ring your phone number twice and hang up. If your line is busy,
he’ll try twice more. If he can’t get you by then, he’ll draft for you.
When you call him back, he’ll read you the list of players that have been taken since your last pick. You’ll have 10 seconds for each player chosen, since your last pick, to make your decision. If you don’t pick anybody by then, the commissioner will hang up and pick your player for you.
Trading deadline is 11:59 pm Oct. 18
Don't forget that you can't trade from the time above until after the draft. Draft lists are due to be in my hands by this time, too. Make your plans and deals accordingly.
We are all-computer, all-the-time
Since our last dice coach has quit the league, we are now all computer game players. That's the way it's going to stay.
And since we are now all on computer SOM basketball, that means we can now draft uncarded computer players such as Lorenzo Williams of the Washington Wizards. SOM gives every player with any NBA minutes a computer card, even though they may not have a paper card.
I consider this a step-up in gaming enjoyment for our league. If you've cut anybody that fits into this category and now wish to keep them instead, just call or email me and you can reclaim them to your roster right up until 12:01 am EST on draft day.
New draftable players list is up
Thanks to being able to draft computer-only players, there's some new folks to check out on our Draftable Players link. Enjoy!
Still need a coach for Calgary Condors
We are still looking for a coach for the Condors! Ask your friends! Get 'em in the SABL! It's a great young team with a good first round pick!
If we get no coach for the team by draft day, the Calgary's 14-man roster will stay as it is until after the draft.
Who's trading?
Aces trade T. Knight to Heat for D. Curry.
Aces trade Bogues to Chapel Hill for W.Williams
Heat trades C.Robinson to Finney for Galactic's 1st and Aces' 2nd.
Dazzlers trade A. Walker and Lynch to Galactic for Barkley and Galactic's 1999 1st Round Draft Pick.
Galactic trades Lynch & Galactic's 1999 2nd Round Pick to the Heat for Ceballos and Heat's 1998 3rd Round Pick and 1999 3rd Round Pick.
Aces trade Schrempf to Heat for Sprewell and Carolina's 1st.
Aces trade Walt Williams, Carolina's 1998 1st pick, the Aces' 1998 3rd pick and the Aces' 1999 1st pick to Great Lakes for R. Strickland.
Heat trades Galactic's first pick to Akron for Travis Best.