NDBA Live Draft FAQ

What do I have to do to get ready for the draft?
What is the draft order, and who can I pick?
How do I select a player when it's my turn?
Will my bonus list be enough for the entire draft?
What about salary cap? Do I have to stay under it during the draft?
Do I have to be on-line for the "Live Draft"?
How will the "Auto Pick" sequence work?
How long will I have to pick and how long does the draft take?
How will I know when it's my pick?
Can I trade draft picks before the draft?
When can I add/replace players on my roster?
Will my draft pick (position) effect my waiver wire order?
What happens if I drop my connection during the draft?
Tell me more about these Preference Sheets?
What about printing out the preference sheets?

What Do I have to do to get Ready?
   Go to each of your draft preference sheets and determine the order that you wish rank your players. The preference sheets are a vital part of your draft preparation. Even with a live draft your sheets are necessary. "Your" sheets are used for listing "your" player ranking for display on "your" live draft page. If you do not select a player in the allotted time during the live draft "your" preference sheets will be used to select a player for you. If you absolutely can not attend the live draft, then "your" sheets are used in "Auto Draft" mode during the draft to select your players for you.

What is the draft order, and who can I pick?
   The draft order will be the classic serpentine draft rotation. Meaning the 1 pick goes 1st, 2 goes 2nd and so on through to the 12th pick, 12 picks equals 1 round. Then the order reverses and goes back up the order with the 12 team picking 1st in the 2nd round. So the team with the 1st pick gets 1st, 24th, 25th, 48th.... The team with the 12th pick gets 12th, 13th, 36th, 37th... Each time your pick comes up you may select any remaining player. Player positional minimums and maximums are the only limiting factor in your player selections. All positions (C-PG-PF-SF-SG) have a 2 minimum, Centers have a 3 maximum and the rest a maximum of 4. You MUST maintain a 12 man roster at all times in the NDBA. With a little math you can figure that if you get 4 players at one position you will only have room for the minimum at all the other positions. These are the only limitations to your draft pick. If you make a mistake and try to pick a 5th PG or don't have any PG's in the 11th round and try to pick a position other than PG the script should stop you.

How do I select a player when it's my turn?
   During the draft, your draft window will display "your top 25 players", still available, from each of your positional preference sheets, including the bonus position. As the draft proceeds, players that are drafted will be removed from your list automatically and the next player on your list added. When the script sees that it is your turn, all the players on your list will be a "link". Just click on the players name and a popup window will look for a confirmation of that pick. If you don't want that player then just click cancel. If the player in the popup window is the one you want click on Draft Him. The popup window will then inform you that the player has been added to your roster and the next owner will be notified that it is their pick.

Will my bonus list be enough for the entire draft?
  The Bonus lists are 150 players deep, the draft will select 144 players. So there "are" enough players on your bonus list for the entire draft. Remember, however, that you can choose a player from any of your lists during the draft. It is very possible that you prefer a player from a positional list rather than your bonus list... keep that in mind when preparing for your next pick. As long as you're in "Live Draft" mode any player listed on your draft page is available and you can select him within positional limits.

What about salary cap? Do I have to stay under it during the draft?
  Does the NBA have to stay under their cap during the draft? Exactly, NO you draft for talent. Once you have your 12 man roster and the draft is over, getting under the cap (if necessary) is your problem. Should you think about the cap while you are drafting, yes, especially in the later rounds. Once the draft is complete, trades and free agency will provide you with the avenue for getting under the cap if you need to. There will be no slack for teams over the cap once the NBA tip's off. If you are still over the cap come opening night after tip off... you get the goose egg in all categories each day you are over the cap.

Do I have to be on-line for the "Live Draft"?
   Do you have to.. No. Should you be YES. By default each owners "Draft Mode" will be set to "Live Draft". At anytime prior to the draft, if you know you will not be able to attend, you may set your "Draft Mode" to Auto Draft. Once the draft, starts if the "draft moderator" sees that you are not on-line, he can set your "Draft Mode" to Auto. If you are in Live Mode and you are not on-line, your draft time limit will simply expire. Each time your pick comes around, the "Auto" pick sequence will be used for that rounds pick. The reason you have an Auto pick option in your "Draft Mode" is to speed up the draft during times when there are not owners there. That way we don't have to wait for the time limit to expire each time a non-attending owner's pick comes up.

How will the "Auto Pick" sequence work?
   The Auto Pick sequence will be used in 2 instances.
1) If an owner has their draft mode set to "Auto Pick".
2) If an owner is in "Live Draft" mode and they are on the clock (your turn to pick), and the allotted time limit per pick is exceeded.
  The "Auto Pick" will work like this. Using your preference sheets, the script will take the highest ranked player that is still available in the draft from your Bonus List. This is were not being on-line during the draft could hurt you. The script will take this player regardless of position. I will not allow you to pick a player that will immediately or later in the draft cause you to exceed minimum or maximum player position allowances. Early in the draft this works pretty well. However, depending on who gets taken where in the draft, you may very likely end up with 4 players from one position if the Auto Pick option is used for the entire draft. It all depends on how you ranked your players and who got taken when during he draft. This is just one reason it is very advantageous to be on-line for the draft. Later in the draft bonus lists get thin. You will probably see a glaring lack of Centers on Bonus lists. If you get down to your last 2 picks and you have, say, 1 Center and 1 Point Guard on your roster. Then you MUST select one of those position with the last 2 picks. The "Auto Draft" sequence should take care of this for you and will only take the highest available C or PG from your Bonus list. IF, however, all the C's and PG's on your Bonus list are already taken, then your Centers preference sheets and Point Guard preference sheet will be used. Then the highest ranked player from each list (C's and PG's) is taken. Then last seasons NDBA PPG will be compared between the 2 and the highest NDBA PPG player will be selected. What this means is this, in theory that player should be the best available. If you are interested in a player who had bad stats last year due to injury or is a rookie this season, make sure he gets to "your" bonus sheet. If a player has exaggerated stats because of injury (2 great games then blows an achilles) and you don't want him.. better rate him low on his positional preference sheet.
  
How long will I have to pick and how long does the draft take?
   You will have 1:30 seconds per round in the draft. This is plenty of time to make your pick. The most efficient way to do this is to check your list again when you are a few picks away. Select 3 or 4 players that you would like, enough that at least one will have to be available when it is your turn. Then when your turn comes up, check to see which of those player are still on your list... then pick one. If you are waiting to decide who you want once the clock start you may have waiting too long. The entire draft will take about an hour and 1/2 IF, and this is a big if, all the owners are prepared. If each owners takes 1:25 to pick it could be a long night.

How will I know when it's my pick?
   When the clock starts for your pick, the time remaining will be displayed in the status bar of your draft page window. At the bottom of your page, the frame will turn green notifying you that you are on the clock. If you push the time limit, and you get within 15 seconds of your limit, the frame will turn red to let you know you are about out of time. If you run out of time, Auto Pick will be invoked... don't test the time limit.. it works.. you will get auto picked. You may not get the player you wanted and you are slowing down the draft.

Can I trade draft picks before the draft?
   Yes,  you can trade draft picks. You can not make 2 for 1 trades however. Meaning you can't trade your 1st round pick for a team 3rd and 4th round pick. You could trade a 1st and 4th round for a 2nd and 3rd round. Any combination as long as the number of players is equal. Why would you do a pre-draft trade? I could see a few reasons, either way it has to make some sense. I will approve all pre-draft trades. There really isn't much time before the draft for reviews of these trades. Since no one knows who will be there past the 1st few picks any way.. what is there to review really. No you cant trade a guy his 2nd and 3rd pick for you 5th and 6th pick. I'll only approve them is they are at least close to equal. Like giving up a late 5th round and early 6th (as in say the 11th pick owner) for an early 5th and late 6th. One owner get the early 5th in exchange for 2 quick picks in the late 5th. Something like that...

When can I add/replace players on my roster?
  As soon as the draft is completed I will start to post all the rosters.  The remaining players who where not drafted will go on the waiver wire with a normal 2 day "viewing" period.  This means 2 days after I post the remaining players any players that were "Proposed" in a deal with your team will go to the team with the highest waiver position at that time. For further explanation on the waiver system see the league information page.

Will my draft pick (position) effect my waiver wire order?
   Yes,  the initial waiver wire order is determined from the draft order.  The initial waiver wire order will be inverse of the draft package selection order.   If you had first pick of the draft you will have 12th priority on the waiver wire. Each time the waiver system is executed, the order resets. What this means is if you are #1 on top of the waiver list, once you use that option on a waiver wire player, you will go to the bottom of the waiver priority list.

What happens if I drop my connection during the draft?
   If you are in "Live Mode" and you drop your connection, you will simply time out when your pick comes up. Each time the owner before you picks the clock gets reset for the next pick. If the next owner is in "Auto Draft" mode then his pick is made immediately when that owners turn comes up. If an owner is in "Live Mode" (default when draft starts for everyone) then the clock begins. Once your allotted selection time expires for that pick, that pick will then be made using the "Auto Draft" sequence. All expired time picks will be made like this. Your draft mode will remain in the same mode (Live Mode in this case) unless you change it OR if the draft coordinator changes it because he noticed that you are no longer present or never showed up from the start. The draft mode can only be changed by the owner OR the draft coordinator manually. The script never changes your draft mode automatically.

Tell me more about these Preference Sheets?
  The "Draft Preference Sheets" are html forms that you use to rank your players. They contain every player in the NBA listed on the teams roster just weeks before the season starts. The sheets are broken down in to 5 positions. With all the Center's listed on one, PG's on another, and so on. The form lists each player with last years stats. Next to each player is an input box with that players current ranking. The players will be initially ranked based on last seasons NDBA PPG. You move the players on your list to your liking. Once you change the value of an input box and click outside the input box (don't hit the enter key.. it will submit the form), all the players rankings should reflect the change "ON THE FORM". This does not update the players in the database. Only on the form, on your screen. You MUST submit the form using your "Submit This Order" button! Only then will the information from the form be used to update the database.
IMPORTANT: Do the five position lists first (C-PG-PF-SG-SF). Once you have them pretty close to finalized it's time to build your Bonus list. On the Draft Head Quarters main page, at the bottom of the page, is a button to initialize your bonus list. It is labeled "Grab My Top 30". When you click this button it will grab your top 30 ranked players from each of your 5 positional preference lists and create a 150 player bonus list. The bonus list will list these players by last seasons NDBA PPG by default. This form is 150 players deep... Once you have clicked the "Grab My Top 30" and the form is showing, submit it. his will then update the default bonus list with your 150 players. Then you can re-rank the players on your bonus list as you deem necessary. At any time you can initialize your bonus list using the "Grab My Top 30". EVERYTIME you do this however, it will overwrite the previously saved list once you submit that form. Only players listed in the top 30 at there positions, on your lists, will be included in your bonus list when you "Grab My Top 30".

What about printing out the preference sheets?
   I would HIGHLY recommend that you print out your preference sheets for the draft. You may not need them because the Live Draft window will contain a lot of information, but the window will only display the top 25 remaining players from each of your lists at one time. This makes the draft windows html around 70K, and is about as large as I care to make the lists. It is easier for some owners to have the information on paper in front of them. The draft window will, however, stay current.. so if you do use the print out... keep up. To print out your preference sheets, I recommend setting up your print page to "landscape" format. This way you get all of each line to print out without jumbling it up.. hopefully..