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Strat-O-Matic Internet Basketball Association SOMIBA Constitution (last updated 2001) |
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***This constitution is in the process of being updated with the 2002 new rules and and any changes that may occur with the new windows version. I. ORGANIZATION OF THE LEAGUE A. The Strat-O-Matic Internet Basketball Association (SOMIBA) consists of 24 teams from a pool of all 1999-2000 NBA players. B. Each league member should have a reliable Internet e-mail account, should check for messages every few days during the season and pre- season and every day or two near deadlines, and must have the time and the desire (and a computer) to create all gameplans for away games and play all home games in the scheduled time frames. C. In addition to the teams owned by live coaches, the league will consist of a number of unowned teams (hereafter referred to as dummy teams) which do not actually play games. Dummy teams simply serve as a holding tank for unowned players in the league so that the live teams will not be too all-star laden and so that new league members will have a reasonable pool of talent from which they may draft new teams. 1. The number of dummy teams is determined by subtracting the number of owners in the league from 24. 2. The dummy teams are added to by Draft-O-Matic during the rookie/free-agent draft and redrafted each year during the expansion draft. 3. Players un-owned either by live owners or dummy teams will be placed in the free-agent pool. D. Divisions. 1. The league will consist of a number of divisions determined just prior to the season. 2. Dummy teams are not put in divisions. 3. Divisions are randomly re-determined before every new season, with the following exception: league members who are likely to play at least a few or their matchups face-to-face will be placed, if possible, in the same division and an attempt will be made to put new teams in separate divisions (unless they want to be in the same division for face-to-face play). If a local grouping of members exists which does not allow for an approximately equal number of teams in each division, then not all of these teams will be assigned to the same division. The teams that are not assigned to that division will be randomly determined. E. There are several league officers which as a group form the Executive Committee. 1. The duties of the Executive Committee include assisting the Commissioner with: a. Supervising all league play in general, b. Providing final authority on rules interpretation, c. Conducting the draft, d. Creating and distributing the schedule, e. Creating, distributing, and maintaining the rosters, f. Keeping and distributing league statistics and standings, and g. Judging the validity of trades. 2. The Commissioner each year will choose the Executive Committee. F. Retention of players from year to year: 1. Live teams may retain up to but not more than 10 of their 16 players; the cut deadline for this is a few days before the rookie/free-agent draft. 2. All players not retained are put into the free-agent pool for the subsequent rookie/free-agent draft. 3. Each year a week-or-so before the rookie/free-agent draft an expansion draft will be held for new league members. If there are no new league members for that year then only dummy teams will participate in the expansion draft. 4. Only players who played in the NBA the previous year are eligible to be drafted in any draft. Players who did not play in the NBA the previous year may, however, be kept on a roster if already there. 5. There are no free-agent pickups except for the rookie/free-agent draft unless deemed necessary by the Executive Committee for a particular case. Before the season begins each live team must make certain that they have enough players with games and minutes available at each position to cover the entire season – the Commissioner will assist with the calculation of what’s needed and will make recommendations as appropriate. In addition, any trades made after the season begins must take into account seasonal games and minutes required. If any coach exceeds or violates minutes and/or games limits then he or she will be subject to penalties including, but not limited to, reduction of minutes and/or games eligible for players the following year. G. Each member of the league will choose a city/area and nickname for his team. Coaches are not limited to actual NBA cities or nicknames when naming their teams; however, team names must be approved by the Commissioner and must be appropriate to good taste. H. Each coach is expected to send gameplans to opposing coaches, play games, and send game results to opposing coaches and to the Commissioner on or before the schedule times. There are approximately 10 away games and 10 away games in each quarter of the season and each quarter lasts approximately 5 weeks. I. If any player violates deadlines repeatedly, the Executive Committee may impose additional penalties including expulsion from the league. In any case, the Executive Committee will try to do this case-by-case in a fair and impartial manner with advice from the league as a whole. Cheating and other unethical activities will not at all be tolerated. J. A coach is considered to have failed to fulfill the requirements of being in the league if he or she: a. Does not send a legal gameplan by the deadline; or b. Does not play and send to the Commissioner a home game result by the deadline (the only exception to this is if the coach sends before the deadline to the Commissioner a home gameplan for the game to be autoplayed); or Each occurrence of the above counts equally, though if absolutely no- one, including the Commissioner, is (by their own definition) inconvenienced then there is no occurrence. A coach with "too many" occurrences will probably not be invited back into the league the following year. Each case will be handled on an individual basis by the Executive Committee, heavily depending upon the pre-occurrence communication level of the league member regarding the occurrences in question. The goal here is for zero occurrences to minimize inconvenience to the rest of the league. While it's no fun to take a hard line against slightly flaky coaches, it's less fun for the rest of us to put up with the trouble of making extra gameplans and wondering about the league as a whole. Of course we all have "real" lives (yuck) which may sometimes supersede our league commitments. Please have the courtesy to communicate with the Commissioner regarding any situations which may interfere with your league commitments. Failure to communicate beforehand will not be looked on favorably regarding league membership in future years. If something comes up please as soon as possible simply e-mail or phone the Commissioner (or better yet the entire league) what league commitments you will not be able to fulfill and when you will be available for further communication. For example, "Hey everyone, I just found out that I'm going out of town for a week and won't be able to play games xxxxxxx [list of unplayed games] by the coming deadline; I'll be back on 12/16 but until then I'll be out of e-mail range." Situations can be handled much more easily if we know about them beforehand with a communication like that. The Commissioner will provide a home phone number (925-280-9360) with voice mail at which he can be reached within less than a day. It is the responsibility of the sending coach to make sure that the Commissioner receives whatever is needed as the Commissioner will respond to all substantive e-mails with “received” or “not received” as appropriate. K. At any time any player may ask for and will receive free and open advice from the Commissioner (and most any other league member) on any SOMIBA-related issue including how to read this Constitution(!). II. DRAFT A. Expansion draft. 1. When new teams are added to the league before each new season (after the new SOM team disk), an expansion draft will be conducted by the Commissioner live in an Internet chatroom. 2. All of the players in the pool of dummy teams will be released to the expansion pool before the expansion draft. 3. The number of dummy teams will be set at 24 minus the number of current live coaches (including all new coaches). 4. The new live coaches will draft their teams from the above- mentioned expansion pool. 5. They will draft against the dummy teams, who will draft by Draft-O- Matic. 6. The draft will proceed with live coaches drafting in serpentine format and dummies drafting at the end of every round. For example, if there are 4 new teams and 6 dummy teams, the 4 new teams will each draft one player, the 6 dummy teams will each draft one player, the 4 new teams will each draft another player (in reverse order of the first round), the dummy teams will each draft another player, and so on. 7. If there is only one new league member then one of the dummy teams will be considered as a live team (and not as a dummy team) for purposes of the expansion draft order. This dummy team will, however, still be drafted by Draft-O-Matic. In this way the one new league member will only have a 50% chance of getting the first pick of the expansion draft (the one dummy team may get the first pick). 8. There will be 10 rounds; each team will draft 10 players. The remaining un-drafted players will go into the rookie/free-agent pool. B. Rookie/free-agent draft. 1. The yearly rookie/free-agent draft will begin on the Saturday just before the beginning of the NBA season. A few days before the rookie/free-agent each team will cut their roster down to 10 (or fewer) players, with all cut players eligible in the rookie/free- agent draft. 2. New and returning league members and each dummy team will participate. Each team will draft a number of players necessary to fill their team up to the roster limit of 16. After the draft there will be a brief opportunity to pick up still un-drafted players -– each coach desiring this option after the draft will send to the Commissioner a list of desired players with a list of cuts (“if I get player Smith then I’ll cut player Johnson”) and the Commissioner will hold a supplemental draft a day or two after then end of the rookie/free-agent draft. 3. The first few rounds of the draft will be live in an Internet chatroom while the rest of the draft will be via e-mail over the span of a few days. Coaches who will be unavailable during significant sections of the draft should e-mail the Commissioner a list of draft choices. 4. The draft order will follow these rules and procedures: a. The order of the top three picks in the first round will be determined by lottery, as in the NBA and for the same reasons. The lottery will be executed as follows: 1) In the following, the returning coach with the worst record from the previous year is labeled W. The returning coach with the 2nd to worst record is labeled 2W. The returning coach with the 3rd to worst record is labeled 3W. A returning coach who made the playoffs last year may not participate in this lottery. This lottery which may be performed any time after the end of the previous regular season does not become official until the pre-season before the draft when coaches have made a declaration that they will be returning. 2) A six-sided die will be rolled by the Commissioner. The following rolls will dictate the following draft orders to be placed in the grid in 5a below: (1) W, 2W, 3W (2) W, 2W, 3W (3) W, 3W, 2W (4) 2W, W, 3W (5) 2W, 3W, W (6) 3W, W, 2W b. Tie-breakers for draft picks will be determined by coin toss. However, if a tie-breaker was used for playoff positioning then that same tie-breaker result will apply for draft choice positioning – in other words, the team determined by tie-breaker to be a higher seed will get the lower draft pick in the first round. Teams with the same record will alternate drafting position in even-numbered rounds. c. New league members will be placed in the draft order after the teams that did not make the playoffs and before the teams that made the playoffs, in reverse order of the way they drafted in the first round of the expansion draft. d. The SOMIBA champion from the previous year will draft last while the SOMIBA runner-up will draft second-to-last of returning teams. e. Dummy team picks will be interspersed in each round with live team picks as follows (there are 24 picks in every round) where D is a dummy team pick and # is a live team pick. There may be cases where a coach owns the draft pick of a team from last year which is not returning in the current year, in this case the draft pick is placed as if that team were returning (so that the round with that draft pick in it will have one more “team” for the purposes of the chart below); similarly, there may be rounds where there are fewer “teams” in the chart below than teams in the league. 1) For 8 teams: #8, D, D, #7, D, D, D, #6, D, D, #5, D, D, #4, D, D, #3, D, D, D, #2, D, D, #1 2) For 9 teams: #9, D, D, #8, D, D, #7, D, D, #6, D, #5, D, D, #4, D, D, #3, D, D, #2, D, D, #1 3) For 10 teams: #10, D, D, #9, D, #8, D, D, #7, D, #6, D, D, #5, D, #4, D, D, #3, D, #2, D, D, #1 4) For 11 teams: #11, D, #10, D, #9, D, D, #8, D, #7, D, #6, D, D, #5, D, #4, D, #3, D, D, #2, D, #1 5) For 12 teams: #12, D, #11, D, #10, D, #9, D, #8, D, #7, D, D, #6, D, #5, D, #4, D, #3, D, #2, D, #1 6) For 13 teams: #13, D, #12, D, #11, D, #10, D, #9, D, #8, D, #7, #6, D, #5, D, #4, D, #3, D, #2, D, #1 7) For 14 teams: #14, D, #13, D, #12, D, #11, #10, D, #9, D, #8, #7, D, #6, D, #5, #4, D, #3, D, #2, D, #1 8) For 15 teams: #15, D, #14, #13, D, #12, D, #11, #10, D, #9, #8, D, #7, D, #6, #5, D, #4, #3, D, #2, D, #1 9) For 16 teams: #16, D, #15, #14, D, #13, #12, D, #11, #10, D, #9, #8, D, #7, #6, D, #5, #4, D, #3, #2, D, #1 10) For 17 teams: #17, #16, D, #15, #14, D, #13, #12, D, #11, #10, #9, D, #8, #7, D, #6, #5, D, #4, #3, D, #2, #1 11) For 18 teams: #18, #17, #16, D, #15, #14, #13, D, #12, #11, D, #10, #9, D, #8, #7, D, #6, #5, #4, D, #3, #2, #1 12) For 19 teams: #19, #18, #17, D, #16, #15, #14, D, #13, #12, #11, #10, D, #9, #8, #7, D, #6, #5, #4,D, #3, #2, #1 13) For 20 teams: #20, #19, #18, #17, D, #16, #15, #14, #13, D, #12, #11, #10, #9, D, #8, #7, #6, #5, D, #4, #3, #2, #1 14) For 21 teams: #21, #20, #19, #18, #17, D, #16, #15, #14, #13, #12, #11, D, #10, #9, #8, #7, #6, D, #5, #4, #3, #2, #1 15) For 22 teams: #22, #21, #20, #19, #18, #17, #16, D, #15, #14, #13, #12, #11, #10, #9, #8, D, #7, #6, #5, #4, #3, #2, #1 16) For 23 teams: #23, #22, #21, #20, #19, #18, #17, #16, #15, #14, #13, #12, D, #11, #10, #9, #8, #7, #6, #5, #4, #3, #2, #1 III. ROSTERS A. For any one game, teams must have no more than 12 players set as eligible and no less than 4 players set as ineligible. B. Injuries will not be used, though a player is limited to his actual number of NBA minutes (adjusted 5% upward) and games played during the season. See the roster file for eligible player games and minutes. If the Executive Committee has further limited a player’s games or minutes this will be indicated on the roster file. C. Trading: 1. Trading is allowed with the following restrictions: a. All coaches involved in a trade must send an e-mail to the Commissioner stating the exact terms of the trade, with no conditions withheld or secret. b. When considering a trade proposal it is in each coach’s best interests to seek advice from other league members regarding the deal. A coach who fails to do this is more-likely-than-not doing his team and possibly the league a disservice. c. Trades may only consist of exact and spelled-out combinations of players and draft choices. No money or unspecified exchanges for trade value may take place. Only draft choices of the next occurring rookie/free-agent draft are eligible to be traded. d. Trades will be reviewed as detailed later in this Constitution e. Trading may only occur between the official announced beginning of the pre-season (just after Strat-O-Matic releases its new team disk) and a few days before the beginning of the regular season AND during the two-or-so days of each of the season's first two session breaks. No pre-season trade becomes official until all parties involved in the trade are committed to playing in the league for the current season. Trades may be "agreed to" at any other time; however, if one of the players in a trade suffers a serious injury (for example) before the trade is allowed to be made or if a player’s card is not nearly as good as it was expected to be it is unreasonable to believe that the coach receiving that player will still want to make the trade. IV. PLAY A. Logistics: 1. A league timetable of due dates and deadlines will be provided by the Commissioner. a. The regular season will consist of 82 games, 41 at home and 41 away and will be split into 4 sessions with approximately 10 home and 10 away games per session. b. Each session will last approximately five or six weeks. c. For each game the home coach will either receive from the away coach a gameplan for the game or the game will be played face-to- face if desired by both coaches. After a coach has finished creating each away gameplan for a particular quarter of the season that coach should then zip up those gameplans into one file and e- mail that file to the Commissioner before the gameplan deadline. For ease most coaches will choose to send this zipped file to the entire league instead of sending each individual gameplan to each coach and this is perfectly acceptable. If a coach has not received a particular gameplan for a home game then that coach may e-mail the Commissioner requesting the gameplan; if the Commmissioner has not received that gameplan then he will e-mail the away team requesting that gameplan and if still not received after another day or two the Commissioner will create a gameplan for the away coach and send it to the home coach; the away coach will receive at least a warning for not sending gameplans in time and not responding to the Commissioner’s reminder e-mail. d. The deadlines for sending away gameplans will be approximately three weeks before the deadline for sending home game results to the Commissioner. If the game is scheduled for face-to-face but the coaches end up not getting together for the game it is the responsibility of the away coach to make sure the home coach and the Commissioner receive a gameplan in time for the game to be played and also the responsibility of the home coach to make sure the game is played. If the home coach does end up sending to the Commissioner the game result file before the deadline and no-one is (by their own definition) inconvenienced then there is no occurrence of a problem. 2. Approximately three days before each game result deadline the Commissioner will e-mail the entire league with a list of game results he has not yet received. If the game result (including gfl and prt file) is not received by the game result deadline then at the Commissioner’s next opportunity if the game result is still not received the Commissioner will use the away gameplan he has already received for that game and he will autoplay the game using a “default gameplan” (created by setting the eligible players, setting all defensive coach profiles to zero, and letting the computer suggest the lineup) for coaches who have not sent to him a gameplan for that game. Please play games on time -- it’s enough effort being Commissioner without having to set up extra gameplans and autoplay extra games. 3. The playoffs: a. The playoffs consists of half of the live teams in the league rounded down up to a maximum of ten teams. b. The teams with the best records will make the playoffs regardless of division. c. In the playoff seeding charts below, the team with the best record will be "1," the team with the second best record will be "2," and so on. d. A tie for the final playoff spot will be resolved by a one-game playoff with the following tie-breakers determining the home team: 1) Head-to-head winning percentage. 2) Coin toss. e. No team will be excluded from making the playoffs and no team will be assured of making the playoffs due to a tie-breaker involving no additional game(s). If multiple pre-playoff rounds are needed to resolve three or more teams: if there is one playoff spot available then team 3 will play team 2 with the winner playing team 1 and the winner of that taking the spot; if there are two playoff spots available then team 1 will play team 2 with the loser playing team 3 and the loser of that missing out on the playoffs; if there are four teams then a single-elimination-type tourney will be held. There will be no games played limits in pre-playoff games. f. Playoff matchups are determined as follows: 1) For four teams: 1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3 2) For five teams: 4 plays 5, in the second round 1 plays the winner of 4 and 5 while 2 plays 3 3) For six teams: 3 plays 6 and 4 plays 5, in the second round 1 plays the lower-ranked winner while 2 plays the higher- ranked winner 4) For seven teams: 2 plays 7, 3 plays 6, and 4 plays 5; in the second round 1 plays the lowest-ranked winner 5) For eight teams: 1 plays 8, 2 plays 7, 3 plays 6, and 4 plays 5; in the second round the highest-ranked team remaining plays the lowest-ranked team remaining 6) For nine teams: 8 plays 9, in the second round 1 plays the winner of 8 and 9; otherwise, same as for eight teams 7) For ten teams: 7 plays 10 and 8 plays 9, in the second round 1 plays the lower-ranked winner in round one while 2 plays the higher-ranked winner in round one; otherwise, same as for eight teams g. Ties for playoff seeding will be broken as follows: 1) Head-to-head winning percentage. 2) Coin toss. h. The first round will consist of a best-of-five-game series. i. Second through final rounds will consist of best-of-seven-game series. j. All playoff rounds are single elimination. k. Before each playoff round each participant must choose 12 players to be on the eligible roster for the entirety of that playoff round. l. The higher seeded team gets Home Field Advantage in games 1, 2, and 5 in a five-game series and in games 1, 2, 5, and 7 in a seven-game series. All games use the “Neutral Court” setting. m. The playoffs will take place as stated in the league timetable sent out by the Commissioner at the end of the regular season. B. Player usage 1. Players must be rated by SOM (that is, given minutes in the fatigue grid) in the 1999-00N league at a given position in order to play at that position. Eligibility will be listed on the league roster. 2. If a player is rated at a position, even if given only one minute there, he may play that position as much as a coach wishes him to within the constraints of his playing time limitations (see below). The Commissioner will provide a league roster with all of the eligible positions and total allowed fatigue grid minutes per game for each player as well as the games and minutes allowed for each player during the season. 3. Point guards may not play shooting guard unless rated to do so on the roster. 4. Shooting guards may not play point guard unless rated to do so on the roster. 5. Players will be limited to the number of games that they played in the NBA regular season. 6. The games which a player must miss will be determined by the coach before the Commissioner distributes the actual SOMIBA schedule. a. Coaches will map out which players will miss which games (by game number, 1-82), making sure that all other constraints (fatigue grid rules, for example) can be satisfied in each game. Coaches should try hard to schedule their players to miss consecutive games so that it is much easier to play games during the season. b. Coaches will then send this list to the Commissioner who will review for each coach the validity of the list. c. After randomly creating the schedule of games the Commissioner will convert each team’s games missed list to day numbers and send the full list to the league and the web page rosters. d. If a coach accidentally uses a player in a game for which that player was scheduled to miss then the Commissioner should be notified immediately to determine a course of action (usually simply rescheduling the missed game later in the season against the same opponent). 7. Players will be limited in SOMIBA season playing time to their total number of NBA regular season minutes plus 5%. If a coach accidentally overuses a player then that player must miss playoff time on a two-for-one basis in the following way: if a player averaged 24 minutes per NBA game and was overused in our regular season by 18 minutes then he must miss the first playoff game and may only play 12 minutes in an additional playoff game (this is in addition to games missed from rule 8 below) for a total of 36 minutes (which is 18 doubled); if a player is used in more regular season games than allowed, then that player must miss two playoff games per regular season game overused (missing at least the first two playoff games). If a team may not thus create a fatigue grid with 3 players at each position then that team forfeits that game. Purposeful overuse of players will not be tolerated and further penalties will be imposed including being kicked out of the league. If a coach overuses a player and that coach’s team does not make the playoffs then penalties will be imposed for the following year’s regular season. 8. In the playoffs players are not limited in playing time (but are still limited in the fatigue grid as described below) except in the number of games they may play based upon the following chart: if a player is eligible to play 1-14 regular season games then he may play in 1 game per playoff series, if a player is eligible to play 15-29 regular season games then he may play in 2 games per playoff series, if a player is eligible to play in 30-40 regular season games then he may play in 3 games per playoff series, while a player who is eligible to play in 41 or more regular season games is not limited in this manner. 9. Setting the fatigue grid: the "fatigue grid" is the grid in the gameplan with boxes for minutes listed at each position for each player. [Contrast with the "lineup grid" which is the grid with the 6, 4, and 2 minute periods listed for each position during the game.] a. Coaches must have at least 3 players with non-zero minutes assigned in the fatigue grid per position for each game. Players scheduled to miss the game must be set as ineligible and may not count towards this 3-player limit. b. A player must be assigned in the fatigue grid a number of minutes equal to or less than the minutes per game listed for him on the league roster. For example, a player rated on the roster at PG and SG for a total of 35 minutes per game may be assigned 4 minutes at PG and 31 minutes at SG in the fatigue grid. Since we use the “static” fatigue system there is really no need to modify the fatigue grid at all (except for the computer coach to determine fatigue and foul-trouble replacements in road games). 10. Maximum number of minutes a player can play in a game: a. Though a player is not limited in the minutes he may play in any particular game, the fatigue grid rules above present various limits for each player. b. A player may not be given minutes in any grid nor play at a position where he does not have minutes allocated on the league roster (in other words, Sabonis is never allowed to play guard!). C. Additional game rules: 1. All play will be done on the computer. No board gaming with dice is allowed. 2. A player may only guard an opposing position (through the use of the "assign" button) if the defender is rated to play that position (Sabonis is never allowed to defend a guard!). Exception: a player currently playing point guard may defend the opposing shooting guard and a player currently playing shooting guard may defend the opposing point guard. For example, a player playing SF rated by SOM at SG/SF/PF may defend against the opposing PF (as long as all other defensive matchups are also legal) but may not defend against the opposing PG. 3. Face-to-face. Follow this sequence of events for setting strategy. In each of the steps below, the visiting team makes its move first, followed by the home team. a. Select lineups. b. Position offensive players (either inside or outside). c. Set defensive match-ups. d. Set defensive double-teaming. e. Name players playing safe. f. Name defensive inside block defender/intimidator. g. Name type of offense (normal or fast break). h. Name type of defense (normal or press). i. Name style of defense (normal, close, or sag) for each player. 4. If a league member accidentally violates a rule during a game (for example, accidentally setting his team for “home court advantage” for his home team LOS against team NYO) then he must inform the Commissioner who will have the Executive Committee impose a fair penalty (for example, when NYO is next the home team against LOS “home court advantage” should be used). D. Option Settings in the game: 1. The Option Settings screens will appear after you start a league basketball game. You must set to "manual" the game you want to play. 2. Select these settings on the following options: a. On the Start Play screen 1) Which Days = Current Day Only 2) Summary Files = Save Summary Files 3) Home Court Advantage = Neutral Court 4) Rules = Current Rules b. On the Update Preferences screen 1) Save Game Files 2) No Injuries 3) Visiting Team = Computer Coach (unless playing face-to-face) 4) Home Team = Human Coach c. On the Autorest screen 1) Static Fatigue 2) No Autorest E. Setting up computer coach profiles and gameplans: 1. From the Main Menu select Basketball Game. 2. From the Basketball Game Menu select Program Computer Coach and select the 199-00I league. 3. Set Defensive Profile. You should select the specific opponent you are to be playing on this road game because this defensive profile will be included in the gameplan sent to him and will be imported into his system. a. Select your opponent for the game. b. Follow the instructions on the screen and in the manual for these settings. Contact the Commissioner or another league member for assistance if desired. 4. Select Gameplan and your team. 5. Edit your Gameplan -- the FATIGUE GRID screen: a. GP = Actual games played. You may not change this number. b. GS and INPCT. These numbers are mostly irrelevant to our league. However, you may not modify the INPCT from 0 or 100 – a player with INPCT=0 may not play inside and a player with INPCT=100 may not play outside on offense. c. STLSHT = The Steal Shoot percentage which tells the computer coach how often this player is to take a fastbreak shot off a steal rating. d. BLK = This number is irrelevant to our league except that YOU MUST ENTER ZERO BLK MINUTES FOR A PLAYER WHO HAS ZERO MINUTES ASSIGNED IN THE FATIGUE GRID or else the game will not run at all (this is a bug in the sombk program). e. PG, SG, SF, PF, C = These fields list the fatigue minutes to be played at each position. A player may not be gridded at a position for which he is not rated on the league roster. In each game at least 3 PLAYERS MUST BE ASSIGNED FATIGUE GRID MINUTES AT EACH POSITION. There is little reason to modify these numbers now that we use the “static” fatigue system. f. For the remaining fields on this screen, refer to the SOM manual or ask the Commissioner for assistance. 6. Edit your Gameplan -- the LINEUP GRID screen: you may set the lineup grid however you like with the restriction that a player may not be gridded at a position for which he is not rated on the league roster. For example, a player listed on the league roster at SG/SF/PF may never play or be gridded to play PG or C though he may be lineup gridded to play any amount of time at any of his eligible positions. Keep in mind that any player gridded for more than 12 consecutive minutes in any half will probably fatigue and be replaced by the computer coach during that time. 7. Exporting a gameplan file to another coach: a. First, determine what day on the schedule the game is to be played: 1) From the Main Menu select Basketball Game, League Game. 2) Select the 1999-00I league. 3) Page ahead using N for next day until you come to the game in question. If you look at the top of the listing of games for that day it gives the schedule-related day number. 4) Write this number down. b. From the Main Menu select Basketball Game. c. From the Basketball Game Menu select Program Computer Coach. d. Select the 1999-00I league and your team. e. See above for instructions on creating the defensive profile and your gameplan. Make certain that you set as “ineligible” those players who are scheduled to miss the game – this is the easiest thing to make a mistake on and it’s a pain in the butt for everyone (including the Commissioner) to correct this mistake – so DOUBLE- CHECK your gameplan versus the days missed list on the roster. f. Once you have set the defensive profile and the gameplan as you want (within league rules), from the screen with the lineup grid choose Export Gameplan. g. Insert a formatted diskette in drive A:. h. When prompted for a filename, name the file according to these conventions: 1) filename = AAAHHHnn 2) AAA represents the 3 character symbol for the away team 3) HHH represents the 3 character symbol for the home team 4) nn represents the two digit number for the day on the schedule (see a above). For example, if you are team LOS, the team you are sending the gameplan to is NYO, and the game is scheduled for day 34 then type LOSNYO34. i. The gameplan will be exported to the diskette. j. Completely exit the game to DOS (for DOS or Windows assistance please contact the Commissioner or another league member); the simple version of the rest of this section is to e-mail the gameplan to the opposing coach and keep a copy of the gameplan in case the recipient didn’t receive it; alternatively, even easier than this is to finish creating your gameplans for the current quarter of the season, zip them up into one single file, and send that file to the entire league and do not delete that zip file. k. From the DOS prompt at C:\SOMBK> type the command GPEXPORT AAA HHH nn (where AAA, HHH, and nn are defined above) and hit <Enter>. For example, if you are team LOS, the team you are sending the gameplan to is NYO, and the game is scheduled for day 34 then type GPEXPORT LOS NYO 34. l. The computer will then move the gameplan from the diskette into the \SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA\TRANSFER directory which the coach will use for all uploads and downloads of files. m. Compose an e-mail message to the opposing coach. n. Attach the gameplan file to the message 1) it will have a name of the format AAAHHHnn.GPL 2) it will be in the directory \SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA\TRANSFER 3) attach it as a binary file 4) do not attach multiple files to a single e-mail 8. Importing gameplan files from other coaches: a. When you receive the e-mail message that has the opposing team's gameplan attached to it, save the attached file (it should have a name with the format AAAHHHnn.GPL) in the \SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA\ TRANSFER directory. Also, LET THE OTHER COACH KNOW THAT YOU RECEIVED HIS GAMEPLAN by an e-mail message “I received the gameplan.” b. Exit your mail program and go to DOS. c. Get to a DOS prompt C:\SOMBK>. d. Insert a formatted diskette in drive A:. e. Type GPIMPORT AAA HHH nn (for example GPIMPORT LOS NYO 34) and hit <Enter>; alternatively, you may simply copy the gameplan onto the diskette. f. The opposing coach's gameplan will be moved onto the diskette. g. Go into the SOM Basketball game. 1) From the Main Menu select Basketball Game, League game. 2) Select the 1999-00I league. 3) Find the game in question, using page ahead or jump. 4) Change the game from Hold to Manual. 5) Start the game. 6) From the Lineup screen of the opposing team, choose Import gameplan. 7) When prompted for a filename, click on the asterisk to list the files on the diskette. The appropriate gameplan file will be named with the convention AAAHHHnn.GPL (with AAA, HHH, and nn defined previously). 8) Select the appropriate gameplan file. It will be imported into your system. 9) Click on Continue to begin the game. If once you get to the first strategy screen just before the game begins you notice that the opposing coach has set a player who was scheduled to miss the game as “eligible” then quit the game (right-click the mouse at this point to abort the beginning of the game) and ask the coach to send to you a legal gameplan –- also notify the Commissioner of the error in the gameplan 10) You may shoot 3-pointers, call timeouts, etc. as desired during the game. However, you may only play the press defense when you are not ahead by 10 or more points in the game (if you are ahead by 10 and still pressing then you must press F1 and call timeout to stop the press defense) and you may not play press defense for more than 12 minutes in any one game. 9. Exporting game results to the opposing coach and to the Commissioner: a. On the Process Game Files menu there is a selection entitled Export Game File. Do not use this as it is not necessary. b. Once the game is complete MAKE SURE THAT YOU WRITE THE BOXSCORE TO A PRT FILE (this is an option listed after every game) AND WRITE DOWN THE FILENAME (something like 990i0001.PRT). c. Completely exit the game to DOS; for the simple version of the rest of this section create a zip file of the appropriate name (for example, LOSNYO34.ZIP) which contains all three of the 990i0001 files which includes the 990i0001.GFL, 990i0001.PRT, and 990i0001.SUM files and send this zip file to the Commissioner and to your opponent. d. Get to a DOS prompt C:\SOMBK>. e. You will use the SNDRESLT.BAT program to prepare your zip file to send to the opposing coach: 1) Type SNDRESLT gamefilename zipfilename (do not include file extensions) and hit <enter> 2) The 2 parameters: a) gamefilename is the name given by SOM to the boxscore prt file (see b. above) -- for example, 990i0001. B) zipfilename of the outgoing zipfile: The naming convention for the outgoing zipfile is AAAHHHnn: i. AAA = the 3 character symbol for away team and ii. HHH = the 3 character symbol for home team iii. nn = day number in schedule 3) For example, SNDRESLT 990i0001 LOSNYO34 f. The game file, the game summary file, and the box score file will be compressed into a zip file, given the name you entered into the zipfilename, and moved into the \SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA\TRANSFER directory. g. Compose an e-mail message to the opposing coach AND TO THE COMMISSIONER. If you do not receive acknowledgment from the Commissioner that he received the file, assume that he did not receive the file -- resend the game result. h. Attach the game result file to the message: 1) it will have a name of the format AAAHHHnn.ZIP in the \SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA\TRANSFER directory 2) attach it as a binary file 3) do not attach multiple files to a single e-mail. 10. Importing game results from opposing coach after an away game (while this step is not really necessary since the Commissioner keeps official records of game results, it may help you stay within minutes limits of your players): a. When you receive the e-mail message that has the opposing team's game result files attached to it, save the attached file (it should have a name with the format AAAHHHnn.ZIP) in the \SOMBK\LEAGUES\ SOMIBA\TRANSFER directory b. Exit your mail program and go to DOS; for the simple version of the rest of this section unzip the file and copy the 990i0001.GFL file to diskette and Import Game File on that gfl file. c. Get to a DOS prompt C:\SOMBK>. d. Insert a formatted diskette in drive A:. e. You will be using the program RECRESLT.BAT to prepare for loading the game file into your game system. Type RECRESLT AAA HHH nn (for example, RECRESLT LOS NYO 34) and hit <Enter>. f. The game result files will be moved to the appropriate \SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA\9899AWAY\AAA directory for that opposing team (there are eighteen directories under 9899AWAY, one for each team) and will be copied onto the diskette in drive A:. g. Go into the SOM Basketball game: 1) From the Main Menu select Statistical Functions. 2) From the Statistical Functions Menu select Process Game Files. 3) From the Process Game Files menu select Import Game File. 4) When prompted for a filename, click on the asterisk to get a list of files on the diskette. 5) Select the appropriate game file (with the extension .GFL) 6) The game result will be imported into your system. h. At the end of each session of the season the Commissioner will send to each coach a league update containing game results for all games to date. In addition, the Commissioner will keep the web page up-to-date with current stats and game results. 11. Backing up league files (not a necessary step): a. This is a program which may be executed every time the Commissioner sends the coach a league update at the beginning of each session. b. Get to a DOS prompt C:\SOMBK>. c. Type BKUPLEAG and hit <Enter>. d. The league files, roster files, and league schedule will be zipped and stored in the \SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA\BKUP9899\LEAGFILS directory. 12. Backing up game files (not a necessary step): a. This is a program that may be executed after every few games played. b. Get to a DOS prompt C:\SOMBK>. c. Type BKUPGAME and hit <Enter>. d. The game files, game summary files, and box score files will be zipped and stored in the \SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA\BKUP9899\GAMEFILS directory. 13. Cleaning up after sending the gameplan file (not a necessary step but an extremely helpful one): a. When you receive the e-mail message that your opponent has received the gameplan file you sent him, it is time to run a cleanup program. b. Exit your mail program and go to DOS. c. Get to a DOS prompt C:\SOMBK>. d. You will be using the program GPSENT.BAT to cleanup after a gameplan file send. Type GPSENT AAA HHH nn (for example, GPSENT LOS NYO 34) and hit <Enter>. e. After execution of this batch program, a backup of the gameplan file you sent can be found in the SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA \TRANSFER\TRANSBAK directory as well as in the AWAY9899 directory associated with that particular team. 14. Cleaning up after sending the game result file (not a necessary step but an extremely helpful one): a. When you receive the e-mail message that the Commissioner has received the game results file you sent him, it is time to run a cleanup program. b. Exit your mail program and go to DOS. c. Get to a DOS prompt C:\SOMBK>. d. You will be using the program GAMESENT.BAT to cleanup after a game results file send. Type GAMESENT AAA HHH nn (for example, GAMESENT LOS NYO 34) and hit <Enter>. e. After execution of this batch program, a backup of the game results file you sent can be found in the \SOMBK\LEAGUES\SOMIBA \TRANSFER\TRANSBAK directory as well as in the AWAY9899 directory associated with that particular team. F. Known bugs in the SOM computer basketball game: 1. If any player's gameplan fatigue grid minutes are set to zero and you click on Set Eligible Players from within the pre-league-game Lineup screen, you receive a "floating point, divide by zero" error message and are kicked out to DOS. The solution is just don’t do this. You may instead look at your team's eligible players in the Program Computer Coach section (editing your gameplan) and determine the visiting team's eligible players once the game has started by looking at the players listed on bench. If once you get to the first strategy screen just before the game begins you notice that the opposing coach has set a player scheduled to miss the game as eligible then quit the game (right-click the mouse at this point to abort the beginning of the game) and ask the coach to send to you a legal gameplan –- also notify the Commissioner of the error in the gameplan. 2. If a player is assigned more than zero BLK minutes within the fatigue grid but is assigned zero playing minutes at all positions in the fatigue grid then when you try to begin the game
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