DTNBA Rules

The Introduction

Welcome to the DTNBA!  We are the best Dynasty Basketball Keeper League in the world! The league consists of 30 NBA teams, each of which is run by an individual GM. That’s right. 30 teams. 30 individual GMs.

The DTNBA is a fantasy simulation league using Jump Shot Pro Basketball 5.70 by Shot Sports Software (http://shotsports.com/). From year-to-year, GMs manage their rosters and compete against each other in an 82 game daily simulation. Full box scores are uploaded to a central website (Scores and Schedules) and vital stats such as league leaders, current standings and MVP races are tracked on a daily basis.
During the course of each season, each GM will call the shots on who plays and who doesn’t, make trades and pick up players from the free agent pool. Just like the real NBA, there are a handful of teams that are in a current rebuilding phase and will make moves with the future in mind. Other teams will go all out and go for the championship and therefore, might break the bank for their shot at the title. Since this is a keeper league, every move you make has consequences for the immediate and extended future. Your job is to direct and build your team to whatever timeline or fashion that you see fit.

GMs will build their franchises through yearly rookie drafts, free agency and trades. The league is run by an appointed commissioner who simulates games in a head-to-head matchup for each night of the simulation schedule. A full NBA schedule is played, complete with an entire 7-game series playoff to determine an annual winner. All communication is done through slack or the league website.  Participation levels can vary from simply checking and reading your slack messages every few days. If you’re hardcore, you’ll check slack and the website every day, engage in multiple trade talks and participate in general league and basketball discussions. It’s up to you, and in the end, it’s whatever you make of it.

The Kahning! (formerly the Horrible GM process)

Throughout the season, GMs will receive and make trade offers; GMs that receive offers are expected to reply promptly (promptly being defined as within 48 hours). If a reply is not received promptly, the GM may send a DM on slack to the commissioner with the team name in the title; it will be up to you if you want to include e-mail attachments or details, but this will make reviews easier. If the Commissioner receives this DM, the offending team has been Kahned.
If a team receives 3 or more Kahns, they will be put on notice for the remainder of that season. If the team receives another 3 more Kahns in any other interval, that GM will be booted.
The only exception to this rule are when a GM needs to tend to an emergency, e.g. things involving hospitals. For the reason that phones can send e-mails and also that trips are planned well in advance, holidays and trips are not defined as emergencies. GMs are expected to make every effort to notify at least 1 person that they will be unavailable, that GM can then relay the message on.

Respond to every trade offer. I understand the annoyance of dealing with low-ball offers, but at the same time, it would literally take you 3 seconds to reply back with “No”. Maybe the other guy comes back with another offer, maybe he doesn’t, but at least you close the loop.

Along with the “DTNBA DC Warning”, “DTNBA Salary Cap Warning”, there will also be a “DTNBA Communication Warning” given to GM’s who do not communicate and respond to messages/trade requests from other GM’s in a timely manner (48 hours) along with the tried tested and true, “DTNBA Horrible GM Warning”. Any combination of 5 warnings in a single season can result in a GM losing access to their team and being replaced in the DTNBA.

The Rookie Draft

Please note that the rookie draft is comprised of all players taken from #1 to #60 during the real NBA draft. It is important to realize that choosing #8 DOES NOT assign whoever was taken at that slot in the real NBA to your team. You draft any available player that you want to at your slot. So if you like a guy taken at #12 and you’re picking at #8, then you’re free to take him if he hasn’t already been taken.
Time limit 12 hours for each pick no matter what round it is.  Each GM always has the option of sending their top X amount of choices to the Commish or another fellow GM for a proxy pick if you think you won’t be around near your 12 hour limit.
With that being said, I’m aware that a flux of maneuvering happens in the first round when GM’s see a player drop to a certain slot. Sometimes these trades require extra time to sort out the gory details or just to have the participating GM respond. In this case, any GM can call a “time out” for these situations and 12 hours will be added to the original deadline, effectively making your selection period 24 hours from when you were on the clock. GM’s will only be permitted to use one (1) x “timeout” per draft, so use it wisely.

If a GM fails to make a pick in the 12 hour period, then the draft will continue to move on with the next GM in line making their pick. A GM who has missed their pick in this fashion can jump in at any time and select from the available pool of players. If anything, this should motivate those GM’s picking directly after the tardy GM to get their picks in as soon as possible. This way, the draft doesn’t stop moving and everyone should be aware that the GM picking directly after you is probably watching the clock like a hawk.

The Wheelin’ and Dealin’

When the commissioner opens rosters for free agency or rookie draft, trades can be made.

Trades are made when two or more GMs agree to trade players, both confirm the trade to the Commissioner and ensure that both team are cap compliant (Under the max and over the minimum).
Draft picks can be dealt for the following four years (At the start of the 2024-24 season, draft picks from 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028 can be dealt). A team can not have two consecutive years without a 1st round draft pick. See the Stepian Rule.

The Free Agents

Before the trading window opens for a new season, ALL teams are required to release 1 player from their active roster who is on a standard contract (Not a 2-way contract). When free agency opens there will be an order, based on salary at the end of last season. Lowest salary gets first pick and so on. Teams that have the same salary, will both be allowed to sign their free agent within the same time block, first come first served.

Every season, the commissioner will announce when free agents can be signed. This will be date and time specific as usually there are multiple GMs looking to sign the same player. This season will open typically a few weeks after the completion of the rookie/mini draft. Signing free agents will be done on Slack. Slack messages are time stamped and it’s the only common denominator for everyone. Once Free Agency opens up, teams are allowed 1 signing for the first 72 hours. After that 72 hours has passed, teams are allowed 1 signing per 24 hours.

When a player is dropped from a team, the player is available in the free agent pool. The player must be in the free agent pool for a minimum of 12 hours from time stamp of release before he can be signed to another team. Each team can only sign one Free Agent per 24 hours.

Where is the list of Free Agents? There isn’t one. It’s your job to keep track of who’s available; anyone playing in the NBA that’s not on a DTNBA roster is available to be picked up.

YOUR SQUAD

The Roster

Throughout the regular season, your roster is designed within the following parameters:
(1) Minimum Size: 12
(2) Maximum Size: 15
(3) International Stashes: Unlimited. See below.
(4) 2-way Players: It’s complicated but follows NBA rules for the current season. See below.
(5) Active List: See below

International Stashes:
If you drafted a rookie or have a player on your roster that is currently in Europe, the salary for that player DOES NOT count against your salary points. That player also does not count towards the 15 max roster size. These players will still have a value of (1) on the salary scale and as thus can be traded with that value.
This rule can only be applied to players who have been drafted into the NBA. You cannot sign a foreign player and stash him before he’s been drafted by an NBA team.

2-way Players:
Three (3) roster spots will be designated for 2-way contract players (to be displayed on roster page below regular roster) – henceforth referred to as “The Motley Crewman”, in reference to the 1st dude signed to such an NBA contract, Johnathon Motley.
The Motley Crewman will not count against the DTNBA team’s salary or their roster while they are in their 2-way slot.

The Motley Crewman can be called up to the DTNBA team’s active roster when they are called up to an NBA roster (and if inactive for 5 days loses that status and must go back down to the 2-way slot). They are not required to be called up and the DTNBA GM has the option.

If a DTNBA team decides to call up The Motley Crewman to their active roster but are already at 15 players, they need to cut a player in order to stay at the roster limit.
If The Motley Crewman signs a 2-way deal this year and next year goes overseas, he loses his designation and either gets dropped or is inactive. If The Motley Crewman at any point signs a guaranteed or partially-guaranteed deal, he loses his 2-way status. The DTNBA team then has a week to decide if they want to retain The Motley Crewman or release him.

The Motley Crewman will be limited to 50 DTNBA games, IOT reflect the NBA’s similar restriction on them (NBA limits at 50 days).
The Motley Crewman will not be eligible for the DTNBA playoffs or Play In. The NBA’s policy on real-life The Motley Crewman’s playoff status is hard to determine right now. If at some point the NBA determines that real-life The Motley Crewman can be used in playoffs, DTNBA will abide by the same ruling.
This link should contain the most updated information:( https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2017/04/hoops-rumors-glossary-two-way-contracts.html )

Active List:
During the period from the day following the last day of the season until the day before the October 2nd roster cut date (17 players on standard contract) , the maximum number of players (including Two-Way Players) that a team may carry on it’s Active List shall be twenty-one (21). Players on the Inactive List and Two-Way List shall be transferred to the Active List on the day following the last day of the Season.

The Depth Chart

Each team can submit up to a maximum of 12 players and a minimum of 8 to be part of their rotation or Depth Chart (DC). Only healthy players and those playing in the NBA are eligible. If you have a player that is considered to be injured, suspended, playing internationally or in the G-league, that player is not eligible to be in your current DTNBA rotation. If a player is on an NBA roster but receiving DNP-CDs, they are still eligible for a DTNBA rotation.

A teams DC must be up to date at all times (12 players max, 8 players minimum). Any injuries need to be recorded on your team spreadsheet (you will see this on the new DTNBA Roster Sheet that will be sent out to all very soon). When you have a player (with a day-to-day injury) who is out for his 5th straight game because of an injury, that player must be removed from your DC immediately and an updated DC should be recorded on your team spreadsheet. Players who have injuries that are “Indefinite or long term injury” should be removed from your DC immediately. GM’s that cannot field the minimum of 8 players due to injury or lack of eligible players will have Dan the Scrub Turner added to their DC for a maximum of 3 games. DST’s stats will depend on where your team is located in the standings (Tanking teams get a super DST and competing teams get the real DST). After 3 games, If a GM does not make a corresponding move to address the minimum amount of healthy players (activating a healthy player, trade or FA signing), the Commissioner at his own discretion will make a roster move for that team by cutting or signing a player or players of his choice. GM’s that have non-eligible injured players in their DC will be subject to losing that injured player when they come back from injury for the same number of games that they played in injured. Eg. Larry Bird was injured for 8 NBA games but was not removed from his GM’s DC after 5 games, therefore Larry Bird will now be “suspended” for 3 DTNBA games and will not be allowed to be rostered for those games. The GM will also receive an “DTNBA DC Warning”. GM’s who receive a third (3) “DTNBA DC Warning” will forfeit their next available 2nd Round Pick (Team 2nd Round Pick, if none then the next available 2nd owned from a different team). *Draft picks forfeited due to an “DTNBA Salary Warning” will be reinstated should a new GM take over the team.

Rotation can be set up in a format such as the following. If you cannot reach this, Dan the Scrub Turner (DST) will be inserted into your lineup. See below for DST details.

PG – 1st Option / 2nd Option / 3rd Option
SG – 1st Option / 2nd Option / 3rd Option
SF – 1st Option / 2nd Option / 3rd Option
PF – 1st Option / 2nd Option / 3rd Option
C – 1st Option / 2nd Option / 3rd Option

Note 1: A player can play multiple positions (ex. Tom Gugliotta could be the 1st option at PF, but also the 2nd option at C). Each GM should mix and match their rotations to determine the general minute distribution that a player can get in any configuration.
Note 2: If a player made the previous year’s All-Star team, that player must be inserted into the Depth Chart.

The Dan (the Scrub) Turner

Dan Turner was the original creator of this league; we are eternally indebted to him. He is long gone, but his memory lives on in the form of Dan the Scrub Turner. If you cannot field the minimum 8 healthy players, DST will be inserted into your lineup by the Commissioner. DST’s rankings are rated as 0 and his turnover ranking is 100 for contending teams and 100 and 0 for teams in search of lottery ping pong balls. DST is not designed to help your team no matter which direction you’re headed in.
The maximum amount of games that DST can play for you is 3 games. If a GM does not make a corresponding move to address the minimum amount of healthy players (activating a healthy player, trade or FA signing), the Commissioner at his own discretion will make a roster move for that team by cutting and signing a player of his choice.

The Salary

It is important to note that all players have an associated salary cap value that may factor into your decision to draft them. DTNBA Salary cap figures are based on a player’s annual salary (for the previous season in NBA) and falls within a range of 1 to 13 and is calculated as outlined below. All 30 teams are subject to a salary cap, which currently stands at 45 points (up 2 from 2023-24).

Max Salary Cap up – 45 (15 Players)
Minimum Salary Cap – 30 (65% – 12 Players)

$0 – $5 M – 1
$5 M – $10 M – 2
$10 M – $15 M – 3
$15 M – $20 M – 4
$20 M ­– $25 M – 5
$25 M – $30 M – 6
$30 M – $35 M – 7
$35 M – $40 M – 8
$40 M – $45 M – 9
$45 M – $50 M – 10
$50 M – $52.5 M – 11
$52.5 M -$55 M – 12
$55 M – $57.5 M – 13
$57.5 M – $60 M – 14
$60 M – $62.5 M – 15
$62.5 M – $65 M – 16

Each off season, the Commish will decide the next salary cap. They will do so by considering the increase in the NBA cap, previous rises in the cap in DTNBA and the overall salary situation within DTNBA. However there is an expectation if the NBA rises by $10 mil this would be reflected with a 2 or 3 increase.

Teams that are under the salary cap floor (30) or over the salary cap ceiling (45) as of October 23rd, 2024 (last roster cut) will be subject to the following penalty – The Commissioner at his own discretion will make a roster move for that team by cutting or signing a player or players of his choice. If that roster move puts the team under the minimum players, DST will also be added to the team for a maximum of 3 games (If a team is short 2 players, then DST x 2 will be added and so on). If the GM does not rectify the situation within 3 games, another roster move can be made by the Commissioner and a “DTNBA Salary Cap Warning” will be given to the GM. GM’s who receive a second (2) “DTNBA Salary Cap Warning” will forfeit their next available 2nd Round Pick (Team 2nd Round Pick, if none then the next available 2nd owned from a different team). *Draft picks forfeited due to an “DTNBA Salary Cap Warning” will be reinstated should a new GM take over the team.

The Injuries

Injuries go hand in hand with the real NBA. If a player pulls a hammy and is out for 3 weeks, then you have to take him out of you active DC until he come back to the real NBA. Generally if a player is reported on rotoworld.com to miss more than 1 week, we declare him as injured in the DTNBA. If it’s a game-by-game basis, we wait until that player has missed 5 straight games in the real NBA. Our schedule doesn’t line up with the real NBA, so sometimes your injured player might miss 3 weeks, but your DTNBA might only play 4 or 5 times during that time in the sim.

The playoff rosters are to be set the same as the regular season Depth Chart. The only exceptions are related to injuries. If a player is ruled as out for the season including playoffs, he is still eligible to play in the DTNBA playoffs if he played in 50+ regular season NBA games.

If a player has been hurt most of the season but was able to return in time to play in his team before the beginning of the playoffs in the NBA then he is also eligible to play in the DTNBA playoffs.

D-Rose Rule:

This states that any player that ended the regular season injured and played less than 20 games the previous season will be updated every month just like a rookie or DNP last year. This designation must happen before the season starts and every team has the option to designate one player under this rule.

Temporary Injury Exemption:

A GM will be allowed to sign a temporary free agent; think of it like a 10 day contract if the team falls within the following guidelines: (a) the team has 3 or more currently injured players; (b) the team cannot field 8 active players because of these 3+ injuries; and (c) the team is not at the maximum allowed roster size of 15 (you will not be able to take advantage of this if your roster is full). Keep in mind that if you are taking advantage of this rule, you will have to drop the temp player when the injured player(s) return.

The Hayward Rule:

Remember when Gordon and Brad Stevens got like 3 inches away from upsetting Duke in 2010? And then they reunite years later in Boston with high hopes and BAM. A devastating ankle injury to end the year.

This rule states that a team is allotted a “Player Injury Exemption” if a player on their roster has been deemed out for the season and has less than 20 games played in that NBA season. That Exemption Player will not count against the roster or cap.  There is currently no limit on how many players this applies to.

Eligible Players

In order to be eligible to be in a rotation during the DTNBA year, a player with any NBA experience must have played a minimum of 250 minutes in the previous NBA year.
If the player did not play in 250 minutes the previous year, they will be updated monthly, or whenever they reach 250 minutes (whichever comes first). These players are marked in blue/bold on the Roster Sheet.

Players with less than 250 minutes played (in the current NBA year) are not eligible for the DTNBA playoffs.

1st-year NBA players will not be eligible to play in the DTNBA until they have reached 250 minutes played in the NBA. These players will be updated on the 1st of every month (provided they have reached 250 minutes). If a player reaches 250 minutes halfway through the month, the Commish can update on request.

The Player Update

Each team is allotted one Player Update (PU). This can be done only after 41 DTNBA games are played by that team and before the playoffs begin. Player Updates (PUs) cannot be used on players unless they have played at least 250 minutes.

PUs can be traded to another team as a (1) salary.

Each team can only have 1 Updated Player on their roster at any one time.
All Updated Players will be tracked on the Roster Page by the Commish for reference purposes.

Playoff Eligibility

The playoff rosters are to be set the same as the regular season Depth Chart. The only exceptions are related to injuries. If a player is injured at the end of the regular season and has not played a minimum of 55 games in the NBA, he is not eligible for the playoffs. This rule exists regardless of whether an NBA player returns during the playoffs. If a player has been hurt most of the season but was able to return in time to play in the NBA before the beginning of the NBA playoffs, then he is also eligible to play in the DTNBA playoffs (provided he meets the 250 minute minimum).

THE SIM

The way the sim software is set up, all of the baseline data that decides how individual players will perform are based on LAST year’s stats. So look at how a player performed in the previous season to figure out how the sim will perceive their value. This is where it might be advantageous to look at per 36 minute stats for players who get small amounts of playing time in real life, but may have a larger role on your DTNBA team. By no means does it statistically translate 1:1 from these stats into the sim, but it’s one way to estimate how a player might do in the sim. Also, because we are using last year’s stats as baseline data, we also use last year’s salary figures to determine a players cap hit. The last thing you want to do is draft a player that had a contract value of 1 and then realize that they will be a 3 cap hit once the starts.

The other important thing to know is that each team is allowed to update 1 player at the mid-way point of each season. The mid-way point happens whenever a DTNBA team has played 41 games. This date is different for each team depending on your schedule. So if a player is exploding onto the scene and is outperforming his previous year’s stats, you have the opportunity to use this rule to help improve your team.
So how do stats translate into the sim? Well, the sim is a tricky system. Basically, the Commissioner puts in the total sum numbers of each category into the sim for a player. So total points, assists, steals, minutes played, games played, etc. The sim takes those numbers and generates a category rating out of 100 for that players much in the same way NBA 2K does. I didn’t write the program, so I don’t know exactly how it does this, but it does. LOL.
Now if you look at the right side of the roster pages you will see a 1-9 rating for each player for their outside, driving, post, and transition offence and defense.

O-O = Outside Offence (think Ray Allen)
T-O = Transition Offence (think Steve Nash)
D-D = Driving Defense (think Bruce Bowen)
P-D = Post Defense (think Dikembe Mutombo)

Now these are numbers generated by the sim based on the stats I input, but I think that total minutes play a bit a role in these ratings. One final caveat with using per-36 numbers are that if a player has played a really low number of minutes on the season, say like 500 total minutes, I have found the numbers won’t translate as well as they should and the ratings the sim generated will be a decent bit lower, maybe even like 10-15% lower than they should.
So to summarize, the sim generates box score ratings and defense/offence ratings for the players based on the stats I input.  More total minutes = better. Very few total minutes = not good.
The next chart you see there is how those players produced in the sim based on the lineup provided by the former GM. In the sim, you don’t specifically determine that you want X player to play 35 min, but rather you submit a depth chart for each position and the program runs a simulation based on that active depth chart submission. This has a bit of a learning curve, but you’ll see how it looks when you start submitting a depth chart (DC).
So using per-36 numbers won’t dictate exactly how a player will react to the sim, but I always tell GM’s that it’s a useful tool to see how someone might pan out. However, it’s not the be-all and end-all of evaluation tools. Real boxscores can only really tell you that. I would say per-36 is best used to judge if a fringe player will do well if given heavy minutes on your DTNBA team.

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