Game Play
- The Game: This league will use the Fast Break Basketball 2013 Engine found at www.greydogsoftware.com to simulate all games. Updates will be applied as available. Each participant must have this program.
- The league is currently using Fast Break Basketball 2013 Version 3.0.30. This can be downloaded from the NABL Download page.
- The NABL Season is 84 games with 12 teams making the playoffs, while the GBA (The NABL Development League) Season is 66 games long, with an All Star Break near the half way point.
- The preseason lasts 13 game days, the first sim day will consist of 4 game days, while the rest will consist of 3 game days.
- Sims will include 5 'game days'. Schedules will vary depending on time constraints. Normal sim days will be Monday thru Friday. Any sims ran on weekends will be aytime after noon (12:00PM Eastern Time)
- All roster changes should be in by Midnight the day before a sim, but all roster changes will be downloaded just before running the sims.
- The league runs on the EASTERN Time Schedule
- Any participant in the league must have an up to date internet browser. This is just to make sure that the league website functions properly.
The Commissioner
The Commissioners duties will consist of but not limited to the overseeing of the league and ruling in a manner that is not a detriment to the leagues future. The Commissioner is responsible for all Simulations, and Roster updates. The Commissioner is also responsible for updating the Web Site, running all Drafts and Meetings and maintaining order in the league in general. Although not all possible rules can be written, the commissioner reserves the right to take action on anything that would not maintain the integrity of the league.
New GM/Coaches
- ALL NEW GM/Coaches are to be given a week after being introduced to the league before they can begin trading. Any team that completes a trade with a new owner before the week is over, will have that trade turned down and be fined their best #1 Draft pick in the upcoming season. The new team will likewise have its best #1 Draft pick forfeited. For draft purposes, the teams will draft the worst listed available person and immediately cut him. If there is a case where a team has no current #1 Draft pick, they will be fined 2 million dollars in salary for 2 years.
- Any GM that violates this rule a second time faces the possibility of being removed from the league immediately.
Participation
- Participation is mandatory. Attendance in league events is mandatory. Prolonged periods of inactivity or absence from events are grounds for removal from the league.
- All drafts and other similiar activities will be held in a Facebook chat room or board.
Trades
- Trades are permitted starting the (in game) day of the draft until the trade deadline which is around the 99th day of the regular season.
- The 60 day rule is in effect. You must wait 60 game days before trading newly acquired players. If a team resigns a player, that player can be traded immediatly.
- The 60 day rule is not in effect during the rookie draft. Players may be traded multiple times until the draft is finished.
- Trades with ownerless are permitted, but the commissioner will have the lone decision. If the trade does not benefit the GM-less team, the trade will be denied. It will have to be an obviously beneficial for the GM-less team. I won't throw away the team's future and leave it for a new person to take over.
- Future consecutive first round picks may not be traded.
- If there is a questionable trade the commissioner will decide if the trade will be allowed or not.
- All teams involved in a trade should enter the trade in the software to make sure that it is legal. One will post it in the NABL Facebook Group and the other(s) will comment to confirm the trade.
- When trades are completed FBB automatically resets your roster to its liking to prevent invalid lineups. Be wary that the CPU may not always set your team up the way you want it. So don't do trades unless you're willing to take on this risk. Also, if there are injured players the CPU will not put them on your depth chart, so even if they are healthy later in the sim they may not play.
General Manager Firing
- The team owner can fire a General Manager or decide to not renew the General Manager's contract at the end of a season.
- Any General Manager who loses his job will be put into a pool of Jobless GM's and the GM with the most number of wins (regular season and post season over the previous 3 seasons) will get his choice of jobs from teams that are currently without General Managers. This will be done until all teams have General Manager's signed. Then the next season would be started.
Season Stages
- There are eight stages to each season. They are in the following order:
- Offseason:
This is the period where it is possible to change league rules as well as expand/contract teams using the league editor. Any changes for the upcoming season must be complete before moving on. The offseason concludes with the draft lottery.
- Staff Hiring:
The staff hiring period will proceed until all teams have a full staff. This includes a General Manager, Head Coach, 3 assistants, and a scout.
- Draft Period:
The draft period is when dispersal, expansion, and rookie drafts will take place in that order.
- Free Agency:
The free agency period is a 30 day period where teams can submit offers to free agents. At the end of the 30 days any developmental leagues will run their drafts out of the remaining free agents.
- Training:
Players are assigned their offseason training orders in preparation for the upcoming season. Any improvements will take place once camps are complete.
- Preseason:
During the preseason teams will play a number of exhibition games in preparation for the regular season. They will not count towards the final team records. During this time teams may carry up to 20 players.
- Regular Season:
Games now count and rosters must be set. Teams can carry up to 15 players with a max of 13 active players on the roster.
- Postseason:
The playoffs are completed and a champion is crowned.
Offseason:
- This would be when any changes to teams, divisions, conferences, or the league rules would be finalized for the upcoming season.
- Team moves, when allowed, can happen now but the team nickname needs to remain the same.
- If there is an expansion, this would be when we decide how to run it. (Rules, Expansion Draft Order, Rookie Draft Picks, etc...)
- We usually run the draft lottery during the Finals, but if not, it would have to be held prior to advancing to the next stage.
Staff Hiring:
- Teams place offers to various available staff, from the staff pool.
- You can extend a Head Coach any time during the final season of his contract, before the contract expires. You can never just extend assistant coaches or scouts. You must submit offers for them during this staff hiring phase.
- This goes on each day until all teams have complete team staff in place. (1 Head Coach, 3 Assistant Coaches, and 1 Scout)
Draft Period:
- There are only 2 rounds to the rookie draft, so teams only have two rounds of picks to trade.
- The second round of the draft can be picked by the CPU. This is up to the individual General Managers.
Free Agency Period:
- Free Agency is a day by day phase.
- Teams will make bids via the Fast Break Pro software. GMs not making bids for free agents, as necessary, could be result in punishment, and possibly removal from the league.
- Inactive teams will be run by the Commissioner and CPU for competitiveness
Training:
- You have a total of 30 training points that can be spent on each player.
- The following training options are available:
- INS: Inside play has the player work on his scoring moves and his rebounding positioning. Players with higher inside scoring ability are better at creating shots.
- SHT: Shooting has the player work on his shooting technique. This will benefit the player’s jump shot, free throw shooting, and three-point shooting.
- HND: Handling training has the player work on his ball handling skills. This will benefit the player’s handling and passing skills. Players with high handling are less likely to turn the ball over. Players with high passing can create better scoring opportunities for their teammates.
- PSD: Post defense training will have the player work on his defensive skills near the basket. This will benefit his post defense as well as his shot blocking ability.
- PRD: Perimeter defense training will have the player work on his defensive skills away from the basket. This will benefit his perimeter defense skill and his stealing ability.
- CND: Conditioning training improves the physical condition of the player. This is crucial for improving stamina. The player may also see increases in strength, quickness, and jumping.
- The following options all contribute to the amount of growth the player experiences during training camps:
- Player potential
- Head coach offensive and defensive coaching skill
- Assistant coaches offensive and defensive coaching skills
- Quality of opponents the team played the previous season (I am not 100% positive on this one)
Financial Information
- 70% OF CONTRACTS ARE GUARANTEED. IF A PLAYER IS CUT, ONLY 70% OF THAT CONTRACT WILL COUNT AGAINST YOUR SALARY CAP.
- The Salary Cap and Luxury Cap by season.
Season | NABL Salary Cap | Luxury Cap | Mid Exception | Low Exception |
| 2001 | $10,625,000 | $12,000,000 | $ | $ |
| 2002 | $12,000,000 | $15,750,000 | $ | $ |
| 2003 | $15,000,000 | $19,900,000 | $ | $ |
| 2004 | $20,000,000 | $23,500,000 | $ | $ |
| 2005 | $24,000,000 | $29,900,000 | $ | $ |
| 2006 | $29,000,000 | $35,500,000 | $ | $ |
| 2007 | $34,000,000 | $41,500,000 | $ | $ |
| 2008 | $39,000,000 | $47,000,000 | $ | $ |
| 2009 | $44,000,000 | $53,000,000 | $ | $ |
| 2010 | $49,000,000 | $59,000,000 | $ | $ |
| 2011 | $53,000,000 | $64,000,000 | $4,900,000 | $2,200,000 |
| 2012 | $57,000,000 | $69,000,000 | $5,300,000 | $2,400,000 |
| 2013 | $61,000,000 | $74,000,000 | $5,700,000 | $2,600,000 |
| 2014 | $65,000,000 | $80,000,000 | $6,100,000 | $2,800,000 |
| 2015 | $70,000,000 | $86,000,000 | $6,600,000 | $3,100,000 |
| 2016 | $75,000,000 | $92,000,000 | $7,100,000 | $3,400,000 |
| 2017 | $83,000,000 | $101,000,000 | $7,800,000 | $4,400,000 |
| 2018 | $92,000,000 | $112,000,000 | $8,700,000 | $4,900,000 |
| 2019 | $102,000,000 | $124,000,000 | $9,600,000 | $5,400,000 |
| 2020 | $113,000,000 | $137,000,000 | $10,600,000 | $6,000,000 |
*These amounts are subject to change at any time prior to that season starting.
- Teams must stay under cap to make any trades or sign any players (exceptions in both cases exist).
- Trades for teams must fit under the cap or teams over cap may only add up to 15% of salary dollars for the trade to work.
- Luxary Tax: Any team over the luxary tax can not bid on players except for minimium offers and exceptions. Any team
under the tax amount will be able to bid on their own players up to and not exceeding the amount they are below the tax. If a player offers to resign at the end of their contract, a team may accept the players offer, even if they are over the tax or the offer puts them over the tax.
Teams can make offers for multiple free agents that were their own players if they are under the tax level and over the cap, but can only make 1 offer. If the offer is reset and your team is over the cap, then you can no longer bid. The Tax Limit will be set to it xx million.
- Team Budgets are now limited to 120% of the Salary Cap for that season. All but negating the problem with the Luxury Tax issue noted above
Rosters
- All teams must have 12 active players on their rosters at all times.
- All team rosters must be down to 17 or fewer after pre-season sim day 3. Down to 15 after pre-season sim day 4 (the last sim). Too often, we try to start the season on Day 1 but teams don't have their roster set correctly. From now on, if a team is not set to 15 or less, I will randomly cut players until the roster is down to 15. So, if you still have 17 players, and I go to start running day 1, I will just randomly choose 2 players to cut from your team.. It will be possible that you could lose your 2 best players!!!
- Roster changes must be entered by Midnight the day before a sim to be sure they are entered. Note that if I will auto generate your lineup after a trade, overriding your lineup based on the new players you bring in. I will try to upload the league file early enough that you can have some time to download it and make changes, but this is not guarenteed.
- Players are allowed to play out of position. Many players are versatile enough to play multiple positions.
- Active Rosters are frozen on day 140 for the playoffs. This means if you put someone on the IR they
will not be available to you during the playoffs. If you want to rest your players, just change your lineup not to include them. No roster changes are allowed after the regular season ends. Make sure that you do not end the season with a player on IR as you won't be able to bring them back for the playoffs.
Waivers
- Immediately before the season as teams are attempting to get to 12 men, there are no waiver rules.
The order is first-come-first-serve. Commish Suggestion: Make minimum bids on players during Free Agency so that you are at 12 men rather than hoping someone good is still on the waiver wire.
- Players waived as a result of a trade may not be picked up by either team participating in the trade.
Team Relocation/Name changes/Building an Arena
- This rule is in the process of being changed..
- New GM's must run the team for at least one full season . If control is taken during a season, the GM must run the team the entire following season before being able to move or rename the team.
- Renaming the team does not cost the team anything
- Moving a team requires a few things in advance: 1) The team must create a new arena with at least 18,000 capacity in the new location. 2) The team must pay for at least 60% of the cost of the new stadium. This goes for building a new arena in the existing city, also.
- Any team that has an arena that was built prior to 2001, is required to submit a proposal for a new arena in that city, paying at least 60%.
- If the city denies the new arena twice, the team, the team may then try relocating to a new city. This can be done even without the city denial if the GM has been in the league for at least 3 seasons.
- The franchise must be located in one location for at least 5 seasons before it can relocate.
- See the NABL Universe Table for information on available cities.
NABL Universe
- This table consists of a list of cities with the NABL equivalent ratings for Market Size & Economy
Rank | Metropolitan Area | Current Team(s) | Country | Market Size | Economy |
| 1 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | Braves, Bears | United States | Huge | 74 |
| 2 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | Aztecs, Condors | United States | Huge | 68 |
| 3 | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | | United States | Huge | 65 |
| 4 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | Outbreak | United States | Huge | 74 |
| 5 | San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA | | United States | Huge | 90 |
| 6 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | Generals | United States | Huge | 78 |
| 7 | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | | United States | Huge | 63 |
| 8 | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | | United States | Huge | 64 |
| 9 | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI | Toros | United States | Huge | 61 |
| 10 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | Sea Otters | United States | Large | 81 |
| 11 | Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO | Wolves | United States | Large | 64 |
| 12 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | | United States | Large | 63 |
| 13 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | | United States | Huge | 57 |
| 14 | San Diego-Carlsbad, CA | | United States | Large | 61 |
| 15 | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | Lumberjacks | United States | Large | 64 |
| 16 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | | United States | Medium | 97 |
| 17 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | Tropics | United States | Huge | 48 |
| 18 | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | | United States | Large | 59 |
| 19 | Toronto | | Canada | Huge | 46 |
| 20 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | | United States | Large | 53 |
| 21 | Austin-Round Rock, TX | 36ers | United States | Large | 64 |
| 22 | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | | United States | Large | 58 |
| 23 | Mexico City | | Mexico | Huge | 10 |
| 24 | St. Louis, MO-IL | Pilots | United States | Large | 50 |
| 25 | Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | | United States | Huge | 45 |
| 26 | Pittsburgh, PA | Steelmen | United States | Large | 56 |
| 27 | Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN | Rebels | United States | Medium | 61 |
| 28 | Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN | | United States | Medium | 60 |
| 29 | Cleveland-Elyria, OH | | United States | Large | 58 |
| 30 | Montreal | Saints | Canada | Large | 45 |
| 31 | Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN | Royals | United States | Large | 55 |
| 32 | Columbus | | United States | Large | 56 |
| 33 | San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX | | United States | Large | 48 |
| 34 | Monterrey | | Mexico | Huge | 31 |
| 35 | Kansas City, MO-KS | Mavericks | United States | Large | 54 |
| 36 | Salt Lake City, UT | Angels | United States | Medium | 62 |
| 37 | Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | | United States | Large | 46 |
| 38 | Sacramento-Roseville-Arden-Arcade, CA | | United States | Large | 47 |
| 39 | Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI | Rhinos | United States | Medium | 58 |
| 40 | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | | United States | Large | 41 |
| 41 | Vancouver | Whales | Canada | Large | 44 |
| 42 | Puebla | | Mexico | Large | 6 |
| 43 | Richmond | Admirals | United States | Medium | 55 |
| 44 | Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV | Bighorns | United States | Large | 44 |
| 45 | Oklahoma City | | United States | Medium | 49 |
| 46 | Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC | | United States | Medium | 47 |
| 47 | San Juan | | Puerto Rico | Large | 28 |
| 48 | Memphis-Forrest City, TN-MS-AR | | United States | Medium | 46 |
| 49 | Providence-Warwick, RI-MA | Pilgrims | United States | Medium | 44 |
| 50 | Buffalo | | United States | Medium | 45 |
| 51 | Ottowa | | Canada | Medium | 44 |
| 52 | Jacksonville, FL | | United States | Medium | 38 |
*These settings are subject to change at any time prior to that season starting.
- Teams must stay under cap to make any trades or sign any players (exceptions in both cases exist).
- Trades for teams must fit under the cap or teams over cap may only add up to 15% of salary dollars for the trade to work.
- Luxary Tax: Any team over the luxary tax can not bid on players except for minimium offers and exceptions. Any team
under the tax amount will be able to bid on their own players up to and not exceeding the amount they are below the tax. If a player offers to resign at the end of their contract, a team may accept the players offer, even if they are over the tax or the offer puts them over the tax.
Teams can make offers for multiple free agents that were their own players if they are under the tax level and over the cap, but can only make 1 offer. If the offer is reset and your team is over the cap, then you can no longer bid. The Tax Limit will be set to it xx million.
- Team Budgets are now limited to 120% of the Salary Cap for that season. All but negating the problem with the Luxury Tax issue noted above
Misc
- There are certainly things that will come up and need to be changed as we go through. Rule changes are 100% at the discretion of the Commissioner. If you are confused about a rule or if there is a case not outlined above, ask the commissioner to make a ruling.