OFFICIAL RULES OF EZRA STILES BASKETBALL, 2012-2013

1. TEAM STRUCTURE:
   • Each team shall consist of 20 starting players, with four from each position: point guard, two guard, small forward, power forward, and center. Position eligibility is determined by the commissioner prior to the auction. A player becomes eligible at another position when he starts five games at that position, as determined by the positions of his starting teammates, and pending commissioner's approval. Each team also has a five-man reserve, whose stats do not count.
2. THE AUCTION
   1. Procedure
      The Rotisserie auction begins with the defending champion nominating the first player for bidding. The owner with the highest bid wins the player. The nomination proceeds in a rotation among all the owners. Unless you specify a higher bid, a nomination implies a bid of $0.10 on the nominated player. If the nominating owner makes no selection in two minutes, he forfeits his nomination. The lowest possible bid, as well as the minimum increment bid, is $.10. Every owner has a $30 salary cap. During some point in the bidding for a certain player, one owner who professes to be uninterested in that player should volunteer to be the auctioneer; i.e., to announce with rhythmic cadence, "Going once, going twice, sold." The auctioneer may not have the high bid on the player he is auctioning, nor may he re-enter the bidding.
   2. Draft requirements
      • Owners must purchase 25 players at the draft. Owners must have at least four players at each position.
   3. Injured players, contract holdouts, and free agents
      • It is legal to bid on injured players, free agents, or holdouts. Their status will NOT be announced upon nomination.
   4. Time outs
      • Each owner has one time-out. If an owner calls for a time-out when he has none left, he shall be slapped upside his head by the other owners and the countdown resumed immediately.
3. ROSTER MOVES
   1. Cutting Players
      • An owner may cut a player at any time.
   2. Reserve players
      • Each team must conclude the auction with five players on reserve (the maximum allowable number). However, throughout the season, it is not required that a team's reserve be filled. Reserve players can be of any position. Their statistics do not count; however, they may be used to replace a starting player (of the same position) at any time, and their stats would begin to count the following week.
   3. Trades
      1. The most important thing to remember about trading with other owners is that by the weekly deadline you must field a legal team, and at no time can a team consist of more than 25 players.
      2. When making a trade, the transaction is not official until all participants have said "agreed." Only that word will do, and it cannot be undone.
      3. Stipulations or hidden agreements attached to trades are illegal.
      4. Pick-ups or prior trades must be disclosed to a potential trading partner.
      5. Unless otherwise specified, bench players will go in for bench players, and starters in for starters as the result of any trade. It is highly recommended that owners specify their lineups following a deal.
      6. You must disclose your full knowledge of your players' injuries before trading them.
      7. The trading deadline is the first tip-off after the All-Star break.
   4. Free Agents
      1. Free agents can be picked up to fill a blank roster spot.
      2. Only players on an NBA roster are eligible to be picked up.
      3. Each owner begins the season with a $30 Free Agent Acquisition budget (FAAB). You may use this budget to bid on free agents during the week, and trade some (or even all) of your budget to other owners.
      4. The deadline for bidding each week is 10:00 AM Eastern time on the first day of the week. Prior to that time, you must enter a bid of $0 or some number less than or equal to your current budget.
      5. When you try to pick up a free agent before the deadline, RotoValue.com should prompt you to make a bid. Soon after the deadline, the site should automatically resolve all open auctions, and send out transaction reports detailing the bidding.
      6. If your bid is higher than your remaining budget at the time the auction is resolved, your bid will be reduced to your entire remaining budget.
      7. You may enter other moves to be executed if your bid wins at the web site, but if the moves would result in an illegal lineup at the time the auction is resolved, your bid will be withdrawn and have no effect. The site should also withdraw a bid prior to the deadline if other transactions would cause the bid and its associated moves to result in an illegal lineup if the bid wins.
      8. Prior to the bidding deadline you may delete or change your bid. Only open bids with valid associated moves will be considered when the auction is resolved.
      9. The highest bid wins. In the event of tied bids between multiple owners, the web site will use a random number generator to award the player to one of the tied owners.
      10. Between the bidding deadline and the start of the first game of the week, you may pick up free agents on a first-come, first-served basis, without any bid whatsoever. After the new week starts, free agents are subject to bidding again until the next week's deadline.
      11. You may not pick up a player whom you have cut in the previous 24 hours.
   5. Transaction Protocol
      • Contingency moves, such as "If he scored 20 points today, I pick him up," are forbidden. You must know the facts. You may not assume information. Roster moves may be reported to anyone who can verify them, but must be reported to the commissioner at the earliest possible convenience.
   6. Illegal rosters
      1. In the case of correctable illegal rosters, the commissioner will issue a ruling in the best interests of the compliant owners. "Correctable" implies accidental and changeable with a simple reserve call-up or pickup, to be made retroactively by the commissioner at the conclusion of the week.
      2. Rosters can be "illegal" with respect to position eligibility within a week, but the penalty for not fielding a legal team at the beginning of a week is zero stats for the week, if the roster is not "correctable" (see above). The commissioner can make special rulings here if extenuating circumstances apply.
4. Statistics
   • All of the teams will compete in the following six statistical categories: total points, total rebounds, total assists, composite shooting percentage, composite free-throw percentage, and the sum of total blocks plus total steals. Since there will be eight owners, the person in first place of a category will get eight points, the person in second, seven points, etc., and the person in last place will get one point. Each owner must register his team's roster moves with the statistics service, and must verify the correctness of the rosters distributed weekly by the commissioner.
5. Expenditures
   • The original auction itself costs each owner $30. Other expenditures are as follows: picking up a free agent costs $0.50; cutting a player or costs $.50; Calling up a reserve player costs $.50. Trades cost $.50 per owner. Commissioner's fees are determined after the season. Payments are due one month after debts are calculated by the commissioner.
6. Prize money
   • The first place finisher gets 50% of the total pot, second place 25%, third place 15%, fourth 7%, and fifth 3%.
7. Conspiracy and Negligence
   1. Conspiracy is the worst crime in Rotisserie. I don't have the stomach to type all the gory details of what constitutes conspiracy, but suffice it to say that anything which the commissioner judges to be not in the best interests of the league will be disallowed. The general rule is every man for himself. For example, don't suggest trades between other owners or offer opinions on trades or bids during the auction, and don't tell another owner that his player is injured.
   2. Negligence is failure to maintain one's team "reasonably". All owners must make an "honest effort" to keep their teams as competitive as possible,even if they are far back in the standings. The commissioner may fine owners who abandon or neglect their teams, but it is far better for all owners to do their best to keep their teams competitive. You will not be fined for making bad moves, but you likely will be fined for failing to replace players injured for an extended period of time. Even owners not competing for the top five places in the standings may help determine the champion by pickups or beating contending teams in certain categories, so it is important that all owners try to remain competitive for the entire season.