Ending the League

[WigNosy]

At some point, we're going to run out of "real" rookie classes as our clock "catches up" to real life. Rather than wonder what we're going to do when we get there, I'm going to propose we have the end goal in mind.

OPTION 1: Fictional Players

This would be what we did with the PBSL when we "caught up" to real life... we start introducting fictional players.
PROS: The league is able to continue past the "current season" and we don't have to figure out an "end." Also, "young" players at the end of the league get to see their whole careers play out.
CONS: People tend to lose interest when we shift to fictional players. Having no "end goal" in mind means the league activity peters out. Knowing when the "End Date" comes means that teams that are out of the running in the last couple of seasons give up and you get lopsided trades, quitting, etc.

OPTION 2: Pre-determined Ending Season into a Reset

A pre-determined season (e.g., 2020) is designated as the final season "prior to reset" in advance. In order to encourage people to compete to the end, some sort of priority in the "Reset" process is awarded based on performance. Specific suggestion here would be that the order of finish in the final season prior to the reset determines the order in which you select your team - not your creation draft position - upon reset (League Champion gets the first "Team Selection" so the league champion in the final pre-reset season gets to select their Team in the "Reset Season" even if that team already has an active owner; the other Finals Team gets the second pick, everyone else picks in order of record, so the owner of the team that finished the final pre-reset season gets last choice in Team Selection in the new league... i.e., they have to manage whichever team nobody else wants). This gives a "pride factor" of something to compete for, but gives no real advantage in the new league post-reset.
PROS: We have a plan for when to reset.
CONS: "Young" current players don't get to play out their whole careers. Having a definitive end season means draft picks past that season can't be traded, which means player movement late in the league will be difficult. Also, teams may choose to rack up huge luxury tax bills if they know those will reset. All of this means the last few seasons of the league are probably going to be a little warped.

[Xist2Inspire]

Well, instead of the going the fictional route, we could opt for randomization. Turning the endgame of sim league into a basketball Valhalla could be interesting, and may preserve interest due to real players still being used. Depending on how far back the draft file databases go, we could use classes from pre-1980/81 seasons to serve as a buffer before going fully randomized.

To keep things interesting and less predictable (outside of a few outliers here and there, I feel like the optimal strats for sim success had pretty much been thoroughly uncovered prior to this reset), every 5 or 10 seasons, the sliders could be set to a different era.

[AngryBanana]

Lol, I was worried for a second when I saw the title

[drkavarga]

The league should've ended the moment I didn't get the Suns...

[digiskunk]

The league should've ended the moment I didn't get the Suns...

why the suns? they're trash

[drkavarga]

The league should've ended the moment I didn't get the Suns...

why the suns? they're trash

Because I've been a fan since 1989 lol

[drkavarga]

The league should've ended the moment I didn't get the Suns...

why the suns? they're trash

Because I've been a fan since 1989 lol

Let me put it this way. Tom Chambers, Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle, Cedric Ceballos, and Jeff Hornacek.

[Jedihero]

I was actually more invested in the fake people, especially the ones I renamed myself, than any live person that has played basketball.