IMPORTANT LINKS
The Trade Checker page has a number of additional functions besides checking trades. Find it at http://pbsl.ijbl.net/check.htm
Information about nodes may be found here: viewtopic.php?p=26682#p26682 - please PM Wig if you would like a node set up for you (highly recommended).
Instructions for bid input on nodes (at http://pbsl.ijbl.net/documents/PBSL%20- ... 20Bids.pdf) have been updated with information on how to utilize the MLE when submitting bids via node.
RULES ON LEGAL BIDS:
Maximum/Minimum Starting Salaries
The maximum salary that can be offered to a player for the first year of his contract is either (1) the "Baseline Maximum" based on his years of experience or (2) 105% of his salary last season, whichever is MORE. You may check the baseline maximum (i.e., based on years of service, not based on 105% of last year's salary) and minimum (based on years of service) salary amounts using the Trade Checker page and entering his years of experience. This amount is referred to as the "Individual Max Salary" in the table below for ease of reference and likely differs for each player. PLEASE CHECK THE MAX AMOUNT IN TEAM VIEWER, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE BIDDING MAX ON A OLDER VET. AMOUNT MAY BE HIGHER THAN YOU EXPECT!!
The minimum salary that can be offered is based on a player's years of service. This is also visible on the Trade Checker Page. When offering a multi-year deal, later years in the deal must meet the minimum salary floor the player would make if he played each season (for example, if a player has 5 years of experience, and the minimum for a player with 6 years of experience is 1.5 million, the salary in the second year any deal offered to that player - when he would be expected to have 6 years of experience - must be at least 1.5 million). This amount is referred to as the "Veteran Minimum."
Understanding Bird Rights and Early Bird Rights
A player that has fulfilled two years of contracts without switching teams via Free Agency (he may have switched teams via trade), possesses "Early Bird Rights" with the team he most recently played for. FBB tracks a player's Bird Years on his player page - if you look at your previous year's team page and a player page for a player on your team shows "Bird Years" as 1 , that player has Early Bird Rights with your team (and your team only).
A player that has fulfilled three or more years of contracts without switching teams via Free Agency possesses "Bird Rights" with the team he most recently played for. If you look at your previous year's team page and a player page for a player on your team shows "Bird Years" as 2 or more, that player has Bird Rights with your team (and your team only).
Cap Space versus Mid-Level Exception
Teams that end the draft with less cap space than the Mid-Level Exception (MLE) gain access to the MLE. The MLE imposes a cap hold that removes any remaining cap space from the team (in other words, if the MLE is 8 million and your team salary is 4 million under the cap, you can't bid on a player with 4 million in cap space AND use the 8 million in MLE - you're already considered "capped" due to the 8 million dollar cap hold). If a team makes a trade that opens up more cap space than the MLE, the MLE - and its cap hold - disappears (you can use cap space now since you have more cap space than the value of the MLE).
For the purposes of Free Agency bidding, this may be thought of as a "mini cap" that functions outside the "Normal" salary cap structure. Essentially, teams may make bids using the MLE as though they had an amount of remaining cap space equal to the value of the MLE. The entire MLE need not be offered to a single player; it can be split among multiple players as desired. Contracts offered using "MLE space" may be for multiple years and may have year-over-year raises. Contracts using the MLE that are accepted immediately reduce the amount of MLE available and may invalidate other "MLE" offers (just as contracts using cap space that are accepted immediately reduce the amount of cap space available and may invalidate other offers).
Offers made via any method other than use of the MLE, including signings using Bird or Early Bird rights, veteran minimum signings, and/or re-signing a player for up to 120% of his previous contract do NOT reduce the available value of the MLE. Only offers that specifically use "MLE space" in lieu of "Cap Space" to become legal offers will reduce the available amount of the MLE if the player accepts.
Permissible Contracts
Each team may submit up to ten (10) bids. Bids in excess of ten will be ignored.
The final year of a multi-year deal (not a one-year deal) may be designated as a "Player" option (the player can choose to nullify the final year), a "Team" option (the team can choose to nullify the final year) or "None" (the default; this means the final year may not be nullified).
The maximum amount you are allowed to offer to a player in the first year of his deal depends on a number of factors (see the table below, created to the best of Wig's knowledge - sorry if there are any inaccuracies but the game documentation is non-existent).
| Situation | Maximum Starting Salary | Max Years | Max Raises |
| Team has unpaid tax bill (takes precedence over all other situations) | Veteran minimum | 1 | N/A |
| Player to which you hold Bird Rights, regardless of cap situation | Individual Max Salary | 5 | 7.5% |
| Player to which you hold Early Bird Rights when the contract's first year salary fits into your team's available cap space* | Individual Max Salary | 4 | 7.5% |
| Players to which you hold neither Early Bird nor Bird Rights when the contract's first year salary fits into your team's available cap space* | Individual Max Salary | 4 | 5% |
| Player to which you hold Early Bird Rights when the contract's first year salary does NOT fit into your team's available cap space | Up to 1/13th of the Salary Cap (appears as "Early Bird Contract Limit" on the trade checker) | 4 | 7.5% |
| Player who finished the previous season on your team when the contract's first year salary does not fit into your team's available cap space | 120% of previous year's salary or Individual Max Salary (whichever is LESS) | 4 | 5% |
| Player that did not finish the previous season on your team when the contract's first year salary does not fit into your team's available cap space | Veteran minimum | 1 | N/A |
WHERE AND HOW TO SUBMIT BIDS:
Bids should be submitted either via the FTP function from your individual node or via PM. Please see the relevant section below based on which method you intend to use.
SUBMITTING BIDS VIA NODE
Instructions are here: http://pbsl.ijbl.net/documents/PBSL%20- ... 20Bids.pdf but a couple of relevant reminders are below.
Remember if you wish to access the MLE when offering a contract, you must change the "Contract Type" in the bidding dropdown to "Mid Exception."
The rounding functions FBB uses to generate bids are different from the functions it uses to check if a bid is legal (yes, this is a bad programming choice). If your click "Fill Offer" and the "Submit Offer" button remains greyed out, it is almost certain this is why. Repeatedly press the "Tab" key until all of the amounts in the "Salary" column have been tabbed through. Usually this will change one or two of the amounts in that column by a dollar to make your bid pass the rounding function check and "Submit Offer" will be available to press.
I have noted for some reason when entering RFA bids, sometimes the "Submit Offer" button was greyed out even when the bids were fine and tabbing didn't help. In that case, exit out of the bid screen and select another player. Re-select the original player and attempt to enter bids again. This worked on all bids but one (and when I did it 2 or 3 times, I was able to enter the final RFA bid).
SUBMITTING BIDS VIA PRIVATE MESSAGE
Bids should be PM'd to The Negotiator - click here to send a Private Message to The Negotiator.
IF SUBMITTING VIA PRIVATE MESSAGE, PUT YOUR BIDS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY *LAST* NAME!
The private message you send should have the subject "TEAM NAME- Free Agent Bids, Round X" (substitute your team's name for the words "TEAM NAME" in quotes and replace "Round X" with "Round 1" or "Round 2" or "Round 3" as appropriate). Place all of your Free Agent bids in a single message, with one entry per line, formatted as follows:
Player Name; Initial Year's Salary; Yearly Raise Percentage; Total Number of Years; (if desired: Team Option/Player Option)
You may use "max" and "min" for shorthand for maximum and vet minimum bids. If you are going to make use of the MLE to bid on a player (or players) please preface the player's name with "(MLE)"
For example, the Hawks' Private Message might look like this:
Hawks - Free Agent Bids, Round 1 wrote: Eric Montross; $7,632,314; 7.5%; 5
Khalid Reeves; $7,632,314; 5%; 4 (team option)
(MLE) Brooks Thompson; $3,000,000; 3.5%; 2
Nick Van Exel; min
