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Smallworld Hoops - Guru's Second Chance League Rules

Final Last minute rules adjustment: I think I'll reinstate the requirement for a valid roster beginning with games of Tuesday, January 6. That gives everyone a 5 day grace period to complete their rosters. Starting January 6, you must have a valid (12 man) roster to get any points for that day. That is, regular Smallworld rules will again apply.

Frankly, I think there are only a few possible abuses if I relaxed the 12-man valid roster rule. I won't point them out here, but I'm sure some of you can figure them out. (Those of you who already complained, however, haven't yet figured out the abusive angle. Your stated concerns are all unfounded... by which I mean that anyone who does what you have suggested is doomed to a substandard performance anyway.)

There are 5 teams for which I've made scoring adjustments. Four are related to the invalid roster grace period noted above, and one is due to an inadvertant early start due to hardware problems. For theswe 5 teams, my points will differ from those published by Smallworld. Thos teams, and the point adjustments, are:

ACC BABEE, +140.5
Da Meat Hook, +44.5
Guru's Superior Son, -21.5
Raypaul, +346
Scandale, +304.5

Last minute rules adjustments: I've decided to waive the valid roster requirement to get SWP's for a day. This means that if you have less than 12 players on your roster for a given day, you'll still score points for whichever players you do have. I realize this means my scoring will differ from Smallworld's for some teams. But, so what. I'm keeping score here, so I'll make the rules. I'm making this change because:
(1) It looks like a good number of teams were unable to draft their 12th player on 12/31. I suspect holiday travel interfered.
(2) It means I don't have to worry about keeping track of valid rosters day by day, which will save on my programming effort.
(3) Although I realize that occasionally, players do score negative SWP's, it seems to me like having an undersized roster is already a disadvantage, and eliminating points altogether just compounds the disadvantage.

If it appears that managers are abusing the privilege, then I may reinstate the valid roster requirement going forward. But for now, I'm not planning to.

In a few select situations, I've also granted "timing waivers" to managers who drafted their teams after noon on one of the first days, but before the evening's NBA games. I'm giving these teams credit for games as long as players were drafted before game time. This was a rare exception for only a few teams who were unable to access the internet until after 1/1.

Attention Hoops Addicts!
I just had an inspiration!
It is unfortunate that the optimal Smallworld Hoops strategy dictates that you "front end" most of your trades to the early part of the season. That means that by late December, there isn't much trading left to do, and most of us can do no more than watch, root, and fret. Well, I have an antidote. Consider it my Holiday present to all of you (and to me, too, I must confess)!
Announcing Guru's 2nd Chance League(s). I've established a new hoops division open to all followers of the Guru. See below for ground rules and other details.
Happy Holidays!

Here's the deal:
I've set up a new division called Guru's 2nd Chance League. To sign up, register a new team (please select a socially acceptable team name... this is a family site!) at the Smallworld registration page. After you've submitted your registration information, you will be asked to join a league. Choose Guru's 2nd Chance League. The password is (surprise, surprise): guru (all lowercase letters in the password). That's all there is to joining the league.

Whoa, Nellie! After just several hours, we're filling leagues fast. I see that Smallworld maxes out each division at 10 teams, so we'll have to use some division division (get it?). Some of you took the initiative to start "clone" divisions called "Guru's 2nd Chance Again" and "Guru's 2nd Chance Also". Good idea. If all of the esablished "Guru's 2nd Chance" divisions are filled when you register, just start a new division, and call it "Guru's 2nd Chance II", or "III", or whatever we're up to at the time. Once the season starts, I'll publish consolidated results for all of the "Guru's 2nd chance" divisions. Not to worry. We'll take all comers. Click here for a more up-to-date list of Guru's 2nd Chance leagues.

Now for a few ground rules to keep the playing field as level as possible while providing for some setup flexibility. You may start drafting players as early as December 25; since prices will be frozen from the 25th-28th, that provides 4 days for people to get started on the same price basis. Of course, prices will change several times the next week, prior to the start of the season, so choose your entry point carefully. There is one catch: so we can all start accumulating points at the same time, DO NOT complete a valid roster until after noon on December 31. If you submit a valid 12-man roster too early, you'll have more than zero points on New Year's Day, and the rest of us will just thumb our noses at you and ignore your entry. However, as long as your roster is invalid (.e., you have less than 12 players) prior to opening day, you won't start accumulating points. (We'll cross our fingers that Smallworld doesn't blow something up and permit scoring for invalid rosters during the interim.) The league will go active on New Years's Day, so be sure to complete your roster after noon on December 31, but before noon on January 1st. And remember, we can all see your roster moves, so you can't get away with jumping the gun!

Note:
Someone reported that one of the new teams has already started drafting on 12/24. For shame! However, it looks like Smallworld is goofing off today, so prices will not be changing again until next week. Since I'm in the holiday spirit, I guess we can declare "No blood, no foul!" Since this won't disadvantage anyone else, we'll let drafting begin immediately. However, we will not be as accomodating for anyone who completes a valid roster and starts accumulating points before January 1st. And since the only official standings will be the consolidated standings to be posted at this site, I have the power to eliminate cheaters! So please, by all means, adhere to the January 1st start date.

You will thus have a fresh start with a new $50,000,000 to assemble a roster, a new capacity of 50 trades, and all rules will be subject to Smallworld's standard regime. We'll also have our own separate, highly competitive division to begin a fresh new year.

Of course, short of divine intervention, none of these teams will contest for Smallworld's regular season prizes. Aside from bragging rights, I'm not sure that we'll have any prizes for this division. Of course, as they say, "It ain't braggin' if you can back it up!" If any of you have other ideas for a internally arranged prize of some sort (like chipping in to a pot), send me an email and I'll consider your suggestions.

Naturally, I'll devote special attention to this league at my site. I'll put together tailored analysis of our standings (players, values,... the whole nine yards.... and you've seen that I can do it, too!) And I'll exclude any cheaters who get set up too early. Remember, no head starts!

So get your team submitted. Start drafting on or after 12/25. Finish drafting after noon on 12/31. The more the merrier. Let's have a real barnburner!

[Note: If anyone cannot get access to the internet on Dec 31 or Jan 1 to complete their valid roster, and wants to petition in advance for a "hardship waiver", send me an email (davehall@home.com) and state your case. I'll try to make arrangements to accomodate legitimate conflicts.]

[Note: Since there is only one game scheduled for December 31 - Wash vs. Toronto - you can activate your roster as early as December 30th, as long as you have no players in that game.]

Guru Fantasy Sports is produced by Dave Hall (a.k.a. the Guru), an avid fantasy sports player. He is neither employed by nor compensated by any of the fantasy sports games discussed within this site, and all opinions expressed are solely his own. Questions or comments are welcome, and should be emailed to Guru<davehall@home.com>.