GBL games take place on nights when there are at least 8 NBA games in progress.

The Gliedman League Schedule will be 50 games. The 14 GBL teams will be broken into two divisions of seven teams each. The division champions and three wildcards from each conference will advance to the playoffs. The division champions will be seeded 1 and and the wildcards will be seeded 2, 3 and 4, based on record. Winners of first round series will meet for the division title, and division champs will play for the coveted GBL championship. All series will be best-of-seven format.

The tie-breaker for playoffs will be head-to-head record, followed by division record. If still tied, the next tiebreaker will be record against the best team in their division, followed by the next best team, and so on.

If a team fails to pay its league membership fee for the coming season by opening night, that team will be docked a 2nd round Free Agent Draft pick from the next year's draft.  Failure to pay by December 1 of that season will result in loss of the 1st Round Free Agent Draft pick as well.  With each passing month, the next highest pick will be docked, up to six picks in all.  If the fees are not paid by the conclusion of the season, the owner will be stripped of the franchise and the picks will be restored to the franchise for the new owner.

II. Game Rosters

A GBL roster must have at least 14 players. Teams may carry a 15th player at their discretion. At the conclusion of the free agent draft each team will turn in their player rankings. All players should be ranked in the same list. If rankings are not received, players will be ranked according to their salaries.

player position will be classified as guard exclusively (G), frontcourt exclusively (F), or swingman (S). Guards are players who are under 6'3" or who simply in no, way, shape or form could be considered a frontcourt player (such as Stephon Marbury). Frontcourters are all players 6'10" or higher, or who in no way, shape, or form could be considered ball-handlers (such as Shaquille O'Neal or Anthony Mason). The official height and classification of players will be taken from the roster listings on NBA.Com.

On a game night the top ranked guard, the top ranked frontcourter, and three other players will play. A player listed as a swingman can play either the guard or frontcourt position, as these positions will be filled first. The three wildcards will be the three highest remaining ranked players (G, F, or S) on the roster (See example). If a player's NBA team is not in action he will be skipped. If a player is injured or suspended he will be skipped. If a player is injured or ejected from a game, his stats will count. If a player plays even just one minute in that night's game, his stats will count towards his team's totals.

III. Contract and Salary Cap Rules

This section broken into 3 parts: (A) contract rules; (B) salary cap rules; (C) off-season transactions.

A. Contract Rules

All contracts except two-week contracts ARE guaranteed. A team that releases a player with years remaining on his contract will be forced to commit 20% of the player's contract value towards the salary cap for the years which are cut.

Example: Shak Deelite has Gary Trent signed for $4.8 million per year from 2002 through 2004. If Deelite wishes to cut Trent, they will still have to commit $0.96 million (20%) towards the cap in 2002-03 and 2003-04.

Effective 2003-04, there is a cap relief rule for catastrophic injuries which occur in the offseason. The following rules must take effect for a GBL team to qualify for cap relief:

All contracts (inlcuding rookie contracts) may be one to three years in length. A player may not serve more than four consecutive years under a single contract/extension without becoming a free agent.

Contract length may be reduced to make room for free agents and incoming trades, but doing so will require the same 20% commitment for those guaranteed years.

B. Salary Cap Rules

The salary hard cap for the active year prior to the start of the season (e.g., 2007) is $55 million (an average of $3.79 million per player for 14 roster spots, though you may carry 15 players if you wish). The cap for contracts that run though Year 2 is $28.0 million. The cap for contracts that run through Year 3 is $18.75 million. So, for example, if you sign Shaquille O'Neal at a three-year deal that pays $8.0 million in Year 1, $9.6 million in Year 2, and $11.52 million in Year 3, that leaves you $18.4 million for contracts for Year 2, and just $7.23 million for contracts for Year 3.

During the season the active year cap softens to $2 million more than the hard cap, or $57 million. This is to allow the trading rules to loosen up for deals.

C. Off-Season Transactions

Free Agency
At the conclusion of the NBA regular season, teams will have two weeks to declare which players with extended (2 or 3-year) contracts will be protected going into the next year. When this period begins the rosters page will be updated to provide each team with complete information as to cost of thier players' contracts and how it will affect the cap. Any player may have his contract extended to allow for up to four years of continuous service under a single contract/extension.

To extend a player's contract beyond the expiration season, the average GBL PPG per average player will be calculated, based on a comprehensive list of NBA players. (In 2000-01, this figure was 18.80 GBL PPG for the average NBA player.) Under the active cap rules, the average player makes $3.3 million, meaning that the calculation divisor (e) will be GBLPPG/$3.3 million. (In 2000-01 this value would have been e = 5.08.) Now, take the e value and divide it into the player's individual GBL PPG. This will give you the player's calculated value.

Example: In 2000-01, Shaquille O'Neal averaged 35.8 GBL PPG, meaning his calculated salary value would have been $7.05 million (35.8/5.08). In fact, his salary was $8 million. On the other hand, Ron Mercer made only $3.3 million when his calculated value was $4.27 million (21.7/5.08).

To extend a player's contract, take the salary of the final remaining year in his contract OR his calculated value, whichever is greater, and add 30% each additional year that you add. Again, you can add years to total no more than four consecutive years of service under a single contract/extension.

Example: Let's again consider Mercer and Shaq. Deelite has had Mercer for two seasons through 2001, meaning they could extend his contract for another two years. Using 2000 numbers, Mercer would make $5.55 million in 2001-02 if extended through that season ($4.27 million X 30% added to $4.27 million). If extended through 2002-03 his salary for that season would be $7.21 million ($5.55 million X 30% added to $5.55 million). In Shaq's case, because he was valued at $7.05 million but his actual salary was $8.0 million, the $8.0 million figure would be used as the base instead, meaning Shaq would make $10.4 million in 2001-02 and $13.52 million in 2002-03.

Once a player has signed an extension, he may sign another extension. However, for each subsequent extension the automatic raise increases by 10% (from the original 30%). The 4-year rule still applies under a single contract plus any extensions.

Example: Let's consider Mercer again. Deelite decides to extend Mercer's deal by one year, so instead of his contract expiring, in 2001-02 he will remain with Deelite at his new salary of $5.55 million. This will give him three years of continuous service. At the conclusion of the season, Deelite decides to sign Mercer to a second extension to give him the full four years of service under one contract. However, because this is the second extension that he signs, his markup will now be 40% instead of 30%. This drives his salary in 2002-03 to, at a minimum, $7.77 million, significantly higher than the $7.21 million had Deelite signed him to a two-year extension in the first place.

While this may seem complicated, these values will be indicated on the roster page so the owners themselves will not need to make any calculations.

Utilizing a formula, teams will be ranked in terms of preference for free agents. This formula will be calculated as follows:

A) 75% of the score will be based on the combination of last year's performance, cap space available, and team cohesion. Last year's performance will be evaluated based on primarily winning percentage, but will also factor in playoff performance and player recognition via the awards. Cap space will consider the amount available per roster spot which needs to be filled. A cohesion factor will be determined by figuring the percentage of team that returns for the coming season.

B) 20% of the score will be based on a team's prestige. This will be calculated primarily from historical winning percentage but will also factor in divisional titles, player awards, and playoff appearances and performances (including championships).

C) 5% of the score will be determined by a team's transaction activity compared to its winning percentage from the previous year. This small modifer will provide a small (5%) advantage for teams for taking an active part in their team's progression.

The resulting ranking will provide the draft order for the first round of the free agent draft. This order will be reversed for the second round, and the orders then swapped for rounds 3 and 4. After the 4th round, the picks will be recalculated based on each team's cap space remaining only and the order for rounds 5-8 will be determined. This will be repeated for rounds 9-12. Each draft spot will be assigned a salary, and a player taken at that slot will receive that salary. As many rounds as necessary shall be conducted to fill the rosters. From the 13th round on all rounds will be "lightning rounds" in which unfilled rosters will be filled by the league office based on the prior season's GBL PPG of free agents. Lightning round order will be identical to the order of rounds 9-12.

NOTE: This is a result of some owners being disgruntled with some of the rules of the 2000 free agent draft. By this rule, if you can fit the salary of your draft pick under the cap, you can use the pick. Once round 12 ends, any empty spots will be filled by the league office. The only hitch is that when you use a pick, you must a have a minimum of $100K per roster spot remaining to pay the 11th, 12th, and lightning round players. For example, if you have 4 roster spots remaining and your pick will leave you just $200K short of the cap, you may not use that pick.

See the Free Agent Draft page for a listing of the draft order and salaries.

Teams will need to produce a list of players prior to the first round in order of desired choice. Once the first round begins, the first day five players will be assigned to the top five picks. These will be posted online, allowing the remaining 10 teams to make any necessary alterations. The next day an additional five players will be assigned, leaving four teams to draft; again, these four teams may alter their player list for the round. Finally, on the third day the final four players will be assigned. Each team must then submit a list for the next round.

If a team fails to submit a list, it will be assigned the player with the highest GBL PPG available when its pick becomes available. If a team does not want to use a pick, it must state so prior to the deadline for that round. Otherwise automatic assignment will take place.

If a team is unable to take on the salary of its pick, it must either trade the pick prior to being called on, or must forfeit its pick.

A team may release a player that was taken (e.g., automatically) during the draft. That player may not be chosen again until 2 rounds after the round in which the player is released, and the player may NOT be selected by the team that released him until 3 rounds after the round in which the player is released.

There is one special rule that will apply to the free agent process, the Karl Malone Rule: a team that selects a free agent that ended the prior year on its roster may assign a salary of $300K less than the draft slot's designated salary. The exception is if the $300K less reduces the player salary under $100K, which is the league minimum.

After completion of the free agent draft, teams will have one week to sign players to contracts longer than one year under the extended contract rules. If no contracts are signed all free agent draftees will automatically receive one-year deals.

Contracts longer than one year will have graduated increases. Players will receive automatic 20% increases in their salary each year beyond the first that they are signed, for up to a total of three years. Once a player is drafted, these proposed increases will be shown on the rosters page to assist teams in making decisions regarding extended contracts. Players already under extended contracts are grandfathered in and will not have this rule applied unless they become free agents.

Rookie Draft
The six GBL teams that do not qualify for the playoffs will be entered into the GBL draft lottery, to be held after the conclusion of the GBL's regular season. The team with the worst record will receive 47 balls in the lottery, second worst will receive 19 balls, third worst will receive 9 balls, fourth worst will receive 5 balls, fifth worst will receive 3 balls, sixth worst will receive 1 ball. A team may not drop more than two spots from its expected draft position.  This will determine the order of the first eight picks in the GBL draft.

The last eight picks in the first round will be determined by order of elimination from the playoffs and record. There is only one round in the draft. Tiebreakers for all positions are identical to the tiebreaker for regular standings.

Salaries of rookies taken in the GBL draft will be assigned as follows:

Draft picks may have a one, two, or three-year contract, to be determined within one week after the draft. If a rookie is not designated to have a extended deal by midnight, one week after the draft he is automatically given a one-year contract. Like veterans, rookie contracts longer than one season will have graduated increases of 20% for each season beyond the first.

Draft picks (both rookie and FA, and conditional) may be traded, both during the season, after the season, and during the draft.

Trades
The same rules that apply for trades during the season apply during the off-season. Trades may be conducted as soon as the GBL Finals are over.

IV. In-Season Transactions

There are 4 kinds of in-season transactions: free agent signings, injury listing, trades, and re-ordering the roster. While you may post your intent to do any of the above at any time, beginning in 1999-2000 all transactions will only occur on Monday's, effective before any Monday games. This rule is being instituted to reduce my workload; I have a hard enough time keeping up with moves and scoring as it is.

Free Agents: Free agents may be signed at any time. Each roster must maintain a minimum of 14 players. After the beginning of the season teams may have the option of adding a 15th player. If a claim is submitted the cut player's name must also be included, unless the signing does not put the team over the cap or the 15-player roster limit. A signing will not take effect until the team is in compliance with cap rules, and if another team signs the player and complies with the cap before the first transaction is completed, the second team will get that player. Because this is an e-mail league all signings are on a first-come, first-serve basis. Players who are not on active NBA rosters may not be signed to free agent contracts!!!

When signing a player, you must state the contract to which you are signing him; there are three such contracts. If you do not state the type of contract you are signing at the time of signing, the player will receive a 2-Week contract automatically UNLESS it violates Rule #5 below, in which case the signing will be negated! The contract rules are as follows: