Post by Ian Noble on Feb 19, 2017 13:49:11 GMT
Restricted Free Agency and Hard Cap Changes
We have roughly 8 teams in the league that are tanking which is almost one-third of all teams - which is too many. At the same time we have roughly 10 teams contending who, without these rules, continue to hoard the vast majority of the league's talent. Both the introduction of RFA and the reduction of the Hard Cap aim to increase parity and therefore activity, realism and enjoyment.
Restricted Free Agency
The introduction of Restricted Free Agency (RFA) essentially means that any players on first rounder rookie contracts can be traded and will keep their Bird Rights afterwards. It also means they enter Free Agency a year earlier than before, but the re-signing team not only has BRs but also can match any offer another team makes.
RFA is being introduced to give trade value to players on their first rounder rookie contracts who have under 3 years left on their contract to encourage activity, boost league parity and bring D5 more in line with an NBA rule that helps rebuilding teams and values good players more accurately.
Hard Cap Changes
The Hard Cap is also changing with the same aim of increasing parity throughout the league.
Previously the Hard Cap was going to be phased in over four years until it reached 200% of the salary cap, but that figure is so high it will likely never be reached, it will never affect any team and does not help parity.
The Hard Cap will be reduced to 150% of the Salary Cap as follows:
The Hard Cap is something to be avoided at all costs:
Restricted Free Agency will apply for the first time to 2013 draftees this off season (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Rudy Gobert) as they enter the fifth year of their rookie deals. RFA will not apply to 2012 draftees (Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard) since they are already in their fifth year, these players will be treated as normal free agents.
We have roughly 8 teams in the league that are tanking which is almost one-third of all teams - which is too many. At the same time we have roughly 10 teams contending who, without these rules, continue to hoard the vast majority of the league's talent. Both the introduction of RFA and the reduction of the Hard Cap aim to increase parity and therefore activity, realism and enjoyment.
Restricted Free Agency
The introduction of Restricted Free Agency (RFA) essentially means that any players on first rounder rookie contracts can be traded and will keep their Bird Rights afterwards. It also means they enter Free Agency a year earlier than before, but the re-signing team not only has BRs but also can match any offer another team makes.
RFA is being introduced to give trade value to players on their first rounder rookie contracts who have under 3 years left on their contract to encourage activity, boost league parity and bring D5 more in line with an NBA rule that helps rebuilding teams and values good players more accurately.
RFA comes into play for players entering the final fifth year of their first rounder rookie contracts. During Off Season Free Agency GMs from any team may make an offer on players entering RFA but the re-signing team may choose to match the offer and keep their player.
Bird Rights will automatically apply to RFA players even if they had less than three years on their contracts when joining their team.
If a player's salary does change during RFA it immediately applies to the fifth year of the rookie scale contact and overwrites what was there previously.
In the real NBA GMs must extend a Qualifying Offer for there to be a fifth rookie scale contract year at all, but here in D5 we will take for granted that the offer exists. GMs nevertheless must still claim any player's Bird Rights the same way they would have done anyway.
In the NBA a RFA Player cannot be traded for a full year after signing. D5 will treat RFAs the same as all other free agents and use the December 15th trading deadline.
Players who would have been RFAs this year (Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard and other 2012 draftees) will enter Free Agency like normal this off season. Players entering the fifth year of their first rounder rookie contracts this off season (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Rudy Gobert and the 2013 draftees) will be the first to be treated as RFAs.
Hard Cap Changes
The Hard Cap is also changing with the same aim of increasing parity throughout the league.
Previously the Hard Cap was going to be phased in over four years until it reached 200% of the salary cap, but that figure is so high it will likely never be reached, it will never affect any team and does not help parity.
The Hard Cap will be reduced to 150% of the Salary Cap as follows:
2016/17: 220% of Salary Cap
2017/18: 200%
2018/19: 175%
2019/20: 150%
Any further tweaking can be made at a later date.
The Hard Cap is something to be avoided at all costs:
Every trade must decrease your team's salary if you are over the Hard Cap.
Teams cannot re-sign even Bird Rights players if they over the Hard Cap. The only time a player can be signed is if a team is under the 12 player roster limit for the league minimum.
Teams over the Hard Cap forfeit their rookie picks.
Restricted Free Agency will apply for the first time to 2013 draftees this off season (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Rudy Gobert) as they enter the fifth year of their rookie deals. RFA will not apply to 2012 draftees (Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard) since they are already in their fifth year, these players will be treated as normal free agents.