By Jon Loomer Updated September 25, 2006 at 6:02 p.m. September 17 | September 5 | Intro We're finally here. A number of major features have launched on NBA.com Fantasy. The first of which is a completely re-vamped fantasy section. Hand-in-hand is the ultra-hyped NBA.com Ultimate Fantasy Commissioner. Keeper leagues, fully customizable, everything you'd ever want in a Commissioner. Oh, and you know what? It's free. And you may just need some assistance as you prepare for your Commissioner drafts. How about a free draft kit? It just doesn't get any better than this, folks. Wait, it does? Two more games are coming out soon as well? Last year's wildly successful Salary Cap Challenge is back for another go. In addition, we have another new kid on the block by the name of the NBA.com Pick One Challenge. Did you like the Drive to the Finals playoff fantasy game? You'll love Pick One. One more thing. The reason you're reading this article in the first place: The NBA.com Premier Fantasy Championship. One league, 30 people from around the world, each fantasy GM runs an NBA team. Only the best of the best are involved, my friend. Oh, and there's a twist. We'll get to that. Here's a quick overview of what's going down:
The Application
The Field
The Franchise
The Franchise Player
Makes you think. Consider what the GM's had to wonder: "What if instead of Kobe, I roll the dice and keep Odom? Maybe everyone keeps their best player. Maybe Odom would then be the worst of the franchise players kept. At that point, I could start out with Odom and Kobe, which would likely be much better than going with Kobe and whomever the 60th or so player will be. Or instead of Kobe in the second round, maybe I'll end up with the 30th best player." The problem is that everyone announces their franchise player secretly to the PFC Commissioner. The GM's could only guess what other GM's were planning.
The Draft
Having a draft with 30 people from around the world and across numerous time zones brings up another issue: How do we do it? You can't hold a live draft. Schedules will undoubtedly conflict and what is 3 pm for some people will be 3 am for others. Luckily, the Ultimate Fantasy Commissioner has this cool new feature known as the e-mail draft. Picks are made within the draft page of the league similarly to a live draft, and e-mail alerts are sent out to league members to let them know a pick has been made. Outside of the e-mail, the other main difference between an e-mail draft and a live draft is that the time limit to pick a player can be hours instead of minutes. So, it may take a week to get this done, but we'll get it done.
The Rosters
Point Guard What this means is that each GM will have a six-player starting lineup and two bench spots. A key will be to draft versatile players who will be eligible at multiple positions.
The League Rules
Transactions
The Playoffs
The Twist
The public is each GM's ownership, and the public will decide your fate in a vote if a GM is one of the teams with a losing record. That's right. If one team is losing, the GM can be fired and replaced by another applicant. And don't think that just because one GM dominated the first month that he or she can relax in month two. It's not about what their year-to-date record is at the end of each month, it's about what their record was for the current month. So, if a GM goes 30-2-0 during month one and 15-16-1 during month two, he or she could be shown the door after the second month. Whoever gets that job will thank you for it because they will start with a winning record. PFC Developmental League Of the applicants that didn't make it to the big leagues (i.e. the PFC), we have the PFC D-Leagues. If the Detroit Pistons GM gets fired after the first month, who will be the replacement? The answer: The current leader of the PFC Detroit Pistons D-League. To accomplish this, 30 D-Leagues need to be created (one for each PFC team) consisting of 12 teams a piece. If you play in a D-League and your parent team GM keeps their job, you still have something to play for. These fantasy hoopsters are also battling each other to play for next year's spot. As mentioned earlier, the top four teams in the PFC will be invited back for next year's competition. After that, the top 26 winning PFC D-League teams (those teams that won their leagues) will be invited to fill out the league. The Premier Fantasy Championship is just getting started, and the momentum is building quickly. Don't miss out!
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