SimHoops Pro Rules

I. Schedule

Each SimHoops Pro season runs in one of three four-month windows: January through April, May through August, or September through December.

• Week 1: Training camp and exhibition games.
• Weeks 2-12: Regular season, with the All-Star Game in Week 8.
• Weeks 12-16: Four playoff rounds.
• Week 17: Special event content such as tournaments or Olympics plus the live draft.

II. Games

Games are normally played Monday through Friday, with occasional Saturdays, between 5 PM and 11 PM Central. Results, standings, box scores, and play-by-play files are generally posted by 11 PM Central the same evening.

The database may be unavailable while games are running. Because fatigue and injury systems are active, no team is scheduled for more than one game within a 12-hour window.

III. Rosters

Standard team construction is 12 active players: two at each position plus two additional bench players. One injured-list spot is also available when a player is legitimately injured, allowing a maximum of 13 players under those conditions.

Owners can manage starters, bench assignments, shooting emphasis, and training priorities. Healthy players cannot be stashed on injured reserve, and once an injured player is healthy they must be activated promptly or risk being lost.

IV. Skills Training

At the start of each month, players gain or lose skill based on age and training emphasis. The seven tracked attributes are FG shooting, 3-point shooting, FT shooting, rebounding, defense, ball handling, and stamina.

Every attribute must be assigned between 5% and 40%, and all seven must total 100%. Each player also has hidden per-attribute potential caps that limit how far they can develop in each area.

V. Roster Moves

Player movement includes free-agent signings, waiver claims, trades, and the SimHoops Pro draft. Draft picks may be traded up to three seasons into the future. Roster actions are available whenever the database is online, and they are handled first-come, first-served.

Trade fees no longer exist because the game is fee-based.

VI. Farm Clubs

Each Elite League team is paired with a Semi-Pro farm club. Elite owners can promote and demote players between those linked franchises. When one owner controls both linked teams, the pair works together without transaction fees.

VII. Salary Cap

Contract and cap enforcement rules live in the dedicated contract section.

Open the contract section for current cap restrictions, guaranteed-contract penalties, RFA/UFA policy, and waiver rules.

VIII. Injuries, Fatigue, and Stamina

Players accumulate fatigue both within games and across the schedule, and injuries can happen at any time. A player can never exceed 100% condition. Any player under 60% is considered injured and unavailable.

• 90-100%: Peak condition.
• 85-89%: Good condition.
• 80-84%: OK condition.
• 75-79%: Fair condition.
• 70-74%: Needs rest.
• 65-69%: Very tired.
• 60-64%: Near injury.
• Below 60%: Injured.

Higher stamina slows fatigue loss and speeds recovery. Lower stamina does the opposite. Injured players recover at least three fatigue points per game, and heavier minute loads generally accelerate fatigue while also helping stamina growth.

Fatigue Bonuses

• +10 after the exhibition season and before the regular season.
• +10 during the All-Star break.
• +10 after the regular season and before the playoffs.
• +5 for each unused game in an early series win during playoffs or consolation play.

Injuries do not carry into a new season. All players reset to 100% at season start.

IX. Player Skills

Player ratings influence long-run performance, not guaranteed single-game results. The legacy skill bands are below.

X. Player Retirement

Players age one year each season and retire sometime between their age-33 and age-40 seasons. Retirement risk depends partly on age and partly on player quality, with better players discouraged from retiring too early.

• Age 33 season: roughly 3% retirement chance.
• Age 34: 10%.
• Age 35: 20%.
• Age 36: 40%.
• Age 37: 60%.
• Age 38: 80%.
• Age 39: 90%.
• Age 40: all players retire before turning 40.

Retirements are announced after the All-Star Game.

XI. Fees

Owners receive a 25-game free trial. Continuing owners can use one of the legacy payment packages below.

• Small-market package: 1000 credits ($10) for one four-month season.
• Major-market package: 2000 credits ($20) for one season plus special weekly and pre-draft newsletters.
• Fees are collected through PayPal.
• Playoff-series wins can award credits that offset fees.
• Changes must be made before Week 2, and credits cannot be spent before fees are paid.
• The commissioner may offer special pricing at any time.

XII. Tiebreakers

For playoff seeding and draft lottery order, the following tiebreakers apply.

Two-Team Tiebreaker

1. Head-to-head regular-season record.
2. Division record, if both teams are in the same division.
3. Conference record.
4. Record against playoff teams in the same conference.
5. Regular-season scoring margin.
6. Virtual coin flip.

Three-or-More-Team Tiebreaker

1. Division record, if applicable.
2. Conference record.
3. Combined head-to-head record among tied teams.
4. Record against playoff teams in the same conference.
5. Regular-season scoring margin.
6. Virtual coin flip.

XIII. Ghost Owners

When a team is ownerless, a paying owner from another franchise may temporarily manage it as a ghost team, preferably outside their own conference and always outside their own Elite division.

The commissioner may intervene if ghost management violates the spirit of fair play. Allowed ghost-team actions include:

• Promotions and demotions.
• Waiver-wire activity.
• In-season free-agent signings.
• Restricted free agency.
• UFA rounds 2 and 3.
• Regular-season trades, with limits on future draft-pick movement.

CPU teams can never trade first-round picks, and ghost teams now make selections with all draft picks, including third-rounders.