Many many questions...

[asgsjb]

Trying to do NBA Live 2005 2 ways...fantasy draft dynasty and Knicks dynasty. Focusing on the Knicks dynasty here. Don't know if my questions are better as separate postings, but I'll try lumping them all together:

1. Are salaries guaranteed over the contract length? Meaning, if I drop Shandon Anderson ($7.3M, 3 yrs. left), will his $7.3M still count against me over the 3 years or will my cap immediately drop from -$56.81M to -$49.51M? I'd like to dump some salary if I can have immediate impact.

2. Will teams do trades that will bring them over the cap? For example, Atlanta is presently $3.6M under the cap...will they accept a deal where the deal brings them to $5M over the cap? If they do accept these deals, does it then fall within the 20% rule where the money on both sides have to be within 20% of each other?

3. As the Knicks are way over the cap, how does the 20% rule apply if I was to trade players for draft picks? You can't really measure the draft pick by actual dollar value, so how would you compare it to the salaries being given to another team? Or can I freely trade expensive players for draft picks (assuming the CPU agrees)?

4. One of the forum threads mentioned resigning players to negative geard contracts (where the contract decreases 10% each year). I have not gotten to renegotiate deals yet, but I have tried to sign free agents, and in free agency, they don't seem to give you that much contract control to adjust how the money goes each year. Do they give you that control in renegotiating contracts?

5. I have seen salaries as low as the $300k range...when people talk about the "minimum salary", what is that minimum salary? Is it an NBA minimum salary or is it the minimum salary requested by that player?

6. When a player has 1 year left, is that the last year or does that mean he has 1 year left after the current season? For example, if Penny Hardaway has 1 year left on his contract, is he off my books at the end of this season or the end of next season?

7. Are listed salaries per year (as I believe) or per contract? For example, if Allan Houston has 3 yrs. left and $17.53M, is that $17.53M for each of those 3 years (totaling $52.59M over the contract), as I believe, or is that $17.53M as the total price for the 3 years ($5.84M per year)?

8. When trading, the players on both teams have "interest bars". I know that for my players, it shows that the CPU likes those players on my team. I believe that when the CPU's players' interest bars are filling up, that is the CPU's suggestion that I should like those players on the other team. Am I correct on that point? On what does the CPU base its opinion on my needs?

9. I have yet to see the CPU offer me deals...how often does the CPU offer deals?

10. Is there any general trend on optimum contract terms? For contract length, is 3 years customary? 5 years? 1 year for older players? What about salary?

11. How do you know if the salary you are offering a free agent or a player you want to resign is reasonable? Right now, I make offers and have to wait for the player's agent to respond. With Madden football, there is a bar graph that shows if a player is relatively agreeable to your offer or if he is disatisfied. I don't see that with NBA Live 2005.

12. If trading draft picks, it's nice to know you are getting a 1st round pick. But while in the real NBA, you know that great teams are likely to be great and will have low draft picks, in video games, you may end up with surprises in the standings and a draft pick you thought would be high may end up being low. Is it a crap shoot or is there some reliability to where your newly-acquired 1st round pick will be or way to assess where it most likely will be?

13. Lastly, how about some strategy tips for the Knicks? They are way over the cap (-$56.81M). They have a bunch of older players, high salaries and 3+ year terms. Biggest cap offenders are Marbury (great stats, but $14.63M), Tim Thomas ($12.90M), Houston ($17.53M) and Penny ($14.63M), but Shandon Anderson, Jerome Williams, Crawford, Kurt thomas and Mohammed aren't cheap either, especially for what they offer me. With my fantasy draft dynasty, I am over the cap, but I can play for the championship with my team because I have an expensive Shaq dominating the paint and I have Amare Stoudemire, Finley, Tinsley, McCarty and some nice backups...why trade away these guys if I can win now, right? But I don't think the Knicks in the Knicks dynasty is built for a championship. So while I want to keep my fantasy draft dynasty team intact, I think I am best suited to focus on the salary cap and the future with my Knicks dynasty. That would mean keeping Penny and letting his contract expire (rather than doing the Isaiah Thomas routine of trading expiring contracts for crappy long-term deals), trading most of my other high-contract players, and focusing on getting cheap young talent and free agents and draft picks. What do you all think...focus on the future with the Knicks? Do you agree with my strategy for improving the Knicks?

Again, sorry for the length of this, but I thought it was better in 1 concise posting than in a whole bunch of separate ones. Thansk in advance for your answers.

[Andrew]

1. Players will continue to count against the cap unless picked up by another team. Sometimes you can trim your payroll by releasing players with decent ratings (who might draw the interest of other teams) whose contracts are significant but still fairly small (around $2-3 mil for example).

2. Yes they will make those deals and yes, the rules will apply.

3. Draft picks don't count against the salary cap so they add no monetary value to a trade. It won't matter whether you're over or under the cap when it comes to the picks, just any players involved in the deal. I guess ultimately you will have to deal with it since it's difficult to trade for picks when you don't include any players in the swap (on both sides).

4. It's the same whether you're signing a free agent or re-signing your own free agent. You can specify the number of years and the dollar amount. You can also backload or frontload a contract by 10% so their salary will increase or decrease year to year.

5. It's referring to the NBA Minimum.

6. When a player has one year left, his contract is set to expire in the upcoming offseason; he'll be a free agent at the end of the season.

7. The amount is their current salary, so in the example you provided it does refer to Allan Houston being signed for three more years at a rate of $17.53 million per year. Note that some players have salaries that increase year to year so sometimes the final two years will see a player get paid a different amount (but somewhere in the same range).

8. It's the CPU suggesting players you're (most likely) interested in. I believe the interest is simply based on the depth of your roster and the overall rating of the player compared to players of the same position on your roster.

9. The CPU generally offers more deals when you are deep at a certain postion. If you have three or four players at a certain position you're more likely to get offers, especially if two or three of them are rated fairly high and there's a team that could use a player at said position.

This is where switching the primary and secondary positions of your players can help out; it also helps out when you're making offers since the CPU might be more interested in a swingman if he's offered as a small forward rather than a shooting guard if they are weak at small forward, and vice versa. The CPU really should take this into account by default but it doesn't so it can help a deal go through that might be being rejected simply because the CPU doesn't realise a certain player could be played effectively at a different position in their rotation.

10. Most young players are looking for long term deals whereas players nearing the end of their careers seek shorter deals. As players get older you can get a rough idea of how much longer they're likely to continue playing by the contract they seek.

11. We really need a feature like that in NBA Live. As I recall, in NBA Live 2005 if your deal met the player's expectations exactly or exceeded them, they would sign the deal. Sometimes there's room to haggle (fewer seasons with a bigger yearly salary, for example) but players generally sign if you give them exactly what they want...which is a little too easy but the most effective strategy nevertheless.

12. Just keep an eye on the standings; it's better to deal for draft picks a couple of months into the season. It's hard to deal for picks early in the season anyway unless you give up a star player.

13. With the Knicks Dynasty, you might want to consider simulating a season or two so that you can get high draft picks and allow contracts to expire. I agree that you're going to have to make some moves there unless you feel your gaming skills will allow you to compensate for the roster at your disposal.

[asgsjb]

Thanks for the great and concise answers, Andrew. I appreciate it.

Started playing my Knicks dynasty season. I find that I'm in the middle on gaming talent...All-Star is still a bit too much for me, but I can win (even with the Knicks) pretty easily on Starter.

Anyway, I put this season on Starter...I've now won the 1st 3 games. The games vs. Boston and Philly could have been Knick wins in the real NBA, but for the Knicks to dominate Minnesota is gaming fiction.

Anyway, I started making moves:

1. I traded Jamal Crawford and Sundov to the Grizzlies for Jason Williams and A.Burks...Burks was in because Memphis had 0 roster spaces, so I needed a 2-for-2.

2. I then dropped Burks to open up a roster spot. He only counts for $385k on my books.

3. I then traded Marbury for Kobe. I read on this site that someone successfully did that, and the CPU had a full green interest bar on Marbury where the Lakers were concerned. I made the earlier Crawford trade in anticipation that the Marbury deal would be accepted. And it was.

So now, instead of Marbury/Crawford, I have J-Will/Kobe. I like my new pair better. Kobe dominates, and I like J-Will's combo of speed, steals and 3's.

I'm still weak up front, so I am now trying to address that. Plus, I'd like to pare down my cap, as I am now -$57.07M (up from -$56.81M) after these deals. My goal is to trade Houston, Tim Thomas, Shandon Anderson and either trade Pennyor let his contract expire.

I am trying to work a deal with Charlotte, but having no luck. Okafor is the key there for me. Depending on Charlotte's roster spaces, I'd also take Steve Smith, Kapono, House or even Jahidi White to make a deal happen. I'd like to give them one or more of my expensive contracts. I was rejected by Charlotte once, but I now have another offer in. We'll see if it works. If you have any suggestions on what to do with Charlotte to get Okafor and to lose some expensive contracts, please let me know.

Thanks.