Resource Page Sandbox

Note: This page is a sandbox used to test formatting for potential updates to the Draft Candidate Resource. This page is very much a WIP, and you should use the main resource page or speak to the committee or commissioners if you have any questions.

This page is designed to be a resource for everyone thinking about creating a character for the FBA Draft. The first section gives specific tips and advice for filling out the draft submission form. The second section covers advice for playing your new character, including some ideas on how to start.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to stop by the Discord anytime. The Draftee Workshop channel is specifically for asking questions about the process and getting feedback on ideas.

The Draft Candidate Submission Form

This form is the official document to use for submitting a character for the upcoming FBA Draft. The dates for accepting draft submissions varies from year to year, but submissions often open up in the late spring or early summer, and run until early August. To check whether the form is currently open, stop by the Discord and ask or check the announcements.

The form can be found in the left sidebar on the wiki, in the Offseason section.

Background

The Background section of the form outlines your character's general biography and personal information. This includes basic info (birthdate, species, etc) and also their personal history. Much of this information will be straightforward, but two sections in particular require some thought.

Character Bio

This goes in the section labelled 'Describe your Character's background.' Your character's biography is one of the most important sections of the entire form. It's the first impression that many people will get of your character, and it can help establish the tone and potentially set up ongoing stories for your character coming into the league. The bio also makes up a significant amount of the material that the Committee will have for reviewing your submission for potential ranking in the Top 24 [1 - link to Top 24 section], and that teams' Primary Contacts [1 - link to NCG useful terms section] will have for deciding who to draft.

While there isn't a strict formula for what makes a 'good' bio, the following list has a couple things to keep in mind that will help you develop your character. You can also look at the character pages of recent years' draft candidates for inspiration.

• Origin - Make sure to communicate the important parts of where your character comes from. That varies from character to character - some characters are very grounded in their hometown, while others' bios might focus on a friend group that was important to them. Your character didn't spring into being at the age of 20 as a future basketball pro. Ensure that the information that's most important to who they are is included.
• Direction - Show where your character is headed. What are their goals and ambitions, both on and off the court? This can help establish your character's personality, their general tone, and can hint at or give inspiration for future stories.
• Drive - Your character is putting their name in to participate in the most competitive basketball league in the world. What has driven them to this level? Raw self-confidence, familial pressure, a need to prove themself, or desperate personal circumstances are a few options, but there are many others. Make sure we know how they've come to be one of the best.
• Length - A good bio can be anywhere from a couple paragraphs to a few pages long. Take the amount of space that you need to communicate who your character is, but don't get too bogged down in details. If your character's bio is getting long, you might consider cutting some of the detail and instead using it for a story about your character's past.

Schools

Where your character went to school can help define the most recent few years of their life. Not every draft candidate needs to have just come from a school; for example, they might be coming from another professional basketball league like the EFBL. That said, a school can help you establish relationships for your character with other students from the same school.

When you pick your character's school, you can either invent a new one or pick one from the Universities page. If you choose a school that has a Contact listed, it's a good idea to reach out to that Contact before submitting your character. It's best to avoid having multiple players in the same position from the same school in the draft, or to avoid overcrowding (eg - having six players from the same school in the same draft class).

Around March, the league regularly hosts the FCAA March Madness tournament and CFIS Playoffs for American and Canadian schools respectively. If you're around for these events, you can submit your character and their school as participants. If you weren't around, you can still add a character to a participating school. These tournaments are mostly intended to be opportunities for roleplay and storytelling, and the results are there to give you prompts to work with. Having a character on the winning school doesn't guarantee high ranking in the draft, and having a character on a school that placed low or didn't qualify doesn't guarantee a low ranking.

Vitals

The Vitals section of the form is where you'll put in some of the basic physical and basketball-related information about your character. This section is more straightforward than others, but it contains some critical information.

Positions

The position where your character performs the best. You may also select a secondary position they can play. Below are descriptions of the five positions. If you'd like more information, there's plenty of information online about the positions and their roles on a team. You can also look at the Playstyles section below for some example archetypes that the various positions might fill. All of these descriptions are generalizations - some players might not fit as cleanly into these categories.

• Point Guard: The Point Guard (abbreviated PG) is usually responsible to call and run the plays as they typically are the ones to be inbounded the ball. This often makes them a de facto leader. Normally a PG is required to be good at passing, though some PGs are focused solely on scoring. Most PG are under 6'6"
• Shooting Guard: The Shooting Guard (abbreviated SG) is usually the go-to scorer. Shooting Guards usually excel in at least one if not two areas on the court, whether that be Close Range (Inside the Key/Paint), Mid Range, or behind the Three-Point line. SGs tend to be taller than PGs but still somewhat on the small size for basketball players (probably good around the 6'2" - 6'8" range). SGs can be a hybrid of both being okay with playing the PG position as needed or the SF position.
• Small Forward: The Small Forward (abbreviated SF) is the middle player of the lineup. They tend to be a jack of all trades, being good at a number of skills, however they are able to specialize in just about any skill set. This can mean their success is more dependent on how well their playstyle meshes with the team. They are usually in the 6'6" - 6'11" height range.
• Power Forward: The Power Forward (abbreviated PF) is often considered the athletic bigman, though there are a number of different styles of play. One of the most common skills that help define a good PF is their rebounding, given they are often posted up in the paint where they are in a prime position to pull down the boards. Most PFs tend to be in the 6'8" - 7'1" range.
• Center: The Center (abbreviated C) is the big guy (or girl) on the team. They are generally the ones taking part in the jump ball (where the ball is tossed into the air by the ref and one player from each team tries to retrieve it). Centers tend to use their strength and size to push their way in close to the hoop or get rebounds. Most centers over 6'10".

Height and Weight

A good resource for defining height and weight: http://pinwheelempire.com/p/nba/prototypical-size-vs-reality-in-the-nba

The FBA is far more diverse than the NBA and typically has more extremes for each position. However, we still try to keep it within the realistic realm. A 7'3" PG submission or a 5'5" C submission will raise eyebrows and the contributor will be contacted about possibly changing their position or height to be more realistic. The following rules are non-negotiable for a draftee submission:

• Draftee must be 18 years old at the time of the draft
• Draftee must be no taller than 7'6" at the time of the draft^
• Draftee can be no shorter than 5'0"
• Draftee can be no heavier than 350 lbs^

^After the draft contributors can request height/weight boosts that may allow their character to exceed this, however these are dependent on stories and approval from Committee.

Top 24 Consideration

The Top 24 is exactly what it sounds like - the 24 top-rated draft candidates. Checking off this box indicates that you'd like your character to be considered for inclusion in this group.

There are a few benefits to being in the Top 24. During the Draft Combine (detailed below), the top 24 draft candidates get to participate in a set of games against each other to show off their skills to the league. After this game, they will be ranked from 1st to 24th ahead of the draft. Being included in this list greatly increases the odds of your character being drafted. Don't forget - your character's rookie salary is determined by their draft position, so they have a lot of motivation to prove themselves!

Mechanically, top 24 candidates will have slightly higher stats going into the league than non top 24 candidates.

Please note that only one character per contributor can be included in the Top 24 of each draft class. If you're submitting multiple characters, you should only check this box off for the one you really want to see in the Top 24. If you check the box off for multiple submissions, the committee will choose which one to include in the Top 24. Checking this box off doesn't guarantee inclusion in the Top 24 - if more than 24 characters are submitted for the Top 24, some will be left out. First time contributors tend to get priority for these positions.

Being in the Top 24 isn't required for a character to have good stats. Plenty of non Top 24 characters have gone on to be some of the best players in the league, and some even put up impressive numbers in their rookie seasons.