- Scoring for the NBA Pick One is the sum of POINTS + REBOUNDS + ASSISTS (PRA) for a given player on a given day. Rookie point values will be DOUBLED.
- The game runs through Opening Night through the last game of the NBA Finals and each player can only be selected once for the entirety of the Challenge.
- There will be a spreadsheet where you can see who everybody has taken from each club, a day-by-day scoresheet with the most up-to-date scores, individual scoresheets so you can see every player you personally have picked in one sheet, a record book to see the best (and worst) of different individual categories throughout the year, and possibly more. These will be all shared with all participants through Google Docs.
- The entry fee is $10 payable within the first week of the NBA season please. Top score gets all unless we surpass ten participants in which at that point second place will get their money back.
Now for the new rules for the NBA Pick One, some brand new and some utilizing changes made for the games that have come in between the two seasons.
- The BREAK GLASS LIST hasn't exactly been utilized in the games between the two NBA campaigns but if there was anything I would implore you to explore for the NBA season it is this. I hate to spill trade secrets, but our champion last season, Al, usually would give me a list of players at the start of each week and tweak it as necessary if he saw an injury or potential rest day on a back-to-back occur. We all have lives and found ourselves scrambling to pick Sacramento Kings bench players at times or just took unnecessary DNPs. Two or three ill-timed DNPs can absolutely doom you in this game.
- LAST MAN IN makes its NBA Pick One debut with a twist on its Premier League and NFL iterations. For the NBA Challenge, if you haven't made a pick by the last game of the evening you will have the opportunity to get the first starter on either of the two teams playing to score as your pick. If you have already taken them, you will get the second player. If and only if you have taken both of those players, that is the time where you will take a zero if your Break Glass List is empty.
- The first of two new wrinkles for the 2021-2022 NBA Pick One Challenge is the TRIPLE DOUBLE DOWN. Once a calendar month (so one in October, November, etc) you have the option (and why wouldn't you to be honest) to say that you are using your triple double down on your selection for that evening. If your player gets a triple-double that evening, your score is tripled. For rookies, it would just triple their score rather than doubling it.
- The other one is FINANCIAL RELEGATION. We all know the NBA season is a bit of a slog and it will be just a bit more so with it going back to an 82 game schedule. But to keep these interesting at both ends of the table, the person who finishes in last place will have to PAY TWICE. Since we don't have a second division in the Pick One Challenge, I feel this is a good way to keep everyone interested throughout and force the strategy of picks to remain even if the top spot may be out of reach.
As always, get your picks into me via text, social media DM, phone call, or Hogwarts owl. But similarly to the NFL QB Club, you also have the option to use this handy dandy submission form. Be sure to fill it out completely with all the information. This can also be e-mailed to you by request if you would like.
The season begins tomorrow evening with Nets/Bucks at 7:30pm ET and the Lakers/Warriors at 10pm ET. The doc will be going out roughly around 6pm ET. Thank you for anyone making the second journey with me through the NBA campaign and welcome to any newbies making their maiden voyage. Cheers all!