How Should A League's First Amateur Draft Be Ordered?

kq76 · 10-25-2023, 08:57 AM

Note: This probably only applies to fictional leagues as real leagues no doubt use the previous year's results.

How should a league's first amateur draft be ordered?

As it stands now, OOTP uses the same order as the opening draft and that doesn't make any sense to me. The team drafting first already got their pick of the best player in the entire league and you're giving them that pick in the first amateur draft as well?

Should it be the reverse of the opening draft? Is that not fair somehow?

I thought about re-ordering it according to the standings order on the day of the draft, but it seems wrong to order it based on only a portion of the season.

I'm thinking the best option might be to just cancel the draft, but I do want the influx of young players and I don't know if cancelling it is even in any way possible.

Is there a better option I'm not thinking of?

Bluenoser · 10-25-2023, 10:42 AM

I don't claim to have the best option by any means, but what I do in year 1 of my fictional leagues is go by the Power Rankings (which is usually close to the standings). I just order the draft from worst to best.

I don't think there's an ideal solution, and I also don't think it hinders anything no matter what order you use.

It's year one of a fictional league. My experience with fictional leagues is it takes about 2-3 seasons to shake things out and see who really are the weak teams. So who gets the top picks in year 1 is hard to decide.

MathBandit · 10-25-2023, 11:07 AM

I'd probably just randomize fully for the first Amateur draft.

kq76 · 10-25-2023, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

I don't claim to have the best option by any means, but what I do in year 1 of my fictional leagues is go by the Power Rankings (which is usually close to the standings). I just order the draft from worst to best.

I don't think there's an ideal solution, and I also don't think it hinders anything no matter what order you use.

It's year one of a fictional league. My experience with fictional leagues is it takes about 2-3 seasons to shake things out and see who really are the weak teams. So who gets the top picks in year 1 is hard to decide.

Oh, I like that idea. Thanks! It's better than standings. I was leaning reverse of the opening draft order, but I might go with this now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MathBandit

I'd probably just randomize fully for the first Amateur draft.

Oh yeah. Now that I think about it, I did that for my previous leagues, but I remember not being entirely pleased with the teams that just happened to get the top picks as they were either good teams or they got first pick in the opening draft as well.

...I'll add these to the poll.

So far, though, I think the way OOTP does it is the worst way you could do it.

rudel.dietrich · 10-25-2023, 01:15 PM

I run off season drafts most of the time so it does go off of standings.

But the times I have ran an in season draft, I always cancel that first seasons draft because of this issue.

Initial game created will create prospects anyways. So missing a single season of draft picks does not make an impact.

In fact, since the initial league creation seems to create players who are of draft age, one could argue you are doing a 'double draft' anyways.

redranger · 10-26-2023, 12:12 AM

In my fictional leagues, 1st year I’ve always just used the power rankings worst to best.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

kq76 · 10-27-2023, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

I run off season drafts most of the time so it does go off of standings.

But the times I have ran an in season draft, I always cancel that first seasons draft because of this issue.

Initial game created will create prospects anyways. So missing a single season of draft picks does not make an impact.

In fact, since the initial league creation seems to create players who are of draft age, one could argue you are doing a 'double draft' anyways.

So how exactly do you do that and when in the year do you do it? Are there any side effects of it?

I took a look at how I could do it and I don't see a way. I guess once you're in the regular season it's too late? I see the button in league settings "Enable Amateur Draft (can only be changed during preseason)", but that might not preclude there being a way to cancel it after.

I probably wasn't going to go that route anyway, but in case anyone wants to cancel it in the future it'd be good to know.

Bluenoser · 10-27-2023, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

I run off season drafts most of the time so it does go off of standings.

But the times I have ran an in season draft, I always cancel that first seasons draft because of this issue.

Initial game created will create prospects anyways. So missing a single season of draft picks does not make an impact.

In fact, since the initial league creation seems to create players who are of draft age, one could argue you are doing a 'double draft' anyways.

I don't understand this comment, can you elaborate? It's easy to control the age of your draft pools, including the initial pool.

If you do an inaugural draft on Jan 1, then do an ammy draft in June, how is that doing a "double" draft?

rudel.dietrich · 10-27-2023, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kq76

So how exactly do you do that and when in the year do you do it? Are there any side effects of it?

I took a look at how I could do it and I don't see a way. I guess once you're in the regular season it's too late? I see the button in league settings "Enable Amateur Draft (can only be changed during preseason)", but that might not preclude there being a way to cancel it after.

I probably wasn't going to go that route anyway, but in case anyone wants to cancel it in the future it'd be good to know.

I do not believe it can be canceled after the draft pool is created.

It has to be done at league creation at least for the first season.

rudel.dietrich · 10-27-2023, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

I don't understand this comment, can you elaborate? It's easy to control the age of your draft pools, including the initial pool.

If you do an inaugural draft on Jan 1, then do an ammy draft in June, how is that doing a "double" draft?

I almost never mess with play creation ages. In my fictional leagues, I have initial players as young as 16-17 in my lowest of minors all the way to 40 on some teams and the FA pool

If I do the initial creation and then have an in season amateur draft, that is another wave of 16-22 year olds who are entering the league.

It all depends on how you set up your game initially.
I am not saying there is a best way to do it. I just typically use the same method when I do it.

View Poll Results: How should a league's first amateur draft be ordered?
Same team that got the first pick in the opening draft should get first pick again (the default)	1	4.17%
Reverse of the opening draft	4	16.67%
Reverse of standings on draft date	3	12.50%
Cancel the draft	5	20.83%
Other	0	0%
Reverse of power rankings order	5	20.83%
Random	6	25.00%
Voters: 24. You may not vote on this poll

10-25-2023, 08:57 AM	#1
kq76 Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 11,783	How Should A League's First Amateur Draft Be Ordered? Note: This probably only applies to fictional leagues as real leagues no doubt use the previous year's results. How should a league's first amateur draft be ordered? As it stands now, OOTP uses the same order as the opening draft and that doesn't make any sense to me. The team drafting first already got their pick of the best player in the entire league and you're giving them that pick in the first amateur draft as well? Should it be the reverse of the opening draft? Is that not fair somehow? I thought about re-ordering it according to the standings order on the day of the draft, but it seems wrong to order it based on only a portion of the season. I'm thinking the best option might be to just cancel the draft, but I do want the influx of young players and I don't know if cancelling it is even in any way possible. Is there a better option I'm not thinking of? __________________ My OOTP Wishlist \| My FAQ List OOTP Wiki \| Your Recommended Team Nicknames, By City (A Crowdsourced Project)

10-25-2023, 10:42 AM	#2
Bluenoser Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: In The Moment Posts: 14,215	I don't claim to have the best option by any means, but what I do in year 1 of my fictional leagues is go by the Power Rankings (which is usually close to the standings). I just order the draft from worst to best. I don't think there's an ideal solution, and I also don't think it hinders anything no matter what order you use. It's year one of a fictional league. My experience with fictional leagues is it takes about 2-3 seasons to shake things out and see who really are the weak teams. So who gets the top picks in year 1 is hard to decide.

10-25-2023, 11:07 AM	#3
MathBandit All Star Starter Join Date: Feb 2021 Posts: 1,445	I'd probably just randomize fully for the first Amateur draft.

10-25-2023, 01:15 PM	#5
rudel.dietrich Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Zürich, Switzerland Posts: 8,608	I run off season drafts most of the time so it does go off of standings. But the times I have ran an in season draft, I always cancel that first seasons draft because of this issue. Initial game created will create prospects anyways. So missing a single season of draft picks does not make an impact. In fact, since the initial league creation seems to create players who are of draft age, one could argue you are doing a 'double draft' anyways.

10-26-2023, 12:12 AM	#6
redranger All Star Reserve Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Birmingham, Alabama Posts: 575	In my fictional leagues, 1st year I’ve always just used the power rankings worst to best. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk