Lol.
Yes, you get 1 bird year for any player on your roster at the end of the season, regardless of when he was signed.
Hey, c'mon, don't ruin this. I just wanted to suggest signing the Zydrunas' and ZhiZhi's of this league, for the alphabetical factor. Then rule ยง0815 would state that the first player alphabetically on the NEXT team alphabetically will be stripped from a bird year (unless it's the Sonics, where .... blablabla)