Question About Player Refusing to Shoot?

[fgtr3]

I drafted this center with the 1st overall pick of the draft. Ratings-wise, he looks excellent with very high blocking and scoring while being a good rebounder.

However, despite having a team relatively void of scoring (two PGs, 21.7/15.1 on 66/77 scoring respectively are the leading scorers), the center absolutely refuses to shoot the ball. I'd love some insight on why this is.

Here is the player in question (dynamic ratings is disabled): https://imgur.com/a/oWdNcsu

That is on roughly 5 FGA per game in 29.7 MPG. He fouls too much to get more minutes. This season, he's shooting a terrible 40.3 FG%, but last season he did 49.9% with similar volume.

Here are some ideas I had that could be the cause

#1) The high passing % under ball actions: This was my first thought, but I see other centers also in the 70's scoring 25+ PPG, so I doubt a few percentage points did that.
#2) His tendency to only post up: No retort here. However, I do run a slow paced post focused strategy, so I can't imagine that the opportunities are not there.
#3) Player's cannot get him the ball on offense: Doubt it. PG has 75 passing, and all other starters hover around 45-50.
#4) His kind of low inside shooting: a 25 PPG center has 84 inside, and a 20.3 PPG center has 78, so that doesn't seem to be the sole cause.
#5) Not very effective at FTs in general: Sure, but I'm looking pretty much at FGA here.
#6) No shots to go around: Already addressed earlier; the team could really use the offense.

And that's all I could really think of. I've seen centers in past versions struggle when they shoot 3/200 on 3's or, like him, have no range whatsoever and attempt primarily jump shots. I'm not sure I've seen one who just refuses to shoot, especially with such a high scoring rating.

[damoore46]

I'll be honest and say that I am still learning the game, and all of the nuances that the AI has. One thing to keep in mind when comparing players on other teams is that they may have a coach or GM with a different philosophy than you have. That could be the difference in whether a player shoots more than others, et. al.

David

[fgtr3]

I'll be honest and say that I am still learning the game, and all of the nuances that the AI has. One thing to keep in mind when comparing players on other teams is that they may have a coach or GM with a different philosophy than you have. That could be the difference in whether a player shoots more than others, et. al.

David

For sure. I brought up others not to say "since these guys are doing it, he should be too," but rather to say that "since these guys are doing it, that means that isn't the reason that he is not doing it." I was affirming that the ratings or tendencies addressed were not the restricting factors in whatever is causing the player to not shoot the ball.

[Rizzo]

That is strange to see he’s not shooting nearly as much as you would expect given the score ratings of your players and the offensive system you’re running.

[abziani]

I don´t know if I am right but he is not the star of your team yet. He is just on his first year and like you said there are other players on the team.
Try simulate a game with other PG and SG and see if he scores more.
I have experience with other players similar to that and they really blossomed after some seasons.
Maybe that is the point too.

[fgtr3]

I don´t know if I am right but he is not the star of your team yet. He is just on his first year and like you said there are other players on the team.
Try simulate a game with other PG and SG and see if he scores more.
I have experience with other players similar to that and they really blossomed after some seasons.
Maybe that is the point too.

Interesting thought. I did continue quite a few more years, though I traded away this player since he obviously wasn't worth the max at his current production. At 31 years old, his peak season was 10.8 PPG on 6.7 FGA and one of two seasons of double digit PPG.

So yeah, just never wanted to shoot the ball for whatever reason.

[Tim Moungey]

The thing that immediately jumps out at me is the low discipline. His MPG are going to be suppressed because of that - especially if he's in a high press or defensive intensity system. I know you mentioned that with the 29.7 MPG, but still.

We don't know enough about his shooting distribution - specifically, what's his dunk preference rating, dunk shooting rating, and inside shooting rating? You won't find that information in game - that requires an exported database and looking it up. That will probably explain the shooting percentage. Also, there's seasonal variance in shooting and it tends to be greatly exaggerated when dealing with low FGA like you have there.

The 77 scoring PG is actually quite high, and in the DDS series, guards get the overwhelming amount of touches. Big men get much fewer touches (something I noted in a DDS 3 league article I wrote.

Another theory is that his 80+ SCR plus his high passing tendency is nerfing his shots. Another long-time DDS theorist noted that once a player breaks the 80+ SCR barrier, they'll take fewer shots and pass out more because of how the defense collapses in on them. Combined with the fewer touches of a big man, that could well also be part of the issue.

Really, I think there's a perfect storm here of a variety of different factors, rather than just a single one.