Is this a good team?

[Double Dribble]

So far, I have only been successful building a post heavy team. I am trying to win in other ways and am struggling. To me, this team is a good team. To me, this team, if its not good, should at least be able to score a lot. I have fiddled with different strategies. Sometimes the team is above average. It never scores a lot. Am I missing something? What would you do?

[Gary Gorski]

The great thing about this game is that there are so many useful numbers to figure out your question. The ratings are not the be all - end all here. First you only have two guys who are rated highly in scoring meaning the others are not as likely to shoot or be able to create their own shot. Second both of your top scoring options are small forwards who aren't great handlers or passers so they are not going to be "point forwards" meaning that every possession is at least going to take a few seconds to get the ball to them. Third I would compare your overall pace to the league, what kind of shooting percentages are you shooting, what are the styles of those players who are good scorers? Are they catch and shoot guys? Are they attack guys? Are they the same kind of player and therefore kind of redundant? Are they ball stoppers/iso guys

The best part of this game IMO is that you have to build a roster and its not done by just looking at the ratings screen. You have to find the combination of guys that make it work based on all their attributes.

[C-Bailey24]

The great thing about this game is that there are so many useful numbers to figure out your question. The ratings are not the be all - end all here. First you only have two guys who are rated highly in scoring meaning the others are not as likely to shoot or be able to create their own shot. Second both of your top scoring options are small forwards who aren't great handlers or passers so they are not going to be "point forwards" meaning that every possession is at least going to take a few seconds to get the ball to them. Third I would compare your overall pace to the league, what kind of shooting percentages are you shooting, what are the styles of those players who are good scorers? Are they catch and shoot guys? Are they attack guys? Are they the same kind of player and therefore kind of redundant? Are they ball stoppers/iso guys

The best part of this game IMO is that you have to build a roster and its not done by just looking at the ratings screen. You have to find the combination of guys that make it work based on all their attributes.

Just curious what would the profile of a ballstopper/iso guy look like? High Pull up tendency? Low Drive ?

[Double Dribble]

I appreciate the response, Gary.

Hopefully in future versions we can filter or search by ball actions and floor range in free agency, trades and search mode since they are close to equal importance to ratings.

[Double Dribble]

So I thought I built a team that could score. Not necessarily a good team. The goal here was to do a run and gun and I did think the floor range/actions were reasonably complimentary

My point guard...a pass and drive kind of guy with a good passing rating



My shooting guard who is really a small forward 6 8, 230 pounds but i have seen other teams put guys like this at sg and be successful



Small Forward



Now my power forward here is passing post man, i really thought this was a nice way of opening up the offense




a stretch 5 big man


So any nudges in the right direction would be helpful. I suppose I am a bit light onhandling but it feels like other high scoring teams don't necessarily have great handling. I feel like my players ball action/floor range are reasonably complimentary to each other. I know I must be missing something. Any help is appreciated

[Tim Moungey]

Having seen the actual player cards now, with your SG/SF, I'd actually be running a full-court press defense to take advantage of the steal ratings. Generating turnovers will often translate into more shot attempts and higher scoring numbers.

I'd also trade your stretch 5 for a traditional post-oriented big man. That's something that seems really missing from the offense - a dude who will just park his butt by the rim and stay dedicated to that.

[Double Dribble]

I have run the press. It hasn't seemed to matter.

I figured if I ran a perimeter heavy offense then I wouldn't need a traditional big man. Also I could just switch my four and five and then it would be more traditional.

The goal here was just to score, not to be good lol

I envisioned taking advantage of mismatches, but still getting killed on the boards.

I just don't think my team is playing fast enough. Even when I set it on the highest pace. I don't mind not being good. I just don't understand why this team can't top 100 points a game. I have replayed it several times several different ways.

Anyway I appreciate the response. SInce I am stubborn, I am going to keep tinkering with this, rather than reconstructing the team and moving on lol

[Tim Moungey]

That's what Cleveland, despite a pretty bad roster, is using, and they're #2 or #3 in scoring in my current league at 113 points a game.

[Double Dribble]

Right now, with this group. I have full court press on full. Pace on full. perimeter focus. And my pace is at 95. I have it that I am the coach and it isnt a cpu coach. Do you think this could be a bug?

I mean 95 pace shouldn't be happening with my settings, right?

Thanks for the help.

[Gary Gorski]

Here's some thoughts I would have - first I would not run a pressure defense. What you're mostly doing with that is tiring out everyone on the floor - tired players are going to lead to lower shooting percentages and also going to lead to your scorers having to be on the bench because they're tired. No matter how fast a pace offense you are trying to run if you have players with low scoring ratings on the floor they will either be naturally more accustomed to not shooting or not be as skilled in being able to get a shot off.

I also see in that screenshot Cleveland has a passive approach to defense - the more you defend the slower the pace of the game is going to be because its going to take the opponent longer to get up their shots. If you are relaxed on defense it stands to reason the opponent will be able to get shots off easier and there will be more possessions in the game.

I also think your players are to blame here. Lets start with your PG. He's a two star player with an atrocious scoring rating. He's a reserve player at best yet literally every possession he's touching the ball. He guarantees that your offense can never play at the highest pace because a Westbrook, Paul, etc...has the ability and desire to push the ball and create for himself. Your PG does not. He's almost always going to defer offensively and while that might lead to a good scoring chance for someone that's a pace slowdown.

Then I look at your SG - he has a sizable chunk for post preference on offense. With half of his time spent either in the post or the midrange it may be difficult to get the ball to him quickly as it would require either a post entry pass or a pass into the midrange locations where its tougher to make a pass than around the perimeter.

Now the PF - post passing big man is an accurate description but counter-intuitive if you're talking pace. In order for him to operate you have to a) take the time to make a post entry and then b) take the time for the initial player to get the ball back or for another player to move to get the pass. That's a slow process.

I also think your C is an issue in this as well. He's a stretch five that is not good at scoring, passing or ball handling. So in essence all he's good for on offense is standing around away from the basket not clogging up the paint...which would be great if you had a PG who was a scoring/attacking threat. But because he's on the perimeter he's easy to get the ball to so when he does get it he's really only good for just making another pass which again is just taking up time.

Passing in general is also going to play a role here - you have four players with a 3 or a 2 in passing. That means that they're not really going to make "good" passes that assist in a quick/easy/rhythm shot.

I just don't think this group works if its all about pace and volume of shots. In fact unless everyone else around the PG is a good scorer I think you're really going to struggle trying to get a high pace offense out of a group where the PG is not an offensive threat really. One thing you can do is generate the game logs when you sim - I would look and see how many possessions where the ball actually gets to your SG and SF quickly. Those are the only two guys in this group that are going to be scoring threats (the pass heavy PF isn't a bad scorer but he really likes to pass).