Newb Questions

[davehibb]

I love sports management sims but I'm pretty much a basketball newb.

I'm from England, so have played pretty much every iteration of Football Manager but I do love American sports too, especially football but unfortunately I don't have much knowledge of basketball and how real life positions/skills translate into DDSCB24. I don't have the game yet, so this might be explained in the help/manual but any advice/info would still be welcome.

What skills does a guard or center or forward need? What skills translate to all positions, which skills unlock other skills etc?

I'm currently watching some playthroughs on YT and the game does look really polished and fun and I'm probably doing to give the demo a spin over the weekend, so any pointers for a complete newb to the game and the sport is welcome.

[Wildcat18]

Quick breakdown of what skills are important for each position:

Point guard and shooting guard: ball handling, passing, and outside shooting

Power forward and center: rebounding, inside scoring

Small forward: depends on the rest of your roster construction, but needs some shooting skills, needs acceptable ball handling, passing, and rebounding

Every player should be at least acceptable at defense and one of steals or shot blocking

[jlemmen43]

Scoring rating will be a key skill when combined with any of the shooting ratings - inside, midrange, outside. If you have a player with high scoring and high any of the shooting ratings, he's the one you wanna run your offense around. A player with low scoring but high shooting can be very effective but only in certain situations or styles of offense. Therefore those are usually role players or low minutes backups (depending on if they have other valuable skills). IQ/Intelligence also important for your Point Guard.

I'd advise playing with the adjusted ratings system, so you'll be able to process the ratings easier. If anything, just start out by trying to play your best Star (overall ) rated players and then tinker to find your best lineups. Might be like a puzzle for a while but it will help you learn. Usually , roster balance can be wonderful. Sometimes it's worth going all in on a style if you have the right players in place. Also remember it's college, so some teams only play 7-8 guys regularly. If those 8 guys are studs, you might just be able to rely on their talent.

Basketball likes to blend it's positions, more than any other major sport. Point Guard is important cuz they handle the ball the most. Height is important for Centers and Power Forwards. But mostly the Wing positions (Shooting guard, small forward and often power forward) are pretty versatile in your arsenal. Hope you enjoy the game!!

[PointGuard]

Very good points by Wildcat and jlemmen.

Definitely think you're trying the demo will give you a good feel for the game. I'd suggest you set the "Difficulty" level to "Easy" as you become playing it. That will make recruiting easier and you'll be oe susccessful with it as you begin learning the nuances of it. Then you can ratchet up the difficulty level as you understand the game more.

Playing DDSCB is a "learning" process. The more you play it the more you'll understand it and the better you'll get at it. For a person who's not familiar with basketball there likely will be some uncertainties that continue to arise and you work your way through the game. As you play the game, feel free to ask questions here so you can become a DDSCB afficianado.

I don't know how easy it is for you to watch some of the NCAA Tournament games during the upcoming couple weeks, but that could give you a btter idea about the real game of college basketball

Welcome to DDSCB and the forums here.

[davehibb]

Thanks for the replies guys. Very helpful. I plan on getting into the demo over the long weekend and yeah, my only real basketball knowledge is from watching The Last Dance

That said, I've been playing sports management sims for probably 40 years now Football manager, OOTP a little, Front Office Football. DDSCF23 and older games like Football Pro 98, Head Coach, Bowl Bound etc etc.

I might try and catch a little of the March Madness highlights too as I guess I need to choose a favourite team too.

EDIT: Are certain player skills needed to make a certain offense or defensive work, or is it just a case of training them and getting them familiar, regardless of skillset?

[Wildcat18]

Some schemes will work better if you have players with certain skillsets, like a center who can pass or guards who can operate in the post. In the menu where you can set your team’s strategy there will be a way to bring up descriptions of each set - if that set needs something to be run to its full potential, it will be mentioned there.

[davehibb]

Some schemes will work better if you have players with certain skillsets, like a center who can pass or guards who can operate in the post. In the menu where you can set your team’s strategy there will be a way to bring up descriptions of each set - if that set needs something to be run to its full potential, it will be mentioned there.

Thanks!