BuzzerBeater Forums

Minutes

Once you have picked what you are training, pick the position you want to train. For example, if you want to train jump range, pick outside shooting. If you want to do one position training, SG is your only option. The training screen is pretty clear on what position(s) are being trained. The new site is even more helpful with this, as when you go to "manage my team" there is an explicit training box showing what you are training, what position(s) and who has minutes at those positions for the training week in question.

Ok, once you know what position(s) you are training, now you have to make sure you get your trainees at least 48 minutes in those position(s). Less than 48 minutes is not helpful - the formula is not linear. What I mean is that 24 minutes does not give you 50% training. In fact, it is significantly less than that. I would not worry too much about getting 47 minutes but 45 or less and you might as well do some team training. On the other hand, more than 48 minutes does not give you anything extra.

I will give some tips later on how to get your players exactly 48 minutes. It is very helpful if you are doing a 1 position training program and want to train 3 players. However, with 2 position training I do not suggest trying to train 6 players. Getting everyone full minutes is a real headache.

Use a training rotation

You have to be careful of skills that get really high in comparison to the other main skills for the player's position. For example, if you are training a C and you push his inside d to 13 while leaving the rest of his C skills at 7. First: this type of player will not be as good as a player with more balance. But the second point is that it is also not an efficient training program. Once his outside d gets up it will start to train slower than the rest of his skills. The reverse can be said for a skill that is much lower than the rest of the skills for his position. So, for example, a C with high inside d, inside shot and shot blocking but atrocious rebounding will train faster in rebounding.

For this reason, it is more efficient to rotate the skills you are training and never let any of the skills for his position get too low. For example, when training a PF or C, make sure to rotate between inside shot, inside d, rebounding and shot blocking on a regular basis. Sure, SB is not as important as the other inside skills but it is still important to train it from time to time or you are not training efficiently.

Similarly, for a guard, rotate between the 6 guard skills. For example, for a SG, of course you may want to train outside d and jump shot more than the others. But you do not want those skills to get too much higher than the other guard skills.

Also, I have seen some people focus on one skill for half a season, then switch to another skill. Again, I have to emphasize that this is slightly less efficient than a training program that rotates training every 2-3 weeks.

The only exception I might make is for outside d on a guard. OD is the longest skill to train so the more you can train it earlier in a player's career, the better. In the coming seasons, I think OD of 12 will be the minimum for a guard to make the team, but it may even take 13-14. Getting your guard to proficient-prominent OD by 19 is a must.









Last edited by HeadPaperPusher at 12/04/2009 15:07:53

Team Training

Your options here are basically stamina, free throws or game shape. This option will train the whole team, not just your trainees. Also, they will get full training regardless of how many minutes they received during the week. Game shape is just not something you want to do if you are training a world class player. Maybe in the future, when our talent pool is much bigger, game shape training may be useful when playing an important opponent. But I don't think we are there yet.

In general, I tend to value stamina for my starting players and a bit for my back-ups. In theory, the game engine should substitute in the best player. However, as BB-Forrest has stated during forum day, it is not so simple. The game will always tend to keep your starter in more than your back-up, even if you use "coach picks from depth chart". As such, starting a guy with atrocious-awful stamina is just a no-no. I personally would only make an exception for an extremely talented player. However, I have had big disagreements with some managers on this, so please fell free to make your own opinion.

My suggestion is, if your player has less than mediocre stamina, to get him stamina training whenever he doesn't get his full 48 minutes during a week (more on minutes later). If he has mediocre stamina, basically same thing, although if he is borderline 48 minutes (like 46), then you can probably just do his regular training. I would prefer average stamina and above for a starting player.

If stamina is not an issue, then free throw training is another option. I particularly like a high free throw skill for inside based players but it is useful for all players. For example, shooting 70-80% of your free throws can make the difference between losing a close game and winning it. Just like everything else, atrocious in this skill is really bad. In fact, just pushing the skill to pitiful is already a big improvement. But again, I would wait for weeks when you can't get your trainees full minutes.

Optimizing your minutes

It is really tough to get a player 48 minutes in a game unless you really work for it. Here are some tips that should get your guys 48 minutes in 95% of the cases in a 1 position training program:

-set your trainee as the starter, back-up and bench player for his training position
-only put 9 players in the line-up. If you have 10 or more players, your trainee could go off the court during garbage time
-make sure every player other than your trainee has a back-up and every player in the line-up needs to be either a starter or a backup somewhere.
-set your substitutions in the event of fouls to "let them play". If your guy fouls out, you are still screwed. But at least he won't come out in the 1st quarter with 2 fouls, for example.
-use strictly follow depth chart or coach picks from depth chart



Last edited by HeadPaperPusher at 09/22/2009 14:39:50

Also, for a more elaborate explanation of what trains what and how fast, check out this thread:

(78242.1)

Last edited by HeadPaperPusher at 09/22/2009 10:42:02

hurl insults.

Dork. (Kidding, of course).

(warning - I think this will subscribe you to BB Global)

No, BB doesn't automatically subscribe you to forums you merely visit and post in.

No, BB doesn't automatically subscribe you to forums you merely visit and post in.

Thanks for the tip. I remember it used to do that in HT and didn't know what happened here.

By the way, you're making me want to re-subscribe to the "BB-Charles sucks" Federation. Or start my own... Maybe I'll call it "Juicepats can't keep his pants on". ;-)

Use a training rotation

You have to be careful of skills that get really high in comparison to the other main skills for the player's position. For example, if you are training a PG and you push his outside d to 13 while leaving the rest of his guard skills at 7. First: this type of player will not be as good as a player with more balance. But the second point is that it is also not an efficient training program. Once his outside d gets up it will start to train slower than the rest of his skills. The reverse can be said for a skill that is much lower than the rest of the skills for his position. So, for example, a C with high inside d, inside shot and shot blocking but atrocious rebounding will train faster in rebounding.

Also, I have seen some people focus on one skill for half a season, then switch to another skill. Again, I have to emphasize that this is slightly less efficient than a training program that rotates training every 2-3 weeks.

I even learned something, I have heard this somewhere before, but i was never certain about it and I never really thought about it when i was training my players. Thanks for putting so much time into this Chuck, It took me pretty long just to read it all! :P Thanks







Last edited by Tay Zonday at 09/24/2009 08:15:55

Thanks for putting so much time into this Paulo,

I'm not sure Paulo would be comfortable taking credit for this. ;-)

Added a piece on height and having good staff to train players. I can't believe I left that out.

I modified the text to say that jump range is inefficient (maybe even ineffective) to train past prominent. Actually, just about every experienced user I talked to agreed with RIP on this one.

So you see, even I learned something from this exercise.