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I have two bench scenarios

Cup Bench
and then post-cup bench

I run a different bench system when im in the cup then when im out of the cup. Generally been lasting fairly deep in the cup during seasons of late, so its worth my while.

but lets assume you want the post-cup bench scenario.
You already have a trainee for your bench so lets assume he will take the C bench spot for most of next season.

I generally try to base my bench requirements based on the stamina levels of my starting 5. So for example my team this season had the following stamina:
PG - Low
SG - High
SF - Medium
PF - Low
C - High

Because the SG and C both have high stamina, the bench guys tend to play less minutes - so I invest the least amount into those bench positions. And vice versa - I have my best bench player as my PF.

I tend to always focus on defensive-sided bench players. Rebounding and defence. so OD for PG's and SG and ID/RB/SB for C's and PF's. The SF is usually a better bench player overall though due to the dispersed skillset.

anyways that's my advice. pick ur worst stamina starting 5 player, and the equivalent bench player should be ur best bench player.

Hmm ... it's always an interesting question, the bench! We all try and get as much as we can out of our starters, as they are our stars - but lack of bench depth can kill you in those close ones, as you've already found out. My own bench strategy is still a work in progress, but here's how it has developed:

Step 1: Work towards a 5/3/3 lineup. That's your five starters, 3 decent bench players, and 3 scrubs. Back when I was running for a D3 title in Australia, that's kind of what I was aiming for. The decent bench and the scrubs should both be broken down further as: 1 small (PG/SG), 1 big (PF/C), and one that can play SF (as well as preferably at least one or two other positions). Decent bench players for me then were around the $7k-$10k salary mark, scrubs anything under $5k.

Step 2: Incorporate a 6th man. Ideally, he is versatile and can play multiple positions - and ideally one of those is SF, so even if you suffer an injury or foul out your team can adapt and players can move up/down accordingly with the five solid starter players you have remaining.

Step 3: Gradually improve each player, if you find someone at a cheap price that is better than someone you already have, pick up the new guy and sell off the old player (finances permitting). This is actually something that I have been doing all along, and I found for a minimal outlay and marginal increase in weekly salary my bench incrementally got stronger and stronger.

Step 4: Build towards running a 7-man starting rotation, 3/2/3. That's 3 smalls, 2 SF, and 3 bigs. Again, versatility is desired, so if any of the smalls or bigs can play SF that's good, and of course the SFs should be able to fill in at at least 1-2 other positions. The rest of the lineup is covered by the decent bench players you've been improving along the way, and should include at least 2 smalls and 2 bigs.

That's kind of where I'm at now, and finances would prevent me from running any deeper given my current salaries, until I promote to the top division :)

My #1 philosophy for all bench guys would also be that they MUST be able to defend their position! I'll happily sacrifice quite a bit of offensive power on them - it's not their job to score, but their defence must be at least within 2-3 levels of my starters for me to be happy having them on the court.

Welcome back to activity!

For the short term, I would probably try to find a couple of guys who have a lot of skills in the 6-8 range at almost every position on sale relatively cheap, if possible. Those are the type of guys you can have at least as deeper reserves that in case of a really bad injury streak can play at any position without being too awful.

I'm a bit out of the ordinary in that I actually prefer an 11 man rotation when possible, though I haven't had one in seasons. As I've moved up, the gap between the starting five and the next five has widened in many cases, and I haven't had that higher skill version of the all-skills player to be that 11th man in a long time either. I've just always been of the philosophy that while it's certainly possible to manage minutes somewhat effectively with a seven or eight man rotation, if you have a couple of injuries or foul outs, starting with a ten or eleven man rotation means you can still manage minutes and compete, while that can cripple you with a very thin bench.

Wow hrudey a gm now nice! I'm late lol. Ok back to the point: I like all of y'all s suggestions so far. So I think I will mix up a few of the suggestions. I think I will go for the specialist approach on Sf. SFs with even 9/9 od id cost a lot on the transfer wire, so I think I will try and get a 13/13 Js jr specialist instead when I have the appropriate finances. I like the other suggestion with having my trainee C develop into the C role when he gets trained up. I also like the idea of a rebounding specialist for this offense--I will be training rebounding for some time this season anyways, so I might plan on buying a dude with 10 id and 9-10 rb 21 year old on the wire--those rejects don't go for that much so. I know I can get one of those (and the good thing is that his salary won't go up til season 31 )

Finally, I like the idea of getting a versatile Guard. Since the best 2 players on my team are guards I should be able to get a versatile guard....if that plan fails I will look into the pass and D type of guard for my bench to facilitate the O (@ Rucker bad boys : I have trained both my big men to be very excellent players for this offense they can hit a J pass greatly and defend the perimeter well too, hell my PF right now can defend sf too)


I got another question in mind: since my season is over should I try selling Jaak Pold for what I can get right now? Soon his bench role will keep diminishing and his skills will get worst. So is it safe to say I should sell him before he turns to garbage or keep him til the sunset?

Last edited by tough at 12/30/2014 12:16:04 PM

My #1 philosophy for all bench guys would also be that they MUST be able to defend their position! I'll happily sacrifice quite a bit of offensive power on them - it's not their job to score, but their defence must be at least within 2-3 levels of my starters for me to be happy having them on the court.

Completely agree, mate. I'm of the opinion the bench should be able to come in and defend (firstly) and score (secondly, but not as important). They simply come on and defend their positions while my starters take some deep breaths, a swig on their water bottle and hear some advice from the coach. Simplz...

@ Tough...good luck mate.

I also agree with the defense philosophy. Great ability differences between starters and bench guys, especially when it comes to defence, that leads to simply a defeat.

I can put several suggestions forward, so-called main principles of bench strategy from my point of view :)

1. Reserve PG should have enough OD along with HA (in order to avoid critical turnovers).
2. Reserve SG should have at least enough OD.
3. Having 2 seperate SF may be another option (One of them is inside oriented, the other is outside oriented. One can decide whom to play considering rival SF skills).
4. Reserve PF should have at least enough ID.
5. Reserve C should have enough ID/SB along with RB (in order to avoid 2nd chance points, very important)

And i completely agree to one opinion mentioned above, that having well balanced backup player with very reasonable wage, almost every skill between 8-10, provides great benefit for unexpected situations like injury or early bath fouling out.

Last edited by Sir Fifty at 1/6/2015 5:18:18 PM

I get to talk more often with tough because of the US offsite chat during games (which is less crowded and more individual conversation oriented than the 40 man scrum known as USA chat).

I think the problem tough has with his scrubs specifically are that they are legitimately scrubs. The sub 15% shooting in most games of importance isn't just a sign that he is a bench player, it's a sign that his JS was probably in and around 2-3 (talking in specific about his player lofton.

The guys on my bench in D.IV are not drastically different than the guys that my previously owned team had in D.III

Bench Guy 1:

7/1/6/6/6/7 5/6/7/7 3/1 with a 3.5k salary. Purchased for under 5k on the TL. I can use him about anywhere.

Bench Guy 2:

3/5/5/4/7/5 8/6/7/4 3/8 with a 3.5k salary. Purchased for under 5k on the TL. I can use him primarily at PF and C, but if needed could also play SF in given offensive/defensive schemes as a bench player.

Bench Guy 3:

7/8/6/9/6/5 3/6/3/6 6/6 with a 3.0k salary. Purchased for under 6k on the TL. Primarily a SG/SF depending on what scheme i run, and starts the scrim games.


Lets call bench guy 3 the Guard sub, and Bench guy 2 the big sub. I think your problem is you lack about 800-900 salary in comparison, and with regards to specific builds, you probably asked lofton, who appeared to be a 3/3/7/6/5/6 2/4/6/x type of build to play against the top team in your division who probably had double digits in most guard attributes and considerable salary as well. Not only can he never really get a good opportunity to take a decent shot against what was likely a 13+ OD rating, but he also probably was close to doubled in JS vs his OD rating. A bench guy with 7 JS and 7 OD may only fair a point spread of +4 to +7 better, but if you upgrade each position by +4 you aren't looking at a 1 point loss.

TL:DR - I think you need to spend about 15k on the backend of your bench for situations like you ran into this season as far as TL costs go, and probably 10-12k combined on their salaried costs. I like having an 11 man roster, with 5 starters, a guard and a big for backup, and mostly the 3-5k variety players to round it out.