Robs Analgangbang 292 Essay, Research Paper

NOTES ON BASKETBALL

CONTENTS

1. Basketball Today

a. Page 2

b. Page 3

c. Page 4

2. Head Coach

a. Training

b. Depth Charts

c. Preferences

d. Assignments

e. Position Switches

1. Basketball Today

Basketball Today is the online sports section, where you can get all the

stats for the league. The front page lists interesting game scores, either

because of upsets or huge wins. Human-controlled teams are more likely to be

listed than computer-controlled teams. Basketball today is organized like a

newspaper, and has three inside pages. It is important to understand them all

in order to play Basket well.

a. Page 2

Standings. Lists the overall and home records of every team. Teams are

ranked by overall record, with ties broken first by division record and second

by rankings.

Human Box Scores. A quick way to get your team’s box scores. See “Team

Stats” below for a description.

Players of Day. Offensive and defensive stars from that game.

Leaders. Lists league leaders in eight categories:

-Points per game

-Field goal percentage

-Three pointer percentage

-Free throw percentage

-Rebounds

-Steals

-Blocks

-Assists

In college, the last four are per game (since different teams play different

numbers of games).

b. Page 3

Scores. A listing of all the scores from the current game day.

Box Scores. All box scores. See “Team Stats” below for a description

Team Stats. Asks for a team to select, and shows team finances and stats

and player stats and abilities. Player stats are as follows:

-Stats:

-Games played, minutes per game (players only)

-Field goals attempted, made

-Three pointers attempted, made

-Free throws attempted, made

-Steals

-Blocks

-Rebounds

-Assists

-Turnovers committed

-Fouls (players only)

-Points per game (players only)

-Shooting percentage (players only)

-Position (players only)

-Abilities (players only):

-Position

-Age

-Hands (ball-handling)

-Aggression

-Intelligence

-Scoring ability (short-range)

-Shooting (long-range)

-Stamina

-Training rating (how developed the player is)

-Rest (percent ability the player is currently at, should be 100)

-Height

-Offensive rating: points+assists per minute

-Defensive rating: blocks+rebounds+2*steals per minute

-Plus/minus per minute

-Injury: estimated days until recovered

-Rating: A-F grade and natural position

Analysis. This gives an overview of the performance of each position in a

team, looking at various aspects of the game. For each, two numbers are given:

the actual value and the rating compared to other teams, from 1 to 10. The

statistical categories are as follows:

-Points per minute

-Steals per minute

-Blocks per minute

-Rebounds per minute

-Assists per minute

c. Page 4

Schedules. Schedules and past scores for all teams.

Rankings. Gives the team rankings, based on performance so far. An average

team has a ranking of 0.

Lines. Projected favorites and spreads for the coming game, based on the

rankings. Even if the spread is 0, the team listed first is the favorite.

Info. You can get a listing of past champions, player and coaching awards,

league records, the hall of fame, and coach stats. In pro, the ownership of

draft picks is shown; in college, the tournament seeds and results are shown.

2. Head Coach

The coach takes care of the day-to-day preparations for coming games. He

does nothing at all during the offseason except for running the training

camps.

a. Training

Before each game, you get the option to train your team. The training

options are shooting, passing, defense, conditioning, and films. You may

use up to 6 total points of training, but do not need to use them all. In

fact, the more you train, the more fatigued your team will start the game.

Training selections are made from the preferences menu of the coaching

screen.

b. Depth charts (deciding who starts)

Select “starters” to set your depth charts at each position, respectively.

The first player listed will be your first string, the second player your

second string, and the third player your third string. You may have a player

at any position play any other position, but the further he is from his

nominal position the worse he will play. Also if you have some illegal

lineup (all five positions with the same three players for example), the

computer will put players on the floor at random, which may not be what you

want. Keep in mind that players who are on the court will, at random times,

get permanent bonuses added to their abilities whenever they make a good

play.

Also in the starters menu is a chance to set what depth your players will

play at. For each player, you can set a general preferred position to be

in on offense, and a preferred position to shoot from. Options range from

inside to perimeter for both.

c. Game preferences

The situation options allow for your team to use different play styles in

different situations of the game. You may choose the preferred pace (1 to

4 pass in pro and 1 to 5 pass in college), intentional foul usage (1 to 5,

5=the most), use of players with personal fouls (1 to 5), full-court

press (1 to 5), and trapping defense (1 to 5). You can select your

preferences for shooting location and how high a priority it is to shoot

from there, as well as your primary and secondary defenses.

The pace sets the average number of passes your team tries before making a

shot. Naturally, any wide-open shot will likely be attempted; this number is

an estimate of the pace you will try to play the game at. The fewer the

number of passes, the less the chance of steals, but the less the chance of

getting a good shot. Also, faster-pace teams fatigue more rapidly and drive

inside more, so it is a good idea to check your player skills when deciding

on this.

The “Shooting” option, which determines where your preferred shooting

distance is. Straight means no preference, and the other options are inside,

medium, and perimeter. For anything except straight, you can choose how much

extra shooting comes from the selected zone. Choices are 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%,

and 100% extra.

For defense, the choices in pro are straight; or double-cover inside, medium,

perimeter zones; or double-cover a specific player. A double-coverage option

also asks the percent of the time to use the double, with the choices being

20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, or 100%. If you double a specific player, it will take

the first matchup on the matchup list with both players on the floor to

decide who is doubled. Naturally, double-coverage at one area means lesser

coverage elsewhere.

In college you can also choose zone defenses, the 2-3, 2-1-2, 3-2, triangle,

and box. In 2-3, the center is under the hoop with the forwards to the side,

and the guards on the perimeter. This is strongest against an inside game.

2-1-2 is similar, but with the center moved towards the free throw line,

and is strongest against a medium game. The 3-2 has the center and PF

to the sides of the basket, with the SF and both guards on the perimeter.

This is strongest against a perimeter attack. The triangle is similar to

a 2-1-2, but there is no specific strength, and the guards run at 5 trap

regardless of the team options. The box takes the first matchup against

a guard on the list and makes it a man matchup, while the remaining 4

players play zone. This allows for you to put your better defensive guard

against a strong opposing SG.

The secondary defense is used instead of the primary defense when certain

key opposing players are not on the floor (as set by the matchup and

defensive key preferences). The secondary defense is set the same way

as the primary. This is a useful strategy if the team has one outstanding

player who you wish to double-cover, and you want to play straight man

when he is not on the floor.

Matchups allow you to decide on the man-to-man matchups for your team.

This has no effect in college when using zones except for the box&1.

When the game runs it looks at the list starting at the first matchup,

and sets your players against the opposing players on defense. It is

not necessary to specify all five positions, as any players not matched

up will go against the player closest to their position. If no

defensive key players are set, matchups will also be used to determine

if primary or secondary defense is used. If any defined matchups are

on the floor, the primary defense is used. If none are on the floor

(and there is at least one matchup defined), the secondary defense is

used.

Key players let you choose 0, 1, or 2 players that will be on the court

in critical situations and handle the ball.

Defensive key players let you choose 0, 1, or 2 players that are used to

determine whether you use your primary or secondary defense. If any

of those players are on the court, the primary defense is used. If

none are on the court (and at least one is set), the secondary defense

is used.

Order sets the order of players on roster lists and box scores, but in

no way changes the way the game plays.

The bench usage options let you decide how much to use your bench at each

position, from 1 to 5. Selecting 1 will give your bench almost no use, while

selecting 5 will treat your second string player as equal to the first

string. Note that substitutions are based on the fatigue of each player, not

how much playing time they have had, so you will want to base these choices

here on the skill levels of the #1 and #2 players rather than their stamina.

In the bench section, you can also decide how likely you are to pull

starters in a blowout, winning or losing. Setting either option to 1 means

that you never do it, while setting either to 5 makes you most likely.

d. Assignments

In theory, the players on the court will know who the best players to do

each task are. However, this is not always the case, and you will want

to designate certain players to do certain things on offense. Specifically,

you can designate shooters, ball-handlers, and rebounders. Any combination

is legal, except that a rebounder cannot also be a ball-handler. You can

also set players to be preferentially used when the team is ahead or behind

in the second half by setting the A and B options in the player assignment

menu.

e. Position switches

This is a good tool if you have players who are ineffective in their given

position, but would be much better in a different one. The drawback is that

the players switched will suffer a performance penalty for a few games until

they learn the new positions.

The positions in order of increasing average distance from the basket are

Center (C), power forward (PF), small forward (SF), shooting guard (SG), and

point guard (PG). The guards tend to stay on the perimeter, and therefore

take the most three pointers, while the center will take the most inside

shots. This is important to remember, as height is more important for

centers and forwards, while distance shooting is more important for guards.

Also, the guards tend to handle the ball the most.