In the Game manual under the headline "Nomenclature" it is written:
Match Ratings
Each player that has played more than five minutes in a given match receives a rating, with 1 being the lowest. This rating is based on a combination of your player's stats and his overall contribution to the team effort. Note that this has nothing to do with the player's overall skill; if your worst player overall is the best on the court, he'll have the highest rating!
Your team also receives several ratings per match. These team ratings are used in the calculation of what happens each possession. Here is a synopsis:
* Outside Scoring, Defense: Both guards weighted heavily, small forward medium, power forward slightly.
* Inside Scoring, Defense: Center weighted heavily, power forward somewhat heavily, small forward medium.
* Rebounding: Center and power forward weighted heavily, small forward somewhat heavily, both guards medium.
* Offensive Flow (how well the offense produces assists, avoids turnovers): point guard weighted very heavily, shooting guard weighted medium, small forward weighted medium.
The bolded part is obviously wrong, as BB-Forrest already in July 2007 said that they were in fact not a part of the match engine:
(394.2)the zonal ratings I think could be improved/changed. they are an attempt to summarize the various skills of the players you put on the court.. but its not like the game engine actually uses those values... the game engine considers individual matchups and individual skills for each shot individually, not an average over the whole game.
As far as i know this havent been changed, so it would be nice if anyone could correct the Game Manual... or change the Game Engine ;)