BuzzerBeater Forums

PART 1

How to turn your current team into a HomeGrown (HG) Team...the hard way!

If you don't know what HG is/means, please read this first (326328.1). Once you understand what HG is, please continue reading...

...Firstly, let's make a distinction between the 'easy' way and the 'hard' way.

The easy way:
This can be achieved if:

1. You are already a HG team and didn't realise!; or
2. You already have at least 11 HG players as part of your roster

Why 11 players? Whether you are doing 1-position or 2-position training, an 11-player roster is the minimum roster required to achieve adequate minutes (= game shape) for all but a couple (scrubs?) of your players while training weekly.

1. You are already a HG team and didn't realise
This is obviously the easiest way to become a 100% HG team...because...well, you're already one! Maybe you have never bought or sold players and still have your original players gifted to you from BB when you signed up and/or have drafted some players too. Fantastic, welcome to the HG Community.

2. You already have at least 11 HG players as part of your roster
So, you have checked your roster and within it, there are at least 11 HG players (either gifted to you from BB or you drafted them). Fantastic! All you need to do now is either sell or fire those players currently on your roster that are NOT HG. That is, you didn't draft them, or they weren't gifted to you by BB when you signed up. Once these non-HG players are sold or fired and you only have HG players left...you are a 100% HG Team. Congratulations.


Okay, let's look at how (as the name of the thread suggests) you become a HG Team the hard way!

There are really a few variations on how to become a HG Team the hard way. From starting from no HG players in the team at all, to starting with a few and building from there. From buying former HG players, to only drafting them. Therefore, I will just describe my own journey thus far. Hopefully this will begin to explore how to achieve a HG team other than in the 2 easier ways discussed above.

Firstly, as I write this (20-1-25, Season 67, a few weeks into the season), I am NOT currently a HG Team. This is one of the reasons I have created this thread. Hopefully, others who wish to do what I am doing will get something from the information I present here. And to those many teams who are already HG, and have things they would like to contribute here, please do.

Secondly, despite my Team History page appearing to show that my team, Swan River Serpents, is only a few seasons old, I have been playing BB since Season 14. I have recently returned. I make mention of this as having a decent knowledge of training, in my opinion, as well as a sound knowledge of all BB-related aspects, is highly beneficial in becoming and staying successful as a HG team.

Poll:  Where do you stand regarding HomeGrown Teams?

PART 2

My HG Plan:

My plan is simple. Become 100% HG by the start of Season 69 and reach the ABBL (1st Division in Australia) within 10 seasons.

Preparational Considerations:

1. Current Roster?
2. Roster adjustments.
3. Get them back?!
4. Time-Frame?
5. The Importance of the Draft & Training!
6. Staff?
7. Infrastructure?


1. Current Roster?

The first thing I did once I decided that I wanted to become a HG team, was to have a close look at every player on my roster. I needed to know how many were HG players. As mentioned above, I knew from experience that I would need a minimum of 11 HG players in order to run a line-up that would enable me to do either 1- or 2-position training every week.

For those managers unsure of how to know if your player is a HG player, there are 2 indicators which you can use.

The first indicator: In your Player Overview page, just below the player's skill set and information, there will be a line that reads...'[Player's name] was pick [No#] in the season [##] draft by [your team's name].' If your team's name is listed here, then you drafted this player. This makes this player a HG player!

The second indicator: Again, in the Player Overview page, where the above notation should be found (ie. Toan Vuong was pick 39 in the season 66 draft by Swan River Serpents) if you find this space blank...there is no draft information at all...then it is likely that this was one of the players gifted to you by BB when you signed up your team***. This makes them a HG player. These players are your 'original' or 'gifted' players.

***HOWEVER, and this is important to note, there is an exception to this (as I discovered). I will elaborate on this in the section below in Get them back!

So, if you find either of these when you look at each player on your current roster, you will quickly determine which players are HG and which are not.


2. Roster adjustments

Okay, so you have checked every player on your roster and you now know how many of them are HG and how many are not.

When I did this, I discovered that I had 3 gifted players and 2 which I had recently drafted. I had (at that time) a roster of 13 players. So, 5 of 13 were HG. 8 of them would have to go. I immediately tightened up my roster a little. I sold some players and bought a few in. I sold some to make some cash (this will make more sense when discussing staff and infrastructure) and I bought some (low salary Aussie players) to ensure a tanking season (this will make more sense when discussing Draft importance etc).

I now had 5 HG players and knew that I needed at least 6 more to have an 11-player roster to work with. Clearly, even if I drafted 3 more players, I would still not have enough. Therefore, I would need 2 more drafts (6 players in total) before I had 11 players, enough to field a 100% HG team which I could train and ensure weekly minutes and game shape were maintained.

At this point I looked at those players still on my team who were not HG and made some decisions about how long to keep them. Would I train some of them and then sell for a profit? I had two local U21 NT prospects which I decided to continue training (despite them both not being HG) so as to sell them for a profit. I had intended to keep them for another 2 seasons to maximise this. However, as I write this, I have put them up for sale as I have been able to bring my training plans forward almost a season. How? By buying back former players!

PART 3


3. Get them back?!
As mentioned previously, any player that was gifted to you by BB when you signed up your team, together with players you drafted, are considered HG players. This is important, especially the former - players originally gifted to you!
This means that, if you had sold or fired any of your HG players (gifted or drafted) in the past, you could buy them back!

So, as I now only had 5 HG players and knew that as soon as I had at least 11 I could field a 100% HG team, I realised that if I could get some of my former HG players back, I would be able to go 100% HG sooner.

I then went back to my original team (I had kept stats on them) and my first season back in BB. I looked at those players I had been gifted, and those that I had drafted, and checked as many as I could find. I had fired most of them so, not surprisingly, almost every one of them had been retired. I was never getting them back! However, to my great joy, one survived! This player was actually on the transfer market for sale! I purchased him immediately. He was a player I had fired from my original team and now brought back.

Now I had 6 HG players. Still not enough to field a team.

I then checked my draftees and found that only 2 remained that I could one day buy back. I even bbmailed the manager of one of them (a great strategy btw) and he even listed the player on the transfer market for me. Unfortunately, I was outbid and unable to get him. However, I have him, and another former HG player, bookmarked for the future.

So, when you are changing your team into a HG team, you might consider some of these actions. To recap:

1. Check your original roster from your original league and check each and every player. Some of them might still be active players on active teams. If so, bookmark them. You could even bbmail the manager and ask if he/she is willing to sell them.
2. Check all the players you have drafted previously. You can do this by going to the leagues you played in, selecting the drop-down menu link, 'Draft History' and, one-by-one, check to see if any of those players are on active teams and/or available for purchase.

Don't forget to bookmark them for the future.

Special Note: As mentioned earlier, you might find a player on your team who is (from the same country = local) and who has no draft information at all. I suggested earlier that this is one way to identify a 'gifted' player on your roster, making them a HG player. The exception to this is when you buy another team's 'gifted' player as I did. I had thought I bought back a former HG player, only to discover he was another team's gifted player. He is not your HG player.

4. Time-Frame?

Once you know for certain, like I do, that 6 HG players are all I have to work with at present, and that it will take 2 more drafts to acquire enough HG players to field a 100% HG team, then a time-frame becomes clear.

As it stands, it is currently the early weeks of Season 67. I now know that I need the Season 67 and 68 drafts (total of 6 more draftees) to have enough players to make a HG team. So, what can I do this season...and next season...to prepare for Season 69 when I enter my league as a 100% HG team?

How many HG players do you have? How many more do you need? How are you going to get them and when?

PART 4

5. The importance of the Draft & Training!
I have already mentioned before the importance of making decisions about those non-HG players you have. For me, I sold and am selling some of them. I have also bought a few low-salary local players. Local, to help with the merchandise, and low-salary as I am tanking this season. Tanking? This brings me to another crucial aspect of becoming and maintaining a HG team...The Draft.

As a HG team, I realised, being able to draft strategically and well, suddenly took on much greater importance. That is, once my team was HG, I would never be able to buy players again (other than my former HG players) to help me promote from one division to the next. This meant that I would have to train every player I would ever need to promote in the future. Once this dawned on me, the importance of drafting and training players well, become paramount.

For those who have been playing BB for any amount of time, you will have at some point, had to tank to secure that coveted Number 1 draft pick. Tanking is not pretty. And, if not done well, costly (revenue, fan base, merchandise etc). I will not go into the ins and outs of tanking here. However, as ugly as it is, it can be necessary to secure those trainees and give your team a great foundational core to build around. As a HG team, I think this is of greater importance initially.

Therefore, being willing and able to tank, is a strategy a HG team needs to be prepared to do at some point. It is more likely at the beginning, like for me, where I am trying to secure the core group of players I want to build around. However, I may need to tank again in the future. Or, at the very least, have a tanking-like season where I position myself to secure some additional quality draftees. I am aiming to do this every second season when my HG team is up and running.

Right now, it is about getting a solid 11-12 HG players to begin my journey. This upcoming draft (Season 67 Draft) is crucial for me. As a result, I am investing heavily at the maximum possible level in the hope of securing 3 great draftees prior to the official start of Season 68.

So, tanking is a necessary evil if, like me, you are trying to pivot to a HG team over a few seasons. Ensuring that you are investing maximum scouting points (see Draft and Scouting) while tanking, will provide the greatest opportunity to draft well.

Training.
Again, if you have been playing BB for any length of time, you will inevitably train players. This is, in my opinion, the best aspect of BB. The joy of drafting an 18yr old player, training them well, and watching them grow to become a member of an U21 NT or NT is, for me, the highest point of BB. If you have never trained players before, I would strongly suggest you become proficient in this aspect of the game before seriously contemplating becoming a HG team. Why? Because being able to train players, becomes everything for a HG team.

Having a strong understanding of who to draft, how to train them, and the countless intricacies of training, is required to run a HG team...in my opinion.

Once I made the decision to go HG, I contacted a few managers regarding how to train a team! I have plenty of experience training high quality players, but training a team...this would be new for me. When I say team, I don't mean 'team training'. Instead, I refer to the mindset of always training some or all members of your team in a carefully considered and strategic manner. When to train bigs or smalls or forwards, when to swing back, when to bring in more trainees and what build depending on the training requirements of the whole at that time, suddenly seemed a lot more challenging.

While I will not go into training methods here, I mention this only to highlight the greater importance tanking, drafting and training has for the HG team.

PART 5


6. Staff?
If it is agreed that drafting and training take on a greater significance when running a HG team, it then becomes obvious that a few other changes need to be made to optimise this. Namely, staff and infrastructure.

After some contemplation, and discussing some of this with other managers, I decided that the following changes regarding staff were necessary.

1. Trainer. Get the highest level Trainer you can afford. Now, this is good advice in general, and something I have always adhered to. A HG team should consider this as an easy decision to make.
2. Nutritionist. Get the highest level Nutritionist you can afford. Level 6 and 7 have been noted on the forums consistently, as those necessary to really ensure an increase in player stamina.
3. Youth Trainer. If, like me, you will regularly be training 18 and 19 year olds, having a Youth Trainer is a luxury worth having I believe. It just gives that extra little boost to the training of my youngsters. Given their foundational importance on a HG team, I think it is a price worth paying.
4. Doctor. In my opinion, having a doctor for a HG team is better than having no doctor. Remember, you do not have the option of buying more players if a player or 2 goes down with an injury. It happens. So why not have at least a medium level doctor?
5. PR-Manager. Of the available staff, I personally believe this is the least important for a HG team...unless they are needed in a season, or playoffs, to secure a Division title.
6. Sports Psychologist. I think this is a staff member you might consider if you had money to burn and wanted that extra little edge to hopefully help you with maintaining game shape (which can be done for free with good line-up management). Important for a HG team as it is with any team.

So, understand what various staff do and how impactful they will be for your HG team.

7. Infrastructure
It should be said that while the various infrastructures available are expensive (each one costing $1 million to build out and with weekly maintenance costs), each can benefit a HG team at varying times.

1. Gym. Given the focus on training as a HG team, acquiring a gym is a great investment and will optimise the amount of training slots available for players. A HG team will find great value with this at a high level.
2. Training Court. Again, a great investment. As someone who managed non-HG teams for countless seasons, I can honestly say that Free-Throw (FT) and Stamina training were frustrating. Having to take a week away from my young studs' training to get some FT or Stamina in, was painful. The Training Court and Nutritionist help with these respectively now...so why not access them if you have the funds to do so?
Previously, as a non-HG manager, I invested plenty of weeks' training into FTs only to eventually sell those players. Now, knowing my players will be on my team indefinitely, I will benefit greatly from high FT levels across all of my players!
3. Health & Recovery Center. I have little experience with this type of infrastructure and am not sold on its importance for a HG team...yet.
4. TV & Radio Station. A great way to increase ticket sales and keep fans happy. Not sure if it's a necessity for a HG team though.
5. Merchandise Store. I think this might prove to be an important HG option for those with the cash. Merchandise is already heightened with a HG team...so, maybe it can go a step higher with this type of infrastructure?

PART 6

Arena

Although not originally listed as a topic to explore, a brief note on building your arena might be helpful.

Every team in BB, HG or otherwise, needs to build their arena in order to increase their revenue. Increased revenue allows for higher-salary players, better rosters, the purchase of better staff, and being able to build infrastructure like that mentioned above. Therefore, regardless of whether you are a HG team or not, building up your arena is essential.

I am including the value of arena building here as I think this can take on more importance for a HG team, especially in the early seasons. Many teams starting out in BB come to learn about the importance of building their arena. Many teams ignore this and build their arenas much too slowly or not at all and wonder why they can't compete with other teams in their division. Others, and returned managers, realise that the quicker an arena is built, the sooner they can access extra benefits which will allow them to promote sooner and stay promoted. So, build your arena sooner!

After returning to BB, I quickly began to invest in my arena. At that time, I had no thought to becoming HG. Now, with my focus 100% on becoming HG and preparing for this, I see some added importance to building up my arena. I invest regularly now. If you can afford to dump a lot of money in one go, that's great. If, like me, your cash reserves aren't there yet, build it up regularly in smaller amounts. Just keep building!

Having discussed the intricacies of becoming a HG team with a few Division 1 HG teams, it become clear to me that if I get the training right, I will ultimately be making NT quality players...with NT level salaries...perhaps sooner than expected! Obviously, I am going to need to be able to afford those larger salaries...if not, I will be forced to sell off high quality HG players. This is something I do not want to be in a position to have to do.

So, building up the arena early is, in my opinion, not just a smart move in general, but a smart move for HG teams who are more training focused than the average team.

This doesn't mean I am expecting to get my trainees onto the NT, but that in a worse-case scenario, their salaries can be met regardless of how big they become. Strategic training (as I alluded to earlier) will be the key, training well-rounded players rather than mono-monsters to keep their salaries in check.

As a HG team, even after 2 seasons of full training, my team salaries will begin to climb noticeably. Remember, almost every player on the team (in the beginning) will be getting training. This means higher team salaries in general. Therefore, the sooner the arena is built up, the greater the ease in addressing the higher salaries will become as the seasons and promotions occur.

For those managers new to BB and wanting to know how to build up their arena, there are plenty of threads about it. I have always found 20k-22k arena size as sufficient (although I do not know enough about how arena designer and other infrastructure might improve this). However, the breakdown of the type of seats that make up that 20-22k can be important. Some seats sell out earlier than others in games (expensive seats) so you might consider building them up first. Or you might build uniformly across the seat types. Or just build up the cheap seats first. Again, there is plenty advice on arena sizes and builds worth considering.

So, build you arena up sooner rather than later. Good advice in general, but perhaps more important for HG teams.



NOTE: Don't forget to participate in the poll at the start of this thread