BuzzerBeater Forums

As announced previously, during this offseason, all of BuzzerBeater’s trainers have been studying hard at BuzzerBeater University, getting their Ph.D.s in cross-training. As a result, they expect to produce more well rounded athletes. In the past, coaches would teach a new skill (such as driving) using related things players already knew how to do (such as handling), so that players with a higher handling skill would learn driving more quickly, and players using this method to improve their driving ability would also learn better handling, at a slower rate.

With cross-training, these new techniques emphasize each skill as part of becoming a more complete basketball player, and make reference to every skill. Thus, improvement in driving is related not just to related skills (like handling), but also more weakly to unrelated skills (like shot blocking). For the average player in the game, this will result in approximately 10% slower training in their primary skill than before, and additional training in other skills approximately corresponding to that 10% loss. A particularly well-rounded player will continue to receive cross-training but will see a much lower reduction in primary skill training, while a particularly one-dimensional player will see a larger loss. Although players will always receive a set amount of cross-training, it is difficult to predict which unrelated skills will improve on a weekly basis.