I don't think "getting things easy/fast" and "a tactical basketball simulation" are mutually exclusive. Maybe the even complement each other, because if you can change between team layout and player skills faster you can test more tactics and have a more strategic experience instead of having to save millions to buy different players, or wait real life years to train new players.
The thing where there is friction between the play styles is with bidding. Bidding is slow, and if you scout the market and try to acquire players at a discount you can get an advantage that might be rewarding for people (I had that too for a long time, as do you as I understand). But the transfer market is not a great way to keep new players engaged, because you don't know wether you can get the player unless you stay online when the bid expires. It can be such a bummer to not be able to get a player multiple times in a row if you can't stay online, so I think that's something that needs to change for the app, or at least have another way to acquire players.