I’ve been training PGs a lot in the past few seasons. I used to focus more on the big men, but it didn’t take long for me to figure out that it’s much harder to find guards than centers on the TL are a price I could afford, so I just decided I’ll pretty much only train guards, and especially PGs since I could single-position train there. In short, I know about training guards. That being said, here is my observation:
It takes much longer to train a guard than a center (or PF for that matter) since there are more skills involved, and less allowance for weaknesses. A team can play with center with, say, not-so-great IS if that player still has a decent JS and the offense is outside oriented. And really, for a center, the main skills are IS, ID and RB. Poor ratings at other positions (especially HN!) are definitely not good, but aren’t devastating to a lineup. PGs cannon be weak at JS, HN, PA, and OD, and they are deficient players without at least decent JR and DV. And there’s the inside skills, too, which are better if none are atrocious (especially RB!). So to really get any one of a PGs skills to a great level, it often has to come at the cost of another skill. My best guards have all been really well-rounded (I have one player at least proficient at all 6 key skills and another at least prominent at all 6, and another at least respectable at 11 of all 12 skills), yet only one of these well-rounded guards hits wondrous at one particular skill. My only other guard to have a wondrous rating anywhere is deficient elsewhere and it shows when he’s in the lineup. And why is this? Because unlike a center, the guards handle the ball pretty much every possession (I assume), especially the PG. Poor HN or PA in a PG is worse than with a C (though when I’ve started a C at PG, this hasn’t always been proven true…). And I’ve seen what happens when I put a poorer OD in the lineup (it can be really bad if the other team is solid at guard).
So while I can choose to create a passing monster, what I’d have to give up in that player’s training is too much to make him my best lineup option because of the inevitable deficiencies. It takes a lot of effort to really train these guards up, which is why it’s harder to then release these players on the TL, and why there are fewer of guards of comparable skill to the many centers we see on the TL, and the guards are then pricier as a result. And the end product of this hard work in training guards doesn’t typically translate into superstar guards, usually just well-rounded guards or super specialists. There are some exceptional guards out there, but the ones we notice are often the ones who can score 40 points per game (but not many assists), and not the ones who dish out an eye-popping 9 assists per game.
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