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So far I've done my weekly debate thingy before the game, but didn't have time today, so after a disappointing loss to Switzerland (apparently when you lead with 4:09 left and then only score 2 pts afterwards, its hard to win) I'll do it now.

The review of the game will follow later in the week but for now I hope you still want to read this. (If you've actually read any of the others.)

Following on from last week when I proved that training is a good idea (prove! ha!) I'll continue on a similar theme.

When I acquire a draftee or trainee from the transfer list, do I have to train him in the position he is listed as playing?
Simple answer: no. Slightly longer answer: the game lists the player's position as the one at which he would receive the highest salary given his skills. This is not always the position that would be a player's best position given his skills and is not important when it comes to deciding where and how to train your player.

Another important point is that you should train your player in the position that gives the best results. For example, even a shooting guard should play point guard when training pressure, handling or passing. Equally a point guards should play at shooting guard to train outside shooting.

In that case, how should I decide what position to train my player to play?
This is probably the most important thing to think about before, and possibly during training. While its not advisable to change your mind constantly, this decision need not be set in stone.

When I start training I base my decisions on a number of factors. Firstly potential is important, since it gives an idea of how long you will be able to train a player, and also how high you will be able to get his skills.

Secondly, though not necessarily less important, the player's height is a factor. Tall players train faster in inside skills, and outside skills train faster for short players.

Thirdly, I am influenced by starting skills. While it would be nice to train a 6'8 player in inside skills primarily, if they start off too low, then its probably advisable to train the player as a guard despite the height. I'd also say you should consider at this point if a tall player with guards skills and very low inside skills was worth training at all, as in all likelihood you could find better options on the transfer list. Obviously I am talking about very low inside skills, not just slightly below average. I'd consider a 6'8 player with guard skills and 5s in inside skills as a relatively attractive prospect, given high enough tsp.

Wait a second. How much tsp should a trainee have?
For an 18yo I prefer 50+ tsp. Vecx, trainer of Innes and Big Mac, says 45. Again, the individual skills can make a difference. A player with as low tsp as 40 at 18 can still make an U21 player, and a decent player for you, but its harder, and again, in all likelihood you could find someone easier to train on the transfer list.

At 19 I would prefer not to train someone with less than 58 tsp. The same applies here though. If you take 45 as the starting point at 18, then 54/55 is reasonable at 19. And the same for a player with 50 tsp at this age, if he has some outstanding skills.

By 20 you're then looking at 63-68 as a good range for the minimum, and at 21 you want at the very least someone in the 70s.

Is this where you tell us how to train and what skills a player should have?
Now it's my turn to say wait a second. For a start I prefer to judge a player on an individual basis, the skills each player has are different and so the best way to train one player is not the best way to train another player. I may deal with this in a more detailed way later, but I'm not sure.

Is there anything else, you're running out of space?
Only this, a player needs 48 minutes to receive full training. This needs to be in the position you set for training and doesn't necessarily have to be in one game, 24 min

Damn, went over despite my bold imaginary friend's warning.

As I was saying, 24 minutes in each of two games would suffice.

As promised, my usual short review of this week's game. Two 100% records disappeared on monday. Our undefeated run ended at a disappointing two and my 100% approval disappeared.

Switzerland U21 85 England U21 77
It was a tight game, a good second quarter had given us a lead, though we were never in complete control, and Switzerland were able to fight back, when in the 4th quarter we simply stopped scoring. 2pts in the last 4 minutes just killed us and when you end a game in form like that, you're never going to win.

Obviously I had expected a difficult game, we tried harder than them. Despite their low ranking, looking at their previous games, it was clear that we were not that far apart. An injury to our starting small forward didn't help, but nor did it decide the game. Simply, they played better than we did and deserved the win.

Standings here:(http://www.buzzerbeater.com/world/standings.aspx?teamid=1...)
Dropped to 4th, which is bad. What's worse is Switerland have played most of the teams above us and so are a threat to move above us in a few weeks. We'll need to beat at least one of the better teams to ensure finishing as high as possible.




Last edited by Gully Foyle at 9/30/2016 1:27:03 PM

Having seen Cranston's Utopia trainees, which were not in my database, and should have been, I believe I may have missed the English 19yos in Utopia. If you have a 19yo in your second team, please let me know. Include his skills if possible. Thanks.

My intention with these monday posts was to provoke (inspire?) debate but thus far that hasn't happened. I'm hoping today's will change this. What I want to see after I post is to see other people disagree with me and post their own ideas.

To start with I'm going to "borrow" a post from the Guide to Buzzerbeater. If you haven't already read it, and you probably should, it's here: (http://www.buzzerbeater.com/community/forum/read.aspx?thr...)

This is a breakdown of the most important skills for each position:

Point Guard
Primary Skills: Outside Defense, Passing, Jump Shot
Secondary Skills: Handling, Driving, Jump Range
Tertiary Skills: Rebounding, Inside Defense

Shooting Guard
Primary Skills: Outside Defense, Jump Shot, Jump Range
Secondary Skills: Handling, Passing, Driving
Tertiary Skills: Rebounding, Inside Defense

Small Forward (Outside Based)
Primary Skills: Outside Defense, Jump Shot
Secondary Skills: Inside Defense, Jump Range, Rebounding, Passing, Handling, Driving
Tertiary Skills: Inside Shot, Shot Blocking

Small Forward (Balanced)
Primary Skills: Outside Defense, Inside Defense, Jump Shot, Inside Shot
Secondary Skills: Rebounding, Passing, Jump Range, Handling, Driving
Tertiary Skills: Shot Blocking

Small Forward (Inside Based)
Primary Skills: Outside Defense, Inside Shot, Inside Defense, Rebounding
Secondary Skills: Jump Shot, Passing, Handling, Driving
Tertiary Skills: Jump Range, Shot Blocking

Power Forward
Primary Skills: Inside Defense, Rebounding, Inside Shot, Jump Shot
Secondary Skills: Outside Defense, Driving, Handling, Passing
Tertiary Skills: Shot Blocking, Jump Range

Center
Primary Skills: Inside Defense, Inside Shot, Rebounding
Secondary Skills: Handling, Passing, Jump Shot, Shot Blocking
Tertiary Skills: Driving, Outside Defense, Jump Range

Now for my opinion, which, as some will already know, is slightly different. I've omitted tertiary skills as in each position they can be regarded as everything not already listed.

Point Guard
Primary Skills: Passing, Outside Defence, Handling
Secondary Skills: Inside Defence, Driving, Jump Range, Jump Shot

Shooting Guard
Primary Skills: Outside Defense, Jump Shot, Jump Range
Secondary Skills: Handling, Passing, Driving, Inside Defence

Small Forward
Primary Skills: Outside Defence, Inside Defence, Jump Shot
Secondary Skills: Handling, Driving, Inside Shot, Jump Range

Power Forward
Primary Skills: Inside Defense, Shot Blocking, Driving, Inside Shot
Secondary Skills: Rebounding, Handling, Jump Shot, Outside Defence

Center
Primary Skills: Inside Defense, Shot Blocking, Rebounding
Secondary Skills: Driving, Handling, Inside Shot, Outside Defence

I found the Power Forward position hardest as really they do need to be multi skilled and even need at least some of every skill.

Okay, your turn now. Even if you don't want to post your opinion on every position, and I understand people like to keep their own ideas to themselves, I'd at least like some dissent, I know not everyone will agree with me, but it would be helpful to the NT and U21 and the community to see as many opinions as possible.

learning to train players is the best part of the game for me. When I first started I struggled to get a decent amount of Passing in. As I was too focused on developing the main skills and other secondaries. I noticed that PA is not in your SF or PF list. So how do you feel that affects the flow of the team? and when training what would be your minimum level of PA you like to see for each position when a player is in their prime for the trainers who are up and coming. Thanks mate

Just my opinion but I think ID is the most overrated skill in BB. Historically Look Inside has dominated and the typical approach of having huge ID on bigs just hasn't worked in stopping it. So I think with U21 bigs and for SFs too ID is a skill that can be skimped on a bit in favour of other stuff, it gets secondary training anyway with OD, SB, IS (RB too? I'm not sure).

(Just my opinion)

Last edited by Cranston at 10/3/2016 9:06:11 PM

I prefer thinking of players by role, rather than position.

E.g. 1st scoring option, 2nd option, 3rd option, 4th wheel, 5th starter, bench scorer, bench flow guy, bench defender.

skill choices are then based around what I need them to do.

for my team, Osman is 1st option, Barker 2nd option, Big Mac is 3Rd option, Willis is 4th wheel, Ostres is 5th starter, Adams bench scorer, Westcott bench flow guy and Lloyd fills in as bench defender, although he's not much of a defender to be honest.

(Just my opinion)

Yours is as valid as anyone else's. And it's a very interesting opinion too. I'm not disagreeing but my suspicion has always been that inside offences in general dominate in part because most people train offence higher than defence and of course, a lot of people ignore shot blocking.

And yes ID gets secondary training with RB, though not as high a percentage as with SB.

Interesting. I'd always wondered how you put your team together. I knew it was different to me of course.

For the Wasps I prefer a passing point guard, a shooting guard who can shoot, an all round small forward, a power forward who can score and defend, and usually a big defensive plank at center. I'm also one of the few who favours aggressive players but I'm not sure I feel comfortable recommending that to others.

All players should ideally be able to defend inside and outside, and I think its fairly well known that I look at defensive levels first. And I'd argue that generally defence should be at least as high as offence.

I like aggressive players in some roles, but not all ;-)