BuzzerBeater Forums

Thank you guys, that extra 50k per week will help. There is no way to stay in 4 so I will be demoted to 5 then this team will need to be built from the ground up. Should be fun but it looks like a long long road. Think I will just cut the team to the 5 players I need so I don't forfeit and mess everyone in the league up. Then at the end of this year cut the rest to the one or 2 I will keep. At that point hope for a decent draft pick. BTW which is the better 10 point draft option or should I actually put money into the draft ? Judging from the team I played yesterday which had 2 or 3 25k per week players it will be several seasons in 5 before I can think of even getting back to 4 or does anyone think that putting money into players now and trying to stay in 4 by the skin of my teeth is a decent option. I don't but would love to get other peoples take on this.

If you're very likely to have one of the worst records in the league, then yeah it can be worthwhile to invest in the draft. Drafted players give you more merchandise income, which in effect lowers their salary. And even in D4 leagues, probably not a huge amount of managers are investing a lot in the draft, so you can easily get a good player.

First, I would suggest deciding whether you want to train guards, or whether you want to train big men. Stick to one kind for now. Many people recommend training guards, as they can be expensive to buy on the transfer list. But bigs are good to train too, so I think it's whatever you prefer. Once you decide that, wait until closer to the end of this season, and when the deadline for playoff eligibility is over, then prices on players will decline. At that point, buy veteran players for the positions you're not going to train. In terms of USA D5, respectable to strong skill levels are decent. Know that at 33 years old, guys can start to lose skills.

Then, I'd probably spend the rest of this season giving a bit of training to Dutton, Marshall, Pizarro and/or Davis (depending on what you might train next season). These guys may never be long term starters, but they could be backups, and as your initial team players, they're counted as home draftees with respect to merchandise bonus. I'd personally choose the guys from those who have good defense skills, and then train either jump shot, or one on one training for the rest of the season.

For the draft, would suggest doing the 10 point scouting combine. This will let you see the ages and heights of the prospects. You'll definitely want to get an 18 year old player, as age affect training speed quite a lot. Then you'll see who has appropriate heights for your choice of guards or bigs (think 6'4" or less, or 6'10" and above, respectively). After that, invest in 2-3 scouting points for the next couple weeks, and "scout" a few guys with your desired height (that's 1 point each). If you find a guy with 4 or 5 orange balls in skills, you could consider spending 2 points to get an estimate of his potential. Then rank him high and hope you grab him!

Ok, I've rambled enough. Any more questions just shoot!

You're better off demoting to DV anyways. Just save up as much $$$ as you can between now and then and figure out how everything works over the next few weeks.

Thanks for the info, if I demote will my draft stats come from my current league or the league I demote to? Kind of feel I don't want to spend too much money on the draft as it is just a crap shoot and would rather buy from the transfer list.

You always draft from the league you are in that season.

And I agree, I wouldn't spend too much money either, so you could consider buying trainees at the start of next season. I personally believe the own draftee status is quite valuable, and worth spending money on drafting, at least in low divisions. But it's easy to get unlucky, and you don't have a lot of time to do a lot of scouting. Note that scouting points can be saved between seasons, so you could do some scouting now, and use them next season. Even though you'll likely have a better record after demoting, you'll be in a league with many bots, and owners who don't invest in scouting. So you can definitely a get players then too.

I'd suggest checking out players with star to perennial allstar potential. People tend to overpay for high potential guys who will never reach their cap (potential doesn't affect training speed). A lower potential guy who is cheaper can be fully trained for one season and they'll be good players in D5. Fully trained for 2, they'll be decent when you get back to D4. These kind of guys can be had for 50K and less at the start of next season when everyone rushes to unload the trainees they don't want.

That is great info - thanks so much. I am going to just play this season out and save as much money as I can. Then at the end of this season spend some money on 2 big men who are "mature". Then hope I might get a good trainee from the draft (in my league the average scouting is just 6k = no one is scouting) and purchase guard trainees and one good young SG/PG/SF. Train for the next year - rinse repeat.

Spending $$$ on the draft might be a good idea. You'll have a top 3 pick and it looks like one of those other 2 teams has packed it in already.

The only thing I'd add is you lose a lot if you don't set yourself a scrimmage each week. Not just a training spot or even two, if you are two-position training, but also on a chance to improve your player's experience. One scrimmage won't make a difference, but 20 will. If you don't like the idea of having extra "starting 5" for a scrimmage, you can buy a pair of scrubs with low salary and play them in scrimmages.

Good point. Plus you only need to start 3 players to prevent a forfeit, so save a couple of your other initial players and let them be your scrimmage meat.

When I joined I had a $750 a week player and I cut him immediately.

It wasn't until a few weeks later I learned he had value.

If he's going to lose anyway, who cares about game shape. Cut to the minimum and let them play 144 minutes a week each. Should do great for experience and anyway game shape is reset in about 6 weeks.