BuzzerBeater Forums

I don't have access to the lineup you set, but I can see that you had Garrison and De Ketelaere both playing 48 minutes and are saying Elliot should have as well. Assuming those three were set to starter, backup and reserve, that leaves 5 players for the other two positions, which means that the two starters at those positions would have been subbed out with the primary backup coming in at garbage time, and then the 8th player you dressed would pick one of the three full-time starters to sit. Garbage time means that any player that is on the bench will replace any starter he possibly can; to maximize the chances of 48 minutes for players, you have to ensure that there is nobody left to replace them by making sure that you only have enough players dressed for one backup at each of the non-48 minute positions.

It might be that you hadn't intended Garrison to play the whole game and forgot to set Aliverti as his backup, since it looks like he normally plays at the C or PF position most weeks, but the previous game you played him as backup SG. You can check to see what your lineup was set to for a little while longer now by choosing to set a future lineup to the one from this game, although that drops off after I think five games.

The point I was making in my original post is that, players who are supposed to play a full 48 minutes get subbed out when garbage time hits if a player not scheduled to play the entire game is taking free throws, leading to a backup or reserve player from the bench subbing in for a player that should never be subbed out in the first place, due to being scheduled as the starter, backup, and reserve for a single position. The free throw shooter, who should be subbed out, stays in until another stop in play, thus resulting in players that should get 48 minutes only getting 44 or 45 minutes. It is very hard to schedule a player to pick up these extra 3 or 4 minutes of crucial training time, without sacrificing additional time from another player later in the week.

The game last night reminded me of that. This is a trend, not a single game aberration. There has to be a way to set the algorithm so that, if garbage time hits, players on the bench will not sub in for a player scheduled to play at one position the entire game. Instead, they should wait for the next stoppage of play and sub in for the playing who did not get subbed out due to shooting free throws at the time.

I understand that I am human and I can make mistakes, which leads to improper training minutes. I put this in the bugs forum because of the training minutes problem created by garbage time coinciding with a player shooting free throws, which causes a player in training to be benched for a few minutes, thus limiting their ability to get their full training minutes allotment. If I mess up, then I understand. If the game forces my player to sit because of a glitch in the game, then I expect the people in charge to work to rectify the situation. I am merely trying to improve the game by calling to your attention a noticed shortcoming.

The game has a glitch which disrupts training minutes and frustrates players.
The game is designed to disrupt training minutes and frustrate players.

If I can break down your post(s), what you are saying is that one of those above statements is true.

Dear Buzzerbeater,

It really pisses me off when I set my lineup perfectly for training

Someone's probably mentioned this already, but if you only have five active players for the game, they won't get subbed out unless they foul out or get injured.
Also, 1 or 2 minutes less than 48 minutes training isn't the end of the world. They still get 90%+ of their training for that week.

It is not the end of the world, but it does add up. The training pop that I do not get one week forces me to add another week of the same training later down the line, instead of another type of training that a player needs. Therefore that small annoyance now adds up to a big frustration later.

It was previously stated that it was either a glitch or by design. Unless you are suggesting a third option like divine interference, you can not say that both of the previous statements are incorrect. If you are suggesting that the glitch was designed, then both statements would actually be correct. The disrupted training minutes and frustrated players are but a byproduct of the glitch or design. Either way, I do not expect a straight answer or a solution.

I already explained the scenario in which they were subbed. That is the very reason that I decided to post here in the first place. Let me break it down for you again.:

I have 9 players dressed for a game. The player at Center (C) is scheduled to play the entire game. He has been selected as the Starter, Backup, and Reserve. All other positions have a starter and backup/reserve. Basically, there are 2 players dressed per every position on the court, with the exception of the Center. We shall henceforth refer to these players as follows. The Starting Point Guard is PG1 and the Backup/Reserve Point Guard is PG2. You get the idea, I hope. Strictly Follow Depth Chart and Play Through Foul Trouble have been selected, meaning that the coach should follow my directives and the player should not be benched for getting too many fouls.

That is all the background information. The exact scenario is as follows. Imagine the game is a blowout in my favor. (Note: the exact score does not matter.) It is either later in the 3rd Quarter or at some point in the 4th Quarter. (Again, the exact time in the 3rd or 4th Quarter does not matter. It just has to be late enough into the game that Garbage Time can and will be called due to the nature of the blowout.)

Imagine all of the starters for the game are on the court. That would be PG1, SG1, SF1, PF1, and C. The backups would all be on the bench. That means that PG2, SG2, SF2, and PF2 are on the bench. Note that there is no C2, because there was only one player designated to play Center for the entire game. Now imagine that SG1 is fouled, which causes him to miss his 2-point jumper. (Note: the type of shot does not matter. I just picked one for an example.) After SG1 shoots the first free throw, the result of which does not matter, it is announced that we have entered Garbage Time.

Now as was stated before, once Garbage Time is called, all backup and reserve players (obviously limited to court space available), come off the bench and replace a starter. In this scenario, all things being equal, PG2 replaces PG1, SF2 replaces SF1, and PF2 replaces PF1. Those are given and we will not refer to those players anymore. SG2 is the last player on the bench who needs to enter the game. However, SG1 cannot be benched because he obviously still has to shoot another free throw. So the coach decides to sub SG2 in for my C. SG1 shoots his last free throw and the game continues. My lineup at this time now includes PG2, SG1, SF2, PF2, and SG2. The Center (C) must now sit on the bench until a stoppage in play. When a stoppage in play happens, SG1 and SG2 will swap positions on the court and C will enter the game for SG1, thus regaining his original position on the court.

The important part of the scenario is the free throw shooter. If Garbage Time is called and the C in the above scenario is at the charity stripe, then the subbing in and out of players goes smoothly. If Garbage Time is called during a regular stoppage in play, the subbing in and out of players goes smoothly. If Garbage Time is called in the above scenario, the coach disregards the Strictly Follow Depth Chart rule and inserts a bench player into the wrong position simply to follow the game's directive of clearing the bench of all non-starting players.

My suggestion is simply to see if the algorithm can be tweaked so that SG2 in the above scenario can simply wait to enter the game when Garbage Time is called if SG1 is at the charity stripe. SG2 could enter the game at the next stoppage of play.

Yes, it is a minor loss of minutes, but it is nonetheless a loss of minutes, which directly affects training.

I know the game does not guarantee a full 48 minutes for training and I understand that. The change I am asking for fixes a small, but annoying hiccup, which has frustrated me for the last few years. Otherwise, the algorithm, as it is written, prevents a coach from Strictly Following the Depth Chart, and thus denying me agency in

Without too much comment on my actual opinion of the thinking behind it, it definitely is a design decision (even the FT substitution, which I also hated and often would dress one fewer player when playing vastly inferior competition if I wanted to ensure the best chance of the full 48). I am moving this to the suggestions forum as that's really the place for this, rather than the Bugs forum.