I think it's pretty obvious after a few games to figure out which players are aggressive. Just look at the number of fouls they commit. I'm not sure if there's a difference in offensive and defensive aggressiveness in this game. My biggest hacker doesn't really seem to take too many shots, even though he's a guard, no matter what offense I put him in. Yet player on my roster who takes by far the most shots doesn't foul very often, and sometimes plays 48 minutes in a game. I actually wish he didn't shoot so often, so I wonder if there's some hidden factor that makes him think he's Michale Jordan.But that’s a side issue.
Regarding fouls, I think game situation has a lot to do with how many fouls a player plays with. Obviously, in a close game, you want you best players in the game. And when you’re losing, especially if it’s by a significant margin, you need your best players in the game. I think it’s fair to assume that if an owner instructs the coach to stick strictly with the depth chart, there’s a reason why that owner wants certain players starting, and they may have as much to do with training goals as with winning a game. If the direction is to strictly stick to the depth chart, I think players should play with more fouls than if the coach is given more leeway in who’s on the floor.
If it’s possible, it would be best for the simulator to be able to evaluate the difference in talent between a player in foul trouble and the potential substitute. If I have, say, only one good center, and all of my back-ups are no taller than 6’-9” and not very good, I think it’s harder to have my center on the bench for too long. But on the other hand, sometimes I want a lesser player to play as much as possible, regardless of his fouls. (I admit I sometimes stick my hacker, who fouls at an astounding rate, into the starting lineup in the hopes that he’ll injure one of the other starters. I want him in the game using all 6 of his fouls, and I don’t care if fouls out of the game before half-time. And believe me, if he was never taken out because of foul trouble, he probably would foul out by half-time in many games since he average a foul about every 4.6 minutes, which means fouling out of an average game less than 28 minutes into a game.) So, again, I think directing a coach to strictly stick to the depth chart may be a way telling the coach not to worry about foul trouble as much as if he didn’t have to be so strict. Or maybe there’s a new option on the line-up set-up page related to foul-trouble sensitivity.
But as a rule of thumb, a coach generally doesn’t want an important player to have 4 fouls before half-time, so 3 fouls in the first half typically gets a player a rest for the remainder of the half.
Don't ask what sort of Chunks they are, you probably don't want to know. Blowing Chunks since Season 4!