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- NOTES ON BASKETBALL
-
-
- CONTENTS
-
- 1. Basketball Today
- a. Page 2
- b. Page 3
- c. Page 4
-
- 2. Head Coach
- a. Training
- b. Depth Charts
- c. Preferences
- d. Assignments
- e. Position Switches
-
-
- 1. Basketball Today
-
- Basketball Today is the online sports section, where you can get all the
- stats for the league. The front page lists interesting game scores, either
- because of upsets or huge wins. Human-controlled teams are more likely to be
- listed than computer-controlled teams. Basketball today is organized like a
- newspaper, and has three inside pages. It is important to understand them all
- in order to play Basket well.
-
-
- a. Page 2
-
- Standings. Lists the overall and home records of every team. Teams are
- ranked by overall record, with ties broken first by division record and second
- by rankings.
-
- Human Box Scores. A quick way to get your team's box scores. See "Team
- Stats" below for a description.
-
- Players of Day. Offensive and defensive stars from that game.
-
- Leaders. Lists league leaders in eight categories:
- -Points per game
- -Field goal percentage
- -Three pointer percentage
- -Free throw percentage
- -Rebounds
- -Steals
- -Blocks
- -Assists
- In college, the last four are per game (since different teams play different
- numbers of games).
-
-
- b. Page 3
-
- Scores. A listing of all the scores from the current game day.
-
- Box Scores. All box scores. See "Team Stats" below for a description
-
- Team Stats. Asks for a team to select, and shows team finances and stats
- and player stats and attributes. Player stats are as follows:
- -Stats:
- -Games played, minutes per game (players only)
- -Field goals attempted, made
- -Three pointers attempted, made
- -Free throws attempted, made
- -Steals
- -Blocks
- -Rebounds
- -Assists
- -Turnovers committed
- -Fouls (players only)
- -Points per game (players only)
- -Shooting percentage (players only)
- -Position (players only)
- -Attributes (players only):
- -Position
- -Age
- -Hands (ball-handling)
- -Aggression
- -Intelligence
- -Scoring ability (short-range)
- -Shooting (long-range)
- -Stamina
- -Training rating (how developed the player is)
- -Rest (percent ability the player is currently at, should be 100)
- -Height
- -Offensive rating: points+assists per minute
- -Defensive rating: blocks+rebounds+2*steals per minute
- -Plus/minus per minute
- -Injury: estimated days until recovered, severity (A=least, P=most severe),
- type of injury (A=leg, B=arm, C=both, D=concussion)
- -Play injured: Maximum injury severity that the player will play under
-
- Analysis. This gives an overview of the performance of each position in a
- team, looking at various aspects of the game. For each, two numbers are given:
- the actual value and the rating compared to other teams, from 1 to 10. The
- statistical categories are as follows:
- -Points per minute
- -Steals per minute
- -Blocks per minute
- -Rebounds per minute
- -Assists per minute
-
-
- c. Page 4
-
- Schedules. Schedules and past scores for all teams.
-
- Rankings. Gives the team rankings, based on performance so far. An average
- team has a ranking of 0.
-
- Lines. Projected favorites and spreads for the coming game, based on the
- rankings. Even if the spread is 0, the team listed first is the favorite.
-
- Info. You can get a listing of past champions, player and coaching awards,
- league records, the hall of fame, and coach stats. In pro, the ownership of
- draft picks is shown; in college, the tournament seeds and results are shown.
-
-
- 2. Head Coach
-
- The coach takes care of the day-to-day preparations for coming games. He
- does nothing at all during the offseason except for running the training
- camps.
-
-
- a. Training
-
- Before each game, you get the option to train your team. The training
- options are shooting, passing, defense, conditioning, and films. You can
- use up to 6 training "points", but your team will be more fatigued the
- more you train.
-
- b. Depth charts (deciding who starts)
-
- Select "starters" to set your depth charts at each position, respectively.
- The first player listed will be your first string, the second player your
- second string, and the third player your third string. You may have a player
- at any position play any other position, but the further he is from his
- nominal position the worse he will play. Also if you have some illegal
- lineup (all five positions with the same three players for example), the
- computer will put players on the floor at random, which may not be what you
- want. Keep in mind that players who are on the court will, at random times,
- get permanent bonuses added to their attributes whenever they make a good
- play.
-
- Also in the starters menu is a chance to set what depth your players will
- play at. For each player, you can set a general preferred position to be
- in on offense, and a preferred position to shoot from. Options range from
- inside to perimeter for both.
-
- c. Game preferences
-
- The situation options allow for your team to use different play styles in
- different situations of the game. You may choose the preferred pace (1 to
- 4 pass in pro and 1 to 5 pass in college), intentional foul usage (1 to 5,
- 5=the most), use of players with personal fouls (1 to 5), full-court
- press (1 to 5), and trapping defense (1 to 5). You can select your
- preferences for shooting location and how high a priority it is to shoot
- from there, as well as your primary and secondary defenses.
-
- The pace sets the average number of passes your team tries before making a
- shot. Naturally, any wide-open shot will likely be attempted; this number is
- an estimate of the pace you will try to play the game at. The fewer the
- number of passes, the less the chance of steals, but the less the chance of
- getting a good shot. Also, faster-pace teams fatigue more rapidly and drive
- inside more, so it is a good idea to check your player skills when deciding
- on this.
-
- The "Shooting" option, which determines where your preferred shooting
- distance is. Straight means no preference, and the other options are inside,
- medium, and perimeter. For anything except straight, you can choose how much
- extra shooting comes from the selected zone. Choices are 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%,
- and 100% extra.
-
- For defense, the choices in pro are straight; or double-cover inside, medium,
- perimeter zones; or double-cover a specific player. A double-coverage option
- also asks the percent of the time to use the double, with the choices being
- 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, or 100%. If you double a specific player, it will take
- the first matchup on the matchup list with both players on the floor to
- decide who is doubled. Naturally, double-coverage at one area means lesser
- coverage elsewhere.
-
- In college you can also choose zone defenses, the 2-3, 2-1-2, 3-2, triangle,
- and box. In 2-3, the center is under the hoop with the forwards to the side,
- and the guards on the perimeter. This is strongest against an inside game.
- 2-1-2 is similar, but with the center moved towards the free throw line,
- and is strongest against a medium game. The 3-2 has the center and PF
- to the sides of the basket, with the SF and both guards on the perimeter.
- This is strongest against a perimeter attack. The triangle is similar to
- a 2-1-2, but there is no specific strength, and the guards run at 5 trap
- regardless of the team options. The box takes the first matchup against
- a guard on the list and makes it a man matchup, while the remaining 4
- players play zone. This allows for you to put your better defensive guard
- against a strong opposing SG.
-
- The secondary defense is used instead of the primary defense when certain
- key opposing players are not on the floor (as set by the matchup and
- defensive key preferences). The secondary defense is set the same way
- as the primary. This is a useful strategy if the team has one outstanding
- player who you wish to double-cover, and you want to play straight man
- when he is not on the floor.
-
- Matchups allow you to decide on the man-to-man matchups for your team.
- This has no effect in college when using zones except for the box&1.
- When the game runs it looks at the list starting at the first matchup,
- and sets your players against the opposing players on defense. It is
- not necessary to specify all five positions, as any players not matched
- up will go against the player closest to their position. If no
- defensive key players are set, matchups will also be used to determine
- if primary or secondary defense is used. If any defined matchups are
- on the floor, the primary defense is used. If none are on the floor
- (and there is at least one matchup defined), the secondary defense is
- used.
-
- Key players let you choose 0, 1, or 2 players that will be on the court
- in critical situations and handle the ball.
-
- Defensive key players let you choose 0, 1, or 2 players that are used to
- determine whether you use your primary or secondary defense. If any
- of those players are on the court, the primary defense is used. If
- none are on the court (and at least one is set), the secondary defense
- is used.
-
- Order sets the order of players on roster lists and box scores, but in
- no way changes the way the game plays.
-
- The bench usage options let you decide how much to use your bench at each
- position, from 1 to 5. Selecting 1 will give your bench almost no use, while
- selecting 5 will treat your second string player as equal to the first
- string. Note that substitutions are based on the fatigue of each player, not
- how much playing time they have had, so you will want to base these choices
- here on the skill levels of the #1 and #2 players rather than their stamina.
-
- In the bench section, you can also decide how likely you are to pull
- starters in a blowout, winning or losing. Setting either option to 1 means
- that you never do it, while setting either to 5 makes you most likely.
-
- d. Assignments
-
- In theory, the players on the court will know who the best players to do
- each task are. However, this is not always the case, and you will want
- to designate certain players to do certain things on offense. Specifically,
- you can designate shooters, ball-handlers, and rebounders. Any combination
- is legal, except that a rebounder cannot also be a ball-handler. You can
- also set players to be preferentially used when the team is ahead or behind
- in the second half by setting the A and B options in the player assignment
- menu.
-
- Along with the assignment menu, is the selection of playing injured players.
- Normally, if a player is injured he will not play. But you can override that
- to make them play. Note that an injured player is more likely to get
- injured than a healthy player, so you are taking a risk by doing this. If
- a player is injured, his attributes will get diminished according to the
- injury level. An injury level of A is a 6.25% penalty, B is 12.5%, three
- is 18.75%, and so on. Level P is a 100% penalty, meaning the player would
- be useless. You can set the maximum leg injury and maximum arm injury
- the player will play with. A player with both an arm and leg injury or
- a concussion will not play unless his injury level is lower than both
- settings you have given him.
-
- e. Position switches
-
- This is a good tool if you have players who are ineffective in their given
- position, but would be much better in a different one. The drawback is that
- the players switched will suffer a performance penalty for a few games until
- they learn the new positions.
-
- The positions in order of increasing average distance from the basket are
- Center (C), power forward (PF), small forward (SF), shooting guard (SG), and
- point guard (PG). The guards tend to stay on the perimeter, and therefore
- take the most three pointers, while the center will take the most inside
- shots. This is important to remember, as height is more important for
- centers and forwards, while distance shooting is more important for guards.
- Also, the guards tend to handle the ball the most.
-
-
- copyright (c) 1992-1999 Andy Dolphin
-