Monthly training camp is one of the most important (and most confused) parts of the game. Without running training camp each month, your
players will receive training from the league office (which is always worse than running it from the team itself). Training camp allows
young players to improve, and does have old players lose skills (but as mentioned above, must be run).
It is important to realize that all attributes are trained during each training. The drop-down box selection is the
attribute you choose to emphasize. This means that attribute will go up faster, or in the case of older players, go down more slowly.
You can emphasize one of the following attributes: FG Shooting, 3PT Shooting, FT Shooting, Ball Handling, Rebounding, Defense, or Stamina. You
cannot emphasize the same attribute two months in a row.
Young players 25 or younger get extra training bonuses due to the minutes they play, and the league they play in (this is known as the
learning curve). Since younger players learn quickly and ramp up, the idea in the game was that by the end of age 25, players should be close
to maxing out their skills (they can improve up to age 31 though, but at a much slower pace). In the learning curve, players get boosts
for mpg averages in 10 minute increments, and get more boosts for playing those minutes in the elite league than in the semi-pro league.
Just because you emphasize a training, or because a young player is seeing lots of minutes, does not mean you will see changes from month to
month. You really need to compare players season to season, and over multiple seasons, to see growth. The question I receive more than
any in this game is "Did training really work?" and in every case to date, the answer has been yes.
One way for teams to improve during the season is to acquire players via the in-season free agent
market (this is different than Restricted/Unrestricted Free Agency). You may also acquire an extra player if you have a player assigned to the
injured list.
Another way for teams to improve during the season is to make waiver wire claims. Players who are on the waiver wire
are players who were just released by another team within the last four days. During those four days, teams can make a claim on a player,
and the worst team (who has not made a claim this season) will get that player. That team does have to drop one of their elite league
players, who then goes on the waiver wire himself.
Once a team has made a waiver wire claim for the season, they get moved to the bottom of the claim list. They can still claim players,
but if they are competing with another team (who has not claimed a player in the current season) for a player, they will lose out.
The waiver wire page is the same page as acquiring in-season free agents, but it is the top-half of the page (you will know because the
button next to their names says "Claim" instead of "Acquire").
OK, you've learned the game but you're not getting maximum productivity out of your players. Why not? Well, these are a few factors as a
coach you will need to deal with:
1) Fatigue - Players will get dinged up and not be 100%. How do you deal with this? Well, a player at or above 90 fatigue rating will
show no ill effects when playing. From 89.9 down to 60, it is a sliding scale where the lower a player is, the worse he will play. This
means he will shoot worse, defend worse, rebound worse, and turn the ball over more. You'll have to decide if it is worth playing an all-star
at a fatigue rating of 65 or not. One other caveat: If a player drops below 60, he is no longer fatigued but actually injured enough to not be
allowed to play. So a player can get hurt in-game. So unless it is an elimination playoff game or something like that, you may want to rest
your superstar if he's not above 70. You'd hate to see him get that little hangnail that puts him over the edge to injured status.
2) Stamina - Stamina is how quickly a player's fatigue level will rise and fall depending on how many minutes he plays. If a player is in top
shape stamina-wise, he will come back from injury much more quickly. Conversely, if a player has a very low stamina rating (think John "Hot Fudge"
Williams), after playing 20 minutes or so he'll start dropping fatigue points. The more minutes a player plays, the higher his stamina rating will
climb, but also the more chance for post-game fatigue. So it is a balancing act, especially if a player out of game shape.
3) Defensive Matchups - How you defend players and how you move your own players around to avoid the other team's defenders can make a difference over
who wins or loses a game. Defensive Rating plays the key role in this, but height can also play a role.
4) How often a player will shoot - Have all 5 players on ball-hog shooting will only mean they all get the same number of shots. Like the NBA, there is
only one basketball in a game. You'll want to find ways to get your offensive players the ball, while realizing that ball handling also plays a role
in how often a player should get the ball. If a guy is All-pro shooting but Poor ball-handling, he may shoot 60% but turn the ball over 5+ times a game, so
giving him the rock all the time may not be the best idea. If you want 3 shooters to shoot, turn your other 2 players down to Shoot Less or Very Little. Same with
subs as they enter the game, you may have an "Instant Offense" type player you may to have on ball-hog, or he may be good but not as good as your starters. In that case,
turn him down below your starters but ahead of your other subs. And like most things on this game, you may have an aberration one game, but over a season basis those
who are set to ball-hog should have the most shot attempts.
5) Game Tempo - A team can play slow-down, normal or up-tempo... A slow-down team may shoot better and turn the ball over less, but also have more turnovers via shot-clock
violations. An up-temp team may shoot a bit worse and turn the ball over more than they normally do, but if the other team is very poor ball-handling wise, you may want to
go up-tempo to exploit it.
6) Endgame situations - In the last 2 minutes, special logic goes into effect that determines if your team will shoot more or fewer 3-point shots than normal. If you are
ahead, you may wish to only shoot mostly 2-point shots. If you are behind, you may want to get your open guys a 3-point shot. You determine at what defecit they start shooting
more threes and what margin of lead you turn your guys inside. In the last minute, it is more automated, as far as auto-fouling, auto-3point shooting.
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