BuzzerBeater Forums

Ok, one of the things I said I would do is to make a post regarding how to train a U21 player. Feel free to post comments, corrections or hurl insults. Also, please note that I am not RIP and he may have very different ideas on how to train players. Even though I personally think this equally applies to NT players.

---------

Pick what position to train:

The first step before starting a training program is to decide what position(s) you will train. Ideally, I would suggest setting your training program around your U21 prospect(s) and then picking up other players to fill the remaining training slots. First, take a look at your player to see where his strengths are. Then, keep in mind that different positions need different skills. These tend to be my preferences:

PG

Primary skills: handling, passing, outside d, jump shot
Secondary skills: driving, jump range

Based on Joseph Ka's study, I now have driving as a secondary.

SG

Primary skills: outside d, jump shot
Secondary skills: handling, passing, driving, jump range

Ok, here's the deal on JR. Basically, it is a really controversial subject. Some people say it is the most important offensive skill for a SG (and is therefore a primary skill). Others, like the current Canadian champion, suggest not training it past prominent-prolifiic and to focus on JS instead.

SF

Primary skills: inside d, outside d, jump shot
Secondary skills: inside shot, handling, passing, driving
Tertiary skills: rebounding, jump range

However, for a SF it all really depends. It is easy to change the skills required for a SF in an outside or inside based offence. Just keep the inside and outside d but make him look more like a SG for an outside SF. More like a PF for an inside SF.

PF

Primary skills: Inside d, rebounding, inside shot, jump shot
Secondary skills: outside d, handling, passing

C

Primary skills: Inside d, rebounding, inside shot
Secondary skills: Shot blocking, handling, jump shot

I do not list tertiary skills for some positions but let me just say that atrocious anything is bad. I would still prefer my C to have inept passing and handling, for example. A C with atrocious handling and passing vs a C with a bit of outside d can still turn the ball over 3-5 times a game. But as RIP would say, now I'm just getting picky.

Also, don't discount height when choosing what to train. Guard skills tend to train faster if a player is shorter and inside skills tend to train faster if a player is taller.

Pick how many positions to train

Ideally, if you want your player to make the U21 team, the fewer positions you train the better. One position training is starting to become the preferred way to train Canadian U21 players. Of course, some skills cannot be trained using one position training (rebounding, jump shot and one-on-one). You can either train those skills when you have fewer games during the week (at the all-star break or in the off-season) or have back-up players to train on an ad-hoc basis. If you really want to train a U21 player, you just cannot be doing three position training.

Get a good trainer and doctor

If you're training a U21 player, my opinion is your trainer should not be lower than level 4 but the higher the better. Same goes for your doctor. It is a real pain if your prospect goes out with a 5 week injury. It would seriously set him back. Plus, level 4s are generally quite affordable. If you can get a fitness trainer, even better.

Pressure, one-on-one and outside shooting

A frequent question of new users is what do these train? Pressure trains mostly outside d. One-on-one trains a bunch of things (depending on what positions you are training) but it trains driving and handling for the most part. Outside shooting trains mostly jump range but includes also some jump shot. I think that the remaining options are self-explanatory.


Last edited by HeadPaperPusher at 12/10/2009 13:55:25

Minutes

Once you have picked what you are training, pick the position you want to train. For example, if you want to train jump range, pick outside shooting. If you want to do one position training, SG is your only option. The training screen is pretty clear on what position(s) are being trained. The new site is even more helpful with this, as when you go to "manage my team" there is an explicit training box showing what you are training, what position(s) and who has minutes at those positions for the training week in question.

Ok, once you know what position(s) you are training, now you have to make sure you get your trainees at least 48 minutes in those position(s). Less than 48 minutes is not helpful - the formula is not linear. What I mean is that 24 minutes does not give you 50% training. In fact, it is significantly less than that. I would not worry too much about getting 47 minutes but 45 or less and you might as well do some team training. On the other hand, more than 48 minutes does not give you anything extra.

I will give some tips later on how to get your players exactly 48 minutes. It is very helpful if you are doing a 1 position training program and want to train 3 players. However, with 2 position training I do not suggest trying to train 6 players. Getting everyone full minutes is a real headache.

Use a training rotation

You have to be careful of skills that get really high in comparison to the other main skills for the player's position. For example, if you are training a C and you push his inside d to 13 while leaving the rest of his C skills at 7. First: this type of player will not be as good as a player with more balance. But the second point is that it is also not an efficient training program. Once his outside d gets up it will start to train slower than the rest of his skills. The reverse can be said for a skill that is much lower than the rest of the skills for his position. So, for example, a C with high inside d, inside shot and shot blocking but atrocious rebounding will train faster in rebounding.

For this reason, it is more efficient to rotate the skills you are training and never let any of the skills for his position get too low. For example, when training a PF or C, make sure to rotate between inside shot, inside d, rebounding and shot blocking on a regular basis. Sure, SB is not as important as the other inside skills but it is still important to train it from time to time or you are not training efficiently.

Similarly, for a guard, rotate between the 6 guard skills. For example, for a SG, of course you may want to train outside d and jump shot more than the others. But you do not want those skills to get too much higher than the other guard skills.

Also, I have seen some people focus on one skill for half a season, then switch to another skill. Again, I have to emphasize that this is slightly less efficient than a training program that rotates training every 2-3 weeks.

The only exception I might make is for outside d on a guard. OD is the longest skill to train so the more you can train it earlier in a player's career, the better. In the coming seasons, I think OD of 12 will be the minimum for a guard to make the team, but it may even take 13-14. Getting your guard to proficient-prominent OD by 19 is a must.









Last edited by HeadPaperPusher at 12/04/2009 15:07:53

Team Training

Your options here are basically stamina, free throws or game shape. This option will train the whole team, not just your trainees. Also, they will get full training regardless of how many minutes they received during the week. Game shape is just not something you want to do if you are training a world class player. Maybe in the future, when our talent pool is much bigger, game shape training may be useful when playing an important opponent. But I don't think we are there yet.

In general, I tend to value stamina for my starting players and a bit for my back-ups. In theory, the game engine should substitute in the best player. However, as BB-Forrest has stated during forum day, it is not so simple. The game will always tend to keep your starter in more than your back-up, even if you use "coach picks from depth chart". As such, starting a guy with atrocious-awful stamina is just a no-no. I personally would only make an exception for an extremely talented player. However, I have had big disagreements with some managers on this, so please fell free to make your own opinion.

My suggestion is, if your player has less than mediocre stamina, to get him stamina training whenever he doesn't get his full 48 minutes during a week (more on minutes later). If he has mediocre stamina, basically same thing, although if he is borderline 48 minutes (like 46), then you can probably just do his regular training. I would prefer average stamina and above for a starting player.

If stamina is not an issue, then free throw training is another option. I particularly like a high free throw skill for inside based players but it is useful for all players. For example, shooting 70-80% of your free throws can make the difference between losing a close game and winning it. Just like everything else, atrocious in this skill is really bad. In fact, just pushing the skill to pitiful is already a big improvement. But again, I would wait for weeks when you can't get your trainees full minutes.

Optimizing your minutes

It is really tough to get a player 48 minutes in a game unless you really work for it. Here are some tips that should get your guys 48 minutes in 95% of the cases in a 1 position training program:

-set your trainee as the starter, back-up and bench player for his training position
-only put 9 players in the line-up. If you have 10 or more players, your trainee could go off the court during garbage time
-make sure every player other than your trainee has a back-up and every player in the line-up needs to be either a starter or a backup somewhere.
-set your substitutions in the event of fouls to "let them play". If your guy fouls out, you are still screwed. But at least he won't come out in the 1st quarter with 2 fouls, for example.
-use strictly follow depth chart or coach picks from depth chart



Last edited by HeadPaperPusher at 09/22/2009 14:39:50

Also, for a more elaborate explanation of what trains what and how fast, check out this thread:

(78242.1)

Last edited by HeadPaperPusher at 09/22/2009 10:42:02

hurl insults.

Dork. (Kidding, of course).

(warning - I think this will subscribe you to BB Global)

No, BB doesn't automatically subscribe you to forums you merely visit and post in.

No, BB doesn't automatically subscribe you to forums you merely visit and post in.

Thanks for the tip. I remember it used to do that in HT and didn't know what happened here.

By the way, you're making me want to re-subscribe to the "BB-Charles sucks" Federation. Or start my own... Maybe I'll call it "Juicepats can't keep his pants on". ;-)

Use a training rotation

You have to be careful of skills that get really high in comparison to the other main skills for the player's position. For example, if you are training a PG and you push his outside d to 13 while leaving the rest of his guard skills at 7. First: this type of player will not be as good as a player with more balance. But the second point is that it is also not an efficient training program. Once his outside d gets up it will start to train slower than the rest of his skills. The reverse can be said for a skill that is much lower than the rest of the skills for his position. So, for example, a C with high inside d, inside shot and shot blocking but atrocious rebounding will train faster in rebounding.

Also, I have seen some people focus on one skill for half a season, then switch to another skill. Again, I have to emphasize that this is slightly less efficient than a training program that rotates training every 2-3 weeks.

I even learned something, I have heard this somewhere before, but i was never certain about it and I never really thought about it when i was training my players. Thanks for putting so much time into this Chuck, It took me pretty long just to read it all! :P Thanks







Last edited by Tay Zonday at 09/24/2009 08:15:55

Thanks for putting so much time into this Paulo,

I'm not sure Paulo would be comfortable taking credit for this. ;-)

Added a piece on height and having good staff to train players. I can't believe I left that out.