Player building for noobs... Season 7 edition!

[tclass]

OK folks... seems like there are alot of questions and comments this season about what skills to train and how to make an effective player... so I thought that I'd start a fresh thread here to get some ideas out!

I'll go over the basics as best I can and provide suggestions, but keep in mind that these are merely MY thoughts and are by no means the gospel.

And now without further delay...


SKILLS

Floor Shooting- The "granddaddy" of all shooting skills. Technically this covers all shots in the mid-range area but for all intensive purposes it's all shots that AREN'T 3-pointers. This skill also determines how well your player will shoot free throws. A high FS skill will ensure that your player is tough to stop on offense and very unlikely to miss FTs. A skill of 80-100 should make ANY player a good FT shooter.

Inside Shooting- This skill covers all inside shots... dunks and shots in the lane mostly. Much the same as Floor shooting but you don't get the added bonus of being a great FT shooter (even great big men with a high IS skill will need to train SOME FS in order to hit FTs). The jury is out right now as to whether or not it's as good as FS, but there ARE players out there who have been VERY successful with this skill.

3-point Shooting- This skill is pretty self-explanatory. Covers 3-point shots. Back in the early days of CD this was the probably the best skill in the whole game since a player could shoot a ridiculously high number of 3s (and make them!). I'm talking stats like 24/26 from 3... Since then the admins have made adjustments (increased stamina drain and more of an emphasis on secondary skills) to temper this skill and bring it back to earth. A good 3pt shooter can still be deadly, but it's probably a good idea to use this skill in combination with another primary (like FS or STL or BLK) just to be safe.

Dribbling- Once thought to be a useless skill, dribbling is getting it's due this season as more people realize what a benefit it is to have (regardless of the player). Essentially, a high DRB skill will prevent turnovers as it makes it harder for people to steal the ball from you. It also helps YOU steal the ball much better when used in conjunction with SPD and STL skills. It's ALSO very helpful for volume scorers. If you're playing in a high-level league you'd better train this lol.

Passing- Another skill that seems to be emerging this season (finally). In the past putting ANYTHING into this skill was seen as a waste of points... even if you were a PG... but now Passing seems to cut down turnovers as well as giving a bonus to shooting percentages... useful. Still... if you're a young player I wouldn't go crazy with it right off the bat. You may want to wait a bit and train in once your guy has a few seasons under his belt.

Stealing- Probably this season's most popular skill. A few seasons ago BLK was all the rage but people have started to realize that a good stealer can be VERY effective in disrupting an offense as well. In case you haven't guessed.. yes, this skill determines your player's ability to steal the ball and cause turnovers, which in turn lead to more possessions for YOUR team and LESS possessions for your opponent. Alot of VERY good teams are utilizing this skill with deadly results.

Rebounding- This is one skill that the vast majority of CD players haven't figured out yet... myself included. One thing that I DO know though is that a higher REB skill will make your player grab more OFFENSIVE rebounds in particular while JMP + REB will grab defensive rebs. I'm currently running some tests with some young players but it's still a bit early to tell how much you should pay attention to this skill. At any rate, if you're a young player I'd advise against putting a TON of points into this unless you a) have some patience or b) know what you're doing. The admins have hinted that REB used in combination with another skill could provide impressive results. Give it a go if you like!

Blocking- Along with Floor Shooting this is probably THE most popular skill in CD. This skill determines your player's ability not JUST to block shots, but to play defense on the whole. A high BLK skill may not always result in a ton of blocks... but you'll definitely force your opponent into a bad shooting night (if your BLK is higher than his shooting skill and your secondaries are close).

Strength- How strong your player is. The first of what we CDers call "the secondary skills" (those skills that deal with your player's body). It's believed that STR is useful for Inside Scorers... blockers and even 3pt shooters... it seems like a natural fit for rebounding as well.

Speed- How quick your player is. SPD is an incredibly useful skill on both offense AND defense. On offense it can help you to score more easily. On defense it can help you stay in front of your man (preventing your player from picking up fouls) and help you to rack up steals (if you have a good STL skill).

Jumping- How high your player can jump. Most times this is probably the FIRST secondary skill that most new players should train (unless you're making a pure stealer). JMP helps you score on offense (making your shots harder to block) and helps you block on defense as well. Whether you're an offensive star or a defensive monster... BLK may be the king of the defensive skills.

Confidence- Lots of debate about this skill right now.... and out of all of the skills it's probably the most "forgotten" one. I would suppose that this skill has the ability to affect ALL other skills (on offense and defense) and thus is referred to by some as a "floating skill". IMHO no young player should EVER be training this past 20. There's just no point right now... but bear in mind again.. that's just my opinion. Oh yeah.. and it DOESN'T help you hit FTs... that's ALL Floor Shooting.

Stamina- Self-explanatory. The higher your stamina, the longer your player can perform at peak efficiency. If your player is a scorer you will want to make SURE that you train this skill up to about 40 or so... and you'll need it to be even higher in premier leagues. If your player has a high shooting skill and good secondaries and STILL missed all of his shots in the 4th quarter and you're wondering why..... you guessed it. He probably had low stamina and was just dead-tired. Keep in mind too that the better defenders you face.. the more stamina you'll lose.


OK... that covers the basics. Now let's get a little more advanced.


Pairing skills

Now that you have an idea of what each skill does, you should also know what skills work best together so that you can get the most out of your player. I'll only list a few examples here, but you can obviously invent all kinds of combinations.

FS + DRB + SPD + JMP- The fouler. Players with high skills in these areas will often wreak havoc on opposing teams because they can get by their defenders and into the teeth of the defense so easily. They also enjoy the added benefit of counteracting good stealers due to their good combination of skills.

FS + JMP + DRB- The scorer. Players with high skills in these areas will be tough to stop on offense (given that they're facing similarly rated competition). Good dribbling and jumping ensures that defenders (blockers and stealers) will have a hard time slowing this player down.

BLK + JMP + SPD/STR- The stopper. Players with high skills in these areas make them a natural fit to be their team's top defender. For bigs, STR may be the 3rd component since they deal mostly with other big, strong players. For guards, SPD may be more important since they'll have to have the ability to stay in front of their man without picking up fouls.

STL + DRB + SPD + PAS The stealer. Players with high skills in these areas will disrupt an opposing teams's offense by forcing turnovers and limiting shot attempts.

I'm sure that you get the idea by now.... making a good player is much more than maxing out ONE specific skill.

Now before I end off we'll look at some examples of "good builds" and "bad builds" and discuss why they're judged as so.


Player Builds (examples)

Here's your basic player, randomly generated from scratch.

Floor Shooting: 20
Inside Shooting: 20
3PT Shooting: 15
Dribbling: 15
Passing: 15
Stealing: 15
Rebounding: 20
Blocking: 20
Strength: 15
Speed: 20
Jumping: 15
-----------------
Confidence: 15
Stamina: 16

Pretty basic... but so well-rounded that he doesn't stand out at all in any one area... and in this game (much like in the NBA) if you want to stay in the league to HAVE to be good at SOMETHING. We all can't be Lebron or MJ lol...

Now here's the same player with his skills re-allocated to make him a scorer.

Floor Shooting: 40
Inside Shooting: 5
3PT Shooting: 5
Dribbling: 30
Passing: 5
Stealing: 5
Rebounding: 5
Blocking: 5
Strength: 5
Speed: 40
Jumping: 40
-----------------
Confidence: 6
Stamina: 30

You can see here that this build is MUCH more effective, because we've chosen an area of discipline for this guy and then gone all out to make him as good as possible in those areas (bear in mind that you cannot have less than 5 or more than 40 in any skill when you're making a player from scratch).

I've given this player a high FS skill to ensure that he'll be able to score and hit FTs AND I've made sure that his supporting physical skills (and DRB) will compliment that and make him harder to stop. He also has enough stamina to play 2 or 3 quarters without dying.

Now let's look at 2 high-level players.

Player A (valued at 69+ with no equip.)

Floor Shooting: 50
Inside Shooting: 108
3PT Shooting: 63
Dribbling: 60
Passing: 71
Stealing: 70
Rebounding: 80
Blocking: 75
Strength: 60
Speed: 70
Jumping: 100
-----------------
Confidence: 46
Stamina: 50

and

Player B (valued 69+ with no equip.)

Floor Shooting: 250
Inside Shooting: 20
3PT Shooting: 30
Dribbling: 100
Passing: 40
Stealing: 78
Rebounding: 30
Blocking: 30
Strength: 26
Speed: 110
Jumping: 106
-----------------
Confidence: 33
Stamina: 53


Both players were born in season 1 and have close to same number of total skill points. Yet one player is VASTLY superior to the other (take a guess at which? lol) because he was trained with a plan in mind early on. Yep, Player B wins the gold star here. This is a player that would be capable of playing in the game's toughest leagues... Player A, although serviceable, would struggle due to his being too well-rounded. Too many "wasted" skill points across the board.

The sooner you develop a plan for your player (from Day 1 hopefully!) the better your player will be over the long run.

Others can feel free to chime in (please do!) but hopefully that helps some of the CD noobs out and adds to their enjoyment later on!

Cheers!

[jlove13]

Great guide
but you need speed to be a good scorer too, right?

[tclass]

Originally Posted by jlove13

Great guide
but you need speed to be a good scorer too, right?

Of course! That's why both players in my example had good SPD values. While it IS possible to score with just a high JMP and FS, SPD is great for drawing fouls and getting "free" points at the line.

[jlove13]

Originally Posted by tclass

Of course! That's why both players in my example had good SPD values. While it IS possible to score with just a high JMP and FS, SPD is great for drawing fouls and getting "free" points at the line.

No, I was talking about in the "Pairing skills" section you only included FS, DRB, and JMP for fouler.

[JaredC]

I think it looks very good. These player build posts had been needing some updating. I do feel that it would be a good idea to mention, in your opinion, the amount of floor shooting needed to maintain a good free throw percentage. For example, at what value floor shooting is it recommended for an inside ahooter to knock down the most free throws.

[tclass]

Originally Posted by jlove13

No, I was talking about in the "Pairing skills" section you only included FS, DRB, and JMP for fouler.

I mentioned that for the SCORER... but I was only listing 3 primary skills. SPD can easily be added in too.

[tclass]

Originally Posted by JaredC

I think it looks very good. These player build posts had been needing some updating. I do feel that it would be a good idea to mention, in your opinion, the amount of floor shooting needed to maintain a good free throw percentage. For example, at what value floor shooting is it recommended for an inside ahooter to knock down the most free throws.

I have an inside shooter with a FS rating of 50... and he's only about 60% or so....

I'd say 80-100 if I had too guess.

I have a stealer with 106 FS who's shooting 96% from the line.

[yoniphone]

Originally Posted by tclass

Floor Shooting: 250
Inside Shooting: 20
3PT Shooting: 30
Dribbling: 100
Passing: 40
Stealing: 78
Rebounding: 30
Blocking: 30
Strength: 26
Speed: 110
Jumping: 106
-----------------
Confidence: 33
Stamina: 53

lol if unboosted you pretty much showed a player better then every other player in this game!, though i'm sure it wasn't copied from your user or anyones user:P

[JaredC]

Originally Posted by tclass

I have an inside shooter with a FS rating of 50... and he's only about 60% or so....

I'd say 80-100 if I had too guess.

Same issue Im having. Just thought it would be helpful to mention a specific number in your guide.

[tclass]

Originally Posted by JaredC

Same issue Im having. Just thought it would be helpful to mention a specific number in your guide.

OK.... Done!