Hey guys, just a quick question about practice plans: If I don't allocate minutes to specific attributes (e.g., rebounding and perimeter), will those skills actually decrease or just stay the same for the given player?

I believe they will decrease if you have less than 7 minutes in one skill. So if you don't care if they decrease, then set it at 0. If you want them to improve, set it 7+, but there is no "stay the same" unless they've maxed out.

The consensus around here is you have to allocate 7 minutes to each category, except LP and PER, in order to prevent a decrease. For LP and PER you can maintain with 3 minutes.

However, in my experience it depends on the player. I've never seen decreases when using the maintenance minutes above, but I have seen one or two point increases. I've frequently allocated 0 minutes to certain categories I don't care about as much, and I might see a one or two point decrease at most.

So basically it depends on certain factors, such as work ethic, growth remaining in a category, and playing time. And in the end, it's a judgment call. How much does the category matter for the player?

I use zero's all the time.   I very rarely see a decrease of more than -2.

Thanks. You all have been more than helpful.

If you give 0 minutes to a category that the player is rated high in, the decrease can be greater, as much as -4 or -5.

i use zeros on things i don't care about.
when i was in DIII i used zeros for things like per in bigs and LP in guards.

Posted by trobone on 1/19/2012 7:03:00 AM (view original):
i use zeros on things i don't care about.
when i was in DIII i used zeros for things like per in bigs and LP in guards.

That's kind of stupid.   Noether of those skills are throw away.

Is it true if a player is maxed and you put zero minutes in the category it won't decline?

Posted by mullycj on 1/19/2012 12:59:00 PM (view original):

Posted by trobone on 1/19/2012 7:03:00 AM (view original):
i use zeros on things i don't care about.
when i was in DIII i used zeros for things like per in bigs and LP in guards.

That's kind of stupid.   Noether of those skills are throw away.

Not stupid, IMO. At DIII a lot of bigs would have a starting PER of <5 or something like that. I would absolutely put 0 in that category and use those minutes for rebounding, LP, ath, or SH etc

Posted by rednation58 on 1/19/2012 7:20:00 PM (view original):
Is it true if a player is maxed and you put zero minutes in the category it won't decline?

technically, no. effectively, yes. With 0 minutes and maxed out potential theoretically the stat will drop very slowly. Since all these are measured in decimals, but displayed as rounded whole numbers you are unlikely to ever "see" any drop, or at most a 1 pt drop.

Posted by rsvphr on 1/19/2012 5:40:00 AM (view original):
If you give 0 minutes to a category that the player is rated high in, the decrease can be greater, as much as -4 or -5.

why would you give 0 minutes if he's rated high? Even if he does start at 10 (minimum rating for high potential) that means a final value of at least 30 (assuming WE and normal advancement, etc.)...