My lineup & their D ratings are as follows: 10-11 Lebron James (90), 72-73 Jerry West (90), 10-11 Rajon Rondo (90), 94-95 Dennis Rodman (90), 01-02 Shaquille O'Neal (70). The backups are 07-08 Jason Kidd (88), 98-99 Rodman (70), 06-07 O'Neal (60), 03-04 Casey Jacobsen (29). Two of my rooks have a 2 rating, the other 1. I thought this would all be good enough, yet I'm giving up 111/game while scoring just under 114. My team is just 6-11.
I'm getting out rebounded badly in some games, but ahead overall 52.8/game to opponent's 51.1. Our shooting is 50.7% to 46.5%. All other stats are negligible, plus or minus 1 or 2. Opponents are ahead 37% to 33% on 3 pointers, but we have almost the exact same number of attempts, 225 to 223. I've tried everything on D, from -1 to -3 vs. better rebounding teams to +1 or +2 against teams who's guards do most of their scoring. I usually run an up tempo offense.
At this point, it seems I beat most of the lesser teams while getting blown away by the better ones. Jjmurphy just beat me (again) 115-80, keeping my team at a 36% FG rate while shooting 47% himself. He beat me 117-98 in our other meeting. I know he's really good, but come on. I've had similar results against others. But with the current lineup I have, what am I doing wrong? Please, any info would help.

a couple things:

UP-tempo - running up-tempo offense will increase your fg%, while also increasing turnovers, but more often than not I feel the tradeoff is worth it.

might wanna try mixing up your starters/backups: Most of your backups have very low usage numbers, so when those backups are being played with rookies, you will have alot of trouble scoring meaning with those lienups, your turnovers increase dramatically and fg% drops. I would try moving jerry west off the bench to pair with your second shaq to keep your backup unit afloat.

your rebounding really isnt that strong. shaq was an absolute beast in real life, but when you put up his rebounding numbers against other commonly used centers like wilt, dwight, russell.....those guys usually have an edge, especially with dreb%

Yeah, I did notice that about Shaq's rebounding. I figured that as being a trade off with his scoring & that the presence of Rodman would offset things a tad. In all, I'm really surprised my team has any rebounding edge at all. The games they lose, they totally get hammered on the boards. Thanks a lot for the advise. I appreciate it.

Btw, what does usage even mean? It sounds like it's about how usable they are, but I'd think minutes played already answer that.

Usage is basically how much a player has the ball. More precisely, it is the measure of how often a particular player ends his team's possession with a shot, turnover, or getting fouled and shooting free throws. The more often this happens, the higher the player's usg%. The players who pair high usage with a high FG% are generally considered amazing (MJ, LeBron, Wilt, etc). However, there are players who have high usage but have a low FG% (Allen Iverson and basically all high scorers from the 50's that aren't named Wilt).

drocman if you truly want to know how to use usuge works go  here http://whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?TopicID=445171&Page=1&TopicsTimeframe=180

Ok. Well that helps a bit. So, if I have a guy primarily for D & rebounding, who has a low FG%, I would actually want his Usage rate to be low, as opposed to the above players who we want to have a high one. Thanks guys.

Take a look at those 2 threads.  Also, Lebron should be playing at PG or SG (not SF).

http://www.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?TopicID=440310&Page=1&TopicsTimeframe=180
http://www.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?TopicID=449629&Page=1&TopicsTimeframe=180&TopicsPage=2

Ok..........thanks.

Guys, thanks for everything. It made a big difference. Biggest thing was following Hbom's advice by bringing West off the bench & pairing him with the 2nd Shaq. Thanks a lot for that. Really, I think that was the one big adjustment needed. All my usage%, EFG%, & D ratings were good, and most of the Assist%s were good, too. My team is far better than that 6-11 start. They've won 7 straight & 10 of 12. They're now 16-13 & in 3rd place. They're now averaging about 120/game while giving up 110. Again, thanks guys.

good good, now have you heard the one about sample size?

Yeah, yeah, I know. But I'll take any improvement I can get. It's now 8 straight & 11 of 13. Big deal, huh? Maybe. I dunno, but I'll take it. It's a lot better than 6-11. My team was averaging just 114 while giving up 111. Some of the teams I lost to were struggling themselves & still are now, at 10+ games under .500. During the current 13 games, my team has averaged 126 & given up just 106. One of the owners was 18-6 when we played. My team won 155-97. His team averages 125 & gives up just 112. I don't think this validates anything. I've been to just 1 finals in 14 seasons & Have no idea how I got there, so I'll take anything.

glad i could help. one caveat when using my advice is that you are not allowed to use it in games against me.