I recently had a discussion on how important athleticism is in Guards. If you take the "Real Life" point of view, athleticism is obviously crucial. But in HD, I have always considered Athleticism as being much more important in big men. I am interested in hearing your guys' point of view on this, how important is athleticism for Guards?

Very.  Not as important as speed is, but very.

Here is a team with athletic but not so awfully fast (in many cases) guards playing at a very elite level.  One of those fast guards is the best defensive guard in Knight D3, but even the slow ones seem to be playing quite effectively if you look through the game log.

I've been playing HD for awhile and I always thought Athleticism was more of a bonus or an afterthought for Guards, so this is pretty much news to me. Looks like I need to shift my philosophy  a little bit. Thanks guys.

Posted by dahsdebater on 12/16/2011 3:48:00 AM (view original):
Here is a team with athletic but not so awfully fast (in many cases) guards playing at a very elite level.  One of those fast guards is the best defensive guard in Knight D3, but even the slow ones seem to be playing quite effectively if you look through the game log.

There is only one guard on that whole team with lower sp and strong ath, not sure what you're looking at ...

Well one guard and one SF, both of whom start.

I rank ATH and SPD equal for guards, kinda.

If I am looking for a scorer, I put SPD higher.

If I am looking for a defender, I put ATH higher.

But I more or less think of a 50-70 the same as a 70-50.

I think athleticism is much more important for big men AND I think it is still very important for guards. 

Athleticism is very important but only once you get to 70 speed or so. I'll take a 75 speed, 50 athleticism over 95 speed and 30 athleticism every day and twice on Sunday. Athleticism really increases chance of drawing fouls and badly improved defense

They're both important, and you want as much of both as possible. I find it very difficult to find fast guards with respectable ath so I tend to have slower guards. Although http://www.wisjournal.com/hd/PlayerProfile/Ratings.aspx?tid=0&pid=1975515 Jack Rickey is a prime example of pure ath/spd/bh that I don't think I've ever had before. Over 300 FTA this year, although my conference does suck. 

In general, I'd agree with duke's stance, although if I have a couple slower guards, I wouldn't have a problem taking the 30ath/95spd guard.

Ok, so say I have 2 PGs and they have the following ratings in Ath, Spd, and Def, and identical other ratings:

#1: Ath - 80, Spd - 60, Def - 70
#2:Ath- 55, Spd - 80, Def - 75

Most of you, from what I've gathered, would say they are pretty much similar. But the way I've always thought of Guards I'd take #2 "every day and twice on sunday" as duke would say (great saying btw). 

If potential was low in all three then I'd take #2.

ath is the most important rating of all for all positions. that is all.

How about the first or second player in this case, a d1 team in case anyone was curious, a pretty good one,  the 63 pass guy is done improving at pass, the 54 speed guy is done with speed, but is still high at BH and PER?  One of these two HAS to play PG, I have 2 SG who are less than 63 at pass and not very good at BH either, and a very good starting SF besides the first guy, although if I start the second guy, the first guy will start at SF and the current starter will be the backup.

A	SPD	REB	DE	BLK	LP	PE	BH	P	WE	ST	DU	FT	TOT
93	54	52	91	60	66	56	70	88	86	75	52	C-	843
67	84	19	81	2	31	80	94	63	60	91	47	B-	719

Posted by oldresorter on 12/17/2011 11:50:00 AM (view original):
How about the first or second player in this case, a d1 team in case anyone was curious, a pretty good one,  the 63 pass guy is done improving at pass, the 54 speed guy is done with speed, but is still high at BH and PER?  One of these two HAS to play PG, I have 2 SG who are less than 63 at pass and not very good at BH either, and a very good starting SF besides the first guy, although if I start the second guy, the first guy will start at SF and the current starter will be the backup.

A	SPD	REB	DE	BLK	LP	PE	BH	P	WE	ST	DU	FT	TOT
93	54	52	91	60	66	56	70	88	86	75	52	C-	843
67	84	19	81	2	31	80	94	63	60	91	47	B-	719

First guy would make one hell of a sf