I think this freshman has use. https://www.whatifsports.com/hd/PlayerProfile/Ratings.aspx?tid=5085&pid=3499338

Essentially, he's a terrible shooter and bad at D. But he's a 79 BLK, 80 REB and my only B+ at zone.

As my team is 1-11, I know we're limited everywhere and I can't build around him. But couldn't I stick him in the middle, never let him shoot and hope he blocks shots/grabs rebounds while I try to recruit better players for the next two seasons?

I mean the ATH and DEF are pretty low, but he should get some rebounds. I would be fine leaving him there for that while I tried to work around him.

Did you see the posts on zone and how 3-2 vs 2-3 affects your center and PF?

It's not just the D that's the problem. Athleticism is by far the most important rating in the game. Id your team has good ath/def but no other good ratings, you'll still make the NT every season. However, if you have a great offensive team without good ath, that team will be inconsistent.

Posted by guyo26 on 11/16/2016 9:45:00 AM (view original):
I mean the ATH and DEF are pretty low, but he should get some rebounds. I would be fine leaving him there for that while I tried to work around him.

Did you see the posts on zone and how 3-2 vs 2-3 affects your center and PF?

I'm still working on learning the nuances of the game. I have 7 FR and none are proficient at much. I've been trying to apply real-life principles to HD but I know that doesn't always work with sims.

No, it doesn't. C is arguably the most important pos in zone, in a 2-3 the engine averages your SF and PF and the C is separate. Everyone lauds BLK as very important in zone for centers, and while I've never seen big block numbers from my C's in zone, I still built around that idea.

Check these threads (thank you search engine requiring 5 characters):

https://www.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?ForumID=30&TopicID=477098&ThreadID=10462917#l_10462917

https://www.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?topicID=476683

https://www.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?topicID=458599

Hope these help. I don't play zone anymore, but I used to play it on most of my teams. I'm convinced it should be better in the game, but press was the biggest advantage for a long time.

Thanks.

I play a lot of zone. I don't tend to play it at D3, but it becomes more useful at D1.

Let me do this by comparison: Grinstead's poor ATH & DEF will mean that he will commit more fouls than you'd like even when his IQ becomes very high, but he is not useless. While you fill other positions, he could be your backup C in a 2-3 or backup PF & C in a 3-2. A problem remains that rebounding is a function of the ratings REB*ATH*IQ and position played (and, potentially, with an effect bump relative to the opposing opponent at the same position). It's possible that blocked shots are computed separately within the FG made/missed decision tree, but I think I've heard some say that it isn't. In either case, I am convinced that ATH is a limiting factor on effectiveness in REB or SB. However, I don't regard him as useless...Snyder's just better (and improving in the right places).

By contrast, Larsen & Wagner, were they racehorses, might be best euthanized on the way to the track! Those are mixes of ratings that scream "do not even look at the court!"

Yeah, I have a lot of turds. I'm gonna cut Mullis. That leaves me recruiting 4. That's enough for my first attempt at recruiting in 10 years. I have to suffer thru Grinstead, Larsen and Wagner thru another season. Then I'll cut 1-2 of them as I'll only have 1 senior. I was just hoping Grinstead had some value.

Out of curiosity, why did you choose that team when you came back?

11 of us from Moonlight Graham(HBD) all joined at the same time. I just found an empty conference and picked a team without looking at it. I thought I'd get to recruit some guys before the season started and thought I'd be OK as I had a basic understanding of the game.

Oops, no research n00b in da house!!!!

Was curious if you chose a certain amount of openings or not.

Posted by guyo26 on 11/16/2016 1:18:00 PM (view original):
Was curious if you chose a certain amount of openings or not.

Nah. I thought I chose E Conn St until another owner said he took it. My level of research was extremely shallow. Just as well, someone else would have gotten stuck with WCSU and they might not have been as open-minded about being terrible.

Posted by rogelio on 11/16/2016 12:09:00 PM (view original):
I play a lot of zone. I don't tend to play it at D3, but it becomes more useful at D1.

Let me do this by comparison: Grinstead's poor ATH & DEF will mean that he will commit more fouls than you'd like even when his IQ becomes very high, but he is not useless. While you fill other positions, he could be your backup C in a 2-3 or backup PF & C in a 3-2. A problem remains that rebounding is a function of the ratings REB*ATH*IQ and position played (and, potentially, with an effect bump relative to the opposing opponent at the same position). It's possible that blocked shots are computed separately within the FG made/missed decision tree, but I think I've heard some say that it isn't. In either case, I am convinced that ATH is a limiting factor on effectiveness in REB or SB. However, I don't regard him as useless...Snyder's just better (and improving in the right places).

By contrast, Larsen & Wagner, were they racehorses, might be best euthanized on the way to the track! Those are mixes of ratings that scream "do not even look at the court!"

Blocks are decided after the make or miss decision in the event tree. Block rating is used to decide if the shot goes in or not.

Block is is more important in the 5 for the 2-3 zone. I think it is equally important in the 4 and 5 in the 3-2.

for zone, block defense and ath are reasonably close in value in the equation. To put another way a 20 ath, 20 def , 80 block guy is about as good defensively as a 40-40-40 guy.

I'm talking strictly about block numbers. I've had very good ratings zone C's that didn't get like 4 blocks a game. (Call it 95 ATH, 90+DEF and 95+ BLK at D1 playing 33+ mpg)

I do think that zone absolutely supresses FG% better than other D's if configured right, and I suppose that's where ATH-DEF-BLK comes into play in part.