there are way better coaches out there than me, but I'm pulling for you since we played in NC.

Looking at your most recent loss, you went +2 against a team that has low PE ratings, and better LP ratings, plus you're a 2-3 zone which hurts REB and they had some solid rebounders (looking at a glance, not in depth...) - I'd have started the game against them at 0 with an adjustment set at losing or tied so the SIM could've gone to -1 or even -2 if they were winning inside. And if on the off-chance they were hitting from the outside, the SIM could've went to a + defense which should've solved that quickly with their ratings.

Looking at other message board posts in my year playing HD, it seems like adjustments like this have a small impact on the game overall, but I have to think a 4-point swing in your favor would be a conservative estimate on this game.

In that particular game, your team was just flat-out better, too. I'd have gone up-tempo or at the very least normal. Slow down just maximizes the chances for an upset with smaller sample of possessions.

Lately I've found success with my zone team by running a 3-2 and putting my best rebounder in at the 5, and my second best rebounder in at the 4. I almost always out rebound my opponents and also don't give up that many 3's at all while running -2 or -3.

billy - out of curiosity, why wouldn't you run up-tempo under ANY circumstance? Even against lesser SIM opponents that are also not as deep? Is it because his top two scorers should be on the floor as much as possible with the distro's you are recommending?

I'm not criticizing (look at my record, I still have plenty to learn) - just wondering the reasoning behind it.

Posted by deer454 on 2/6/2012 2:36:00 PM (view original):

billy - out of curiosity, why wouldn't you run up-tempo under ANY circumstance? Even against lesser SIM opponents that are also not as deep? Is it because his top two scorers should be on the floor as much as possible with the distro's you are recommending?

I'm not criticizing (look at my record, I still have plenty to learn) - just wondering the reasoning behind it.

Posted by coach_billyg on 2/6/2012 3:08:00 PM (view original):

Posted by deer454 on 2/6/2012 2:36:00 PM (view original):

billy - out of curiosity, why wouldn't you run up-tempo under ANY circumstance? Even against lesser SIM opponents that are also not as deep? Is it because his top two scorers should be on the floor as much as possible with the distro's you are recommending?

I'm not criticizing (look at my record, I still have plenty to learn) - just wondering the reasoning behind it.

no problem - i am always more than happy to explain my rationale. i think people often fail to make the distinction of questioning and being disrespectful on these forums. most coaches (myself included) don't mind being questioned. its all the ****** attitudes in the posts that ruins these forums!

i guess for starters, i am a strongly anti-uptempo coach. supposedly, the best time to play uptempo is when you have the better team. but i extensively experimented with tempo back when i had teams way better than your typical best in the nation type teams - and uptempo was worse than normal even if i was a 90% favorite. while it might not have really hurt your AVERAGE margin of victory, the volatility certainly increased, resulting in avoidable losses. and those teams were basically the ideal case for uptempo, according to these forums - incredibly deep, more talented, super fast, great bh/pass, etc. somewhere around 98% or so chance to win a game, i couldn't really tell the difference. but that is so small a margin, i don't know if its because at some point, uptempo is really the way to go, or not. but then again - played press - which really does not go well with uptempo.

anyway, that said, if you look at his situation, i think the reality is his 4 top players (non sf) are really his best chance. hes a zone team, so he has the opportunity to run those 4 players hard, and have a decent team. thats his best chance, by a long shot, at least as best i can tell. so i definitely would not want to run uptempo and reduce their playing time.

the other thing about uptempo is this - it reduces your offensive efficiency in the half court. the old claim by CS was that it breaks even - but thats just a generalization, a stereotype, not the reality. the reality is it reduces your offensive efficiency in the half court, which is largely offset by increased fast break ops - so a small % of your total shots, you have a much higher chance to make it, and a large % of your total shots, you have a slightly lower chance to make it. these can somewhat even out (my opinion is they usually don't). well, to me, his offense is not very deep at all. his raw lp and per skills are not very good. rushing it in the half court sounds like a pretty bad idea to me - because when u take those less open shots, you are going to get in trouble. on the other hand, for fast breaks, he really doesn't have the great bh/pass/spd you would want to take advantage of that. so i just don't see him breaking even, or coming close to it.