final note: you are talking ratings. try to stop that, switch to talking and thinking about abilities. is the guy a strong defender? scorer? i don't really care if an individual rating is good or not. what can he do for your team? the underlying engine generally does not run off individual ratings, it runs off abilities, and teams are not build by ratings, they are built by abilities. you recruited a big. is his defensive ability a clear strength? is his offensive ability a clear strength? is his rebounding ability a clear strength? you want 2/3 of those to be yes, to sign him, but more importantly, you want to start thinking about your players and teams in terms of abilities, because that puts you on the right path in terms of player evaluation and team building. understanding the ratings that make players good at certain things is the first building block, from there you try to figure what combinations of player abilities lead to strong teams. really, i attribute my success in this game, more than anything, to my ability to answer those two questions...