Getting ready to start my first season and thought i combed the thread pretty good for this topic, im looking for optimal game plan settings.

Im most curious about intentionally fouling, and winning late.

would i really want to Intentionally foul before the last min in a game? And how many points would i need to be down before i Intentionally foul.

winning late- im pretty sure i should be running up tempo, so if im winning late i would want to slow the game down and run half court, how late in the game and how big of a lead should i feel safe with? I think i could use this answer for losing late to conceede the game and not push my players.

I personally run up tempo constantly, BUT I do not know if that is optimal. I do think that at whatever setting your offense runs best at you should keep it that way the entirety of the game. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

I'm definitely not as experienced as some on this site but I've had a fair amount of success from doing the following:

- Either leaving intentional foul settings where they are or lowering it to over 5 with a minute left, while also turning my 3 point offense to 4 with a minute left (make sure your highest usage players are good shooters if you do this, you can extend the minutes on this if you have great shooters)

- I almost always use uptempo. Using slow down is rare, I'll usually only use it with a 15 point lead with 2-4 minutes left as I know some teams spam their 3 point offense and can make some crazy comebacks if you give them the chance to. I usually don't do it when losing because number of possessions have no effect on fatigue as far as I know and putting your benchwarmers in can really mess with your fatigue and rotations unless you have a surplus in minutes, which if you do, usually means your players are of lower quality than others.


It really depends on how many minutes you have, that is the biggest hurdle for new owners imo is finding how many minutes is successful and also not to hard to manage. If you go low on overall minutes or get bad rookies in open leagues then you will probably have to do a lot of management to prevent fatigue which can be tedious af but if you go too high on minutes you probably won't have a competitive team. It's a tough balance but if you start with open leagues and ease your way into some theme leagues and stuff it can be really fun and rewarding.

Thanks guys this does help a lot.

Mptrey, im not worried with mins with this team as i think I got lucky to inherit a championship contender in the DSPL (75/95). this team should be competitive for a few more years but think this year is my best window at winning and dont wanna coach this team out of a series.

the moves i made was cut sedale threat and bill Melchionni. Traded my second round pick for rik smits. Drafted Mahmoud Abdul-rauf 22nd. And traded Steve kerr and my 1st next year for nick Anderson to improve my defense.

I'm thinking my lineup will be

Kenny anderson(29)/Rauf(19)/B.J armstrong(0)
Kukoc(21)/drexler(10)/nick anderson(17)
Oakley(22)/drex(14)/grant long(12)
mcadoo(41)/polynice(7)
mutombo(33)/polynice(8)/smits(7)

On a side note, I run up tempo when I think I am better than the other team, but in a progressive like you are talking about sometimes you are just going to have a bad team. In those situations I run half-court or slowdown, especially if their offense is much better than mine. This acts to limit their possessions which can keep the game closer. I think there is also an element of how much usage you have on the floor (100-115) on whether or not you should run up tempo or half-court but I have not been brave enough to test it so I won't comment further.

Again this is just my strategy

Im definitely ready for a switch. With my third foul out in a row and teams avg 130 points against me in those games. Yeah, i have to attempt to slow the game down.

I've had positive results with the following end of game settings. If I have at least 2 players that shoot 3pt shots I turn on my 3pt game at 6 minute remaining if down by 1 point. This toggles your 3pt game 'on' if you're behind and off when your team is in the lead. I also set it up so when my team is leading by 6 points or more it goes to slowdown at 2-3 mins left in the game. This also toggles on and off if you're above or below a 6 point lead. Learned the slowdown trick from a fellow named "Red". ;)