New to HD (a GD refugee), picked 2 teams who both run FB/FCP. I have learned that overall I need to focus on improving team COND. However, I tried using fatigue settings and do not seem to be getting efficient returns. Mainly just not sure how substitution patterns work on fatigue -- do the starters remain on bench until reaching their fatigue setting ie if fairly fresh will play to just under that setting and remain on bench until improves slightly better than fairly fresh? Or once starter is out, remains out until his sub reaches their fatigue setting ie sub is set to play to tired and will remain in until tired?

Now thinking target minutes makes more sense and is easier to manage. Just not sure what results/outcomes to expect from that.

Thanks for any responses -- I know it is the holidays. Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays) -- depending on your persuasion.

With FB/FCP, definitely use fatigue settings.  Most coaches use fatigue regardless of O/D, but with those two, at least in my opinion, it's not even necessary to think about, fatigue settings are the brightest to use.  If your players' don't have great overall stamina, stick with putting everyone on fairly fresh, if they have solid staminas (preferably having the majority of them over at least 70 ST, preferably 75+), you could get away with setting them to getting tired.  Don't set anyone to tired or very tired unless they are hands down the best player on your team.  Because they can start to really, really suck out there if you leave them out on the court for too long, no matter how good they are overall.  

Most coaches prefer using fatigue settings. They are much more accurate as far as resting players when they need it. Target minutes can be effective if micromanaged properly however if you set a player to XX minutes, he will play till he gets there regardless of how tired he may be. You really have to stay on top of it to make it work. Target minutes are best when you promise a player high minutes during recruiting and you want to make sure he gets enough playing time regardless of the effect. Playing tired greatly reduces player efficency and increases fouls and turnovers.

Target minutes are very dependent on a player's stamina. If stamina is low, say below 70 for a starter, he will rest more frequently. The starter comes back in when he is fresh even if the backup is still fresh. The Fairly Fresh setting is most commonly used although sometimes using the Getting Tired setting is necessary especially if the backup is weak. Using FF nornally gets your starters 23-26 mpg which is pretty standard in HD.

Playing M2M, Press, or FB will tire your players quicker than the other O&Ds. You need high stamina and a deep bench for those. Also playing uptempo will increase fatigue for your players. Playing uptempo with FB and M2M or Press will really tire them out so be careful with that. 

This is what my experience has taught me. Other coaches may have varying opinions. Merry Christmas and welcome to HD.

good stuff, thanks for the input

The big thing if you go with target minutes is to under-allocate them. The biggest danger with minutes (and this would be even more so with a FB/FCP team...) is that, say you have your PG set for 24-28 minutes. If he gets in foul trouble the first half, gets 3 fouls and winds up playing only 8 minutes as a result, he might wind up playing the second half non-stop in an attempt to "get his minutes." This is also the case for a player who gets injured and has to leave the game, but then comes back in the second half. Again, they'll play to try and reach their minutes, even if it means playing at very tired for minutes on end. 

Needless to say, this sucks. 

I've avoided these issues by under-allocating...there's 200 minutes in a game, I assign 160-170 of them typically. If its a blowout, the engine gives the "extra" minutes to my reserves. If its a narrow game, the "extra" minutes go the starters. With a Motion/zone team, this has worked fine and has given me great control over my minutes promises. For a FB/FCP team though, I think I'd go fatigue because keeping fresh bodies on the floor to avoid fouls is a premium. 

fatigue gets better results

target can be easier to use to fulfill promises, but with some tinkering you can do it using fatigue