Whats everyone's strategy when it comes to allocating practice minutes for FT's?  I usually go with 12 minutes while blue, 10 when black and 8 when red.  Could I drop that 8 to a 6 when I get the "maxed out" message?  Thats what I usually do with other attributes, but have heard others like to keep FT's a little higher.

I keep them at a flat 10 minutes (unless I've maxed a lot of other categories) and drop it to 1 minute (my placeholder value for maxed categories) once I get the max-out email

I heard somewhere that you need to keep any category where it's at at 3-5 minutes--that 1 minute is basically wasting that minute.

Posted by wildcat98 on 10/30/2013 8:50:00 PM (view original):
I heard somewhere that you need to keep any category where it's at at 3-5 minutes--that 1 minute is basically wasting that minute.

Once a category has been maxed out, you can take all minutes out of it and it won't drop more than a fractional point. I use the 1 minute so that I don't have to dig through emails to figure out which red categories are maxed vs. which ones I just didn't bother to put minutes into that might still have a point or two of growth available  that I can go after once cores are filled. 

If a category isn't maxed, you need to have 7 minutes into it to hold it level, except for PER and LP, which hold level at 3.

Posted by rednu on 10/30/2013 8:53:00 PM (view original):

Posted by wildcat98 on 10/30/2013 8:50:00 PM (view original):
I heard somewhere that you need to keep any category where it's at at 3-5 minutes--that 1 minute is basically wasting that minute.

Once a category has been maxed out, you can take all minutes out of it and it won't drop more than a fractional point. I use the 1 minute so that I don't have to dig through emails to figure out which red categories are maxed vs. which ones I just didn't bother to put minutes into that might still have a point or two of growth available  that I can go after once cores are filled. 

If a category isn't maxed, you need to have 7 minutes into it to hold it level, except for PER and LP, which hold level at 3.

Thanks, thats really good info.  Just so we're clear, you're saying that even if a category is maxed out in a players JR season, by the end of his SR season it won't have dropped even a full point with just 1 minute practice?

Posted by bro_lunardi on 10/30/2013 8:57:00 PM (view original):

Posted by rednu on 10/30/2013 8:53:00 PM (view original):

Posted by wildcat98 on 10/30/2013 8:50:00 PM (view original):
I heard somewhere that you need to keep any category where it's at at 3-5 minutes--that 1 minute is basically wasting that minute.

Once a category has been maxed out, you can take all minutes out of it and it won't drop more than a fractional point. I use the 1 minute so that I don't have to dig through emails to figure out which red categories are maxed vs. which ones I just didn't bother to put minutes into that might still have a point or two of growth available  that I can go after once cores are filled. 

If a category isn't maxed, you need to have 7 minutes into it to hold it level, except for PER and LP, which hold level at 3.

Thanks, thats really good info.  Just so we're clear, you're saying that even if a category is maxed out in a players JR season, by the end of his SR season it won't have dropped even a full point with just 1 minute practice?

There's a chance the player will drop a point or so when the season rolls to the next one because players gain and lose points in the off-season somewhat randomly (your chance of loss increases with poor WE, but I'm pretty sure there's a degree of random thrown in as well). At the start of the new season, reset your practice plan like you would normally and cut the minutes back again when you get max-out emails in the new season (if the player didn't drop, this can be as soon as the morning after the first exhibition game).

I really rather despise putting practice time towards FT shooting...I do as little as I feel is necessary to maximize the category still.

Posted by colonels19 on 10/30/2013 10:10:00 PM (view original):
I really rather despise putting practice time towards FT shooting...I do as little as I feel is necessary to maximize the category still.

I actually end up doing the same thing as colonels. This might be because I can never "see" the improvement, but nonetheless most of my players are "red" in FT at any given point.

Funny, I start ft at 20 and reduce to 8 only when red and nowhere else to put minutes.

Posted by jgsolari3 on 10/31/2013 10:01:00 PM (view original):
Funny, I start ft at 20 and reduce to 8 only when red and nowhere else to put minutes.

I'm with jg, bad free throw shooting is a painful way to lose a game when reading the pbp, I start in the 15-20 range depending whether it is blue or black, and drop it to 10 when it goes red, then 0 when I get the message saying it's maxed out

Posted by jgsolari3 on 10/31/2013 10:01:00 PM (view original):
Funny, I start ft at 20 and reduce to 8 only when red and nowhere else to put minutes.

jg, anything over 12-13 is a flat out waste at least 95% of the time.

Posted by rednu on 10/30/2013 8:53:00 PM (view original):

Posted by wildcat98 on 10/30/2013 8:50:00 PM (view original):
I heard somewhere that you need to keep any category where it's at at 3-5 minutes--that 1 minute is basically wasting that minute.

Once a category has been maxed out, you can take all minutes out of it and it won't drop more than a fractional point. I use the 1 minute so that I don't have to dig through emails to figure out which red categories are maxed vs. which ones I just didn't bother to put minutes into that might still have a point or two of growth available  that I can go after once cores are filled. 

If a category isn't maxed, you need to have 7 minutes into it to hold it level, except for PER and LP, which hold level at 3.

this is good advice, just want to throw in 1 detail. 7/3 minutes is the ABSOLUTE WORST CASE requirement. most players can make due with less. for example, a 1 work ethic player playing 0 mpg can sustain on 7mpg, per seble (never actually tried it). but a guy with say a subpar 30 work ethic playing a subpar 10mpg, he might only need 6. and a high work ethic guy playing good minutes might only need 4.

I start at 12, reduce to 8 when red, then 0 when maxed out.  I rarely get a maxed out message for FT, however. 

Posted by gillispie1 on 10/31/2013 10:45:00 PM (view original):

Posted by jgsolari3 on 10/31/2013 10:01:00 PM (view original):
Funny, I start ft at 20 and reduce to 8 only when red and nowhere else to put minutes.

jg, anything over 12-13 is a flat out waste at least 95% of the time.

Really? Why?

Really depends for me on how often the guy is liable to be shooting free throws. If a very significant portion of his points are liable to come from free throws, I'm spending good minutes. If he's a three shooter that might get a couple of free throws a game, I'm not going to spend nearly as much.