This is probably a stupid question, but some of the more analytical coaches might be able to answer.
I'm back playing this game after many years off and wondering if my assumption is/was correct. If the nature of the FCP is to put constant pressure on the ballhandler is there a huge defensive advantage to going + or - for a FC Press positioning setting, rather than just sitting at 0? I always thought it mattered, but recently wondered if it really does since all ballhandlers are going to get doubled anyway.

There's no reason at all to go 0 every game. Changing +/- on a daily basis is one of the more important game planning decisions you can make in my opinion

welcome back mpollon! one of the better lower division coaches of the old days, for the unacquainted.

i don't look at the importance or functioning of the +/- in press to be that much different than anything else. the + increases per defense and turnovers, the - increases defense close to the basket and rebounding and fouls (generally there is a continuum, so i'm just making the positive half of the statements, you could throw the negative corollary in there for each of them if you like).

the impact on per and post scoring is the primary focus for most on +/- and generally it should be. there's not a 'huge' advantage to going + or -, but its definitely significant, in terms of its impact on shooting % and attempts. i would most certainly not run 0 on press all the time.

the thing i think is a bit different about press is, well maybe its 2 things. first, each additional foul is more painful for press teams, generally speaking (although you could make the same argument for short man teams or whatever), so i am usually a bit more reluctant to run a negative there. second, turnovers are the engine behind the press, so i tend to cheat a bit more positive there as well. the two put together, maybe i am running a +1 more in press than in other schemes, probably a tad less (maybe 3/4ths of a +1?). the thing to note - both of these are not mechanical differences, structural differences, in how the +/- impacts the press - they are more strategic decisions based on what is different about the press itself. the way the +/- acts is basically universal across sets.

the one major difference is when it comes to the heavy negatives, when i have a really good team where volatility is the primary enemy. then, i am very adverse to the heavy negatives. i figure, i pretty much am winning every game by a healthy margin, if volatility is kept at bay - so it takes some really crappy dice rolls to lose. the easiest place to hit those dice rolls is in fouls, where even 1-2 extra bad rolls at the wrong time can be hugely significant, due to the fatigue problems that follow. so, when i have a team i love, and i'm facing one of those obvious -5 opponents if i was running man or zone, i'm probably adjusting to a -3, or even a -2, if the opponent is inferior enough.

the last paragraph certainly doesn't apply to all teams but even say a borderline top 25 team running press is going to play **** opponents, so if you take the theory away from the specific use case (a huge title favorite destroying everyone), there is a much wider applicability. it really applies for any teams with a critical mass of 1) potential depth issues and 2) rate of fouling.

They are different calculations. Plus defenses help against 3fga just like they do in all other defenses.

Appreciate the responses gillispie, topdogggbm and Joe. The computer programming analytics part of this game are usually too heady for me (I do soak in some of the more important parts) so it’s always helpful gleaning info from the smarter coaches! I’ve always adjusted +/- each game but wondered if that was really the play or just blindly accepted strategy.

One more follow up: how do you set your defense adjust option? I’ve been using “if Losing”, but what do people do who have experience with “anytime”? Is the sim smart enough to give that power to?

I feel like the engine does a good job with the adjustments. On defense I leave it on Anytime. And I'm conservative when deciding how heavy to go in which direction. That way if I'm off a bit, engine will probably go in the direction I was concerned with from the start.

On offense it depends. If I'm running press and uptempo, I set offense to never. Because I want to run them into fatigue issues. So I want to keep pushing the whole game. If I run slow, i set it to "if losing" because you're not gonna catch up if you're dribbling the ball around all night

Posted by mpollon on 2/2/2020 3:35:00 PM (view original):
One more follow up: how do you set your defense adjust option? I’ve been using “if Losing”, but what do people do who have experience with “anytime”? Is the sim smart enough to give that power to?

for me, it is a tradeoff mostly about how much attention you play. in general, the sim is pretty bad at adjusting up or down, but if you are not game planning nightly, i'd definitely let the sim adjust for you. it gets it right more than it gets it wrong.

conversely, if you are game planning, i would stick at least 'if losing by 5' and preferably 'never' for the big games where you are really paying attenion. if losing by 10 might be a good middle ground? i have used that a lot, figuring if im down by 10 already, the sim can't make it a whole lot worse?

the reasons for this approach are several. first, the sim is really dumb. second, the amount of shots someone is taking from behind the arc varies fairly based on RNG quite significantly - so you might see a team who takes 20 3s (assume this is a lot) take 6 one half and 14 another. you can probably predict the expected number of 3s per half (10) a lot better based on the wealth of information you have (i generally only game plan in NT and don't care about the regular season, so usually i have a whole season's worth of data available - early in the season, this line of reasoning breaks down), than the sim can based on simply seeing 1 half of play (6 or 14), with all the RNG that comes with it.

and finally, the auto adjust can very easily work against you. let's say you are really worried about your opponent's 3pt shooting, so you run a m2m +2. you successfully limit their attempts, forcing them to run the offense you want. fantastic. unfortunately, you are still down 1, so the sim adjusts you to a +0 (even if the opponent made say all 5 of their 5 3pt attempts), and now the opponent makes 6 3s in the 2nd half, and you lose by 10. this is a fairly normal scenario. or you can have something like, the opponent takes a healthy mix of 2s and 3s, but they just really suck at making 3s, so you figure, i'll go run a -2, let them shoot and shoot, because mostly, they'll miss anyway, right? so, first half, everything goes fantastically - your opponent is 2 for 12 from behind the line. whoops! now the sim is going to adjust you up to a 0, seeing that bulk of 3 pt shooting, being too dumb to recognize that 2 for 12 isn't so hot, and your game plan, which was working great for you, just got changed significantly.

in short - if you know what you are doing, and you are paying attention - the sim auto adjust ranges from mostly useless to downright sabotage. if you aren't paying attention, or you don't really know how to set +/-, there can be some good value there.

i'll give folks who like the adjustment, that most of the time, the sim's +/- adjustment isn't so bad. if you aren't setting +/-, its much better than nothing. its just that very rarely is the sim's judgement here going to be better than a good coach who is paying attention.

Posted by gillispie1 on 2/2/2020 7:47:00 PM (view original):
i'll give folks who like the adjustment, that most of the time, the sim's +/- adjustment isn't so bad. if you aren't setting +/-, its much better than nothing. its just that very rarely is the sim's judgement here going to be better than a good coach who is paying attention.

I pay plenty of attention myself. I game plan every game for every team. Even against sims in regular season. I can only think of one situation that stands out to me when the adjustment cost me a game. And that's out of 100 seasons. Using the adjustment does loosen your control. But in about 90% of games, I'm torn between two settings. Whether it's the different between +3 and +2. Or the difference between 0 or -1. So I'll just set the conservative side, and if the coach gets aggressive, it will adjust accordingly.

In other words, I don't use it to set a +5 and leave the option there to have sim adjust me to +3, only for me to get bombarded by 3s in the second half. I would set it to +1, with the intent if it's not enough that the engine SAVES me by pushing up to +3 if the coach gets aggressive.

That was what I was trying to explain by being conservative

Thanks guys.

Posted by topdogggbm on 2/2/2020 2:39:00 PM (view original):
There's no reason at all to go 0 every game. Changing +/- on a daily basis is one of the more important game planning decisions you can make in my opinion

I feel like this is one of the more minor changes you can make. Tempo is #1, depth chart is #2, distro is #3 in my opinion.

Thanks for the responses. I enjoy reading all the different paths and strategies to make a great team. Clearly elite recruiting is at the top, but so many additional ways to nudge that success higher or to trip over your own feet!