zora, I don't think ur team is much better than a .500 team.  U drafted way too many minutes for an open league.
12/30/2013 9:25 PM
Thanks for the insight. I'm trying to learn how to manager my minutes. Right now, my team is at 9-8, and that's after playing at less-than-full-speed the first 10 games. I've already knocked off the best team in the league... But I'm sure that you're right, and that my team could have been better if I'd drafted fewer minutes. I'm hoping you're wrong about the ultimate outcome of my season, though!
12/31/2013 11:39 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't press most helpful when used against teams that are "better" than you (i.e. you are the underdog)? Again, I may be wrong, but press is designed to maximize outliers. You increase your chance of getting steals/turnovers at the risk of committing more fouls and giving up easy baskets. "Normal" half-court defense is the status quo. By running press you're essentially turning up the randomness factor in an already too-random simulation. Theoretically, against a better opponent, you should see your chance of winning increase, but also your chance of being blown out increase, as well.

This would be like Louisiana Tech playing Alabama in football and basically throwing out their traditional playbook and going for it on every fourth down and running crazy fakes and generally being unorthodox. It's an extreme example, but isn't the basis the same as running press - at least in this simulation? You slightly maximize your chance of being a superior opponent at the cost of being run out of the building if it fails.

This led me to remember reading something on Grantland a while back:

Malcolm Gladwell, in one of his great exchanges with Bill Simmons, said "I am a bit obsessed with the full-court press at the moment. I just did a story for The New Yorker about how underdogs beat favorites, which had a lot about basketball in it. For the story, I went down to Louisville and had a long chat with Rick Pitino. He argued that the press is the best chance an underdog has of being competitive with stronger teams, and I think his record proves the case. That Providence team he took to the Final Four in 1984 has to have been just about the least talented team EVER to reach that level. Then, of course, Pitino takes one of his first Louisville teams to the Final Four in 2005 and this season's team to the Elite Eight, and no one's going to argue that either of those teams were filled with future Hall of Famers. Given that, then, why do so few underdog teams use the press? Pitino's explanation is that it's because most coaches simply can't convince their players to work that hard." http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090513/part2

Anyway...thoughts?
12/31/2013 1:16 PM
I don't think press (if u use it the whole game) will increase ur winning possibilities against a good team in the nba sim.  The increase in turnovers doesn't offset the increased fg% of ur opponents and the higher likelihood of ur players fouling out, imo.  Also, Providence made the final four in 1987, not 1984.
12/31/2013 2:38 PM (edited)
Posted by ncmusician_7 on 12/31/2013 2:01:00 PM (view original):
I don't think press (if u use it the whole game) will increase ur winning possibilities against a good team in the nba sim.  The increase in turnovers doesn't offset the increased fg% of ur opponents and the higher likelihood of ur players fouling out, imo.  Also, Providence made the final four in 1984, not 1987.
Yep, that's what it says (1984). :)
12/31/2013 2:29 PM
corrected to 1987
12/31/2013 2:38 PM
mmm, if the cap is 42... Lebron (08-09), Jordan (95-96), Rodman(92-93), Rodman(94-95), Camby(19 minutes version) Brandan Wright(11-12) Duncan (09-10) and 6 minutes stilt and... bunch of scrubs... strategy would thank about ten games in a season and shoot to win 55-60 to get a bye and the rest is history :) IDK haha
1/30/2014 12:58 PM
Posted by ncmusician_7 on 12/30/2013 9:25:00 PM (view original):
zora, I don't think ur team is much better than a .500 team.  U drafted way too many minutes for an open league.
http://www.whatifsports.com/nba-l/view.asp?lid=45542

As I said.........
1/31/2014 2:33 PM
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