i dont really agree that its a good idea to score inside, like you, ive noticed the opposite. good basketball sense says, if you have a team who is going to foul a lot, it just makes sense you'd want to push it inside and get their bigs more fouls. but in HD, there are 2 key instances where HD diverges from reality, that make this a bad move. the first is that in HD, guard offense is SO dominant. almost every championship team you can find relies more heavily on guards than bigs, and its for good reason - bigs don't put up the higher fg% numbers OR draw the fouls, over guards, like they do in real life - but they ARE held back by lack of 3 pointers, which hit higher in HD than in real life as well. the second reason is fouling isn't proportional to real life either, although i wish i could see the numbers on that one to know how far they are off by (i think its significant, though).
anyway, between those two, you simply don't get a much greater chance of causing foul trouble inside than you would shooting on the perimeter, like you would in real life. and if you DO succeed - you are fouling out bigs, who have a disproportionately small role in offensive production and thus in the game as a whole. so it just doesn't add up.
one more thing - it was mentioned you could go to your star players more. this is true, but i want to reiterate on what i said earlier. its easy to go overboard. if you are making major shifts, like taking a player from 15% offense to 25%, to beat the press - and thats working - the odds are, you simply shouldnt be at 15% in the first place. a lot of people underplay their best players, its one of the most common mistakes, you can find it on over half the human teams in HD. so naturally, when you up that (to a more correct level in the general sense), its going to help you - but the fact that you did it against the press, may not be the reason. now, im not saying, dont shift a 12 distro guy to 13, maybe 14. but i do think the reason this "push your stars against the press" thing gets so much support, is that a lot of people arent given enough shots to their best player in the first place. that doesnt mean you shouldnt make extreme changes at times, because if it works, you know you need to reconsider your starting position. but it does mean that if you are doing it all the time, you've probably waited too long to reconsider your starting position :)
i think the above effect is exactly why there are some coaches out there who criticize my insistence on statements like, offenses are different and you should treat them as such, or, you should game plan and there is significant value in it. the reality is, its easier to overdo it, than to get it right. these are small adjustments you are supposed to be making - but they are not insignificant. just don't push it too far. if you are giving guys twice the distro in 1 offense compared to another, you are taking it WAY too far - and i think a lot of people do. but it doesn't mean you shouldnt still pay attention to your offense/defense and game plan for opponents, you just have to moderate it, and be willing to pay the price up front as you experience the initial learning curve. its like battles in recruiting - new coaches are afraid to take the hit (of losing), but we can all agree that the guys who took their lumps and figured it out, certainly are better off today because of it.
11/13/2012 4:58 PM (edited)