So ive been dabbling in HD for a few months and have gotten to the point where i feel like i know what im doing but now need to perfect my skill.

When looking at player skills do you see ATH as the most important factor in a player? Then Defense?


For instance if i have an 80 ATH and 60 PE and another guard who is 50 ath and 100 PE who would you play if all other skills were identical and you needed scoring.

Overall im curious on how important the ATH skill is compared to offensive skills.

I don't think there is any skill that is obviously the most important skill. One of the aspects I like best about HD recruiting is that there are tradeoffs involved in every player.

In your example, I would rather have the 50-100 guy than the 80-60 guy as my perimeter scorer. The 80-60 guy is good enough shooting outside that I won't cringe every time I see him hoisting a 3 in the pbp. The 50-100 guy will stretch defenses. I would compare it this way: if you were an NBA GM and needed a perimeter scorer, would you rather have JJ Redick or Victor Oladipo?

Rather than fetishizing any particular attribute as the most important, first come up with a minimum acceptable rating for each position that you are recruiting, given your offense/defense. What is the minimum passing rating that your PG needs to have? (hint: the answer is different if you run motion or fastbreak). What is the minimum rebounding rating for your PF? (hint: if you run zone, that number is higher than if you run man).

Find players who meet your minimums and then ask yourself, what can this player do well? The difference between the 80-60 and 50-100 guy is that the 80-60 doesn't hurt you in any areas, but also doesn't do anything incredibly well. That's less valuable than it sounds because he doesn't put any stress on the opposing defense. The 50-100 guy, they need to know where he is on the floor, because if they leave him open, he will kill them.

I'm not saying that I have always followed this advice, but I have always regretted the times that I didn't. On my best teams, every player was recruited to fill a specific role and had at least one thing that they were tremendous at, even if it was just rebounding.

Very well said. This was very helpful especially the reddick oladipo reference.

You can just be the Bucks and get all the ath possible and you will succeed. I've never seen a Top Ath team not be Sweet 16 caliber.

I've got one team at D2 and one team at D3. Haven't experienced D1 recruiting yet, so that may change the equation a bit. But I've found myself putting much higher emphasis on both ATH and DEF, and (maybe coincidentally, maybe not) have seen more success

Truth is, it's positional and O/D sets.

Truth is, you get to decide. And every piece of advice you get here is just that... advice.

What if, broadening you scenario, you got to recruit 2 players? You have the option of taking player A and player B as those 2 players, or 2 player B clones, or 2 player A clones. You won't find a consensus here of what to do in that case.

You can compile a team of elite athletes who play damn good D, with good rebounding bigs, and some speedy guards, and even with very low per and lp shooting ratings, that team will still be competitive.

My starting PG has 57ath 61spd 59def and 91per. He's basically your player B, and a bit of a defensive liability. But if I could clone him I would; 2 fire perimeter guards on a team with high ATH-REB-DEF bigs, and some inside scoring, creates a team that's hard to beat.

I don't think there is a right answer to your Q. It depends a lot on the make-up of the rest of your team.

With that said, the trend I notice from successful HD coaches is Ath. High ath and def everywhere (not just bigs) seems a common focus of most competitive coaches here.

If you have elite Ath/Def then it's likely you're team won't be BAD. You should easily make it to the NT assuming you have some semblance of team structure (not 10 bigs or something). But if you're going to make a deep run, you will need more balance and higher ratings in other attributes. I think the days of going all out on Ath/def and winning titles at D3 are gone since teams are so much better now. Even mfmyers teams are WAY more balanced than they used to be.

"With that said, the trend I notice from successful HD coaches is Ath. High ath and def everywhere (not just bigs) seems a common focus of most competitive coaches here. "

Personally, I go for high speed in my guards since it fits in with the play style I go for. I def slack off on the ath/def at PG and SG.