BuzzerBeater Forums

Hello,

I've been inactive for about 2 real life years now (feels like longer!). Part of the old guard I was used to clinging on in the NBBA, then had a little success (3 NBBA championships in a row) and got bored.

I kept my team from being deleted, but have done nothing to invest in my team since then. I'm now lowly Div IV with $20m in the bank, kick-ass arena, and 1 half-decent 18 yo draftee (whom I've already neglected a little too much).

Anyway, I'm starting to get a ripple of inspiration again, and wanted to give it a shot. I have a pretty unique situation so wanted to create a pretty unique team. I've really not followed the (many) changes to the rules and GE in the last couple of years so perhaps there's something I could take advantage of.

Based on the current GE, economy, etc, how would you approach this if you were me? Is an outside team even viable yet? Does Princeton work for anyone? What kind of player would you create if you had $$$ to spend on a youth? Would you even bother with training or just GS train your way up with vets? Is there anything vastly different from 2 years ago I should be aware of?

I appreciate that this should really be in the beginners help forum but any advice would be welcome!

Cheers,

Cal

First of all, good to have you back!
I'm glad you kept your team going.

If I were in your shoes, I'd purchase a 10 man team that was fairly evenly balanced (or nuanced in the direction you'd like to focus - with your cash, you could probably get the players to successfully run whatever offense you want) and young enough that they could be your core for the next six seasons or so. $20MM is a lot of dinero, and so you can pick up a team good enough to slaughter your competition as you climb back to the NBBA. Each season, I'd upgrade one or two players, whichever you think need it, and then transfer out the other two.

GS training has been weakened recently, but I'm not sure by how much.
The transfer market is a bit lean in some areas, which has raised prices compared to when you were here last, but it will be interesting to see your take on it.
Were you here with the GDP settings? If not, read up on it. You can now call your opponents offense specifically and impair their efficiency.

That's all for now. I'll write more if I think of it.
Best of luck getting the band back together.

Iguanadon

Edit: Actually, reading over this again, I'd only pick up five or six guys now to steamroll your opponents. and then pick up another one or two each time you promote.

Last edited by Iguanadon Joe at 06/27/2015 23:22:53

Is an outside team even viable yet? Does Princeton work for anyone? What kind of player would you create if you had $$$ to spend on a youth? Would you even bother with training or just GS train your way up with vets?

Outside teams are much more viable now than they were a few seasons ago. I know Princeton has worked for hrudey, as he got to D2 with it. I would make a balanced SF/PF or a defensive big with high SB. Training is slightly easier than before, and the TL favors sellers right now.

Is there anything vastly different from 2 years ago I should be aware of?

1) The BBs have lowered the cost of JR and SB
2) Blank lineups were removed
3) 19 year old draftees can have a max skill level of strong
4) There are 5 new scouting options (each one reveals 2 skills)
5) "Utopia", a country of managers from all over BB, was formed (Supporters only)
6) Players can play in any position and train any skill, with a training penalty, of course (SF training OD, 20% penalty)
7) Over-extension tax (this one can be a bit complicated)
8) If players are dressed, but not set in a lineup, the coach uses his best judgement
9) Free Agency was tweaked to intentionally weed out some players
10) New managers have the option to choose which league they will start in within their country (besides top leagues)
11) The BBs have said they made some small changes to the GE
12) Players with higher stamina can play more minutes than players with low stamina and still have good GS
13) GDP (guess opposing offense's focus/pace - bonus if right, penalty if wrong)

This is all I can remember and see on the BB home page. Maybe others can elaborate on numbers 2, 7-9 and 11. It's great to have you back Calum!

Last edited by Big Dogs at 06/27/2015 23:43:07

Well lots of new stuff in the game since you were last active, but outside offenses are definitely more effective and although many people may still be under the impression that LI still Rules the game, the GDP makes it even closer and more beneficial to have a balanced team. If I were in your position, I would personally look for thus:

Next season:
Try to pick up a couple quality trainees that are 21-23. It looks like you already have two decent younger trainees, and 21-23 year old players can have the skills to let you get to D.III more quickly but still have the potential to grow into monsters for a top league. I know that there are about 2-3 managers on the USA offsite that are looking at dishing out their top caliber U21 NT players after this season, if you are interested in any of them that are on the roster (we have lots of HOF guards and SFs on the roster atm). For you, I would look at MVP+ potential players. You could easily grab 2 quality players that will be 22 next season I think for under 4-5m. They can be the foundation of your team.

Then if possible you could look at players who are still young 22-24 but are close to capping already (Maybe looking at U21 NT players there would also be a good option here, but they might not quite have the builds that you want). These guys can be your starters until you promote to D.III and then you can use the rest of your cash to buy more expensive and balanced players for a quick promotion back to D.II.

In short my opinion/what I would two:

bbmail U21 NT managers about their players on the roster right now and ask if they are willing to list them after the season. I would look at 2 HOF guards/SFs that you can train together. Your current trainees become your scrimmage trainees if applicable.

Raid the U21 NT roster some more for P.Allstar-Superstar players that are close to capping but still only 22 next season and can be solid starters/backups for you for the next 10 seasons. I would suggest two Superstar big men. (Their skills you can see on the offsite, I think they are pretty solid and you can work with them). I think two bigs of this caliber, you can get for under 3m. fewmit has a guy you might be interested in who is on the U21 NT right now.

These four players can be your team that gets you a fairly easy promotion from D.IV to D.III next season, you can train your 2 HOF guards/SFs more next season to where they are going to be able to start in D.III and dominate, and then when you do promote to D.III with still having at least 11-12m in cash and able to use of 120 skillpoint+ players at the SF and PF positions and upgrade your other positions even more if needed.

The benefits:

-An All American Core (OR All American Team if you are into that), which I think would be sick.
-4 players on your roster that are talented, 22 years old, and can be solid starters/backups for every league level (Even backups in the NBBA)
-Still have 10+m in the bank (after buying a high level trainer and all the guys you want for your core) so you can be picky with prospects that you really want for the future.
-A team that isn't too expensive for D.IV/D.III depending on which ones you select, but you have a great system in place for success.

If you would like to get back on the offsite, please just reregister, and let me know, so I can approve you! Welcome back!

I would be careful with the money. Market prices are pretty high right now, you could end up wasting your fortune if you are careless.

If I was you, I would get two MVP+ young trainees, and slowly improve through divisions, relearning about the game. You should target NBBA return by the time your trainees are in their prime. That way you're going a safe path, and it might keep the game interesting. Try to get American trainees and target them to be NT stars eventually.

Buying some random players and steamrolling through lower leagues would probably get you bored, you should enjoy the process of building your core players, and franchise around them.

Great info, thanks. GDP came in just as I left. Has it been proven to make much of a difference? e.g I used to have rule-of-thumbs for TIEvsNvsCT for point differential, can say getting it right is worth x points?
I like your strategy. I'm scottish so the best way for me to improve while hoarding the cash the one i'll take!

This is fantastic, thank you. I love the suggestion of a player with high SB. Has it been buffed to make it a bigger contribution to defense? Is SB on guards a big thing now? Love the JR change too. Outside-focused defensive PF anyone?

2) Blank lineups were removed
8) If players are dressed, but not set in a lineup, the coach uses his best judgement

So how has the blank line-up thing affected things? I used it almost all the time! How do these points overlap?

12) Players with higher stamina can play more minutes than players with low stamina and still have good GS

This is cool!

Thanks again.

Great points. Big fan of sustainable growth. Thanks!

Hi E.B.W.
Thanks for the in-depth look. This looks like a great strategy.

I previously loved picking up older trainees as they always seemed like a lot better value and most of the hard work had already been done! Only reason for younger ones was to make a truly unique player. The 3-senior USA NT players i had back in the day really helped my dominate the NBBA financially so I can see the benefit of USA-only on my merch.

I've copied this strategy to my google drive, will be referring to it as i move forward. I've still got the bookmark to the USA offsite and i'll go troll through those forums and databases see what I can unearth. It looks like i'm still registered!

Thanks again!

You can still partially blank a lineup at 2 or less positions. If you blank 3 or more positions, the coach fills the depth chart however he wants.

Good to see you active again! Seems like others have covered a lot of stuff so I'll just speak to the viability of a non-LI team.

I've more or less run an outside team the entire time I've played BB and have put a lot of energy into determining the most salary efficient aspects of player builds. There are a few stats that I go out of my way to punt at different positions to keep costs down and that's resulted in a pretty decent, cheap team. I'm not entirely sure how viable this team is at the NBBA level as I've spent my first two seasons building up $$$ (a fraction of what you've amassed) with a cheap roster while I finish polishing off my trainees Glass and Rojas, but next season I'm firing my trainer, doing team training all year and will be looking to add another elite piece or two in hopes of winning a title so I guess then I'll know if the model actually has staying power.

I don't think there are too very many other high level USA teams trying this (hrudey is rebuilding and World Idea Toys went bot a couple seasons ago). It would be fun to see you give an outside-based offense a shot and at the very least it would allow me not to be all by myself at Three Point Shooters Anonymous meetings.