Re: Basketball 201

@krtyler11 Here's a few quick pointers: For win shares, I would value DWS way more than OWS. You want as many players above 4 DWS as possible. The sim uses DWS to create "DS" (Defensive Stops). Essentially that means that good defense made the offensive player miss. If you have a bunch of good DWS players on your team the opponent will be more likely to have a really poor shooting percentage. For offense shooting percentage matters a lot. Look for 2pt % above .500 and 3pt % above .350.

Strategy like tempo doesn't really matter in my experience. However, defensive assignments and waves matter a ton, especially in the playoffs. To start for simplicity you can just set your lineup and have the sim create your waves, but it gets really fun and gives a competitive edge to figure out how to do it yourself. There are a lot of good strategies for minutes allocation in the waves. Personally I have my best lineup in the 4th quarter and work backwards from there. You want your best players to be as close as possible to their real minutes played per game without going over. If they go over they get a hefty penalty reduction to their stats. A super helpful thing to know is that they can play out of position by 1 position up or down. So for example, Magic Johnson is listed as a PG, so he can play PG/SG. Kevin Garnett is a PF, so he can play SF/PF/C. I like to run 2 Centers at C/PF, and a PF at SF so you maximize defense, blocks, and rebounds. For example, on the Timberwolves you could start Gobert/Love/Garnett at C/PF/SF. Just one example.

The best tip is to try it out and find out for yourself what works and what doesn't. Experiment! Try crazy things! While you experiment you'll be surprised at things that work way better or worse than you expected. It's a game after all so it's meant to be fun. Also look at the best rosters in the standings and try to figure out what makes them good. Even look at the worst teams and see why they are struggling. Best of luck!