[Wolverine Studios] DDS: Pro Basketball 2016 Dev Diary – New Player Categories

[GM Games 252]

Welcome to the start of our developer diary series for our upcoming release of Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball 2016. Today we take a look at new player categories in the game.

One of the most exciting changes in Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball 2016 is new player categories that allow every athlete to have a unique game. Gone are the days where a player was simply either a perimeter or post player, and understanding how these new categories work will be essential to building a championship team.

The first new categories are Floor Range and Ball Actions. Floor Range is distributed among four areas: Post, Midrange, Corner and Above Break. Together, they tell you often a player attempts a shot from a given area on the floor. Let’s take a look at the player card for Russell Westbrook for an example.

 

Westbrook sports a well balanced offensive attack

Westbrook is a very well rounded player in terms of his floor range. On average, he shoots 26% of the time in the paint, 25% of his shots come from midrange, and the other half of his shots are from three point land. But he also very rarely takes a corner three (The Corner rating) because his role as primary ball handler in the offense leaves him Above The Break much more frequently. Teammate Steven Adams is a completely different type of player, as we see below.

Adams lives in the paint

Adams almost exclusively shoots the ball from the post area, with only the occasional jump shot sprinkled in. Usually the jump shot happens when the shot clock is about to expire, and he has no choice but to shoot.

The Floor Range gives you valuable insight in building your team. If you have a player like Westbrook, who you know wants to get to the paint for at least a quarter of his shots, then you have to decide if a player like Adams actually hurts your team offensively.

If you feel your best strategy is to try and draw opposing big men away from the basket to free up the lane for drives, then a player like Adams will hinder that, and you would want to find a center with much more range. However, if you are running a high number of pick and rolls in your offense, with the goal of getting more inside shots, then Adams may be your man because you know he will pretty much roll every time to the basket – as opposed to another big man who may tend to pick and pop for a jump shot more often.

Floor Range is only half the equation this year. The Ball Actions ratings are what truly distinguish a player’s style, and creates a unique player. For example, let’s take a look at Klay Thompson:

Thompson’s bread and butter is catch and shoot

There are six actions a player can take: Drive and Pass, Drive and Shoot, Catch and Shoot, Dribble and Shoot, Post Up, and Pass. Thompson is clearly a player who prefers to do something with the ball when he has it – over 40% of the time. Thompson’s biggest tendency is to catch and shoot at 21%. You can see that his Drawing Fouls rating is not very good, which would be expected from a player who relies so heavily on working off of cuts and screens to shoot the basketball. Let’s compare him to another shooting guard.

Wade likes to put the rock on the floor

Dwayne Wade, despite playing the same position as Thompson, is a completely different player. Wade is much more willing to pass the ball, and while Thompson only tries to drive about 6% of the time, Wade more than doubles that at 14%. In addition, with 14% of his possessions Wade will attempt pull-up jumpers. So nearly 30% of the time Wade gets the ball, he’s going to put the ball on the floor to make a move. The question then arises – how do you want to construct your team? Do you need a playmaker at shooting guard who can help get the opponent in foul trouble and create open shot looks for teammates with his driving ability, or do you already have a playmaker and need the guy who prefers to knock down jumpers?

These new ratings open up a world of possibilities for you in building a team. You’re not simply just compiling guards that have minor differences. Each player has their own personal basketball makeup, and will impact the rest of the team. That means you’re going to have to dig deep and use your basketball knowledge to build the ultimate roster.

Merely compiling talent isn’t going to be enough anymore. It’s not even going to be enough to understand how the basic shot types work. In previous versions, you could do that – make sure you had a balance of good post, jump, and 3 point shooters – and your offense would be good. Now you need to understand how Floor Range and Ball Actions work together to allow a player to express their basketball style, and how those different play types fit together on the court.

 

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