ATC's For Articles

[NBL President]

Not going to have an elaborate grading system, but some people have asked me about them. Basically, they are going to be subjective. I will grade them at the end of the season. There are only 2 limitations:

1. A series of articles such as MVP races, etc...will be rewarded a maximum total of 10 ATC's per season. Essentially, you might get 2 for each one, but the max you can get credit for on 1 series is 10 ATC's.

2. There will be a total limit of 25 ATC's per season for articles. This means that even if you write four series' of articles for 10 each, you will be capped at 25 ATC's for articles per season. (This includes team and league articles combined).

[nets]

seems like we should cap this at a lower amount.

I think over PM we had discussed that 50 ATC could probably turn someone into a super star. Between 25 per season for articles and probably another 25 or more for other stuff we are going to turn one mediocre player into a super star each season.

Since each team probably has 1-2 superstars that seems like we will easily flood the league with too much talent.

That always leads to way too little reason to trade and the draft is devalued.

Not sure how other owners feel but I htink we should cut back on ATCs and allow normal development of players to encourage league activity.

This is not like baseball where clubs are supposed to develop in house talent. The NBA has always been about trades and drafting.

[nets]

For those in PSBL league, ATCs have been described to me as kind of like winterball. In PSBL a team sends an average of 8-10 guys per year and we need 8 fielders, DH, 5 SPs and a couple relievers.

If we allow teams to accumulate upwards of 50 ATCs a year then it will be like 50 winterballs and really we only play 7-8 guys. That seems like a recipe for disaster in 5-7 years.

[NBL President]

I know it's hard to understand if you don't have the game, but 50 ATC's (which I don't see many teams getting anyway) is NOT that much. There are 15 categories on a 0-100 scale for player ratings, and adding 10 to a player might give them a small change in ratings. I haven't gone through and tested how it is going to work, maybe I should, but for now, I don't think the talent is going to be insane. Also, insane talent doesn't really bother me because it will be relative.

The key is going to be getting everyone to claim their ATC's and to spend them wisely. If that is done, it should create a better trade market and it should make more players useful. As it is, each team probably has 4-5 players someone else in the league might want, and throw in salaries, that number is lower. ATC's will be a way to diversify a lot of the players.

Let me give you a quick example:

Team A wins 51 games. By the formula (65/games won)/2, this team is awarded 7 ATC's based on record. Let's say they accumulate 11 ATC's from player/team achievements and 7 from articles, that gives them a total of 25 ATC's for the season. Now, lets assume this team is the Los Angeles Clippers and they decide there is 1 player they want to improve. Lets say that player is Shaun Livingston, and they want to make him a better outside scorer.

Livingston's current rating for outside shooting is a C+, which is made up of 2 categories, jump shot and 3-point shot. Right now, his jump shot is 69 out of 100 and his 3-point shot is 48 out of 100. Let's say I add all 25 points to his 3-point shooting, that would change his OVERALL rating to a B+, now a 69 in jump shot and 73 in 3-point shot. Now, that is the only upgrade this team could make for the whole season. All in all, Livingston would probably score an extra 4-5 points per game, which is a pretty decent amount, but I don't think anything overwhelming or insane.

Sure, if a team saved up 200 ATC's, they could turn 1 single player into a monster. However, that would likely take 5+ years to accumulate. I am up to suggestions on how to alter the system, but I encourage anyone doing that to download the trial version of FBB and really look into how the ATC's are added. 25 ATC's is essentially like adding 10 HR's to a player's predicted stats in Baseball Mogul. It might make him a much better power hitter, but does that 1 guy now predicted to hit 30 HR's instead of 20 really make the team insanely better? I really don't think the amount is going to be crazy at all, and the talent isn't going to skyrocket.

In fact, the simmed training camp is going to drastically change the effects of players much more than any manual winterball system ever would.

[CHANGEME]

Have you done any testing to see if ATC improvements would actually conflict with the game training camp? I don't know if they have any stored max rating for players or if it's just year by year randomness, stat based, age-based, and potential-based, for improvements or declines...just wondering.

[Sonics GM]

I think the amount he has is good. The way you update guys is more complicated then it looks. Even though it says letter grades the actual system is numbers so im guessing for certain categories he is going to update you a certain amount of points.Other leagues I have been given more points. It just seems like it is harder to make a player better in here then it looks like. And TC is like winterball. These are just points you get for being active. same concept as winterball but you cant add point onto TC so you can use them on w/e. And in some legaues they are a tradeable assett...im not sure if they are in here. I know Scott likes trading them cuz he is always active.

[NBL President]

No, as of now they are NOT tradable.