I was randomly looking at the code of the game engine (this is part of the index.ts file) this morning to understand a bit better what's happening under the hood.
I then realized that it is the same

p.compositeRating.shootingMidRange

which enters both the probability to take a mid-range, and the probability to make it.
The issue is that oIQ has a negative relation with the "midrange" composite rating:

shootingMidRange: {
ratings: ["oiq", "fg", "stre"],
weights: [-0.5, 1, 0.2],
},

Which is then multiplied with hardcoded values to get the raw chance of making the shot.

probMake = p.compositeRating.shootingMidRange * 0.32 + 0.42

So if I'm not mistaken, oIQ decreases the chance of taking a mid-range (which makes sense), but also decreases the chances of making it (which IMO makes no sense).

Can somebody confirm this?

More generally, if the probability of taking a shot is directly connected to the probability of making it, and if oIQ affects both equally.
Then, additionally to the counterintuitive effect on "midrange" seen above, it also means that players with good oIQ are going to take more "lowPost" shots than "atRim" (because oIQ has proportionally a bigger impact on "lowPost", than on "atRim"). But Layups are a much better shot to take than post shots, because of the existing prefactors in the "probMake" computation.
So you get this weird effect were a high IQ player will actually take less valuable shots.

Again, can somebody confirm I'm not mistaken?

If I'm right, I would suggest the following changes in the code logic:
- make all compositeRating for shooting positively affected by oIQ (I still think IQ should help you make better shots in general).
- add a new compositeRating.shotSelection which is mostly based on oIQ (and maybe Spd and Drb since it gives you more options).
- compute an expectedPointPerPossession for the player (taking into account FT), for each type of shot.
- use compositeRating.shotSelection and expectedPointPerPossession together to stir players shooting tendency towards their best shot.

I fully understand this is probably never going to happen, since it affects some mechanics which are at the core of the game engine. This is also not a critic of the godly work from Dumbmatter. The game is amazing, and I regularly have to force myself to stop playing, so I have time for other games.

Nonetheless, I think it would be a great idea, because it would make IQ behave a bit more like expected. It would also remove some weird behavior which you sometimes observe in game.
It all started with me seeing my 6'4 crazy fast guard deciding to try 2 post move per game for one layup attempt.
I then realized that his speed didn't help with layups (it should IMO), but was increasing the chances of post move. And then I saw that his 80 IQ was even reenforcing this behavior, while making him shot worse at 2pts....

Some side notes from my morning deep dive of the GameSim class, which I also found surprising:
- Blocking chance are the same at the rim and for 3pts.
- "probMake" is affected by the global defense value, for every type of shot: having a good rim protector will have the same defensive impact on post move and 3pts shots.
- Similarly, the chances of taking a shot at the rim or low post increase with offensive synergy and decrease with opponent global defense (not Di). 3pts is not affected by defense at all (and not by Dp).
- Steals are a ratio between Dp and B+Ps after synergies.
- Assists give +2.5% shot chance
- Something which could be a bug: 3pts tendancy uses "shootingThreePointerScaled2" which is lowered for bad 3pts shooters. But "probMake" the probability to make it uses "shootingThreePointerScaled" (no 2 here), which doesn't have the extra decrease for bad shooters. The result is that bad 3pts shooter take fewer 3pts, but shoot them at a higher rate than expected from the shot selection.

This is my first time playing the game, wondering why they would be willing to do this?

Original offer from them was

Their: (28yo, 71/71, 7th OVR in league), (25yo, 61/64), 3 1sts

My: (22yo, 66/79)

I pushed the trade a bit: they were willing to accept giving up those 2 players + 4 1sts & 4 2nds just to get my guy.

If they're so desperate to land my player, does that imply he'll be a star in the future? Not really sure how valuation works in this game.

I like seeing other people's league and their storylines. Personally, I think BBGM has lots of good emergent storyline potential so, I'd like to know various stories you'd like to share from your playthroughs.

‎With Seattle and Las Vegas locked in for expansion, the biggest headache for the NBA will be balancing travel logistics while maintaining standard regular-season games and the Emirates NBA Cup tradition. Here is a mathematical and entertainment proposal to solve it.

‎1. The 8-Division Realignment (4 Teams Each) ‎ EASTERN CONFERENCE ‎

North: Minnesota, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit ‎

NorthEast: Toronto, Cleveland, Indiana, Washington

‎Atlantic: Boston, New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia

‎Southeast: Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, Charlotte ‎

WESTERN CONFERENCE ‎

South: Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, New Orleans (Texas Triangle + Pels) ‎

Southwest: OKC, Denver, Phoenix, Memphis ‎

Northwest: Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, Utah ‎

Pacific: Golden State, Sacramento, LA Lakers, LA Clippers (Pure California) ‎ ‎

1. The 82-Game Schedule Breakdown ‎

32 Games: Non-Conference (16 teams x 2 games) ‎ ‎

12 Games: Divisional (3 teams x 4 games) ‎

36 Games: Conference, Non-Divisional (12 teams x 3 games) ‎

2 Games: The "Geographical Rivalry" Extra Games ‎ Total: 82 Games Exactly. ‎

‎3. The Off-season "Super Lottery Night" (July Event) ‎

To determine the final 2 games and group stages without administrative bias, the NBA can host a live TV event in July post-draft: ‎

Phase 1 (The NBA Cup): Hosted by the Commissioner. Teams are assigned a lottery number based strictly on the previous season's standings (1-16 per conference). The Commissioner draws 4 teams per group for Groups A to D. This keeps the tournament group stages randomized and unbiased every year. ‎

Phase 2 (The 2 Extra Games): Hosted by Team Owners. Neighboring divisions are merged into lottery pools (e.g., South merges with Southwest; Pacific merges with Northwest). Team Owners take the stage to draw from their paired division's bucket.

Example: The Dallas Mavericks owner draws two balls from the Southwest bucket (OKC and Memphis). Those matchups are elevated to 4 games for that specific season. To protect player health, once a team is drawn twice by the opposing division, their ball is capped and removed. ‎

‎Why this works: ‎ ‎It creates a massive off-season TV event with unfiltered reality-TV drama from Team Owners, optimizes player travel by keeping extra games strictly regional (e.g., LA teams playing Phoenix/Denver, North Cali playing Vegas/Seattle), and preserves both division rivalries and the fresh, randomized tradition of the NBA Cup. ‎

P.S. If Vegas finally gets their franchise team, they shouldn't host the NBA Cup Finals anymore to preserve a true neutral ground. A highly logical and nostalgic alternative venue is Vancouver.

What determines whether some players attempt more shots than others on the team? What stats indicate that a player will take more shots?.

I think I'm in the minority here but I like playing this game day by day. The simulation is realistic and I "watch" a lot of games.

But the most exciting time in the game is the end of the offseason when all your players change ratings. I'd love to have more of that. I wonder if you could have the option of this happening every day for maximum excitement, e.g. over the span of 2 weeks your player might shoot up +5, then the next week go down 2?

That way your rookie could start the season on the bench then move to the starting lineup then maybe be benched again then return. The only current problem with the basketballgm season IMO is that it doesn't feel like it matters what the players do, e.g. a 30 point game by a rookie has no bearing on what they'll do 2 months from.

Daily progression would change that, suddenly a 30 point game is a sign of things to come. For me that's half the fun of following the real NBA, I get to see how players develop over time over the span of the season even if my team's tanking.

Here would be some of the potential issues that I could think of with doing this and why I don't think they would be big issues:

It would run slower

The game loads for a few seconds at the beginning of the season, which I imagine is due to several things that includes slow-ish player progressions. However the player progression piece could be optimized by switching to a multivariate random normal for player progressions. Currently the code does a complicated pipeline with multiple randoms and if branches, but I've simulated this before and the end result of what basketballgm does is similar to a multivariate random normal, i.e.

progress = baseline_progressions + covariance_matrix * rand + fuzz

where

- baseline_progressions is a vector of expected changes per attribute based on age curves (e.g., young players trend up in skill, older players trend down in athleticism)

- covariance_matrix is a n_attribute x n_attribute matrix of how the attributes progress against one another. For instance adding strength decreases free throw, inscreasing three point skill increase free throw.

- rand is a standard normal vector drawn for that player

- fuzz is fuzz for each attribute

If this was coded directly (rather than the current code which approximates this) the progressions would run fast, or at least faster.

other benefits of this approach:

- these vectors/matrices could be edited in God Mode, e.g. to make old players stay good for longer

- you'd no longer get inflated ratings if you lower draftable age

- It would be more exciting to scout draft prospects IMO if their ratings kept shooting up and down, including after the season ended

Note that there's a nice property of processes like these (see Brownian motion models used in finance etc) that you can multiply (baseline_progressions + covariance_matrix) by time and it's the same as doing one step for each day * the number of steps. So if you simulate 100 days of offseason at once or something, you just multiple the result of your 1-day progression by 100.

So, if you're a player who likes to quickly simulate seasons and you had the option to just update once a month, twice a year, once a year etc -- your season would run fast and you'd get identical player progressions to someone who had the option to select daily progressions.

The UI change might be confusing

It would be a change to see these quickly changing progressions under the historical ratings section on a player page but I honestly wouldn't mind it. Say you had one entry for each year at draft time. Then it wouldn't change much from what it currently is, but could be confusing if you like the current setup.

Players could theoretically change value over the span of the offseason, e.g. during free agency, this might be confusing

This would be a design decision, you'd probably freeze ratings between the draft and start of the season although it would be funny if players started changing ratings right after you signed them.

Veterans in real life play better in the playoffs, here they'd drop off even more compared to the regular season

I'm guessing players in real life load up on peds for the playoffs and this helps veterans more than young players. I don't know how you'd account for this one, or maybe it doesn't matter. But it would be unrealistic to see your star older guy fall out of the starting lineup suddenly during the finals.

If you micromanage your starting lineup you'd be stuck micromanaging it over time

Say there was an option to select progression updates at different intervals, if you selected the daily option *and* you're a lineup micromanager you'd probably be out of luck, you'd probably have to check back every few weeks to make sure your players hadn't changed a ton. Then again you're already a micromanager so maybe you wouldn't mind. Maybe you would, if your GF suddenly changed to a SF and some 39 OVR guard joined the starting lineup.

I'm probably missing something important

Thanks dumbmatter, love your game.

I love this game, I come back a few times a year. My favorite times are when the AI is competent. My Cade Cunningham Wembanyana combo could NOT get passed Toronto dynasty. Killian Hayes still crushing Detroit’s dreams.

528 Win shares and 17 straight MVPs

Can you people noticed that Josh Giddey becomes a 'Russell Westbrook/Nikola Jokic/Oscar Robertson' type of a player in real players mode when simulated? He got triple double figures most of the time, most of the simulations. Sometimes surpassing this three even more. With him, championship is almost constant (if you successfully got him by trade or you are a GM for Chicago). He is deeply blessed in this game, but can this be translated in real life?

Just started my first league so I’m trying to familiarize myself with all the systems. I’ve noticed a few interesting things so far (CPU traded Isaiah Joe and a 2RP for Fox and a 1RP) that have caught my eye but this one was really interesting.

Is there anyway to change attributes or is there any info on how attributes are determined because there’s no one that watches or follows basketball and thinks Luka Doncic is faster than Tyrese Maxey. It’s not a huge deal but I’m noticing things like that more among the players and it does raise your eyebrow.

Longtime fan of basketball sim games. I built my own take — Hoops GM — with a live, possession-by-possession match engine you can coach in real time (or blitz at MAX speed). Free, in-browser, no download: https://hoops-gm-chi.vercel.app



Not trying to replace anything — just sharing with people who love the genre. Honest feedback very welcome.

Solo dev, side project, quick share. Free for all, no login. Inspired by the awesome 82-0 game, just added a mode called Poach Playoff that I've been enjoying more than expected.

https://draft82-0.com/82-0-game-poach-playoff

You draft a real playoff bracket year (1990–2026, real matchups, real starting fives), pick one of the round-1 winners as your team, and every round you win, you get to poach one player from the team you just eliminated — targeted at whichever position is hurting you most, not just whoever's "best."

Every other matchup that round does the same thing automatically, so rosters keep compounding trade after trade. By the conference finals you're looking at stitched-together lineups that never existed, in matchups that never happened either — since who wins each round now depends on simulated team strength, not real history.

Free, no ads, one dev. More modes can be found at draft82-0.com. Want to hear your feedbacks & comments. Thanks.

kendrick perkins top 10 pick is brazy

So Im playing from all the way in the beginning of the NBA and right now Im in 1966 and the lakers trade 3 of the best players to the royals for a second round pick, can I fix the Ai to AI trade logic or do I have to clean it up myself

I've really only messed with real player determinism and the occasional sisyphus mode.. anyone got fun combos of rules/settings they tweak or enable to get more than just the typical sim?

❎ - "Game 7"

✅ - "Live dangerously"

hey quick question my players contracts been off the roof 74M 80M 100M how do I reduce that before I start the season I want the contracts more realistic

the game looks better in dark mode but making roster decisions takes way longer when i can barely see the difference in the bold Exp column. in light mode, it’s way clearer. it would also be nice to see player mood in the trading block page so i don’t have to go to the roster page and find specific players just to check mood

maybe change of color of bold expiring players on trade block would help with the contrast. & adding player mood to trading block page would be a massive QOL upgrade too