Description: Player Potential is the level to which a player can improve each season and at what speed the player increases in possible ability each season.

Topics

Introduction
Overall Potential
Attribute Potential
Overall Potential Example
Attribute Potential Example
Factors that Effect Potential Increase

Related Topics

Training

Introduction: The player potential system is a great method by which to insure that players do not ascend to superhuman heights too fast. While it works great to simulate real players advancement, it often proves to be very confusing for novice and experienced users alike. This page will strive to explain the details of how the potential system works.

Overall Potential: As you may already know, players have 8 basic attributes, Offense, Defense, Shoot, Rebound, Injury, Fatigue, Three Point Shooting, and Foul. All of these attributes you (as an owner) can see. There are also a few attributes that cannot be seen. Included in those attributes is one called Overall Potential. Like the other attributes, Overall Potential is a number between 1-100. When you look at a player's vitals page, you will see a section at the top that says, "Potential: ", followed by either a red "Below Average", a blue ""Above Average" or a green "Average". Rather than show you 4.5 balls to illustrate the player's overall potential, it is displayed as one of these three text messages. Below average players are those in the lower 25 percentile (1-25 score), above average are the top 25 percent (score 75-100), and everyone else is average (26-74). As you can see, most players will be in the average category.

Attribute Potential: Each of the 8 attributes has a matching Attribute Potential. Meaning, there is a skill level over which the player may not advance. So, for example, there is the offense attribute score of 45. Your player basically has 2 basketballs of Offense skill. There is also an Offense Potential score, which, let's say is 55. You can train your player, he can get better in the off-season, etc, but his offensive skill score can not go past 55. You can train him successfully 10 times, after which no training or skill increases will give him an extra point in Offense. At the end of each season, each of the 8 Attribute Potentials changes. Some may go up, some may go down. The Overall Potential helps to determine two things, first, if there is an increase or a decrease in each of the Attribute Potentials, and second how big that increase or decrease will be. In other words, the Overall Potential means nothing until the end of a season. At that time it helps determine if the Attribute Potentials for each of the 8 attributes goes up or down and by how much.

Overall Potential Example:

Bob Jones, a 23 year old PG with Above Average potential, his exact overall potential is 90.

and

Larry Smith, a 23 year old PG with Below Average potential, his exact overall potential is 10.

Now, here are the actual attribute scores (in parentheses the number of basketballs) then a slash and the attribute potential for that attribute.

If you notice, the player attributes are the same, they are still equal in skill, however, Bob Jones now has more points between many of his Attributes and their attribute potentials. Also notice that Larry Smith dropped in attribute potential in Defense and Injury, despite the fact that he is only 23 years old. Season after season this scenario will likely play out similar to this example. Eventually, Bob Jones will have very high potentials in many of his attributes and if trained can ascend much higher than Larry Smith can. This is because he has the Above Average (90) Overall Potential. Now, this is by no way saying that Bob Jones cannot drop in potential in any given skill. It is saying that on the average, Bob Jones is going to increase more than Larry Smith.

For purpose of illustration, the exact numbers were revealed here. In the game, you are not going to know if Bob Jones is a 75 Overall Potential or a 99 Overall Potential, all you are going to know is that he is "Above Average". Likewise, you never know exactly how many points are between a player's Attribute and their Attribute Potential. You will have to get a feel for how well players are responding to training.

Attribute Potential Example: Now that we have a fair understanding of how overall potential is A) presented to owners and B) factored into the game, we can take a look at the other gauge on the "Potential: " line of the player's vitals screen. If you go back to the player's vitals screen, and look once again at the Potential section at the top, you will see the overall potential again, Average, Below Average, Above Average, and a word in parentheses after that. Either a red "Low", a green "Mid" or a blue "High". This is a measure of how much difference there is between that player's total attribute scores and their total attribute potentials. Looking back at the Bob Jones and Larry Smith AFTER the end of the season, we get this:

As you can see, there is a vast difference in the number of points available to be trained. Bob Jones has over twice the number of points that can be trained. The word in parentheses gives you an idea of how many points are available to be trained on a given player (as a whole). So, in this example, Bob Jones may be an "Above Average (High)", whereas Larry Smith may only be a "Below Average (Mid)". The exact cutoff varies from player to player depending on several factors, but, the one thing that is for sure is that when you get to "Low", you are probably getting close to the maximum training a player can receive. You will see this gauge (Low, Mid, High) change both throughout the season and at the end of a season.

Like the Overall point difference, employing a trainer gives you a similar gauge, but instead for a single attribute. If (again with the Bob Jones/Larry Smith example). I have a trainer who has an evaluation strength in rebounding, I might find that Bob Jones is a "Mid" in rebounding and Larry Smith is a "Low". Single attributes are on a different (smaller) scale than the overall point difference, but, one thing is still the same, when you hit "Low", your player does not have many points left between his attribute and his attribute potential.

In the Bob Jones/Larry Smith example, we started off with two people who have similar attributes, so, it is obvious over the long haul that the Above Average Potential player is the more valuable (if you intend on training). If you have, however, two players with different skill scores, for example, one player at age 23 with an average of a half basketball in each skill and Above Average potential, and a player at age 23 with an average of 2.5 basketballs and below average potential, the choice is not so clear cut. Sure, the first has high Potential, but, A) it is going to cost money to realize it and B) he is starting off well behind the second player. The second player, while low in potential, already has a significant head start on the first player in skill. He will be productive for at least a couple of seasons before the first could even hope to catch him in talent. Even then, it is likely that the second player would also be increasing in potential, it would just be at a smaller rate.

Factors that Effect Potential Increase: Age also plays a factor in potential. Younger players have a better chance to increase in skill, and when players reach a certain level, they begin to erode in talent. Sure, high potential players might hang on an extra season or two, but father time catches up with them all. This being said, potential becomes less and less of a factor as players grow old. A 35 year old player has skills, is proven and should be treated as such. He probably isn't going to be able to contribute to your team in 10 years, therefore, he usually isn't part of your future plans. You employ him for what he is, not what he could be.