Game Plan

Pace sets how quickly your team gets into its offense. It changes how many possessions both teams get, not your share of them. More possessions favor the better team; an underdog wants fewer. Fast games tire everyone.

Motion is how much the ball moves before a shot. More motion means more extra passes, better looks and more assists, but also more passing turnovers with weak passers, especially against zone, help and traps. Low motion puts the ball in your best handlers' hands.

Three-point usage raises how many threes your shooters take. Players who can't shoot barely change and non-shooting bigs mostly ignore it, so it only pays with real shooters. Focus sets where you attack. Inside feeds the post and runs more pick-and-roll; outside spreads the floor and takes more threes.

Crash the boards sends more players to the offensive glass. More second chances, but after a turnover you're late getting back and the other team runs.

Up to three key players get a lot more touches, and a key big gets fed in the post. When one gets hot, defenses double them, which risks turnovers but frees an open shooter. They tire faster, and one who takes too many shots loses efficiency.

The closing five is who plays crunch time: a close game late in the fourth quarter or overtime. They check in and stay in, past their minutes and through fourth-quarter foul trouble, and you can pick the position each one plays. If you leave it incomplete, saving fills it with your starters. If some of your closers can't play that night, the best five available close.

You pick a primary and a second defense, and the mix slider sets how often you're in each.

• Man is the baseline, best against teams that shoot.
• Zone leaves shooters open, so it's bad against good shooting teams. It fouls less, saves legs and jumps passing lanes; use it on teams that can't shoot.
• Help sags into the paint. It protects the rim but invites threes, fouls more and costs legs.
• Trap is the most aggressive. It fouls the most and costs the most legs. Its blitzes force turnovers but can leave a corner shooter open.

Full-court press runs on every trip, all game. It tires all five defenders and gives away reaching fouls in the backcourt (free throws once they're in the bonus). It creates steals mostly against weak ball-handlers, and a live-ball steal can become a fast break. Worth it against bad handlers with a deep, fresh bench; a tax otherwise.

Box out seals on the defensive glass: the other team gets fewer second chances, but you run less and your bigs tire a little more. Chase the glass is a smaller version that goes after long rebounds, though the few putbacks the other team does get are a touch cleaner.

Minutes flex: Strict sticks close to your depth-chart minutes. Loose lets a hot hand ride and pulls cold players sooner. Normal sits in between.

Foul trouble: Careful sits players early when they pick up fouls, Risky leaves them in and accepts the chance of a foul-out, and Normal is in between. Careful is the default.

Garbage time: Early rests your starters sooner in a blowout, Normal waits until the lead or deficit is safe, and Never keeps them in whatever the score.

DNP lock: with the lock on, a player set to 0 minutes never comes in, even in an emergency. With it off, they come in only when a foul-out, ejection or injury leaves nobody else.

These all start neutral, so nothing changes until you move one.

• Pace when down 6+ / up 6+ only apply while the margin is at least that big. Speed up to chase a lead, slow down to protect one.
• Fast break turns more of your chances into real breaks. Breaks only come off live-ball turnovers such as steals and bad passes.
• Play mix (quick / ISO / motion, always adding to 100) is separate from the Motion slider. Quick shortens possessions. ISO only matters for key players who can create their own shot. The motion share sets how often cuts, off-ball screens, spot-ups and handoffs happen, and those need shooters.
• Intensity makes closeouts on jumpers and threes harder, but not at the rim. It costs legs and a few more fouls, so run it high with a deep, fresh rotation and ease off on back-to-backs.
• Switching only matters when man is your primary defense. Switch more to tighten contests on threes (good with long, quick wings). Switch less to protect the rim, at the cost of giving up pull-up jumpers.
• Clutch usage gives key players more isolations in close fourth quarters.
• Protect stars in foul trouble shifts the foul-trouble rule for your stars only: sit them a little earlier, or let them risk it.
• Free throws late controls intentional fouling when you're trailing late. Passive never fouls. Hack fouls earlier and from further behind. It targets their worst free-throw shooter.
• Shooting variance makes hot and cold nights bigger or smaller without changing the average. Favorites want it low, underdogs high.

Man defense can be run by any staff. Zone, help and trap have to be taught, and each is harder than the last. If your head coach's defensive teaching isn't good enough for a scheme, coverages break down now and then and your players fall back to basic man. The same goes for offense. A simple, low-motion attack works with any staff, but a heavy motion system needs a strong head coach, or it produces extra turnovers.

A head coach whose system fits your focus runs it a little better. Grinder and Old School coaches fit an inside focus, and Offensive Guru and Analytics Wizard coaches fit an outside one. A Tactician fits any focus. Without a head coach, a weak interim staff takes over: every scheme beyond man breaks down, and nobody makes halftime adjustments. Your head coach can tell you which schemes this staff runs cleanly.

Use the game switcher to set a plan for one upcoming game. A per-game plan carries every setting, including key players, the closing five and the Precision controls. AI Suggest tunes a full plan to your roster, your staff and your next opponent. It sets tempo, style, defenses and press, and names your three best healthy starters as key players. AI plan next 5 games does this for each of your next five opponents.