Charles has a point, but the engine judges shot quality long before the ball reaches the rim. The manual gives the general framework, not the formulas, and so does this page. The box score shows only a fraction of it.
A game is a string of possessions
A game is a series of opportunities to score. The kind and quality of each look depend on your offense and on the matchups between your players and their defenders. The player then decides whether the chance is good enough, depending on the shot clock, his experience, the score, the shots the team has seen recently and the offense itself. Whether the shot falls depends on the shooter and his team against the defender and his team: a great player who is the only threat on a bad team draws more coverage and shoots worse.
Team ratings: players at positions
For every match your team gets ratings that the engine uses on each possession, built from your players at their positions. Each position counts differently.
- Outside scoring and defense: both guards heavily, small forward medium, power forward slightly.
- Inside scoring and defense: center heavily, power forward somewhat heavily, small forward medium.
- Rebounding: center and power forward heavily, small forward somewhat heavily, guards medium.
- Offensive flow, which produces assists and avoids turnovers: point guard very heavily, shooting guard and small forward medium.
So place players where their skills count, whatever their listed position. Rebounding limits the other team's chances and adds to yours; handling, outside defense and efficient scoring keep turnovers down.
Pace and focus
Every offense mixes two dials. Pace is faster, slower or normal: faster means lower standards for taking a shot and more possessions; slower usually means better shots, with the odd bad one forced at the end of the shot clock. Fewer possessions also mean lower scores, which lets a weaker team stay closer to a stronger one. Focus is inside, outside or normal: it improves your looks in one area, worsens them in the other and shifts where the shots come from. The gain is usually outweighed by the loss, so focus only where you really have an advantage.
Defenses trade too: zones buy defense in one area by giving it up in another, and the Full Court Press forces turnovers but costs stamina, defense and rebounding, and gives good ball handlers easy looks.
Reading the opponent
With Game-Day Preparation you can predict the opponent's focus and pace: guess right for a sizeable edge, guess wrong and your players are unprepared, and a complete misread costs more than a near miss. Once the game starts, the coach adjusts only a little, and any change away from your tactics works less well than choosing it from the start. After the game, the MATCHUP RATINGS of the match recap tell you how many points your players at each position would have scored, on average, on 100 shots.
Enthusiasm, shape and fatigue
Enthusiasm is how hard your team can play. Crunch Time makes them try harder today but needs a week or two of recovery; Take It Easy saves energy for later. You pick it as the attitude of your tactic, in the editor's Allstar view. Enthusiasm drifts back towards 5 and reaches 5 every offseason; the biggest games offer only the two playoff options, and friendlies, private leagues, BuzzerBeater's Best and Madness are always played at Normal. Game Shape reflects how sharp a player looked in practice and suffers if he plays too little or too much. Stamina decides how fast players tire, and players aged 27 or older who play most of a game without real rest can become exhausted in the fourth quarter. Minutes also decide who trains, so read Building a team before you draw up the depth chart.