BuzzerBeater Forums

OK, hear me out on this one.
On another thread, GM-JohnnyB gave the following list that correlates the salary at which players of various potentials hit their "soft cap" for training:

0 Announcer: < 5k
1 Bench warmer: < 5k
2 Role player: < 9,5k
3 6th man: 11,5-13,5k,
4 Starter: 21-24k,
5 Star: 33-40k
6 AllStar: 43-65k
7 Perennial allstar: 80-100k
8 Superstar: 125-145k
9 MVP: 195-230k
10 Hall of famer: 500k+
11 All time great: 1M+

I'm a USA IV team. My whole league only has a few players whose salaries exceed $10K. I don't have anyone over $7K. In light of that, and the above list, why would a team of my level need a player with potential like "MVP"? If I took someone with Starter or Star potential, trained him to the above-listed maximum or anything close to that, he'd be the best player in my league. Potentials above that just seems wasteful for a team at my level, because I don't have the trainer level to get that out of him.
Yes, I realize that I want to promote to higher leagues, and that higher leagues have better players. But the above table still leaves an awful lot of headroom.
I've got an SF with MVP potential I'm seriously thinking of transfer listing, just because my low-level trainer and my sub-optimal training regimes aren't going to get anything out of him that I couldn't get from someone with AllStar, Star, or maybe even 6th Man potential. The proceeds from such a sale would probably help my mediocre USA IV team more than keeping the player would.
Am I looking at this the wrong way?

Its interesting that you say this because when I first read these player "maximums" I had the exact same thoughts. Being in a similar league as you where the highest paid players in the whole league make $10,000-$20,000, why would someone like us unload a whole bunch of cash on an MVP who we're never going to make reach the 230k cap. The only flaw I can see in this thinking would be if there are caps on how high a player's skill can go in a certain area if they are a lower potential. For example if you could only train JS to a certain strength if your player was a 6th man even though he was below the salary "cap". I do not know if such a thing exists. I am very curious to know the answer to this because I am currently in the market for a young player to train and if a Star and an MVP can both be the same 40k player why bother unloading the cash?

Not necessarily...if I'm just looking to train a marquee player to make 30k in league IV this does not mean that I'm forever doomed in lower leagues. Obviously I'm not naive enough to think that a player with Star potential is someday gonna carry me to the NBBA, but while I'm in league IV there is no reason for me to have an MVP.

Keep in mind that it could take 4 seasons to train a player to that level by which time u might be in that higher league. If you do use this strategy theres a few different things you can do. When he reaches his cap you could sell him off plus use other cash u have to buy a better player. You could also sell him and buy trainees who do have better potentials. If you kept him he would make a nice bench player..

Last edited by aussie dude at 3/4/2010 8:13:34 PM

i thought the very same things, so if you go and look at my transfer history you can see how and what i did. Initially i bought younger players with lower potential, then i trained them for a bit and turned a nice profit, then i bought better trainees and did it all over again. All the while buying better players for the positions i wasnt training. Now i believe my roster is at a perfect spot, i have awesome bigs and 5 very good young trainees! If you have any questions on anything feel free to ask me.

Do you think its best to have one trainee and specialize on just him?

One trainee isn't enough even if your doing 1 position training u would need 2 probably 3 good trainees.

because you don't treain for your team alone, so if you finish training him he is probadly still pretty young, then you could sell him to teams like mine who need lot stronger players and get a lot of money because the player is still trainable.

So i would say, in most cases the decision is based on economy right(maybe not with HoF/Alltimegreat who are lot more expensiv as trainee).

Remember this game is a marathon not a sprint. While that potential may be fine for a couple of seasons it would suck to find out that you cant train your best player any more because he was a "Starter". You also need to be aware that if you are training players to sell them later on that players with high potential sell for much more than those with low potential even though as you rightly point out that potential will never matter for the huge majority of players. For old players you can ignore potential altogether.