BuzzerBeater Forums

What does DMI mean?

Deliberately Meaningless Index.

and what does that mean?

The DMI is very highly affected by what the player's game shape is. So a less skilled player with a good game shape may have a higher DMI than a better player with lower game shape. It's not a very good way of ranking how good your players are. A better way would be to look at their salaries.

ok thank you

Player skills are actually numbers, which are given a name for the integer part. A player's skill will increase based on training, but the change won't be visible on your roster until the integer part changes. But game performance will improve based on the actual skills.

DMI is calculated based on the skill values and game shape. Because so many factors are reduced into a single value it may be impossible to determine the formula that is used.

Because game shape is the fastest changing factor on a week-to-week basis, it will tend to mask other changes. The formula may also give more merit to extraneous factors. For example a player with good outside defense and inside shooting might have a similar DMI to a player with good outside defense and outside shooting, or a player with good inside defense and good inside shooting.
The first player might be fairly useless on the court, while the latter two could be a good guard or good center, respectively.

so, if I understood correctly: DMI is a general value for the quality of a player; a player with better skills, has a higher DMI (regardless if his skills are usefull for his position or not). A center with very high "guard"-skills (passing, perimeter def., etc.) and very low "center"-skills, might have a high DMI, but that doesn't make him a good center

Pretty much.

But BB also calculates the "best position". The "best position" can change based on training. So a player with very high "guard"-skills will be have a "best position" of PG and SG, and a player with very high "center" skills will have a "best position" of center.

"best position" appears to be calculated by comparing skills. On the TL, search for players who have a "best position" of PG, and maximum driving, handling, and passing skills of inept. You will find some of the worst players in BB. This is because the skills that cause them to be classified as PG are better than their other guard skills (JS, JR and OD), and these in turn are better than their inside skills.

Note that "best position" might more accuratly be called "suggested position". A player whose "best position" is SG, might also do quite well if played as PG or SF. How he actually perfomrs is based on his skills, those of the opponent, your tactics, and where you position him, and nothing to do with his "best position".