Funny, I used to play a long time ago as well and then took a lengthy break. I started a team 2-3 times but always lost interest and would eventually let the team lapse.
This time around I'm enjoying things a lot more as I've taken a more patient / hands-off approach, and have been treating this like the long-term sim that it is.
Focusing on my arena early was probably the best thing that I did as now that it's almost complete I can go back to focusing on player acquisitions which is far more enjoyable...
I've never actually tried developing PG's, am fixated on training a crop of C's right now.