BuzzerBeater Forums

For those guys who have likely to have invested so much in the draft this season, ie. Slammers, LORDY, All-Sorts, Hustlers & Hadders.. what is the talent like in our draft in your view?

I know i am likely to get pick 6th barring winning enough games to rise over the Rangas and Tantrums, is their enough depth to get a decent player? I am unsure whether to spend my points as if i don't it may be useless down in div 3 next season where i will be near the top, or if i stay up and plan to move up to mid table.

im gonna chime in here, even though ur not asking me.

I did a little bit of analysis a few seasons ago when i was in Div III, and the conclusion that i basically came to the conclusion that it didnt really matter what position i was going to finish in, i would still get my top choice draft pick/picks.

The analysis I did was of the previous 4-5 seasons draft's, and essentially what choice pick everyone got. and pretty much everyone got their first, 2nd or 3rd choice pick in the first round.

So i was goign to finish 1st, which i did, id saved up my points from 2 seasons, and i spent most of them and then ironically, i only managed to get my 4th pick. dag nabbit. But it was a really good one, so it worked out ok.

That was Div III though im sure Div II would be slightly different, so it does depend. But in a season like this, where you look at the average scouting spend, its really big, so obviously there are teams investing quite heavily in the draft, and those guys finishing bottom and savvy enough users to be investing wisely and scouting wisely.
So IMO, this season is probably the worst to be trying pick up something good in the draft.

NB: just checked out the last 4 seasons in this league, everyone in the first round got at worst, their 4th priority. Then season 17, TL got their 7th priority. Season 18 only 1 team DIDNT get their number 1 priority in the first round. amazing.

I am basically getting 1st or 2nd pick so I don't mind saying it.

There are two decent 18 yo prospects in the draft. One should be solid (guard) and the other one could be amazing or could be a bust (potential sf).

Edit:
All other guys are 3 balls potential or lower. There may be a 3 ball skill/5 ball potential but I only scout 4/5 ball skill 18 year olds.

Last edited by lordy at 7/19/2012 4:12:13 AM

I can speak about my personal experience in this league.

Season 17 was picking last so didn't scout at all and got my first pick which was a random guy who was Durdama Pandey a $3k 19 year old starter potential guy.

Season 16 was picking 11th and did scout. I was the only person in the first round that didn't get a top three choice and the guy I ended up with had been scouted as an 18 year old 6'3" SG with 4/3 skills/potential. Really seemed not that bad but the reality of a $3,200 allstar with a poor skill mix left me very sad.

Season 15 I ws picking 2nd last but scouted and found a great 5/3 guy 6'1" SG who was my 4th preference. He turned out to be a $3400 star potential and extremly foul prone (he fouled out in 13 minutes in his first game!).

Season 14 I was picking 9th and was lucky enough to get my 2nd preference. He was a 6'3" C 5/3 and an A+ player. I figured he could be a long term SF project. Not so impressed when he had atrocious JS and really low other outside skills, but serves me right taking a C.

So I have never gotten anything decent from this league's draft.

Is there anything to suggest that investing heavily in the draft will give you a better picks on average than not scouting at all? Obviously anything could happen if you only looked at one season in isolation, but if we looked at say 10 seasons, do we think you would end up with significantly better draftees to justify the extra scouting expenses each week?

Just wondering as I haven't spent a single dollar on the draft since my second last season in III.

I dont scout anymore, especially when I'm not keen on relegation yet.
I got gab wall in like s15 when I promoted to div 3. Since then I've been saving the $200k a season by not scouting.
I'm happy with lucky pick, can still get the odd $50k value guy.

I have made a profit from draft I believe.

Scouting is the worst part of this game and needs a serious overhaul. I couldn't tell you the last time I spent any money on it. When I did scout (and heavily) I got the same rubbish players I do now without scouting. I don't know many people that have managed to get a player that was worth the investment.

well you got my brain thinking on this one.
Ive participated in 8 drafts, the first one only a few weeks after i started playing the game so i dont count that one.

Overall ive sold players in total culminating in $1.4million profit. I probably sold most of those guys straight away, or trained for less than one season then sold.

Only one guy Ive sold was after 6 seasons I think, so i didnt really get his 'peak' value.

Ive had one sale over $400k, 2 sales over $300k, (only one of those was a 'trained' player) 2 sales over $100k, and the rest less than $100k sales.

BUT, i still have 3 draftee's on my team :) Alcide, Rex and Farrugia. Rex is just a $7k backup, but Alcide was runner up MVP few season back and polls well in All-star game, and is essentially an awesome player. probably could sold him at his peak for $1m.
Farrugia is Superstar potential and will probably be U21 material or very close in the next few season. And i drafted him after finishing top of the league.
Doing some numbers, if i exclude the guys currently on my roster, then $1.4m over 7 drafts (im excluding the first one) is $200k per season on average.
and I havent spent that much on scouting. Last season i spent maybe $5k for half the weeks. And in the past ive very rarely spent more than $10k per week.. I know I have, but probably max 5 times ever. (why pay more per point right?)
so i can tell u right now, I love the draft.
I generally skip every second draft, that is, i dont use points every year. save em up, then use them. Last season i didnt spend any, (cause i didnt have any) and this season i probably wont either, because everyone else is scouting the talent and i wont get a look in.

so yer. i will argue that there is an element of luck involved, but there is also a very big element of strategy with the draft.

Where's the strategy element?

As far as I see it, it's total luck as to which guys you scout, luck as to whether you will draft them and then more luck as to whether they turn out to be any good.

The only strategy element I can see is choosing which draft to be involved in, but that's hardly a strategical decision.

I'm thinking the draft is more likely to give you a player you might be able to train, rather than a player you can sell straight away and make a profit on. Having said that, it's not like there's much of an incentive to train your own draftees (other than some extra merchandise revenue)... it's not like there's a bonus to their skills or anything because they originated from your team.

Saving your money and buying a trainee should in theory give you the same net result as spending money on the draft and getting a trainee that way. The big advantage with buying a trainee is that you know his exact skills when you buy him.

Matt made a ton of money when I bought Maclean off him many many seasons ago :)