How to Train Your Player

Will your player come in ready to work and ascend to greatness? Or did he have one too many cheeseburgers? You'll find out in training camp... it's a cruel, cruel thing.
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kucoach7
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How to Train Your Player

Post by kucoach7 »

This past training camp I recorded every GM's training camp inputs and measured each player's attributes before and after the training camp simulation. My goal was to better understand the mystical black box that is training camp. Training camp giveth and training camp taketh away and we all just deal with it. Is Mr. Uter a safer bet than user inputs? Is there actually anything we can do as GMs to really make a difference in training camp outcomes? This post seeks to answer these questions and help us all have more successful training camps.

We'll first tackle to big question. Is Mr. Uter a better trainer than us users? I started with a multivariable regression that measured the effect of opting for recommended inputs on total player attribute change while controlling for the player's potential and age. But first, let's talk about potential.

I used two measures of potential. I will be referring back to these two methods throughout the post so remember them. Each method assumes the following scale:
A - Player can achieve a maximum score ranging from 81-100
B - 61-80
C - 41-60
D - 21-40
F - 0-20

The first scale I used simply measures a player's potential by the difference between their current ranking in a given attribute and the highest rating of their potential score. For example:
Anthony Carter - Current Steal rating = 69 - Potential Steal rating = A (100) - Potential = 31

The other scale I used for determining potential categorized each player's current ranking into the appropriate ABCDF category and then measured the difference between that category and their potential caategory. Using the Anthony Carter example again:
Anthony Carter - Current Steal rating = 69 (B) - Potential Steal rating = A - Potential = 1
This scale accounts for the fact that Carter probably doesn't actually have the potential to reach 100 in steals.

So, back to that regression. . . The table below contains the result of the regression using both potential scales.
Full regression.GIF
Full regression.GIF (9.25 KiB) Viewed 4766 times
These three simple variables explain 70% of the variance in total training camp attribute change. 70%! Mr. Uter is smart but he is, after all, just a computer. As expected, age is the key determining factor of training camp outcome. It is very significant and has a relatively large and negative coefficient. For those of you less familiar with regression, the coefficients of -4.696 and -4.613 mean that every year a player ages you can expect total training camp outcome about 5 points lower than the previous year on average and holding all else equal. We, of course know that this isn't quite how it works but we'll come back to that later.

Potential is also significant. The 100 scale coefficient indicates that for each point below the maximum rating of their potential score, they will gain 0.122 points overall. Using the 5 scale suggests that for each attribute currently ranked in a category below their potential, they will gain 2.578 points. I personally prefer the 5 scale althought they are equally significant.

To measure the difference in outcomes between players with user prescribed training and computer recommended training, I used a dummy variable representing whether the player was trained with the recommended setting. The good news for those of us that use the recommended settings is that the coefficient is positive in each case, suggesting that players trained by Mr. Uter have net changes 1.9 points higher on average. The kind of good news for those of us that come up with our own training regiments is that neither of those coefficients is significant and that zero lies in the 95% confidence interval for both of them, meaning that there is no statistical difference between the outcomes of players trained by the computer and players trained by users. Plotting average attribute changes of user versus computer trained players by age shows that there is no clear winner.
Age by recommended and user.GIF
Age by recommended and user.GIF (20.08 KiB) Viewed 4766 times
I said that it the lack of difference was kind of good news for us that create our own training plans. Why? Well, does our effort even matter? Does it pay off to do the analysis? It could be that some of us are good at it and some are not so good at it, which would really confuse the results. Nevertheless, I proceed with an indepth analysis of the effect of user inputs on player outcomes.
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kucoach7
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How to Train Your Player (Inside)

Post by kucoach7 »

Before we get started, a quick note. For my category analysis I took the average change of the affected attributes as an outcome. For example, the outcome of Inside training was the average change in inside scoring, defensive rebounding, and offensive rebounding. Moving on.

We all covet guys that can score down low and clean the boards. So how do we develop them. For the category level analysis I divided players by age, those under 31 years old and those 31 or older.
Inside under 31.GIF
Inside under 31.GIF (12.15 KiB) Viewed 4765 times
Looking at the younger group we notice that the input that yielded the highest average improvement was 5. Indeed, looking at the scatterplot, we notice that there does seem to be an increase in outcome as the input rises from 1-5 but that there is a significant diminishing return on investment from that point on. In fact, the number of negative outcomes actually is greater for inputs above 5 than it is for inputs below 6. This may suggest that there is a risk of over-training players.
Inside over 30.GIF
Inside over 30.GIF (17.44 KiB) Viewed 4765 times
Looking at the older group, we notice that the best outcome is actually for those players with an input of zero. Similar to the younger players, it does apear that high inputs have produce a greater probabilty of large negative outcomes.
Training Input Table.GIF
Training Input Table.GIF (16.35 KiB) Viewed 4765 times
Regressions of training inputs do not really clear the water. Consistent with the overall regression, the main indicators of training outcomes are potential and age. The coefficient of each input is negative and, while none of them are significant, it does seem to suggest that large training inputs have a negative effect on training outcomes.
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kucoach7
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How to Train Your Player (Shooting)

Post by kucoach7 »

The outcomes of shooting, using the same breakdowns are very similar to those of inside. An input of 5 yielded the highest outome on average and the higher inputs produced more large negative outcomes.
Shooting under 31.GIF
Shooting under 31.GIF (11.04 KiB) Viewed 4765 times
The old guy results are also consistant with the inside results. The optimal strategy seems to be zero, with steadily increasingly bad outcomes as the input grows.
Shooting over 30.GIF
Shooting over 30.GIF (16.92 KiB) Viewed 4765 times
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kucoach7
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How to Train Your Player (Handles)

Post by kucoach7 »

The handles results are a little different but not much. We can see that the recommended option produced the best handles results but we can also see that 5 was one of the best inputs for the user trained players. Again, the largest negative outcomes occurred on players with inputs greater than 5.
Handles Under 31.GIF
Handles Under 31.GIF (11.8 KiB) Viewed 4764 times
The old guy results are also consistent with results becoming more negative as the inputs increased.
Handles over 30.GIF
Handles over 30.GIF (16.44 KiB) Viewed 4764 times
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kucoach7
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How to Train Your Player (Post D)

Post by kucoach7 »

I know this is getting redundant but I can only post a couple pictures per post so I have to break them up. Again, for younger guys the best option appears to be the middle ground. For old guys, the lower the input the better.
Post D under 31.GIF
Post D under 31.GIF (11.95 KiB) Viewed 4764 times
Post C over 30.GIF
Post C over 30.GIF (15.6 KiB) Viewed 4764 times
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kucoach7
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How to Train Your Player (Per D)

Post by kucoach7 »

Can't stop. Won't stop. Okay, well actually we get some less consistant results for the young group here but you can still see the general shape of the scatter plot with the peak in the middle. He did have a few outliers at ten that pushed the results to recommend 10 as an input.
Per D Under 31.GIF
Per D Under 31.GIF (11.28 KiB) Viewed 4764 times
Per D over 30.GIF
Per D over 30.GIF (15.84 KiB) Viewed 4764 times
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kucoach7
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How to Train Your Player (Cond)

Post by kucoach7 »

Conditioning is probably the most interesting result because of the old guys. The young gun results are still consistent with the previous results but the old guys might actually be achieving better outcomes through higher inputs. I think there is a chance of that but I also think that there is a good chance that all old guys are always going to get destroyed on conditioning so there is really nothing we can do to stop it.
Cond under 31.GIF
Cond under 31.GIF (11.76 KiB) Viewed 4764 times
Cond over 30.GIF
Cond over 30.GIF (16.87 KiB) Viewed 4764 times
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kucoach7
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How to Train Your Player (Recommendations)

Post by kucoach7 »

One of the reasons I preformed this analysis was because I was curious to see if a training camp strategy with large variations (10 0 0 10 0 5) was more or less efective than a more moderate strategy (4 4 4 4 4 5). One way I tested this in addition to the individual category analysis was to plot the TC input variance per team against the total team training camp outcome.
Variance.GIF
Variance.GIF (30.2 KiB) Viewed 4763 times
As you can see there does a appear to be a slight negative simple correlation between the two but there is nothing definite. A multiple regression confirms that variance of training camp inputs really has little to no effect.
Variance Regression.GIF
Variance Regression.GIF (5.95 KiB) Viewed 4763 times
My recommendations also are in line with these results. Based on the analysis I would recommend a more moderate strategy for young players, giving 5's or 6's to the categories we are most interested in and making everything else, 2's, 3's, and 4's. For old guys I recommend a 10 for conditioning and 0's, 1's, 2's, and 3's, everywhere else with the most important categories receiving 0's and 1's.
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kucoach7
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How to Train Your Player (Age)

Post by kucoach7 »

Let's go back to that regression result that told us that every year a player ages you can expect total training camp outcome about 5 points lower than the previous year on average and holding all else equal. We, of course know that this isn't quite how it works but when you take in to account the changes in potential, that is what the math says is happening. Even a simple scatter plot with a trend line shows that this is essentially what is happening.
Age-change.GIF
Age-change.GIF (15.18 KiB) Viewed 4762 times
You can see, however that, in reality there is a definite break at age 31 where things turn difinitively nasty. This is even easier to see in a table.
Age-change table.GIF
Age-change table.GIF (12.2 KiB) Viewed 4762 times
For players 28-30 years of age, the average floats around zero and then drops all the way to -35 for 31 year-olds. At the same time no 31 year-olds had net positive camps. Zero. That seems to be a hard line.

Let us all remember this as we bid on free agents and make trades. Players die when they hit 31. End of story. No one is an exception. Starting at 31, you can expect a player to lose 35+ attribute points a year.
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ballsohard
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Re: How to Train Your Player

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Xist2Inspire
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Re: How to Train Your Player

Post by Xist2Inspire »

Brilliant stuff man! Will definitely take this into account next season.
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ballsohard
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Re: How to Train Your Player (Age)

Post by ballsohard »

kucoach7 wrote:
Let us all remember this as we bid on free agents and make trades. Players die when they hit 31. End of story. No one is an exception. Starting at 31, you can expect a player to lose 35+ attribute points a year.
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Inner_GI
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Re: How to Train Your Player (Age)

Post by Inner_GI »

ballsohard wrote:
kucoach7 wrote:
Let us all remember this as we bid on free agents and make trades. Players die when they hit 31. End of story. No one is an exception. Starting at 31, you can expect a player to lose 35+ attribute points a year.
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HHAHAHAHAHA
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RPF
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Re: How to Train Your Player

Post by RPF »

excellent stuff here man, one of the reasons why we have such an awesome league
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NOLa.
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Re: How to Train Your Player

Post by NOLa. »

Holy christ man you killed this.

BOW TO YOUR TC OVERLORD KU
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Re: How to Train Your Player

Post by IamQuailman »

AWARDED 5 POINTS! THANKS FOR YOUR AMAZING MOTHA <expletive deleted> CONTRIBUTION!
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Inner_GI
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Re: How to Train Your Player

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Sticky this!
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JNR
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Re: How to Train Your Player

Post by JNR »

Excellent article!
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Re: How to Train Your Player

Post by PrepP »

Great stuff! Good Job KU!
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Re: How to Train Your Player

Post by Conroy »

would read again out of 10...actually I will have to read again just to maybe comprehend it.

Awesome stuff.
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Re: How to Train Your Player

Post by Darth Vegito »

OMFG...DO NOT TRY TO READ THIS WHILE TIRED AND IT IS LATE...WILL GET HEADACHE!!!
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