What do "skills" mean?

February 19, 2014-

In Basketball GM, "skills" are the little labels you see next to a player's name, like "B" for a good ball handler and "3" for a good 3 point shooter. But what do they actually do? Well, that's changed recently, so let me explain.

Originally, skills were purely cosmetic, just a quick way to glance at a player and see what he brings to the table. However, at some point, they worked their way into the game simulation code so you would get bonuses for players with certain skills. Like having multiple 3 point shooters in the game helps your offense by spreading the floor, so you'd get a bonus for that. The problem was that a player who just barely missed getting the "3" label is basically the same as a player who barely got the "3" label, so they should actually have similar effects on the game. I know, I know, this is common sense, but that's not how Basketball GM worked. But... it is now.

As of now, the skill labels are again purely cosmetic. There's no big difference between a player who barely makes a cutoff for a label and a player who barely misses it.