Coaches

[joemimic]

Does anyone like the idea of implementing a coaching system much like Madden has where coaches can be fired and hired? It sounds like this new dynasty mode might include something like that because of all the new ownershipish features. Every coach could have ratings based on their real life preferences. Some coaches could be sticklers for defense and others not care about defense. Each coach could bring his own set of plays and style of basketball to your team which would make the process of having the right players to suit your coaches system. If you've got a coach who's offense is run and gun and you've got a bunch of slow guys who can't pass or shoot well you've probably got the wrong players or the wrong coach. You could decide which to change. I would also love more in depth scouting reports on draftees and current NBA players and the older ones on the all star teams and All 60s and so on and so forth. Just some ideas I was thinking about while playing.

[Andrew]

I like the idea, but would it work in practice? I mean, we basically have to do the work ourselves when it comes to running the more complex plays, and as long as we're controlling the players, we can more or less have them play to the best of their ability.

That said, I'd be interested to see how it could be incorporated, and just how it would affect gameplay.

[joemimic]

Well the way I had it thought out is that every coach would come with a set of plays that you'd get to run much like madden you could run your own profile which would include plays you pick or you run the coaches profile and it has plays according to the coaches style.

[Andrew]

Oh, so the default play settings would match the specific coach, not necessarily the players you have on the roster? Yeah, I get the idea now. It would be cool to see the coaches have more of an impact on the game - Dynasty Mode is being billed as very deep (and the snippets of info about it seem to suggest that it is), so we might see something similar to this.

[Tuomas]

Coaches should also be rated on scale 50-99, and the better coach you have, the better your team plays, at least when simulating games.

[Power And Proud]

Hiring and firing coaches is already available in NBA 2K3. When I start my franchise, I'm thinking about firing Doug Collins.

[benji]

I suppose it would be best like Madden...where you can create your own coach, or use existing ones...the cpu teams play depending on coach...your team when simmed depends on coach...but when you play the only limitation you have is tempo/style and the sets to choose from...

[joemimic]

We're not talking about NBA2K3, we're talking about Live 2004.

[cocobee]

For the PC version, you can pretend you fired the coach and just put another cyberface in place the original coach.

[Power And Proud]

We're not talking about NBA2K3, we're talking about Live 2004.

I know we are talking about Live, I was just pointing out the fact that the 2K series already has the coaching firing and hiring option.
Oh, and I'm yet to fire Doug Collins, as I currently stand at 9-1.

[MikZyth]

Uhm, I think the idea with coaches is a little weird (at least when you actually play the game)

In my opinion, the man who play NBA Live (or any sport simulation game) "represents" not only the GM but the Coach himself (makes subs, changing plays etc.).
I think that feature makes sense in Franchise (Dynasty) mode only (if you don't actually play games, but only simulate and represent GM), but with possibility to be switched off (if you play every game)

[Andrew]

I think if this feature was implemented, it would only really affect the play of the CPU team and simulated performance. You'd still be in control of your team as normal.

[paseo85]

hope really so because it frustating when no one ever get injured and other elements what makes a great game still like i had said that live2000 is the best live ever.

[Jonesy]

Perhaps the coach's ratings could have an influence on which areas develope/deteriorate during the season/offseason. For example if the coach you hire has a high defensive rating but a poor offensive rating your players defense will improve more than their offense.

The quality of available coaches could be related to the cost required to get a decent coach so you may have to choose, do i take an expensive/high quality coach and young unproven players or spend my money on high priced players but only get a crap coach.

Just a thought.

[ShowMeTheMoney]

Just something I've been throwing around my head since Live 98:

What about the ability to hire and fire both scouts and coaches?

Each coach or scout would have a "profile" which tells us his "abilities".

Let's say coach A is good with shooters, so if you hire him all your players get a +5 to their FG, FT and 3PT shooting abilities. Or if coach B is good with big men then maybe your forwards and centers get a + to their inside scoring or rebounding ratings etc... or something like that.

Scouts on the other hand influence the way you "see" the draft. For example he might come up with "recommendations" during the draft which, depending on the "skill/talent" of your scout might enable you to get a few steals in the draft.

Of course the contracts of coaches/scouts should also be figured into the salary cap somehow. So players will have to decide on whether to spend some cash on expensive coaches or on superstar players.

:D

[Nel]

Have a coach mode in live.

[Metsis]

Each coach or scout would have a "profile" which tells us his "abilities".

Let's say coach A is good with shooters, so if you hire him all your players get a +5 to their FG, FT and 3PT shooting abilities. Or if coach B is good with big men then maybe your forwards and centers get a + to their inside scoring or rebounding ratings etc... or something like that.

There should be plusses and minuses to all these things... If you have a good scorer coach then your defense should be a little bit more worse... All kinds of modifiers like this should have their ups and downs. So you cannot create a team that is best at something without sacrificing some other area of the game...

Scouts on the other hand influence the way you "see" the draft. For example he might come up with "recommendations" during the draft which, depending on the "skill/talent" of your scout might enable you to get a few steals in the draft.

I really hope that they have revamped the entire rookie section. Still the rookies are too slow and too unathletic, when the current trend is that athleticism counts for more and more. And the players in the NBA draft are the very best of the world so there shouldn't be any totally unusable players drafted in the first round. Maybe few, but there should be the hidden stars in the second round too. It is too linear now... The further away you drop in the draft the poorer player you will get. Again I say that Caron Butler and Amare Stoudemire were picks 9 and 10 last year and they were the top rookies.

Of course the contracts of coaches/scouts should also be figured into the salary cap somehow. So players will have to decide on whether to spend some cash on expensive coaches or on superstar players.

Their salaries do not count toward the salary cap... The salary cap is only for the player budget. There should (and hopefully will) be a "real" budget that you can use to buy those jets etc. And maybe hire and fire rest of the staff...

[jyd]

I think being able to change coaches is necessary if only because if u were to play 25 seasons in dynasty mode, Hubie Brown would be about 100 years old and still coaching, and thats not realistic.

About how coaches should affect the game, it is difficult to figure out what coaches would do. I don't think having a number of set plays for a coach would be feasible, its not like real coaches can't design new plays for the players they have. I also don't think the coach should just affect ratings like fg or 3pt by having everyone have +5 or something, because a better coach doesn't change a player's individual skills.

I'm thinking that coaches should mainly affect the morale of the players. For example, some coaches could provide better motivation, and this would increase their aggressiveness, so in the game, players with more aggressiveness will hustle more (i.e. dive out of bounds for balls).

The coaches could also affect player development of younger players. For example, some coaches are better working with younger players than others, so if you have a young team, you'd get one of those to develop your young players faster. And some coaches are better working with veterans (need to command respect).

Also, if a coach is more defensive-minded, it increases defensive awareness, and same with offensive awareness (do these ratings even do anything?).

So each coach would have these ratings. Motivation, developing young players, respect, offense, defense.

I think thats what Nba Live should start off with. Something simple. I don't think that would be too hard to implement.

And then eventually, over the years, they could make it more complicated. Maybe something to the effect of what plays they run.

It would also be interesting if before each game, the coach had a pre-game speech (or just text notes) that shows the weakness of your opponent. For example, the notes could identify what plays they run, who their weakest defender is, the weakness of their star player (how to defend him), etc. So many possibilities. And the ability of the coach determines how good and in depth it is.

And it would be cool if former players could become coaches after they retire!

Damn, i should be programming this game =)

Let me know what you think of my ideas.[/quote]