Creating Yourself: How do you do it?

Every year I get Live and every year I get stuck as to how I can create myself fairly, while being an effective player, but not be too good where I make the game far too easy for myself.

In other words, I don't want to create myself into the game as an 80 overall, but I don't want to walk in as a 55 overall either.

I tried limiting the points I could give myself -- say, 68 -- or averaging the lottery picks of that season. But I just found myself compromising areas where I could get away with a low rating (off rebounds, off awareness) to keep my shooting up and I could shoot well enough that I made the game too easy for myself.

So, this year I decided to try something new: Earn my ratings -- as many of them as I can anyway.

Obviously, there is no way for me to walk on to a court and figure out my offensive awareness or my steal rating without it being a matter of opinion -- and a biased one at that because I want to make myself good

I am going to be the Heat and Sf is the obvious weakness. So instead of playing at my natural position, I figured I could make myself like a point forward.

So step one of me "earning" my ratings consisted of me choosing 3 point guards (my natural position) and 3 small forwards (the position I will play in the game) that have a similar game to what I play (I have a quick first step, but am slow over distance. I am an average athlete otherwise. I shoot a lot of 3's. I can get to the bucket, but I like shooting the 3. I am a pass first, score second guy in general, but I tend to get aggressive on offense at times). The trick is, I could use 1 very good player at either position, 1 starter, and 1 bench player.

So the guys I felt fit my game at point guard were Mike Bibby (very good player), Kirk Hinrich (starter), and Bob Sura (bench). At small forward I chose Antoine Walker (very good player), Rashard Lewis (starter), and Mike Miller (bench).

So for each rating (without seeing their stats first, otherwise I will know which 3 have the highest) I choose one from each level. So, for instance, with rebounding I would choose between Bibby and Walker, then Lewis and Hinrich, and then Miller and Sura. Whichever 3 I use, I average their rating and that becomes my rating for that particular thing (obviously, you have a general idea who will have a higher rating at certain things).

But shooting is where I "earn" my rating. I have headed out the basketball court and shot the ball myself. So what I do is shoot 3 sets of 50 shots from either the free throw line, a mid-range shot (17-18 feet), and 3-point shot (NBA range).

So say I make 35-50, 41-50, and 36-50 from the foul line. I have the option to use the middle number (in this case, 36) as the base for my rating or the average of the 3 sets (in this case, 37.3). So obviously, I would pick the 37, which would in turn double to make 74. So 74 would be my FT rating.

The same applies for mid-range and 3-point shots, except I triple those values to get my rating.

So how do you guys create your own selves?

Any suggestions of how to make it more "fair"?

Well I'm only good at shooting open shots and I drive a lot but I rarely finish in traffic, I usually try to draw a foul. But I've been told I am the best defender and shot blocker on my team. I normally play SG/SF but I almost always get more playing time if I need to guard someone. So I'm not really an all around player like you, but I am good on defense and usually make open shots, and if someone is in front of me I will try to drive or pass instead of try to shoot over them.

So it is hard for me too, because I am good at shooting only when I'm open, but there really is no specific rating for that. The only things I make pretty high when I create my player is shot blocking, inside scoring, defensive awareness, speed and stealing. Everything else I just try my best to make it so I'm not too great but not too bad. I don't have a created player for myself right now, but when I did he was a 68. And I think his 3 pointers were like 60-62.

So I also get stuck a lot when trying to make ratings for my player but I usually get them to work out pretty well.

Well I'm only good at shooting open shots and I drive a lot but I rarely finish in traffic, I usually try to draw a foul. But I've been told I am the best defender and shot blocker on my team. I normally play SG/SF but I almost always get more playing time if I need to guard someone. So I'm not really an all around player like you, but I am good on defense and usually make open shots, and if someone is in front of me I will try to drive or pass instead of try to shoot over them.

So it is hard for me too, because I am good at shooting only when I'm open, but there really is no specific rating for that. The only things I make pretty high when I create my player is shot blocking, inside scoring, defensive awareness, speed and stealing. Everything else I just try my best to make it so I'm not too great but not too bad. I don't have a created player for myself right now, but when I did he was a 68. And I think his 3 pointers were like 60-62.

So I also get stuck a lot when trying to make ratings for my player but I usually get them to work out pretty well.

Well, why not choose players who fit that mold an combine their ratings to make yours similar to what I did.

From what I am hearing, these players would seem to fit your description (remember everything is relative, so I am choosing 'very good players' based on what your skills are):

Very good players: Tayshaun Prince and Andrei Kirilenko
Starters: Doug Christie and Bruce Bowen
Bench: Shane Battier and Boris Diaw