Salary Cap Team Building

[Erithtotl]

Quote: Originally Posted by harryl

1775 as initial cap is actually kind of disappointing. Bronze and Silver are already all but irrelevant, except as deep bench DNP's. For 1775, one can play a lineup like this: 2 x Ruby 2 x Sapphire 3 x Emerald 2 x Gold 1 x Silver 3 x Bronze Or, taking out all Rewards, something like this: 5 x Sapphire 3 x Emerald 1 x Gold 1 x Silver 3 x Bronze With really smart rotation and timeouts management, one could play just 8 deep and never field anything lower than an Emerald. One could very easily run 9 deep and "have to" play a Gold, but there's a good number of very capable Gold role players who are perfectly fine playing very limited bench minutes. I was really hoping that the first round would require teams to be heavy with Gold and Silver. So that, if one were playing Amethysts, or even Rubies, that would require playing one or more Bronzes for meaningful minutes. Even if one plays an Amethyst and a Ruby, one could do this and play 9-deep and never play below a Gold. Or, at worst, just a couple or few minutes with a Silver: 1 x Amethyst 1 x Ruby 2 x Sapphire 2 x Emerald 3 x Gold 1 x Silver 3 x Bronze Hopefully there is matchmaking for comparable teams and that it works better than in the past. Because even though there are 2 available Amethyst Rewards and a bunch of Ruby Collection rewards, I think most people would consider a team that is mostly Sapphire and Emerald to be a "God Squad" at this infant stage in the game.

I played one of these yesterday in qualifying.

Curry, Harden, McGrady (who is ridiculous at 81), Thompson, Paul, D. Howard, KP, Melo, Irving, Wall, etc etc. Was like 2 sapphire, and 7-8 emerald (some of them going for 20K+ on the AH). My squad is the Gold edition Irving/Shaq and a bunch of golds/silvers. My cap number is like 1250 or so.

He also ran 5 out. McGrady scored 26. Was just unstoppable.

Yeah would have been nice if cap numbers were lower. I'm not sure its a restriction at all at this point. And if they steadily increase the cap then it never will be.

[Bi00]

Quote: Originally Posted by Erithtotl

Yeah would have been nice if cap numbers were lower. I'm not sure its a restriction at all at this point. And if they steadily increase the cap then it never will be.

Here's an example of a possible squad you could see without a cap.

[justlaze]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bi00

Here's an example of a possible squad you could see without a cap.

THE GOD SQUAD confirmed on September 21 in 2017

[Bubba13laze]

I think the most important factor is not knowing whether or not multiple salary caps will be available to play at the same time. What I mean is, can I build a 2000 cap team and enter a 2000 cap league matchmaking lobby while somebody else does the same for 2500 cap? OR Is there only one available cap at a time, that increases in time with each round or season, and the entire community is always competing on the same lvl (cards they can use - matchmaking rating will still be a thing)? With the addition of leaderboards.. There is an opportunity to open a couple different super max leagues/leaderboards at the same time. If 2k doesn't make this possible it's because they don't want to encourage budget teams. The cap progresses because better cards release and they want packs being opened, not people using silver cards all year.

As for the 1775 starting cap.. I have mixed feelings. Depending how much time you invest in the mode.. Some people play a lot and spend no money on vc, some play little but spend lots of money, and there is everything in between on the spectrum. I feel like there will be some people who can't get near 1775. Like guys who have played 2-3 offline games so far and have a completely vanilla team. That would be what, around 1200 cap? Then there's probably dudes who have half the reward rubies already and are scratching their heads on who to use on their team and who doesn't make the cut.

Me personally I am a pretty dedicated player and 1775 is kind of perfect for as an inaugural season. I spent 0 on vc but played a fair bit and my main squad sits at 1850. So a minor tweak of changing Millsap to Ibaka and one of my silvers to a bronze at the end of my bench and I'm right at 1775 on the dot.

I think the salary cap helps add a deeper strategic element to the game and has the potential to make a lot more cards relevant. Hopefully we have a couple different caps available at one time so more people can field competitive teams. I worry if thee is only 1 cap that gradually increases over time it will end up being too high in order to appease the big spenders and it will take away from the depth in salary cap team building.

[Bi00]

1775 is a pretty interesting cap right now with lots of decisions with the current card pool. I know that I need to run two great PGs where I generate my offense. Then it's a question of running another solid card or rounding out the bench.

I'm probably end up running 2-3 studs and filling out with those super budget silvers. Also Penny, trust in Penny.

Edit: Went 7-0 and hit PD in round 1. This lineup was pretty nice to me and Penny was just nuts.

[EarvGotti]

Running with this squad for now. I actually wish the cap was a bit lower so that we would have to use more silvers and golds but ehh its whatever.

My team is a good mix of offense and defense. BTW, Baron Davis with that duo is sooooo nasty. Loving this card. A nice new touch i noticed is that 2k added FG against stats to the player cards so you can see how effective your player is on defense. All the way to the end it shows FGs made against and PA(Points Allowed avg). Very nice.

[Bubba13laze]

Quote: Originally Posted by EarvGotti

Running with this squad for now. I actually wish the cap was a bit lower so that we would have to use more silvers and golds but ehh its whatever. My team is a good mix of offense and defense. BTW, Baron Davis with that duo is sooooo nasty. Loving this card. A nice new touch i noticed is that 2k added FG against stats to the player cards so you can see how effective your player is on defense. All the way to the end it shows FGs made against and PA(Points Allowed avg). Very nice.

Omg.. I asked for those specific stats in a post last year and 2 years ago!! Awesome team. I'll post my 1775 lineup when I start it tomorrow. Also I really want to try that b Diddy now! Lol.

[EarvGotti]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bubba13laze

Omg.. I asked for those specific stats in a post last year and 2 years ago!! Awesome team. I'll post my 1775 lineup when I start it tomorrow. Also I really want to try that b Diddy now! Lol.

Emerald B.Diddy with the duo becomes better than the Sapphire Hornets one lol

I been waiting years for B.Diddy in My Team so i had to scoop him. Very good card so far.