[DataBull]

You pretty much have the idea of sprinting. I probably use it more than I should. Generally when your offensive player is on a breakaway, or if the other team is on a breakaway and you are trying to catch up. Actually, on defense there isn't much downside, except if they slow down or stop you will blow right by the opponent so you need to watch out for that. Definitely easier for your player to lose the ball while dribbling and sprinting, and you rarely want to shoot while sprinting. I try to only shoot while sprinting if I'm headed directly at the goal and plan to shoot dead ahead. Even then the shot is a tap, anything more is likely to go wild.

There is a second big downside to sprinting, and that is your player energy goes down more quickly. Both the immediate energy available, and the "max" energy available. If you sprint little to none during the game, you can possibly have plenty of energy available at the end of the game to sprint heavy and blow by your opponents. So keep an eye on energy levels as you play various games and your amount of sprinting.

I was given some good advice a couple of years ago. Play a game or two or five without sprinting at all. Get used to making people miss and moving the ball around, positioning, etc without using the sprinting "crutch". You will be better and more effective with your sprinting when you see what happens without it.