A man once said, “If you build it, he will come”. Field of Dreams, a movie from the year 1989, introduced me to these unforgettable words. And it’s this line that I’m thinking of as I ship the next iteration of League Mode. Something beautiful was built over these last few weeks, so let’s get into it.

WHAT’S NEW

Welcome to League Mode V3

To understand why it’s called V3, I’ll refer back to this earlier post for V2, and this post for V1. Each version involved major changes to the design, experience, and intention. Each version had a different kind of potential, but I truly believe V3 easily surpasses the enjoyment of the prior 2. Removed the RPG elements like the coaching perks/strengths/weaknesses, and opted to build the ultimate coaching season simulation mode instead.

First, take a look at the redesigned league page:

I’ve removed a ton of the vertical space that forced you scroll all over the page to access every section. Now you’ll have access to pop-up modals for areas like league stats, standings, and team management. Speaking of…

Manage Your Team

Inspired by the foundation of the draft in Coach Mode, I wanted to give you League Mode coaches the ability to impact your team outside of in-game adjustments. Now you can control so much more with your team. The first tab, Lineup, provides drag-and-drop functionality to change your starting lineup:

That’s just the first layer. The next tab, Playbook, enables you to add/remove different plays from the playbook. I’ve added suggested ones based on roster compositions, but this will likely be tuned based on feedback:

Next, we have my second favorite tab, Rotations. This page contains a ton of options for customizing your rotation plan on a deeper level:

View the rotation timeline for your team to understand which 5-man lineups will take the court. Choose between 8, 9, or 10-man rotations based on matchups or optimal lineups. There’s even a menu near the bottom to save your own custom 5-man lineups to quickly swap to during a game. I expect this section to be glorious for the most intense of basketball analysts. I also anticipate a lot of bugs due to all the new logic, but I really wanted to go all out for one of the most effective ways for a coach to impact a team. Who plays when? Who plays with whom? Who shouldn’t see the court at all?

Let’s briefly go over Scouting. Not too much here, as I’m still undecided on what information is valuable to present here, outside of general opponent info. Open to feedback here:

Lastly – my personal favorite tab: Analytics. The earlier questions about how to decide your rotation can get answered here:

Thanks to this tool, I (as a coach) see that I have a 5-man lineup that is losing by 17 points per possession. I need to do one of three things:
– Let more time pass before making a decision. 44 minutes is a small sample. The team is currently on a seven-game winning streak.

– Limit Jordan Clarkson’s minutes or remove him from the rotation entirely. Eventually, better teams on the schedule could badly beat us in his minutes.

– Try to avoid three-guard lineups, or at least try to have OG in those lineups along with Mitch.

The possibilities are endless. Net Rating is one of the most popular stats in the modern era of basketball. Individual counting stats are cool, but how much better does your team play when these 5 players share the court?

Playoffs

That’s right – now the season ends with something to look forward to. Play for a high seed, and then play for a championship. Playoffs mean that you are facing better teams, so those coaching decisions become more crucial.

WHAT’S NEXT

– Sleep.

– After waking up, I think I’m going to work on general player balancing, roster updates, and logic tuning once more. That’s a never-ending task.

– Take another look at Coach Mode, and work on improvements/bugs.

– Several features didn’t make the cut for League Mode V3. They’ll be implemented in due time. Features like fatigue, injuries, a deeper level of detail for the Scouting tab, etc.

– More cool surprises.

League Mode V3 surpasses the Coach Mode of any NBA 2K. Well, besides the graphics part. I think the entire site has come a long way, but there is still plenty of work to do. People playing Basketball Coach, telling their friends about Basketball Coach, and writing emails to me about how they enjoy Basketball Coach are always appreciated.

As always, thanks for playing.