Greetings friends! Long time, no 'Stache Talk! I am here to rectify that.
Today I will discuss something that I find is important to making the game a little more realistic, shot location. I want players to take shots that they would take in real life, not just shots from the locations on the court where they are most accurate. Basically, whenever the NORMAL CONTROL section of the Action Card has a pass from a specfic player to a specific player, and the result is NOT a Dazzler, Steal or Turnover, I roll a 20-sided die, look at the SHOOTING TENDENCY section of the player card and consult a chart that I devised to see whether a player shoots from the Outside, Penetrates, or shoots an Inside shot.
The first step is when to do this and that is when the NORMAL CONTROL section of the Action Card contains a pass from a specfic player to a specific player such as "RF PASS TO C" or "LG PASS TO RG," and the result of the pass is not a Dazzler, Steal or Turnover, but is instead a shot attempt requiring a dice roll. So you don't do this when you are on the Fast Break, or when the NORMAL CONTROL section just lists the player that has the ball, or when the NORMAL CONTROL section has a pass that is NOT to a specific player such as "RG PASS TO ANY PLAYER FOR POSITION SHOT (Flip next Card)" (that last one of course invokes my Gerald Wilkins Rule, see earlier post here).
The second step is to see whether the player is positioned Outside or Inside. The reason for this is because the chart gives some deference to where you have positioned the player. For example, for all players that are positioned Inside, a dice roll of 1-14 will result in them taking an Inside shot. It is only on rolls of 15-20 that they MAY be required to take an Outside or Penetration shot. I say "MAY" because if the player does not have any asterisks in the SHOOTING TENDENCY section of his card, then he can only take Inside shots and will not take an Outside or Penetration shot under this rule, and you can stop right here and just take the Inside shot.
Next roll the 20-sided die.
The fourth step is to look at the SHOOTING TENDENCY section of the shooter's card. As stated above, a player with only an I, and without any asterisks, will not take an Outside or Penetration shot under my rule. Similarly, a player with only an asterisk or asterisks, and without an I, will not take an Inside shot under this rule, but he may be required to take an Outside shot, though he prefers penetrating, or a Penetration shot, though his tenendcy is to take jump shots.
Finally, consult the Shot Location Chart to determine where the shot will be taken. Here is the chart:
If the Shooter is positioned Inside, take the shot below depending on the number of asterisks
If *, 1-14 Inside, 15-20 Outside
If **, 1-14 Inside, 15-18 Outside, 19-20 Penetration
If ***, 1-14 Inside, 15-17 Outside, 18-20 Penetration
If ****, 1-14 Inside, 15-16 Outside, 17-20 Penetration
If *****, 1-14 Inside, 15-20 Penetration
If the Shooter is positioned Outside and has an I, take the shot below depending on the number of asterisks
If *, 7-14 Outside, 15-20 Inside, otherwise choice between Outside and Penetration
If **, 9-14 Outside, 15-16 Penetration, 17-20 Inside, otherwise choice between Outside and Penetration
If ***, 11-13 Outside, 14-16 Penetration, 17-20 Inside, otherwise choice between Outside and Penetration
If ****, 1-14 Penetration, 15-16 Outside, 17-20 Inside
If *****, 1-14 Penetration, 15-20 Inside
If the Shooter cannot be Inside, take the shot below depending on the number of asterisks
If *, 11-20 Outside, otherwise choice between Outside and Penetration
If **, 11-16 Outside, 17-20 Penetration, otherwise choice between Outside and Penetration
If ***, 11-15 Outside, 16-20 Penetration, otherwise choice between Outside and Penetration
If ****, 11-16 Penetration, 17-20 Outside, otherwise choice between Outside and Penetration
If *****, 11-20 Penetration, otherwise choice between Outside and Penetration
So, if a player is positioned Inside, a roll of 1-14 always results in an Inside shot, and rolls of 15-20 will result in either an Outside or Penetration shot, and not the other, depending on the number of asterisks in the SHOOTING TENDENCY section of the player card. This forces your big guy who is most accurate on the Inside, but in real life does take some Outside shots, to occasionally have to take an Outside shot in the game.
If the player is positioned Outside, but does take Inside shots in reality as reflected by an I in the SHOOTING TENDENCY section, then certain rolls result in an Inside shot, others in an Outside shot, others in Penetration, and if he has one to three asterisks, still others as options between Outside or Penetration. Note that this chart assumes that you are either playing an old season with no 3-Point shots or very limited ones, OR that you are using Chris's 3-point shot system. I say this because if you are using SOM's official system, then you would need to adjust this chart a little bit for players with four or five asterisks, the predominant penetrating players, who also take a decent number of 3-Point shots, as the "Outside shot only" readings on the Action Cards will result in 3-Point shots and not Outside shots and the players won't shoot enough Outside shots.
If a player cannot be Inside, rolls of 1-10 will result in a choice between an Outside or Penetration shot and rolls of 11-20 will specify whether the shot is Outside or Penetration, depending on the number of asterisks. This ensures that a player who is a better jump shooter than penetrator, but who occasionally takes the ball to the basket, is forced to do so once in a while in the game.
I hope my rule is understandable and that it brings you more enjoyment of this wonderful game. If I wasn't clear or you have any questions, please post a comment below. Keep rolling those X+s!
