Lineup Selection

Considerations

• See the section on Positions
• You need reasonable height in the paint
  • Some times you will be better off playing a shorter not quite as good SF to allow you to have a tall enough backup center
• Don't start all of your shooters if you can help it
  • If/when they all sub out you will be in trouble
• Seniors often play better than freshmen.

Should I put shooters behind shooters or not?

If you've got a lot of shooting throughout your team then it probably doesn't matter whether you put shooters on your bench behind the main shooters that start. Some coaches even argue that this is right thing to do as it will mean that your team finds any weak defenders in the opposing lineup and should take advantage of it.

If however you predominantly score in only 1 or 2 positions in your starting 5 and only have limited scoring options on your bench as well you are probably better off putting your bench scorers behind your starting scorers. This will prevent you from ever getting in the situation where you have all 5 players on the court with low individual shot settings all passing the ball around before rushing a shot up to beat the buzzer, or worse simply turning the ball over repeatedly. Even if the situation isn't that extreme you will be better able to regulate your team's shot distribution to consistently find the right shooters.