Wonderkids: the young players worth building a decade around
A genuine wonderkid develops at twice the normal rate. The widest potential gaps in the current pool, what the age premium costs you, and how to turn potential into rating.
Blog & guides
Coaching notes from the Backcourt bench
Deep guides on how the game's systems actually work — minutes, roles, market value, morale and the match engine — written by the people who built them. Read one before your next playoff push.
Points per game lies: six stats that tell you if a player is good
Scoring average is the most quoted number in basketball and the least informative. Six statistics that tell you what a player is actually worth, with the benchmark for each.
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Facilities: which upgrade pays for itself, and in what order
Six facilities, five levels each, and a weekly bill that never stops arriving. What a level buys, what maxing everything really costs across a season, and the order that pays for itself fastest.
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How player development works: training, drills and the off-season
Three things move a player's rating in Backcourt, and playing time is not one of them. What training, drills and the off-season each reward, and which of them you are probably wasting.
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Your first squad: how to spend the opening budget
The budget slider is the difficulty setting, the wage cap is 78% of it, and you get first pick of every player in the game exactly once. How to spend the opening half hour.
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MyNBA on mobile: what NBA 2K will not give you, and what will
NBA 2K27 keeps MyNBA and MyGM on console and PC, and the mobile companion app has been switched off. The one 2K front-office mode that runs on a phone, and ten games that do it without 2K.
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The nine attributes, and which ones actually move a rating
Rebounding is 3% of a point guard's rating and 26% of a center's. The full weighting table by position, plus the four multipliers that decide what a rating is worth on the night.
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What does a basketball general manager actually do?
A general manager never calls a play. Everything he decides happens before the ball goes up: who is on the roster, what they cost, and who coaches them.
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Wingspan in basketball: what an extra four inches of arm buys
Almost every NBA player has arms longer than he is tall, and the advantage is nearly identical at every position. What the extra length actually predicts, tested on 333 players.
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Zone or man-to-man: what each defensive setting actually does
Zone seals the paint and hands the opposition more three-point attempts. Pressure forces turnovers and gets broken for layups. What each defensive setting really costs, in numbers.
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The five basketball positions explained, with real player data
Point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward and center: what each position does, how the jobs are changing, and measured averages for height and skills from 364 players.
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How to rebuild a team in a basketball GM game
Most managers start their rebuild a season too late. How to tell whether to contend, retool or rebuild, how to run a rebuild in five steps, and why the real NBA just made bottoming out a worse bet.
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Online basketball manager games where you play real people
The AI clubs in a manager game never adapt to you. Here are the online basketball manager games where the other dugout has a real person in it, and how scheduled leagues differ from on-demand matches.
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Basketball coaching games: where you make the calls during the game
Plenty of basketball management games let you build the team and then skip the part where a coach earns their salary. Here is what real in-game coaching looks like, and how to spot it.
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Games like Basketball GM, and what each one does differently
Basketball GM is free, deep and has been running since 2008. If you want an installed phone app, a court you can watch, or real managers to play against, here is what else is out there.
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What is the backcourt in basketball? The court, the guards and the violations
Backcourt means three things in basketball: half of the floor, a team's two guards, and a pair of violations that give the ball away. Here is each one, with the rules that differ between the NBA, FIBA and college.
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Tactics: presets, offensive focus and the late-game plan
A preset is not a difficulty setting — it is a description of the team you already have. Here is what each one asks of a squad, and how to tell whether yours can deliver it.
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Draft night, scouting, and the players who become a dynasty
Potential is shown as a range, not a number — and that range is the whole game. Here is when to pay for a report, what draft picks are really worth, and how to develop a prospect properly.
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The salary cap, the wage bill, and how clubs actually go broke
Nobody goes broke by overpaying a transfer fee. They go broke by accumulating salary. Here is how the cap, the wage bill and the facilities actually interact.
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The best basketball manager games, and how to pick one
Six basketball manager games worth knowing across mobile, PC and the browser, compared using what each one says about itself, plus the five checks that separate a management sim from a card game.
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Is there a Football Manager for basketball?
The most common request in this genre is “Football Manager, but basketball”. Most of it transfers. The part that does not is the most interesting problem in the sport.
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Free, offline, and no pay-to-win: what to actually check
“Free” and “offline” are the two most abused words on the store. Here is what each monetisation model does to a management game, and how to check before you commit a season.
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How to build a rotation that survives a 38-game season
Most managers lose the season around the trade deadline, not in the playoffs. Here is a framework for distributing 240 minutes a night without burning your best five before the Play-In.
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Transfer market strategy: value, asking price and patience
The gap between value and asking price is the whole game. Here is what widens it, when a trade beats a bid, and how to get out of a negative treasury without gutting your squad.
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New manager? Your first ten weeks in Backcourt
The first-week questions every new Backcourt manager asks — roles, minutes, energy, treasury, and what the match engine is actually doing while you watch it.
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Player roles explained: rim protector, floor general, glue guy
A role is not a label — it changes what the engine asks of a player and what his rating is measured against. Here is what each one rewards, and how to spot a bad fit.
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Reading the play-by-play feed like a coach
Offensive boards, mid-range misses, defensive glass — what the commentary is telling you about your line-up while the game is still live, and which timeout actually saves the night.
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Climbing the Online League rating
How the rating moves, why consistency beats one big upset, and how to prepare a squad for fixtures you cannot reschedule.
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Morale, form, and what to say after a game
Praise, calm review, blast them, or say nothing. Each has a printed morale and form effect — and the right choice depends entirely on the result you just had.
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Energy, fatigue and injuries: the season-long cost of minutes
Energy is a real number doing real damage. Here are the thresholds that matter, how fatigue shows up in a match, and how to build a squad still standing in the Play-In.
Read the guide →Theory is cheap. Take a club.
Backcourt is free on iOS and Android. Your first season starts tonight.
Free to play · No pay-to-win · Career mode works offline