Positional builds, PG to C

The decade wheel

Positional runs drop the franchise reel. Each round spins a decade, the 1960s through the 2020s, and deals 12 players from that decade’s hand-picked pool for your position: “90s centers,” say, or “70s point guards.” The two oldest decades are weighted down to 10% each, so the 1960s and 1970s together land about one spin in five; the five later decades split the rest at 16% apiece.

Pool size matters. The 1960s and 1970s pools hold 16 or 17 players per position, so a dealt dozen shows you most of the decade. Later pools run 25 to 33 deep, so you see well under half, and landing the same decade again in a later round deals a fresh dozen rather than the same one.

You get one decade re-spin for the whole run. It always moves you to a different decade, but which one is fixed by the run’s seed, not chosen by you. The landing screen helps you decide: a dozen that is strong at the round’s skill lands with a jackpot shake, and a weak one gets a “womp womp.” Spend the re-spin on a womp in a round your position weights heavily, knowing the new dozen isn’t guaranteed to be better. Ignore womps in rounds it doesn’t; for centers that is most handles rounds.

The one-use rule follows the person, not the card. LeBron James is in the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s pools; Michael Jordan is in both the 1980s and 1990s shooting-guard pools. Steal anything from one card and every other copy is locked for the rest of the run.

How each position is scored

The pipeline is the same for every target (see ratings and scoring), but the weights change. The first three columns split the offense score; the last three combine offense, defense and a direct playmaking share into the OVR. These are formula weights, not player ratings.

Weights alone hide how the skills interact, so here is what one extra rating point is worth in OVR for a build rated 72 in every skill, worked through the full formula. Near 80 every figure roughly halves, except playmaking, which holds up best because its direct share skips the diminishing-returns curve.

Two patterns run through every row. Defense is worth the most per point everywhere except point guard, and handles is worth the least everywhere, because it only matters as a multiplier on jumpshot.

Positional boss ladders

Each position faces its own ten-boss ladder at the same difficulty steps as the Best Player gauntlet, so the OVR you need doesn’t change, but the opponents do. That matters most in Budget, where some flaws only fire against quick or crafty bosses. Scouting reports live in the boss gauntlet guide.

Point guard: buy the passer, then find a defender

Point guard is the one target where playmaking outranks defense. It takes its biggest share of the offense here and another 18% of the OVR directly, while rim pressure shrinks to the smallest slice of any position. Per point, a passer is worth about four times a finisher.

The pools cooperate. Handles and playmaking are deep in every decade, and those rounds essentially never land a weak dozen. The catch is the grade: when everyone on the board can pass, a middling letter can still be a very good rating, so don’t chase the letter. Defense is the thin round. From the 1990s on, four or five point guards in ten in each pool are defensive liabilities, and the 2000s pool is the leakiest of all. The 1960s and 1970s pools are the exception, with stoppers like K.C. Jones (“7.4 PPG · 4.3 APG”, a box line that tells you nothing), Walt Frazier and Norm Van Lier.

The traps: spending anything on finishing, and treating the handles round as important because the pool is full of great ball handlers. Combo guards carry both tags and make up between 21% and 56% of each point-guard pool. They are often where the shooting lives: the best jumpers in the 1960s pool belong to Jerry West and Oscar Robertson, and Stephen Curry and James Harden do the same job in the 2010s.

Shooting guard: everyone can shoot, so win the defense round

Shooting guard has the heaviest offense in the game: shot creation is half the offense score and offense is 56% of the OVR. Even so, in a balanced build a point of defense still edges a point of jumpshot, and near 80 playmaking, defense and jumpshot are worth about the same. The extra shooting weight makes jumpshot competitive, not dominant.

Jumpshot, handles and athleticism are deep in every decade, so those rounds rarely hurt and grade harshly. Defense is where shooting-guard runs are won or lost: strong defensive dozens are rare, the 2010s pool is the deepest, and the 1980s pool has genuine stoppers in Sidney Moncrief and Michael Cooper. Playmaking is thin outside the combo guards.

The classic trap is taking a famous scorer in the defense round because his name feels safe. The dual-tag split is useful here: combo guards (Oscar Robertson, Walt Frazier, James Harden, Luka Dončić) carry most of the passing, while wings who also play small forward, such as Cooper, Bruce Bowen and Tony Allen, are some of the best defenders on the board.

Small forward: the two-way middle

Small forward is the closest profile to Best Player, with a little more weight on defense. Per point, defense leads clearly, with playmaking and jumpshot roughly tied behind it.

Jumpshot, finishing and athleticism are deep. Playmaking is the problem: small-forward dozens are almost never strong at it, and about one landing in nine is outright weak. The 1990s, with Grant Hill, Scottie Pippen and Toni Kukoc, is the one decade with several real passers. Handles stay thin until the 2020s. Defense swings by era: switchable wings make the 2010s and 2020s pools deep, while the 1980s and 1990s pools are thin.

The trap is waiting for a better passer who never comes. When Larry Bird or LeBron James shows up in the playmaking round, that is the round’s ceiling, not an opening bid. Modern small-forward pools are mostly hybrids: about 67% of the 2000s–2020s players also sit in the shooting-guard or power-forward pool, and the best passers of the 2010s pool, LeBron and Giannis Antetokounmpo, are both forwards with two tags.

Power forward: defense first, then hunt a passer

Power forward splits the OVR almost evenly between offense and defense, and tilts the offense toward rim pressure. The result: defense is worth more than twice any other skill per point. Playmaking, finishing and athleticism form a close second tier, and handles barely registers.

This is the most mixed pool in the game. In the 2000s, 27 of the 31 power forwards also appear in the small forward or center pool, so one dozen can run from Carmelo Anthony to Marcus Camby. Finishing, defense and athleticism are deep. Handles and playmaking are thin, and the playmaking round is usually a womp in the 1960s through 1980s pools. Stretch fours arrive in the 2000s with Dirk Nowitzki and Rashard Lewis; the 1990s pool is the weakest at shooting.

Two traps. Don’t spend the re-spin on handles. And don’t skip a real passer: Toni Kukoc, Chris Webber and Draymond Green are rare in this pool, and per point playmaking is the best skill after defense. The defense round rewards reading past the box score, as Dennis Rodman’s 1990s line (“5.2 PPG · 16.7 RPG”) shows. As a loose rule, the forwards who also play small forward bring the handles and passing, and the bigs who also play center bring the rim protection.

Center: rim, defense and one free round

Center gives defense half the OVR and rim pressure more than half the offense, both the highest of any target. Per point, defense is worth more than double finishing; athleticism sits just behind finishing because it multiplies both of those big slices. Jumpshot and handles count for little.

Finishing and defense are deep in every decade, so those rounds almost always land strong dozens. Handles is a desert: no center dozen ever prices a handles steal at $4 or more in Budget, and the round is a womp most of the time. Treat it as a free round and save the re-spin. Playmaking and jumpshot are thin before the 2020s; the 1990s pool has the fewest shooting bigs.

Bigs who also play power forward supply most of the shooting and handling. Dirk Nowitzki leads the jumpshot rounds of the 2000s and 2010s center pools, and the best handlers among 2010s centers (Draymond Green, Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis) all carry both tags. The great passing centers are mostly pure centers, though: Bill Walton, Arvydas Sabonis and Nikola Jokić. One synergy note: Killer Instinct needs every skill at a solid level, and no center in the 1960s through 1980s pools handles the ball well enough to get there.

How Best Player runs compare

Best Player spins a franchise reel and a decade reel instead, landing on all-decade franchise rosters from the 1970s through the 2020s. Those rosters run to dozens of names rather than a dealt twelve, and you get one team re-spin (same decade, new franchise) and one decade re-spin (same franchise, new decade) instead of a single decade re-spin. The Best Player weights look most like small forward’s, with more of the offense on playmaking, and the ladder ends with Michael Jordan.

The practical difference is the search. On a franchise roster, the right answer is often a role player buried in a long list, and most of the board is filler. In a positional dozen every name is a plausible answer and the decision is between near neighbors. Budget exaggerates the gap: franchise boards are mostly $1 tags, while positional dozens are expensive. If you mainly play Daily, expect both; roughly three days in ten are positional.