This is a reference summary; see editorial note at the bottom for details.
1. DO NOT even partially break up a team and rebuild it until such time as it is clearly necessary. Jumping the gun or being early out of the rebuilding gate will do more harm than good.
2. The point in time in which any breaking and rebuilding is necessary is simply AFTER a season when losses substantially exceed wins. Specifically, by number of regular season wins:
40 or more wins: Do not operate in breaking up and rebuilding mode; operate in normal management mode. Whenever a team wins more than it loses, and whenever it makes the playoffs, then normal, careful, and strategic step by step management is the correct management mode rather than any partial or full breaking up and rebuilding.
30-39 wins: Carefully operate in partial breaking up and rebuilding mode. DO NOT break up the team all at once, but do so player by player, trade by trade, acquisition by acqusition, step by step. The partial break-up should be done over at least two and preferably over three years.
29 or fewer wins: Breaking up and rebuilding is necessary, but even in this case you should not necessarily try to break down and rebuild the team in just one year; a two year breaking down is better even when a total breaking down and rebuilding of the team is needed.
3. DO NOT break up a team any more than is absolutely necessary, because breaking up a team is not a favored strategy in the Quest for the Ring. Try to hold on to four starter level players in a partial breakup and two starter level players in a full breakup. Starter level players are those with RPRs of about .700 or higher.
4. The number of things that can go very wrong in any breakup, but especially a total breakup, is large, and the odds that you will produce a contending team out of thin air via a breakup and rebuild are very, very slim, less than the odds of winning big in Las Vegas in fact.
5. The common denominator of this summary for breaking down and rebuilding a team is that most managers try to do too much of this kind of thing too quickly. You want to do as little breaking up and rebuilding as possible; you only do it when you are forced.
6. Wining the Quest for the Ring heavily requires less destructive forms of team managment, for example, holding on to above average players for as long as possible, developing drafted and other young players as much as possible, and looking for and making trades and veteran free agent acquisitions one at a time. A top objective for any top team management is to avoid any breaking down and rebuilding. Needing to break down and rebuild means management has failed.
7. NEVER EVER announce in public that you might or are about to partially or totally break up and rebuild a team.
8. NEVER EVER announce in private that you might or are about to partially or totally break up and rebuild a team. In other words, you must keep your mouth shut about breaking down and rebuilding and let only your actions do the talking.
9. Assuming you have a quality coach, you should generally NOT get rid of the coach during any breaking up and rebuilding.
10. If you do not have a quality coach, you should definitely fire the existing coach, bring in a quality coach, and postpone destructive breaking up and rebuilding for at least a year, pending review of results from the quality coach.
Editorial Note: The above is a Quest Summary that is produced for quick reference. No proof and very little explanation is provided, because this is for quick reference. The proof for the instructions and many implementation details are found in any number of Quest reports, available on the home page only.
Summaries such as this one are posted on the Quest for the Ring Summary site and also on the home page.
Summaries may be updated and/or added to at any time, in which case a brand new post will be made, while at the prior post the old text will be deleted and a link to the new summary will be inserted.
The User Guide for Real Player Ratings, and for the Defensive Adjustments, is located here. You must consult the Guide in order to fully understand the ratings and the value of them, and to understand how to make the best use of them.
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