Scenarioball: Focusing on the "Important" Things in Basketball

Let's play a game.

When you're watching a game, give a player a point or points every time they do something you like. Take away a point or points when a player does something you dislike. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the basic gist of Scenarioball.

I assume I'm not the first person to do this: drinking games do this already, but with alcohol instead of pen and paper. I call it "Scenarioball" only because any games I do this with will utilize my scoring system. The system is based off of what I like and dislike about the game of basketball. Feel free to make up your own scoring system and name it what you please.

I spent this past week testing the system on a couple of games. After practicing on these games, I have a good idea of what I'm trying to do. I've worked out some variations of this system that work across different codes of the game.

First is the basic game. This is the hierarchy of things I enjoy about all forms of basketball that are normally recorded in box scores and play-by-play accounts across versions of the game. I can use this both for live games, to review old games or ones I missed, and to double-check my work:

+3 for Dunks

+2 for Made Three-Pointers

+1 for Blocks and Steals

-1 for Missed Three-Pointers and Turnovers

Here are the more advanced points. These are points I can give out when I'm watching games live, since these things always or ever recorded in a box score or play-by-play account. However, thanks to video box scores and archived games, I can also give out these points when I review old NBA games.

+5 for Half-court shots and all game winners
+5 for Alley-Oop Dunks (+2 to the passer, +3 to the recipient)
+2 for Forcing 24 Second Violations (Points go to the team)
+1 for any additional style points such as a flashy pass, dope crossover move, or hard screen
-1 for any missed dunk
-1 for an ugly missed shot
-2 for a 24 Second Violation (Points go to the team, last man with the ball gets a -1 for the turnover)
-2 for an air ball or missed uncontested lay-up
-3 for a Flagrant 2 foul

This is all subject to change, of course, but I feel this does a great job of covering what I want out of a good game of baloncesto.

With this point system in mind, here is an example Scenarioball box score from last night's DePaul-Butler game that was aired on CBS Sports Network:

I thought up this specific system around New Year's. I ran a rudimentary test on the Bulls/Raptors game where Jimmy Butler scored 40 points in the second half. The actual origins of the game came several years ago when I started wondering rather I was getting the most out of the college basketball teams I invest my time and viewership into. I have certain fandoms that will last no matter what (Bulls for the NBA, Sky for the WNBA, Western Illinois & Creighton in the NCAA). However, there are other teams I invest in for various reasons. This system may help me figure out which teams I should really be looking into, and which ones I should kick to the curb.

Give it a shot. Put together your own scoring system, or use mine if you want, and tally up the points. Is the team you're infatuated with giving you what you truly want? Or will you discover that a different team is the one you wanted all along?

Moving forward, I will be Scenarioballin' pro and college games whenever the time feels right. I will then tabulate the results and post them with a recap. I'm really excited to get into this and start exploring teams from across the landscape.

Leave a comment below or in any other Scenarioball posts and tell me your results. Below are the final tallies from my "practice" games this past week. Next up for me: tonight's Bulls-Lakers matchup on TNT.