The Basket Manager

The Basket Manager is a basketball management simulation for players who would rather control the team from the bench than personally chase the ball around the court. Released in 1991, it concentrates on the strategic and managerial side of the sport, allowing the player to make decisions about lineups, tactics, and team performance. The emphasis is on planning rather than arcade-style action, so success comes from understanding the strengths of your players and making sensible decisions over the course of a season. It has the wonderfully serious attitude of older sports management games, where statistics and menus are treated with almost as much importance as the matches themselves. The Basket Manager may not provide modern graphics or spectacular animations, but it offers something that remains appealing: the chance to imagine you are the genius coach responsible for everything. When the team loses, of course, it was obviously the players' fault. When they win, you are a tactical mastermind.