All-22 scouting department

Basketball Scouting Guide

What makes a Pokémon good at each spot in basketball's two draft challenges, the 82–0 Challenge and the Kanto Finals Challenge. Their Team Score rates every pick at its spot the way real basketball would, with the same ratings as the basketball builder: a point guard on the handle and the pass, a shooting guard on the jump shot, a center on guarding the rim and the boards. Each spot looks at its own mix of stats, size counts at every one of them, and some types get a small bonus.

The exact numbers stay secret, because scouting players by eye is half the fun. This tells you what to look for.

ALL-22 · Basketball Scouting Guide

What each spot looks for

Key Helps A small part Doesn't count there

The five, and the bench behind them

What each of the five positions looks for
Spot	HP	ATK	DEF	SP. ATK	SP. DEF	SPEED	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	Type bonus
PGPoint guardRuns the offense: the handle and the pass come first, then the deep shot. Quick at both ends, and light on its feet. The bench's B1 backs it up.	Hit Points: a small part	Attack: doesn't count	Defense: doesn't count	Special Attack: helps	Special Defense: helps	Speed: key	Height: helps	Weight: helps, lighter is better	Type bonus: PsychicDark
SGShooting guardThe shooter: the three first, then the mid-range shot, and it guards the ball out on the perimeter. B2 backs it up.	Hit Points: a small part	Attack: a small part	Defense: a small part	Special Attack: key	Special Defense: helps	Speed: key	Height: helps	Weight: a small part, lighter is better	Type bonus: WaterPsychic
SFSmall forwardThe wing who does a bit of everything: guards the ball more than anyone, finishes at the rim, hits the three, and helps on the boards. B3 backs it up.	Hit Points: a small part	Attack: a small part	Defense: a small part	Special Attack: helps	Special Defense: a small part	Speed: key	Height: helps	Weight: a small part, lighter is better	Type bonus: FightingDark
PFPower forwardWorks the boards and the paint: rebounding first, then finishing and strength, with some post defense and a mid-range shot. B4 backs it up.	Hit Points: a small part	Attack: helps	Defense: a small part	Special Attack: a small part	Special Defense: a small part	Speed: a small part	Height: key	Weight: a small part, heavier is better	Type bonus: FightingGroundRock
CCenterGuards the rim and owns the glass: post defense first, then rebounding and finishing. Height matters more here than anywhere. B5 backs it up.	Hit Points: a small part	Attack: helps	Defense: helps	Special Attack: a small part	Special Defense: a small part	Speed: a small part	Height: key	Weight: a small part, heavier is better	Type bonus: FightingGroundRockSteel

Lighter or heavier: weight cuts both ways. Lighter is quicker with the ball and on defense; heavier holds its ground under the basket. The word under the stars says which wins at that spot. The bench: each seat backs up one of the five, in order, and is rated at that spot: B1 as a point guard, B5 as a center.

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How the two challenges work

The 82–0 Challenge's draft. Ten rounds, and each one rolls a region and a type from all nine generations. Pick a Pokémon that matches and put it in any open spot: one of the five starters or one of the five bench seats. You get one Legendary, one type reroll and one region reroll a run, and a shiny can turn up in your picks.
The Kanto Finals Challenge's draft. The original 151 only, and the roll is the Pokémon: your one call each round is where it plays. You get two rerolls a run, and Legendaries have no limit.
The Team Score (out of 1,000) rates every pick at its spot with the basketball builder's ratings, the ones in the chart above. It stays hidden until your games are played. A typical team lands near 740, and 900 or better takes about one team in a thousand.
The 82–0 season. 82 games, one against each of 82 clubs from towns across the nine regions, rated from 350 to 700. Each game comes down to your Team Score against the other club's rating: even ratings are a toss-up, and a team 100 points better wins about three times in four. A typical team wins about 70. A perfect 82–0 is really rare, about one run in a thousand: next to impossible under 850, about 1 in 20 at 900, and still only 1 in 3 with a perfect 1,000.
Kanto's playoffs. Four best-of-seven rounds against Kanto's clubs, rated 650, 750, 850 and 950, ending with the Pallet Champions. Lose a series and the run ends there; sixteen wins take the title. A typical team wins its first round about 9 times in 10 and its second a little under half the time, and about one run in 240 wins it all. A 16–0 sweep is the perfect run: about one in a hundred thousand.

What wins

Every pick gets a rating for its spot, from the chart above: the same ratings the basketball builder uses. A center is rated as a center, a point guard as a point guard.
The starting five are 80% of the Team Score, and the bench is the other 20%. Each starter counts four times as much as a bench seat, so your best fits belong in the five.
The five count alike. No spot outweighs another: a great center is worth exactly what a great point guard is.
The bench is rated by who it backs up. B1 is graded as a point guard, B2 as a shooting guard, B3 as a small forward, B4 as a power forward and B5 as a center. A center parked on B1 is graded as a point guard.
Every spot adds up. A star can make up for a hole, but every hole costs you.
Fit beats talent. The same Pokémon can be a star at one spot and a liability at another: a quick little shooter is a point guard, not a center, and a slow giant is the other way round.

What the stats mean

Speed is the handle, quickness and staying in front of the ball, and it adds to the leap and the deep shot. It's key for both guards and the small forward.
Sp. Atk is shooting touch: the three and the mid-range shot, and it helps the handle and the pass. It's key for a shooting guard and helps a point guard and a small forward.
Sp. Def is court vision: the pass most of all, then a steadier shot, and a little of the handle, stamina and defense. It helps both guards.
Attack is finishing at the rim, strength and the leap, and it helps on the boards. It helps a power forward and a center.
Defense is strength and guarding the post, and it helps on the boards. It helps a center and counts a little everywhere but point guard.
HP is stamina, and it helps on the boards: a small part at every spot, the most for the two big men.

Height and weight

Height is reach, and it counts at every spot. It's key for a power forward and a center, who rebound and guard the rim with it, and it helps the other three, because a shot has to get over a defender and a defender has to bother a shot. It stops helping at 7′6″, where a standing reach touches the rim: a 20-foot Pokémon reaches no higher than a 7′6″ one.

Too big. Past 7′6″ or about 330 lb a Pokémon starts to pay for its size: its handle, perimeter defense, quickness and stamina fall off, more the bigger it is, all the way by about 15 feet or 1,300 lb. It keeps its rebounds, its post defense and its strength, so a giant can still play center or power forward. At point guard the same giant is lost. More than a hundred Pokémon are that big.

Too small. Under 3 feet it's the other way round. A tiny Pokémon is quick with a good handle, but its shots and passes get smothered, it can't stay in front of bigger players, and it finishes, rebounds and guards the post badly: the smaller the worse, all the way at 1 foot. It hurts least at point guard and most at center. More than 400 Pokémon are under 3 feet, so check the height before you fall for the stats.

Weight cuts both ways: lighter is quicker with the ball and on defense, heavier holds its ground under the basket. Lighter helps a point guard and counts a little for a shooting guard and a small forward; heavier counts a little for a power forward and a center. It counts on a sliding scale: going from 50 to 100 lb is worth as much as going from 150 to 300 lb.

Types

Some types get a small bonus, listed in the chart with the biggest first. Psychic and Water are the shooters' types (Water for the three most of all, Psychic for the pass), and Dark handles the ball and guards it: they lead the guards' lists. Fighting is the big man's type, for finishing, strength and the boards, and it leads at small forward, power forward and center. Ground, Rock and Steel guard the post. There are smaller nudges too: Fire shoots, Fairy passes, Electric is quick, Flying leaps, Dragon finishes and Ghost handles. Only the better of a Pokémon's two types counts for each skill, never both. It's a nudge on top of the stats. It can settle a close call, but it won't save a bad fit.

Quick answers

Why can't I see each Pokémon's ratings?

That's the challenge: you scout by eye. Every pick shows its base stats, height and weight. This guide tells you what to look for, and the rest is your call.

Does the basketball builder grade my lineup?

No. The free builder never shows a grade, but its starting lineups were picked with these same ratings. Only the two challenges give a Team Score.

Is a taller Pokémon always better?

Up to 7′6″, yes, at every spot. Past that the extra height adds nothing, and the very big start to lose the handle, quickness and stamina, which hurts a guard far more than a center.

Where should my best Pokémon go?

In the starting five, at the spot it fits. A starter counts four times a bench seat, and the five count alike, so a great fit anywhere in the five is worth the same.

Is this how ALL-22 HOOPS plays?

The same ratings, yes: how well each Pokémon shoots, handles, rebounds and defends in ALL-22 HOOPS comes from them. The game also uses a free-throw rating that no spot's grade counts, so it never touches a Team Score.

Are there guides for football and baseball?

Yes: the Scouting Guide covers football's 17–0 and 151 Challenges, the Fantasy Draft, ALL-22 BOWL and ALL-22 PRO, and the Indigo Series Scouting Guide covers baseball's.