HoopDreams
Glossary
Every attribute, career system and cap term used in HoopDreams, explained
HoopDreams borrows a lot of basketball vocabulary and adds some of its own. This page defines every term the game uses, in the order you will run into them: the nine attributes that resolve possessions, the career systems that decide how long you last, and the front office language that governs GM Mode.
Attributes
The nine numbers that decide every simulated possession. Training and coaching raise them; age and mileage push some of them back down.
- Shooting
- Drives jump-shot conversion from mid-range and beyond the arc, and it is the main input on pull-up clutch branches. It does not decay with age, which makes it the safest long-term investment for any build.
- Handles
- Ball security and shot creation. High handles lower turnovers and decide whether a drive gets the angle it wanted before shooting or athleticism resolves the finish.
- Passing
- Assist volume and the quality of the pass-out branch in clutch moments. Pairs with court IQ — passing creates the assist, court IQ decides whether the read was there at all.
- Court IQ
- The most broadly useful attribute in the game. It improves reads on nearly every clutch branch, reduces turnovers, unlocks the safe defensive options and never declines with age.
- Athleticism
- Rim finishing, transition scoring and contest quality. It peaks in the mid-twenties and responds poorly to training after thirty, so builds leaning on it need a second act.
- Defense
- Steals, blocks and opponent efficiency. It carries Defensive Player of the Year and All-Defensive selections, which are the cheapest awards to farm on a bad team.
- Rebounding
- Board volume on both ends. It scales with athleticism and role, so a guard build rarely converts rebounding investment into double-doubles.
- Durability
- The resistance side of the injury roll. High durability does not prevent injuries, it lowers their frequency and shortens the games missed.
- Hype
- Public and league perception. Hype moves draft stock, contract offers, endorsement money and, at the margins, award voting.
Career systems
The structures a single-player career runs on, from the draft to the Hall of Fame.
- Draft stock
- Your projected slot going into draft night, computed from attributes, hype and how many development years you spent before declaring. Stock sets your rookie contract and your starting role.
- Season beat
- One of the four to five narrative decision points inside a career-mode season — training blocks, media moments, locker-room scenarios and game-deciding possessions.
- Body mileage
- Accumulated wear from minutes, contact-heavy choices and playing through injuries. Mileage multiplies every injury roll for the rest of a career and is the usual cause of an early retirement.
- Morale
- How satisfied your player is with wins, minutes, role and contract. Low morale unlocks the trade request and closes off some scenario branches.
- Trust
- Per-relationship meters with teammates, your coach and your rival. Trust gates certain scenario choices and shifts clutch odds in the possessions that decide series.
- Legacy score
- The retirement number that weighs titles, awards, longevity and peak seasons into one figure. It ranks you on the Hall of Fame board and converts into prestige for your next run.
- Prestige
- Permanent carryover earned from finished careers. Prestige gives small starting bonuses to later players, which is what makes sharp specialist builds viable on a second attempt.
Front office terms
Vocabulary you need in GM Mode, where a hard cap prices every decision.
- Hard cap
- A payroll ceiling that cannot be exceeded for any reason. Moves that would push you over are blocked outright rather than taxed.
- Cap space
- The gap between your current payroll and the cap. It is the only currency free agency accepts, and it disappears the moment you use it.
- Expiring contract
- Money coming off the books at season end. Expirings are the main tool for making a deadline trade legal, so a capped-out team without them has almost no flexibility.
- Dead money
- Salary still charged to your cap for a waived player. Waiving converts a tradeable asset into an untradeable charge, which is why it is usually the last option.
- Trade value
- The score the trade desk assigns each asset from rating, age, position scarcity and money owed. The tug meter shows the swing live as you add pieces to either side.
- Pick horizon
- The three years of draft capital available to trade. Picks are priced against the expected finish of the team that owns them, so a contender's first is a sweetener, not a centrepiece.
- Rotation load
- How minutes are distributed across your roster on game day. Stamina drains per possession and foul trouble is live, so the load you set is what decides whether your bench holds a fourth-quarter lead.
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