Levy's 1995-96 NBA Season DLC

       If you are not new to my blog and the game content I create, you know I've been working for at least 2 years to find the best formula that makes the game as realistic as possible. The latest addition is the revamped Contested Shot Tendency which is calculated at a higher rate that it was by default and it is now based on historical stats (defensive foul and block) for each player individually. 

       This new formula was applied to all my DLCs which, believe it or not, took 3 months to do! Now you understand why other game patcher don't do this kind of in depth editing. It takes time and people don't want to spend their time when they can ask for instant gratification instead.

       Now, let's talk about the 1995-96 DLC. I worked hard on the interface by changing the majority of the pictures. The Setting menu has the photos of each player awarded at the end of the 1996 season.

       Although I said earlier this year that I won't use Portrait files anymore, I have decided to improve the portrait system and found the best appearance for the player portraits to show up in the game. I am attaching a few more screenshots so you can check the new circle action upper body photos that replace the default face office type of photos.

       Earlier this summer I had to change all players cyberface ID because of the new system I am using. This meant almost every player got a new, upgraded CF. Some of them are more realistic than others, some use lookalike CFs because nobody ever made a cyberface for them. Unlike the 2K12-2K13-2K14 mods at least my game has CFs for ALL players even the obscure ones! Yes, I used everything I could get my hand on to add high definition textures to 3D models I had.

       Before haters come and try to bash my work, let me tell you that I have always charged money ONLY for the Roster file that I personally created from scratch, with NO HELP from anyone. The graphic part is an immense collection of pieces I had found over the years on the internet and compiled into my game - you are not paying for those because they were free and remain free.

       This 1995-96 DLC contains:
~ realistic gameplay based on my own formula that gives realistic scores/percentages
~ complete roster (14-15 players) and historical accurate lineups for each team
~ historical accurate skills and tendencies for each player based on a formula that is using real stats from NBA players career (it calculates career average ratings per 36 minutes from the data sheet on https://www.basketball-reference.com)
~ a completely new portrait system for the player's in-game photos with circle action photos
~ some players' names were tweaked so it matches the game's list and the arena announcers can tell it; some players can't be matched with the 2K list so I chose to use the "Money" nickname for at least it sounds like a made basket when they score (if you don't like it, you can change these things in the game by editing the player's bio)
~ real coaches names with real height, cyberfaces and experience years
~ real arenas and jerseys for each team
~ an NBA ON TNT presentation and scoreboard
~ 90s dornas with ads from that era (this I intend to improve to get a real historical feel)

       This DLC comes with all the necessary files plus the Roster file and the Season Mode file where I set up the historical accurate lineups. Be warned you will need to use my Game Sliders and Coach Profile plus Fatigue as substitution method that is in the Settings file (don't worry it will be all send it to you by email!). If you want to understand how my version of the game works, you should go to the How To Play The Game link on this blog. There are explanations about the Game Settings, Game (Active Coach Mode) Sliders and the Universal Coach Profile.

        Installation guide for my roster file:
1. Pay & get the roster file (.ROS) and place it into your NBA 2K11 SAVES folder.
2. Download ALL mod files (.iff, .cdf) from the links I will send you by email and install them into your NBA 2K11 GAME folder.
3. Lastly, start the the game and load the new roster. To do this, go to “Options”, select “Load/save”, and load > “Roster9596″. Go to “Manage Roster” to check if you have successfully updated your NBA 2K11 PC roster.

         In case you're interested in acquiring this mod, send me an email to leeunagi@gmail.com first and then I will provide you with my PayPal account where you can send your payment for this mod. After I cleared your payment, I will send you an email containing the Roster (ROS) file and the Season Mode file.

NBA Stories: The 20+ years dominant mentality of Pop's San Antonio Spurs

     This video explains all the intricacies of the San Antonio Spurs basketball system and how it was possible for Gregg Popovich to orchestrate this kind of dominant (pun intended!) mentality for more than two decades(!). This is a bit long and full of unnecessary references (no wonder the YouTuber got caught with some copyright infringement) but overall was great so thumbs up for the effort.

     Now...it is true Pop is...Pop and he acts like an army general but just look at the young players and the media nowadays. The majority are CLUELESS about life and their jobs! I personally love when Pop trolls the moronic comments on TV. As a coach, he is brilliant proving that old-school fundamental basketball beats "new" run and gun basketball. I bet you didn't know but Pop is bringing back this season (2018-19) the midrange shots with a fast pace and the defense to slow down the running-everybody-shooting-threes "modern" strategy (which people forget was created by Phoenix Suns BEFORE the "7 second or less" D'Antoni - yes, I am a PHX fan since 1992).

     And...Kawhi is a fantastic player with a great personality. You clowns were laughing at his laugh for a month or so but Kawhi doesn't care about fools, he is in the NBA to play his game. NO ONE except MJ could play that well in defense and offense! Kawhi found that balance that only Jordan had naturally. After the retirement of Steve Nash and other great old-school players, I am left with only one player to watch and admire at the end of this decade and that is Kawhi Leonard. 

     We know Kawhi was wrongly diagnosed and forced to play with an injury by Pop. It was even more shameful that a Hall Of Fame ex-player like David Robinson whom some of us had the chance to watch him in the early 90s, came on TV to ask Kawhi personally to reconsider his decision and play for the Spurs (this is something you forgot to add to this video!). So the Spurs deserve to have lost one of the top 3 NBA stars this decade. Let Kawhi shine in Toronto this year because he is free now!

Modding NBA 2K11 - NLSC's Andrew still a MOFO ;)

     Hi everybody! I just finished the best DLC ever done for NBA 2K11 which is the best game ever made. It's the 1995-96 NBA season. We are in October now so basically this DLC took me pretty much the whole 2018 of course including the breaks I worked on the other DLCs I posted this year. More details about the 1995-96 DLC will follow in a future post.

     After reading MOFO Andrew's latest post about modding 2K11 on HIS NLSC forum, I suddenly felt good about myself. In case you slept under a rock in the last 5 years, you should know that most of the game modders and patchers left NLSC because of the unfair treatment they've got from Australian 'asshole extraordinaire' Andrew...Bagley I think it's his last name. Yes, everybody knows that Australians are the biggest assholes in the world; I personally experienced that with countless Australians I've met when I worked in Vietnam where Aussies go to live a gangster lifestyle because drugs, tobacco, alcohol and women are very cheap (and in case you wondered I don't use any of those!). Andrew banned me for being honest in my opinions and straightforward about charging money for my work although I never asked for money on NLSC(!) and I donated all my work to their forum in 2014 and 2015 and they are still using my patches today without my consent after I got kicked out.

     Anyway, Andrew was complaining this week about how difficult it is to create Roster packages for NBA 2K11 compared to the NBA Live series. Well, doh!! This is why my Roster packages are gold especially for me working 2-3 years until I found my formula to make the gameplay and the players skills and tendencies realistic and on top of that historically accurate!

     Andrew said: "One of the reasons that it’s taking so long to finish the roster update is that I greatly underestimated the time it takes to create players. Back when I was making the roster updates for NBA Live, creating new players didn’t take nearly as much time. Players only had around twenty ratings that could be assigned in-game, plus a few attributes and elements of bio data that needed to be added externally via DBF editing. In NBA 2K11, there is a much more detailed set of ratings to add and balance, not to mention tendencies and signature animations. As such, creating a player takes longer than I’m used to, and that’s not even counting external editing with REDitor II." Welcome to my world, you little old fart haha!...

    And now the reason ALL mods you ever played outside of those made by me play weird in an arcade style is because people like Andrew and those who created the old 2K11 mods don't pay much attention to the specifics of each real player taken historically. In his own words, "I've changed up my approach again and am now just creating players with their basic bio data, accessories, and a few signature animations, with the intention of going back and fixing up ratings, tendencies, and so forth once all the players are in the roster". Let me tell you one thing: they never go back to fix those issues, never! And that's why you get those free, unfinished and thus unplayable mods since NBA 2K9.

     Contrary to those patchers like Andrew, I watched a lot of NBA from different eras. I started watching NBA in 1991 and played pickup and amateur basketball for more than 10 years. I have the same symptoms now as Steve Nash (very bad back) and Charles Barkley (busted knees). But I know one thing: I understand how players should move on the court, the way they play both offensively and defensively. The beauty of 2K11 is all these tendencies can be adjusted if you can find the right formula to apply to guards differently than to forwards or centers. I remind you that the famous 1991-92 and the less famous 1996-97 mods had lousy player ratings although graphically were outstanding. I don't know about you but I don't care how good Shaq looks if he moves and scores like a guard. Do yourself a favor: if you do something in your life, do it properly! Welcome to my game. ;) The 1995-96 DLC is next! :)

NBA Stories: Professional athletes losing their natural body resistance

Professional athletes losing their natural resistance

     What is going on with this generation of basketball players? Broken bones with all that technology and fitness, not to mention the body protection and the non-contact rules to provide less physical entertainment (which also makes it less competitive but anyway...)?! It never happened to us who are now in our 40s...but then again, we were doing sports since 1st grade playing on rusty baskets and concrete grounds with crack in them, we had no video games etc.

    I noticed this happening first when Paul George broke his tibia bone in two after landing on that allegedly too close positioned basketball post. No, it was his mistake he miscalculated the distance and practically tried to jump out of that arena only to show off. Then it happened to Gordon Hayward when Jae Crowder pushed him from the back while Gordon was in mid-air trying to make a rebound. BTW, the world today is so PC that no one ever dared to tell the truth about the intentional - yes, you read it right, intentional - push. There was only one reporter who did that after the game Gordon got injured when he implied the accident actually being an intentional act but got the denial of a clearly disgruntled Crowder.

     Now in October 2018 it is happening again. This time to Tyler Ennis who was mediocre player in the NBA but got a good deal this year when he went to play in Europe. His accident is even more minboggling.

     He was dribbling the ball and running along an opposing player when he slightly bumped into him and then slipped. The moment he used his left foot as an anchor to slow down, his left leg broke down in two around the middle with the main bone hanging out. What the hell is wrong with this generation of players?! These kind of things don't happen to kids who run and play out in the streets. It only happens to drunken people who fall off roofs. I swear these athletes are soft as cheese!

     Millionaire professional athletes you see everywhere now start(ed) playing ball LATE in their teen years so their body is soft. In other words, athletes today are not used to the hardships of body development in a non-friendly (not always) athletic environment. In case you still don't get it, I will spell it out for you: these youngsters don't walk, run or jump properly; they are just big and fast and follow an intensive training program that puts money into many people's pockets who don't really care about the health issues of the players. For example Derrick Rose shouldn't had been allowed to play professionally due to the anomalies in his bone structure. Yes, we all move differently. But some players are limping on the court since day 1 of their career! And nobody seems to notice it because the money is flowing...

     There are a few players who never experiences horrific injuries during their career but those are the ones who spent their childhood playing in the streets while learning to avoid falling on hard concrete playgrounds and getting injured badly. I will only mention Rafer Alston, Stephon Marbury, Allen Iverson, Sebastian Telfair who are famous to this day on the streetball circuit.

     In conclusion, you have to be exposed to life in order to learn to live, in sports words to play hard from an early age against tougher opponents. That is not the case of the NBA players in 2018 whom grew up together and played basketball as teens without physical contact to protect each other the same they do later in their professional career when they don't interfere on the defensive end of the floor anymore so nobody gets hurt and everybody keeps getting their multimillion  pay-checks.

     Basically now we have a Mafia & politician mentality where the NBA commissioners are the Mafia and the NBA players are the politicians: "I protect you and let you keep some of the money, you protect me and make me a lot of money" and just like politicians, "you let me score and be a leader, so later I can let you score and become a leader". I bet you never thought about that! One thing everyone knows, professional sports especially the NBA lost the competitiveness which can only come with player's loyalty for a favorite team and a tough challenge both offensively and defensively against the opponents. Confused minds create soft bodies, low standards with easy goals produce bad quality performance. And that's the NBA today. Congrats millennials for dumbing down a sport that once was extraordinary...

NBA Stories: Media people and their agenda: sad and shameful.

     I keep saying these media dudes have no clue. They are the first generation media people who were not really specialized or passionate about sports 20-30 years ago. So many of them were working odd jobs and actually admit they were lucky all this media shit had started and gave them jobs. Anyway, it's shameful and sad but hey, at least they bring in the players those who WERE passionate about sports adored many years ago. So let's be thankful and hope for the best. :)

    Here is a retired Ray Allen talking about the game and his career. And...a moronic Dan Patrick asking silly questions. For example trashing Ray after only 2 minutes pretending Ray Allen couldn't dunk like Vince Carter. So I had to comment on his YouTube with this: "Poor Dan, doesn't know Ray Allen was a devastating dunker in the mid-90s. Fans already commenting...

    "Is it just me..I don't think Dan is giving Ray enough respect as a basketball player"

     "I hate how DP asks his guests questions then interrupts them when they're not advancing his agenda. We come here to listen to the guests, if we wanted your predictions, agenda, ideas, etc, we'd tune into your TV or radio show live."

    "The host is rubbish."

    "OMG Dan Patrick is so ignorant and so disrespectful!"

     But I will forgive Dan Patrick for all his nonsense talk for mentioning the best shooting point guard in the history of the game when he talked with Reggie Miller.

     On the other hand, real sportsmen can have a real talk about sports and the lifestyle around sports. My favorite TV program is NBA Open Court where players whom I admired when they played now come on the show and tell stories from their lifetime. Like a youtuber said on one of those videos "I can't get over the fact that these legends are talking about their legends. Listening to real basketball players talk about basketball is far superior to all those sports writers and broadcasters who have probably never even touched a basketball since grade school." Amen! Here is one of them:

NBA Stories: the 90s Dallas or how to destroy young talent

     One of the most interesting NBA teams in the 90s which happened to be one of the youngest also was the Dallas Mavericks. They were loaded with 3 point shooters. At that time we were teenagers and trying to emulate some of them.

     For years we were trying to understand what happened to that team but of course we missed the proper information on the matter. Now, with all the media out there we got the chance to solve the mistery.

     Former Dallas Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd had a Hall of Fame NBA career, but even he couldn’t completely stay away from all the drama. In 1996, the Mavs had Kidd, Jim Jackson, and Jamal Mashburn, and they looked like a young core that could be built around for years to come.

     Kidd ended up being traded away to the Phoenix Suns, with the other two traded away a short time later. There were questions about what caused the sudden downfall between the group, and there were rumors that it was Toni Braxton who broke the group up.

     When advertising for her “Secrets” album, Braxton was asked about a love triangle that she allegedly had between Kidd and Jackson, and her response was that she doesn’t kiss and tell. Kidd was recently asked if she ever had anything going on with Braxton, and he denied the rumors, according to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk.

     “Not true,” Kidd said. “It was never true. Never met the woman. It was never true. It just somehow took on legs of its own and she breathed life into it and I guess that didn’t help [with the] kiss and tell, whatever she said. “I don’t even know if Jim Jackson went out with her,” Kidd adds of Jackson, who along with Mashburn denies the Braxton tale. “People always ask me about that. I never met the woman and never thought I was going to meet the woman, but somehow this story came about and it just took off. Did not know her. No date.”

     A lot of people probably won’t believe Kidd, but according to the Hall of Famer, this isn’t what broke up the young promising Mavs team.

     This is pre-Mark Cuban Dallas era before Nowitzki and Nash. Here is their story.

Levy's 2006-07 Season DLC is launched (as a tribute to the revolutionary PHX Suns from the 2000s)

       Now that I have found the best formula that makes the game even more realistic than it was before, we can apply it to the new season mods I have just created in June and July 2018. :) But let's start with the most recent one.

       It was the summer of 2006 when I realized the NBA Live series after the 2005 edition wasn't just no fun anymore but it became unplayable for serious, experienced gamers like me. Granted, it was the last videogame I enjoyed on Windows XP. Yeah, good old times you might say...

       At that exact time I lived and travelled through half of USA not having much time for gaming nor watching NBA on TV except for a brief moment to enjoy the Finals that year when Nowitzki's DAL Mavericks battled Dwayne Wade's MIA Heat.

       The first laptop I bought was a very nice refurbished Toshiba Satellite that could run the new NBA Live 2007, released in October 2006. Back then one of my European friends hosted me in his small flat in Queens, NY. The game itself was very buggy and used to crash all the time so I got frustrated. My laptop got frustrated too and decided to give blow up the processor exactly one day before my US visa expired and my long flight back to Europe.

       I remember me travelling up and down Manhattan trying to find the Toshiba repair center. Of course they couldn't help fix it in less than 24 hours; luckily my international warranty helped me get a new processor for free in Europe 3 months later. I am sure the greedy corporation don't cover you anymore worldwide nowadays!

      So this is how I missed the NBA gaming experience for about a year because as soon as I interrupted the joy for 4 months, it simply wasn't there anymore for me... My biggest wish was to refresh that year in my mind somehow and be able to play that season where I have left off.

       That being said, you already know I am a huge PHX Suns fan. Well, the NBA today is what it is thanks to coach Mike D'Antoni's Phoenix Suns team from that era! They had the best team in scoring, 3 point shooting and passing those years. Of course they also ruined the defensive side of basketball at that time but people were to busy watching the new showtime so they didn't notice the lack of defense Steve Nash & Co had. Personally I loved the flow of the game but I was a bit concerned with the missing D. And that is exactly why I can rarely watch NBA nowadays...

       Anyway, here I am 12 years later creating this superb 2006-2007 Season DLC for NBA 2K11 so anyone nostalgic like me or simply just curious about that era can play this in 2018 and the following years.

       Now, a few things about this DLC. Since I had to change all players cyberface ID because of the new system I am using, this meant almost every player got a new, upgraded CF. Some of them are more realistic than others, some use lookalike CFs because nobody ever made a cyberface for them. Unlike the 2K12-2K13-2K14 mods at least my game has CFs for ALL players even the obscure ones! Yes, I used everything I could get my hand on to add high definition textures to 3D models I had. The results are great.

       Before haters come and try to bash my work, let me tell you that I have always charged money ONLY for the Roster file that I personally created from scratch, with NO HELP from anyone. The graphic part is an immense collection of pieces I had found over the years on the internet and compiled into my game - you are not paying for those because they were free and remain free. One more thing: although I had them, I chose to eliminate the portraits from all DLCs I created.

       Briefly, the 2006-07 DLC contains:
- realistic gameplay based on a formula I came up with after 3(!) years of testing that gives realistic scores/percentages
- historical accurate skills and tendencies for each player based on a formula that is using real stats from NBA players career (it calculates career average ratings per 36 minutes from the data sheet on https://www.basketball-reference.com)
- some players' names were tweaked so it matches the game's list and the arena announcers can tell it; some players can't be matched with the 2K list so I chose to use the "Money" nickname for at least it sounds like a made basket when they score (if you don't like it, you can change these things in the game by editing the player's bio)
- real coaches names with real height, cyberfaces and experience years
- real arenas and jerseys for each team
- an NBA TV presentation
- a few dornas with ads from that era (this I intend to improve to get a real historical feel)

       This DLC comes with all the necessary files plus the Roster file and the Season Mode file where I set up the historical accurate lineups. Be warned you will need to use my Game Sliders and Coach Profile plus Fatigue as substitution method that is in the Settings file (don't worry it will be all send it to you by email!). If you want to understand how my version of the game works, you should go to the How To Play The Game link on this blog. There are explanations about the Game Settings, Game (Active Coach Mode) Sliders and the Universal Coach Profile.

         In case you're interested in acquiring this mod, send me an email to leeunagi@gmail.com first and then I will provide you with my PayPal account where you can send your payment for this mod. After I cleared your payment, I will send you an email containing the Roster (ROS) file and the Season Mode file.

NBA Stories: J.R. Smith high on drugs ruining LeBron's championship ring dream in 2018

If you really want to know how I feel when people (hard to call them that though) cheat and lie to me, just look at LeBron's face when J.R. Smith is clueless. See it? That's ME. Not that anyone cares anyhow...

This is about you "youngsters on drugs". Look at J.R. Smith and what they do to your brain! :)))

Cleveland losing because J.R. Smith HAD NO CLUE where he was nor that his team WASN'T leading with 4.7 seconds left in the game. Next thing...the game went to overtime and Cleveland lost Game 1 of the Finals. Well done chicken head generation! Aliens will never visit this planet anymore.

And again, just so you know I am not the only one telling you Chicken Head Generation you are brainless. :)))

If you still don't get it...watch this. It's me leaving you behind when I got tired of giving explanations because I am fed up with "basketball fans" stupidity and hate.

NBA Stories: "The GOAT"...

     People keep comparing apples with oranges comparing LeBron James with Michael Jordan or viceversa. Firstly, you have to be a moron to even start comparing these two! Of course 90% of the people are...morons. They played in different eras in a league with different trends and very different opposing players. You CANNOT COMPARE MJ and LBJ! But ya'll bored so that's what you do all day...

    Secondly yes, you can compare stats (a monkey could do that easily by looking at the numbers). I would compare their personalities and winning mentalities instead 'cause that's something doesn't get affected in 5000 years. In this case, MJ will come out as a "better" player because he hated to win and he could literally kill someone for the sake of winning. LBJ plays for fun most of the time and to make his teammates better. I prefer the human; robots will dominate the planet later we like it or not so I'm not in a hurry to get there.

     Well let me explain this once and for all as I watched both players in their prime.

     LeBron James was facing the champion team Golden State Warriors by himself in 2018. He did that before and not just once. In Jalen Rose's words: "my back hurts from watching him carrying those dudes". :))) Secondly, MJ never played alone, he had the perfect teammates where everybody had a clear role to back him up, from Stacey King and Tucker to Longley and Kerr or even the obscure Buechler.

     Also MJ had the best coach in the history of the game (no offence, Pop!) while T. Lue the actual coach of Cleveland Cavaliers can't even call a timeout when his team gets the ball with 3.7 seconds left on the clock...

     Oh yeah, and NBA referees were on MJ's side all his career; definitely not on LBJ's side in the last 10 years of his career.

     At this point you can STOP COMPARING MJ with LBJ, 'aight? They might be the same if you want to talk about them in practice and training but not in the game. There are two completely different circumstances. We can all have personal preferences but that is another topic and shouldn't have the word GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) written all over it.

NBA Stories: Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf - the shooting G.O.A.T.

        In many basketball fans opinion, the G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time) in terms of basketball shooting was/is Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. If you could watch Caesar conquering Europe in real time this is what Rauf looked like when he was dominating the world of basketball. I wish people stopped comparing Rauf to Curry. Why? Because Rauf was unguardable while Curry is but players simply choose not to guard him properly.

           I am so happy I watched the game in his prime in the 90s before the US gov't through the NBA commissioner David Stern decided to kick him out! The NBA invented a new criteria for free throws historical stats just to get rid of Rauf's name as the best FT shooter of all time. That tells you how much (Jew) marketing hated Rauf's beliefs. Remember that Racism is something racist people created along with all the other "isms" invented by hateful people - usually those who had the power in a group or a country. Some people comment on YouTube with this: "They suspended Rauf and barred him from even dressing on the bench even though there wasn't even a rule against not standing for the pledge. And everyone just let it happen to him.  Dude was only exercising his amendment right. America land of the free...". Yep!

         Abdul-Rauf told the website The Undefeated that he views the American flag as a symbol of oppression and racism. He has been silently protesting oppression and racism for more than 20 years. “I hold true to it,” he said last week. All Americans have a right, if not obligation, to draw attention to perceived wrongs, he said. “If you feel there’s something wrong and you want to change it, whether you’re an athlete, whether you’re a doctor, whether you’re a garbage man, we all have been given a voice by God, and we have a right to voice our concerns,” he said. Reasonable people can disagree on how best to voice concerns, he said. Each person must decide a course of action. “Whatever it is, you have to live with those consequences,” he said.

          Abdul-Rauf has. His quiet protests sparked death threats, the burning to the ground of a 2,800-square-foot home in Mississippi and, he believes, being weeded out of the NBA and thus losing several prime years of a pro career. Effectively banned from the NBA at age 29, Abdul-Rauf then played in Turkey, Russia, Italy, Greece, Saudi Arabia and Japan before retiring in 2011. This echoed what he told The Undefeated last year. “It’s priceless to know that I can go to sleep knowing that I stood to my principles,” he said then. “Whether I go broke, whether they take my life, whatever it is, I stood on principles. To me, that is worth more than wealth and fame.” “I’m for anybody who wants to bring about a change for the better in society, period,” he said.

         Abdul-Rauf still trains daily. “It’s in my DNA,” he said. “It’s therapeutic.” Exercise provides a respite from the Tourette syndrome that affects Abdul-Rauf. Exhaustion relieves the symptoms of the neuropsychiatric disorder. Abdul-Rauf trains and plays one-on-one against young athletes who have no knowledge of his former on-court achievements. “They seem to be amazed at my quickness and ability to still get off my shot,” he said. “My strength is pretty much still there. My conditioning is still there. I think I'm still pretty quick to get where I want to go. Not the 20, 25-year-old quick. But I'm not complaining.” He is still doing his wizardry on the court at the age of 50(!!) in Ice Cube's BIG3 league. Abdul-Rauf said he participates in the three-on-three games (10 sites over 10 weeks this summer) to see how he can do against ex-pros who are 10 or 15 years younger.

       From one of the YouTube comments about Rauf: "He was blackballed out of the league. Imagine what he could've been if that didn't happen. To me he was a better shooter than Steph cause he was waaay more athletic and he shoots a jump shot. From any angle and has more variety of shots. No hate on Steph, he has range but this weak league allows the offensive player a lot more freedom than back in the day." Forget about Steph Curry, instead watch the best shooter of all time still being on fire in 2018!

       There is a difference between being mediocre and being great. So, are you ready to face death to embrace living at the fullest? 99% of the people would say no. This is how I thought and trained when I was a teenager giving up partying, girls and everything 99% of you, people did. Unfortunately the discs in my spine didn't catch up with the hard training but I didn't give up, took the pain every day and still had become the best I could be. Now sometimes I can hardly walk but I am at peace with myself and in my mind I am flying to magic places 99% of people don't even know they exist. And that's when you meet yourself and god as full package. Rauf, the legend talking sense like no other does today:

             In some of the comments on YouTube: 

         "I grew up admiring and copying MJ's game/moves. But I did kept an eye of this man. He's been robbed. So many times  I've seen him played so great, yet he would be put to bench every time. And at times, he's not even a starter... damn, this man would have change the game earlier, so underrated. Just because of his religion, name & beliefs... the man didn't even complained. What a great man. Salute to you sir. I did practice the way you shoot, the form and accuracy is so high. You should be acknowledged sir... I loved the game so much back then, and you're one of my inspiration... love from the Philippines!!!"

         Unlike the fake super woke athletes of today that are backed by corporate sponsors like Nike and the liberal sports media, he took a truly unpopular stand and did it B4 having made a lot of money.  As far as basketball, in his prime, he was right there with Curry.  I think he made an unwise decision regarding the flag but I understand why he did it.

            If Mahmoud had been allowed to have a full career, the current 3 point revolution the Steph is the center of probably happens much earlier on the NBA timeline.

            Phil Jackson knew exactly what he was saying and to top that he would give Step the business right now at 47yrs of age.

         Another fun fact about Jackson. He was only 165lbs. which makes it a bit more impressive especially for his physical era. There is a very short list of players under 170lbs that had a successful NBA career.

         My favorite player of all time, I had so much fun watching him in the 90s. Considering that Mahmoud had a rough childhood where he overcame a physical disability, grew up in poverty with a single mom, was undersized in a much more physical NBA era than today, played for a small market team with mediocre ownership, never got in any trouble off the court, and then was blackballed by the league for his personal beliefs...it's pretty damn impressive that he still managed to have so many flashes

          Back when you had to have skill to play elite NBA basketball... What a player! Pure shooter, great passer, he was a mix of steph curry and steve Nash. so happy I grew up with this basketball as a kid. Oh and don’t forget the guy who he was coming in to replace at the draft... Big Mike Adams, also underrated. YouTube him, kids.

         A great player blackballed over the Racist Flag! If THEY DIDN'T blackball him, a sure HOF seat was his. A pure shooter with excellent skills.  Shame on the NBA, shame. Bottom line, David Stern robbed us of one the best players in an of the game. This was not the first time a player was blackballed because of his beliefs. Let's not forget they also did Craig Hodges dirty back in the day too, even Kareem wasn't treated too kindly when he converted to Islam, while with the Bucks. I think land of the oppressed and home of the cowards is far more fitting when it comes to social issues and acceptance in the United States."

         

       Don't forget you can play with Abdul-Rauf in NBA 2K11 when using two of my DLCs, the 1995-96 and the 1997-98 NBA seasons that you can download here on this blog. ;)

Levy's 2010-11/2011-12 Seasons DLC

                 Can you remember the day NBA2K11 came out and you tried to play it but it got you all frustrated because of the lame default settings? What about all those weeks and months you tried to change the game sliders to avoid all the bugs the game has?

                  Long story short, to me the original NBA2K11 wasn't playable at all. But now I managed to make the proper adjustments to the gameplay, added a few dozen of players with all their attributes made realistic so there you have it: a brand new realistic game. And not just one season but two: 2010-2011 and 2011-2012! Which comes to the payment. Unlike before, you will get two DLCs for the price of one. :) The Roster files which are 100% my work and basically load the mods are available in exchange for a $10 fee (lunch price in Europe) via PayPal.

                  Place your order ASAP as I plan on moving to another continent (again). I can still process PayPal payments not later than this month (May 2018). Thanks!

NBA Stories: STEVE NASH - Basketball Hall of Famer

This is how history is being made!

In 1996 I predicted something that nobody could even imagine. The fact that Steve Nash will be one of the greatest ever playing this game. At that time 99% of the fans in PHX were booing him when seeing Nash warming up before the game. Just like people who watch basketball today and fans who attend games, they didn't really have a clue about sports and the effort that some players put in throughout their sometime short(ened) career.

Because I was watching the Suns closely as die hard fan since 1991-1992, I noticed this young guard who's moves were...unreal due to the fact he played multiple sports in his youth. I knew he will be unstoppable in a league were giant players couldn't do complete lateral movements :)))

There are a few extreme nut-heads out there who even deny Nash the merit in earning 2 league MVP titles. That is just moronic! And yes, that includes Shaq too who destroyed the system in Phoenix over 1.5 years he played for the Suns. Some say Nash didn't deserve one of the trophies. Well...facts are that the next 2 years after his 2nd MVP were even better! So if you take 1 title, he still should have had 3 MVPs! ;)

Some smart and well-informed people on YouTube agree with me when they say RM07: "The NBA today wouldn't be what it is if Nash's Suns didn't pave the way... and now people are trying to disrespect his name by "giving" his MVPs to their favorite player who didn't win a second one (Kobe, Shaq) SMH. Nash deserved both his MVPs, and should have won the title in 2007 too."

MB: "Agree!  The 3rd year and MVP was arguably Nash's best of the 3!  Some say that people didn't think he should get a 3rd mvp because of other NBA greats that had 3 MVPs. Nash deserved all 3, but I can be happy that Dirk won one too despite their early playoff exit that year."  :) "Well deserved Steve Nash!!!Most underrated superstar of the 2000’s. Could’ve averaged 25PPG if he wanted to."

JN: "Only Kobe and Shaq fans hate on Nash...everyone else acknowledges him as one of the greatest point guards in basketball history." So there you have it! FYI Nash is the LAST unselfish deadly shooting & passing real PG in the NBA. As much as I like CP3, he is not even close. :))) And...I am sure you didn't know this but..."The first video the NBA posted on their YouTube channel was Steve Nash kicking a basketball from half court and making it." said someone in the comments sections to Nash's HOF enshrinement speech video. :)

Now there are many weird things in this video if you are WELL informed but I am not gonna discuss too much of it. Someone said "Congrats to Steve. However I'm surprised Mark Cuban is there!  He didn't resign Nash and didn't allow him to play for Team Canada!" TRUE The truth is not many supported Steve Nash along his career. In Phoenix in the 2010's the ownership destroyed the team and even Nash said it a few years ago that he had a "mediocre team since 2010". But he "played for fun" and made everyone better. That's why Steve Nash deserves to be in the HOF. :)

NBA Stories: Sasha Djordjevic

ALEKSANDAR "SASHA' DJORDJEVIC

(This was also one of the first NBA trading cards I have got back when I was in high school)

     I started working on a game that is more appealing to me lately than any other game before: NBA 2K10. I always wanted to mod the 1995-1996 NBA season which was the last year Charles Barkley and Kevin Johnson played together in Phoenix (the duo I loved to watch when I started following the NBA around 1992).

     While creating the draftees who entered the league at the end of 1996 because I want to play a fantasy association game but based on reality with realistic players, I stumbled upon a Serbian player I watched A LOT when I lived in Europe. Sasha Djordjevic was every European basketball teen's dream on T.V.!

     In 1996 Djordjevic accepted Portland's offer for the NBA minimum salary of $247,000 while Djordjevic's contract with Barcelona was worth $3.3 million for two and a half seasons(!). So he took a HUGE salary cut just to compete in the NBA. What happened next will explain why a coach by the name P.J. Carlesimo was chocked by the legendary NBA player Latrell Sprewell at the end of the next season when Sasha's coach worked for the Golden State Warriors...

     Djordjevic understood that he would be Portland's back-up point guard, because he believed he could do enough in 15 minutes per game to eventually command a starting position in the NBA. As it turned out, the Trail Blazers coach, P.J. Carlesimo, branded him a defensive liability and limited Djordjevic's NBA career to 61 minutes.

     "Obviously, the coach had a lot of problems," Djordjevic said. "He doesn't communicate with the players. It's not like figures on a chessboard, where you move the pieces saying the horse can do that, the queen, the king. "Now I'm feeling a little bit cheated. The people were so nice, but the coaches didn't talk to me. You would think they would talk to the players, especially the guy who is the point guard, who comes from another culture."

     Obviously, each NBA coach knows his team best. But it's just as obvious, watching Djordjevic in Atlanta, that he flourishes under pressures that would undo many NBA regulars. He said he is content now to be one of those great players that Americans will never know.

"There are a lot of players on the high level of Europe who can easily play in the NBA — easily," he said. "I'm not underestimating the NBA level. I am saying that you can find players on the same level in Europe. They just have to go to the right NBA team at the right spot and the right age. Me, I am 29. I just want to play."

     This story goes almost hand in hand with another Serb's career: Sasha Danilovic who played for a longer time in the NBA and much more successfully (he started as SG for Miami Heat). But Danilovic also left the NBA being disgusted by the team's organization and those who were in NBA's charge. Such a shame!

     Sasha Djordevic's PER GAME stats look like this:

G PTS TRB AST FG% FG3% FT%
8 3.1 0.6          0.6         50.0         71.4         80.0

     But his NBA stats PER 36 MINUTES look as good as any NBA star's:

Levy's 2002-03 DLC is launched (as a tribute to the G.O.A.T., Michael Jordan)

              Here we go again! A brand new DLC is launched today: Levy's 2002-03 DLC. This will go as a tribute to Michael Jordan who played his last season with Washington Wizards in the 2002-2003 NBA Season.

              As much as I hated Michael Jordan for winning the 1993 NBA Championship against my favorite team Phoenix Suns, I always admired his godlike basketball skills. The 1992 Dream Team at the Olympic Games at Barcelona looked so cool in those white uniforms having MJ as the leader of the new generation! That will be the iconic team of perfect basketball…although they lost to the American college team that year (allegedly they let them win).

          Jordan had a long, successful career. He retired twice and came back just as many times. His last run with the Washington Wizards was a proof that a perfect athlete can compete even at the age of 39-40. Now, that brings us to the raw, nasty side of Jordan’s personality. He was psycho enemy team killer. Some called him a sociopath. And that is not far from the truth.

         The referees were helping him winning? Yes, for sure. Could anyone stop him from destroying individuals on the court and teams? No.

               

             Recently I watched several YouTube videos about what contemporary NBA players called the killer instinct of Michael Jordan. Simply put, you couldn’t provoke His Airness without getting humiliated in the end.

         But sometimes, MJ was funny and looked friendly out there to some of the less threatening players like Sam Cassell.

Levy's PHX Dynasty: The League

3.      THE LEAGUE

There are many great things to say about the whole league and the way it progressed over a few months of simulation. Obviously I played ALL my Phoenix games in this awesome Coach Mode - which makes the game look like a “general manager” basketball sim game. Why nobody really played it like this? I will tell you why. Because if you don’t have the right Roster file with properly and realistically created players plus a well adjusted lineup, trust me it won’t work too well.

As you know, my game uses real contracts and real ratings based on 36 minutes per game stats. Basically you can see some of the greats at work in your virtual reality game. I remind you, I am WATCHING my game as a coach, NOT PLAYING as a player. Seeing Kevin Johnson dunking over Hakeem in one of the recent PHX vs. HOU games this season made my heart skip a beat. It reminded me of that great dunk in the real NBA in 1994 that embarrassed Kenny Smith for playing bad defense on KJ and really upset Hakeem.

THE TRADES

What I liked most about the league was the way it handled the trades. I mean they looked REALISTIC like I have never seen before in any of those 2K12, 2K14 and the rest of the horrible future instalments of the NBA 2K that kids buy these days.

Let me give you some examples of trades the CPU teams did this season before the trade deadline. A few teams simply started signing the free agents available on the market. LAL signed GF-Dontonio Wingfield for 1 year/2.14M then they traded him to WAS for G-Lawrence Moten and a 2^nd round pick; GSW signed G-Vernon Maxwell for 1 year/2.18M; HOU signed C-Loren Meyer for 1 year/2.34M; SAC signed G-Lloyd Daniels.

HOU was involved in most of the trades. They sent PG-Matt Maloney and PG-Brent Price to DET in exchange for PG-Joe Dumars and FC-Rick Mahorn. A few days later, DET traded PF-Grant Long for PG-Randy Livingston (ATL). Hawks also traded FC-Alan Henderson and a 2^nd round pick for G-Tim Legler from WAS. Then SF-Eddie Johnson for PG-Terry Porter (MIN). They also wanted desperately Big Ghita who is my starting center and whom I signed earlier this season. He is having a double-double with PHX.

LAC had its own good deal of trades. They gave away a 1^st round pick for G-Bob Sura and PF-Danny Ferry from CLE, and then later traded PG-Pooh Richardson and C-Stojko Vrankovic for PG-Mark Jackson (IND). After that, SG-Brent Barry went to HOU for C-Loren Meyer and F-Rodrick Rhodes. And F-Rodney Rogers went to (an imaginary but foreseeable in the future) Bobcats team for centers John Amaechi and Amal McCaskill.

CLE made a historical trade acquiring PG-John Stockton from UTH in exchange for F-Carl Thomas and PF-Cedric Henderson. Then they traded three pointer specialist SG-Wesley Person for PF-Lawrence Funderburke and G-Lloyd Daniels (SAC).

DEN traded F-Laphonso Ellis to GSW for G-Vernon Maxwell and C-Felton Spencer.

NJN traded two guards, Kerry Kittles and Kevin Edwards to LAL for PG-Derek Fisher.

NYK traded two of its guards, John Starks and Chris Mills for SG-Hubert Davis and PF-A.C. Green (DAL). And then PF-Charles Oakley and a 1^st round pick for PG-Terrell Brandon (MIL). They also made a shocking trade in giving away the heart of their franchise, C-Patrick Ewing for PG-Ron Harper and a 2^nd round pick (CHI).  CHI also traded PG-Steve Kerr to IND for C-Mark West.

POR gave away their PG-Kenny Anderson for a 1^st round pick and C-Derrick Coleman (PHI). They also traded C-Arvydas Sabonis for C-Dean Garrett and SF-Eric Williams (DEN). And later SG-Isiah Rider went to SAS for SF-Monty Williams.

SAC traded two of its aces: shooting extraordinaire PG-Abdul Rauf for PG-Tyus Edney and PF-Roy Rogers (BOS), then SG-Mitch Richmond for one of the best rebounders in the league in PF-Carlos Rogers (TOR). Later TOR sent GF-Walt Williams to WAS for PG-Rod Strickland and PG-God Shammgod. WAS also acquired guards Bimbo Coles and Brian Shaw from GSW.

SEA gave away all-around player F-Detlef Schrempf for PF-Terry Cummings and a 1^st round pick (PHI). They also get rid of the bad mouth of PG-Gary Payton a 1^st round pick and PG-Michael Williams from MIN which surprisingly traded F-Kevin Garnett to VAN Grizzlies for a player in a hot shape by the name of Shareef Abdur-Rahim.

THE INJURIES

Some of the NBA teams were less fortunate this season because of injuries. Some of those happened early in the season as well. I remember ATL losing PG-Mookie Blaylock one or two weeks into the season… Then VAN Grizzlies losing their starting PG-Lee Mayberry. Next was TOR Raptors losing C-Marcus Camby. FOR THE SEASON!

The other teams and their players were luckier. They usually missed 1 or 2 weeks, in some case a month or two (Rodman was one of them but CHI still won during his absence).

I strongly believe some of these injuries influenced the way the teams played this season and their win-loss ratio. This is perfectly REALISTIC!

This season coming to a close, I decided to reduce the effect of injury so from now on my sliders have Injury Frequency at 5 and Injury Severity at 0. Players still get injured quite badly sometimes. It might be a 2K bug like many others…