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 2nd 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 2nd 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 1st 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 1st 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 2nd round pick (CHI). CHI also traded PG-Steve Kerr to IND for C-Mark West.
POR gave away their PG-Kenny Anderson for a 1st 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 1st round pick (PHI). They also get rid of the bad mouth of PG-Gary Payton a 1st 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…
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