How To Play The Game: the key to a better gaming experience

THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND MY MODDING

      Have you ever wondered what it's like to play a basketball videogame that has a REAL feel like the actual NBA? First, you should play with patience and be smart in defense, but also allow your players to sift through team's offensive plays. Secondly, you might consider using my game settings along with my DLC for a much improved NBA gaming experience.

      I played videogames especially sports and basketball ones since 1990. Along with other experts of the game, I consider NBA 2K11 to be the best NBA videogame because of the high customization is capable of and its graphical beauty. I would take the 'photographic' player's faces in 2K11 over the 'cartoonish' faces in 2K14, the smooth realistic moves in 2K11 over the robotic moves in 2K14 any day! Even if it lacks newer animations and possibly smarter A.I. used by next gen NBA games, few people know that 2K11 turns into a more enjoyable game that comes close to perfection if you tweak the game sliders, the coach profile(s) and players skills and tendencies.

      Therefore all my efforts between 2014 and 2020 went into a constant battle against the limitations of the crazy arcade style of play with unrealistic fastbreaks and an unfair stealing tendency implemented by default by 2K Sports. This 2K system that I called "monkeys on steroids" has been in use in all of their game installments ever since and is apparently loved by the masses for obvious reasons: it gives you pleasure quickly!

     One thing no one can fix with 2K Sports is the "momentum" which is a code that software developers put in the game engine. It is the least troublesome bug which causes you to miss several shots in a row sometimes but on the other hand helps you when the opponent is forced to miss many open shots as well. That same exact "momentum" happens usually during one quarter usually the 3rd when one of the teams makes a decisive 8-0 or 15-4 or similar run. This "momentum" evens things out and balances the game so none is winning/losing by a big margin. But apparently we can all live with that, right?

       The whole philosophy of my roster modding is that I’m using real player ratings and tendencies and almost everything in my game is based on a special formula using player’s data from basketball-reference.com I also set the Potential for EVERY player in the game to 0. This way I am trying to limit the "buggy"evolution of 2K player development over the season and the random change of player ratings (this is a bug that sadly makes the Association mode unplayable). Anyway, players Potential set to zero should stop them from reaching unrealistic and “off career” values because what we don't want is the players in the game to become better than their real-life counterpart. Let's keep the lack of realism to a minimum, shall we?

        In modding players I use career average stats per 36 mins. This will change the game drastically in terms of ratings. You have been warned, you won’t find the NBA hierarchy you were used to because there is no such thing as an overall rating chart for my game! NBA gamers especially those who play online got used to the 2K flawed system. What 2K Sports has been doing is they bump overall ratings for NBA players who have a fanbase through notifications and several updates kids run to download from 2K servers. In my opinion and other experts of the game, they should have historical stats as a real foundation instead of trendy hypes that only exist to satisfy their customers who are willing to pay anything for instant gratification. But to them it is all just a game while for real fans who watched NBA games and not just highlights (like millennials or NBA team bandwagoners do since HD TVs exist)…"it’s not just a game" to paraphrase the 90s NBA ads for the ‘I Love This Game’ campaign.

      To go into more details, 2K Sports favors tall men and their skills used close to the basket like rebounding, blocking, dunking and inside shooting. Those were the most important factors for MyPlayer mode you probably guessed why. If not, here is the explanation. Kids who are the target customer for 2K games, always bought the game to create their player who could dominate the opponents instantly so they were given those factors to boost their character. Basically if you played as a very tall center you were given less skill points but you would dominate under the basket offensively and defensively thanks to your size. This is something that ruined the real NBA feel of the game!

     If you ever looked at NBA game boxscores, you know centers in the NBA have huge field goal percentages because they operate so close to the basket that they often score with minimal effort that sometimes is a simple tip of the ball or an easy dunk. Their field goal percentage (FG%) is over 50% in most cases. Once we apply the conversion formula for historic NBA stats to the game index, that 50+% translates to 80+ as their shooting skill. And the sad part is this weighs a big part of the players overall rating. In case you didn't know, the CPU is making its team lineups and even substitutions based on the player's overall rating in an automated effort to present the game with the best players on the court. 2K's idea wasn't bad to begin with but...that doesn't tell you the truth behind this method we debunked just now.

         It took me years to find a way to avoid the 2K BAD (aka for commercial purposes) intended system. As a result, the roster files I've created have historically accurate lineups but players ratings are based on 36 minutes real stats. Don't worry, inside my formulas there is a Stamina value that takes care of how early the players get tired. It means the "mediocre" players who played only 5 or 10 minutes in real life will ONLY last 5-10 minutes on the court in my game. And then there is the Touches value that decides how often a player will get the ball when moving to offense basically telling the game how important he is for the team and if his teammates should give him the ball or not.

        Now you are starting to get the big picture: even if those "mediocre" players with high ratings per 36 minutes will be on the court because the CPU chooses them, they will get tired early and when that happens another factor will kick in: the Fatigue effect which will lower their skills and make them miss shots or turn over the ball, so in the end those high rated players who in fact are mediocre will not be that great. And to add one more value, the Consistency decides which player will be hard to guard and able to score at will or go on a hot streak (that is the real Barkley while "mediocre" players will not be consistent!).

       And again - if you are into technicalities - the 36' per game system is the only way to calculate player ratings for every player even for those who played only 5 or 10 minutes per game because it uses multipliers so it evens out the stats for all NBA players as if they all played 36 minutes per game. The only downside - that Charles Barkley complained about on the Open Court show - is that some mediocre players who never seen more than 5 or 10 minutes per game coming off the bench might get better overall ratings with the 36 minutes per game system than...Charles Barkley! Which is fine with me because some players who never got the chance to play a lot were actually fantastic (they went overseas and won major competitions with mediocre teams!).      

      In my game, reserve players will almost be as good as the starters and they will get enough minutes to prove themselves worthy just like the real NBA where, when a starter is injured another rookie can take his place and become a star. Examples in the 2014 wee Taj Gibson, Donald Sloan, Tony Wroten, Draymond Green (who have taken David Lee's spot in the GSW starting lineup in 2015). Jeremy Lin (who got his "Linsanity" nickname for that reason) is another good example from the last decade. For retro fans, Elliott "Socks" Perry is another good example when he replaced an injured starter Kevin Johnson in 1995 for Phoenix. Given them the chance to play, these surprise backup players can put up similar numbers to their all-star teammates. NBA player's “per 36 minutes” stats proves my point: just go to basketball-reference.com and start comparing random players by their 36 minutes stats.

       According to this “new order of things”, players have lower overall ratings than you are used to see in NBA videogames. It just happens because of the formulas I am using according to which rebounds, consistency and many other factors are only at half what you are used to see in EA and 2K games. It gives a better ratio between 0 and 99 and it won't boost player's percentages. And on top of that it doesn't mess up the gameplay when these values are combined with the Game Sliders. In other words it keeps things under control so none of the players gets boosted by the 2K gameplay bugs (yes, they are quite a few "thanks" to the game programmers who don't have real basketball experience).

      Speaking of sliders, the best version of my sliders is dated October 18th, 2022. This is something I was working on for 6 years and been waiting for...for 25 something years since I first started playing NBA videogames! It goes along with an adjusted "universal" Coach Profile. Feel free to download my NEWEST SLIDERS. I use this in Coach Mode as I stopped using a game controller and  I have no pleasure in controlling players on the court but prefer to coach and simply watch the way the game emulates the real NBA. By the way, I find it shocking people don't know that NBA 2K11 has the perfect basketball manager type of game included. All you need to do is switch on the Coach Mode and there you are as the coach of an NBA team!

       For more than a year I emphasized positional player tendencies that include driving to the basket, rebounding offensively with better dunking and active behavior from the big men with their ability to 'putback' a shot typical to the modern style of play; also the way players 'contest a shot' has been recalculated for all players in my database according to their historical defensive stats.

      Since February 2019, all players got a +15 in Strength which helps in not missing an easy layup (that was necessary especially for guards because in my system they are rated the lowest in scoring inside the paint area. Now players go on fastbreak more often and less annoyingly with the Fastbreak slider at 30. If they are not well defended, one or two players will run on offense right after their team was scored on. This is way more different than the buggy 2K fastbreak system and it gives a natural feeling to the gameplay.

       I finally reached the perfect balance in terms of gameplay and scoring in October 2022 when I added the final touch to a series of prior adjustments: I used a stats based formula for the Clutch slider for each player in order to differentiate between prime time players who were really 'clutch' their entire career and the mediocre ones. There was also a -20 value to the Vertical for all players to reflect realistic athletic skills. Now players have between 25 and 45 inches verticals just like in real life where 28'' is the average in the NBA. Now both User and CPU teams score around 100 points a game with about 90 field goal attempts per game each while shooting realistic percentages (45-ish in FG, 30/45-ish in 3s depending on defense/desperation shots, FT are as real as they can be if you leave the REAL FT% setting untouched).

       There were a few issues I needed to fix so the game will look more realistic and challenging. It's worth mentioning 2K Sports completely messed up the offensive rebounding and the block for at least 5 years in a row. Therefore I fixed the rebounding issue so now both teams have Off Reb at 100 and Def Reb at 0. The blocking value was set to 1 (if it's 0 the stats won't count the in-game blocked shots; if more than 1, the game will abuse it - stupid 2K!).

      Another thing I did in May 2020 was to raise the attempted dunks frequency, on-ball steals and shot contest along with the help defense strength and the steal success. The rate at which players get fatigued was increased to 20 from 50 (yes, the effect is reversed in 2K games!) so more substitutions will be needed as it happens a in real game situation. As a result, you will have more turnovers, fouls, more free throws, smarter substitutions, more but also a few missed dunks, better player coverage on the court, a real battle in the paint area especially for getting the rebound, putback shots after rebounding offensively, some early foul trouble for certain players who were very aggressive historically and committed more fouls in the NBA etc.

     Now both the CPU and the User have the same game sliders (except for a slight adjustment in shooting for the User because my game is now on All Star level which gives a much needed boost to the CPU defense) and they do miracles when used in Coach Mode! For playing without the Coach Mode you might have to adjust some sliders according to your level. I recommend touching only the Off or Def Awareness sliders for the CPU: if it's too hard, decrease them; if it's too easy, increase them.

      These sliders work with my Roster files (and possibly with other mods different than mine) as they go hand in hand with the adjustments I made to the players - yet another reason to use my mods. So far I highly recommend to use them with the mods I released so far (1992-93 DLC, 1995-96 DLC, 1997-98 DLC, 1999-00 DLC, 2002-03 DLC, 2006-07 DLC, 2008-09 DLC, 2010-11 & 2011-12 DLC, 2014-15 DLC, 2017-18 DLC, 2018-19 DLC. 2019-20 DLC) and the future mods. This is the best version of my sliders/settings and roster. The only thing I might change in the future will be the customization of individual player's tendencies and hot spots.

       Here is the template for the Coach Profile(s). It is already contained in the Roster & Season files that you acquire from me when paying for my mods. This is vital for the way teams play on the court and obviously can influence the score so...make sure you keep it unchanged when playing my mods.

Offensive Tempo - 50
Defensive Pressure - 50
Help Defense - 50
Fast Break - 50
Crash Boards - 50
Run Plays - 25
Double Teams - 25
Zone Usage - 10
Bench Depth - 50
Take Inside Shots - 50
Take Close Shots - 50
Take Mid-Range Shots - 50
Take 3PT Shots - 55
Attack the Basket - 100
Look for Post Players - 25
Throw Alley Oops - 1

     And lastly, the GAME SETTINGS In my settings the substitution method is set to “fatigue” instead of “rotation” because it works better with the sliders and the progress of the game during a match plus this way it respects the actual playtime NBA players have got during their career and make better use of the bench players. Now how cool is that?

Game Difficulty SUPERSTAR (where the CPU will defend better and compete realistically)
Game speed 45
Player speed 50
Substitution Method (in Association/Season Settings & Coach Settings) Fatigue
Fatigue ON
Clutch ON
Injury OFF
Shooting% & FT% REAL PLAYER (if you switch this to USER it will affect the players stats/score development/balance of the game!)
FT Difficulty 50
Coach Settings all to AUTO *except for the Late Game Fouling

         Fee free to share your opinion and show us your results after using these settings and sliders. But before that I should tell you there are a few things from the real NBA that cannot and will not be simulated in videogames! Don't ask me why, nobody knows why they don't work in the artificial (A.I.) world - but probably it is best this way or else we would all live in a matrix. :))

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.

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.

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!

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…

Levy's PHX Dynasty: The Team

LEVY’S PHOENIX SUNS DYNASTY

(A 2K11 Association Mode based on Levy’s 1997-98 DLC and future updates)

THE TEAM

            Every franchise needs a few great players so I decided to get my hands on the big guns especially since my team lost more games than it won.

            The first addition to the team was PG-Brook Thompson who is an average player but a much needed backup point guard whom I assumed I could use later if one of my main guards gets injured. He was signed as a free agent for 1 year at 1.96 million/year with the player’s option in the 2nd year. I am at the middle of the season when I post this and B. Thompson didn’t do much except playing a few minutes per game as a substitute in the fourth quarter when the team was already losing. Later in the season, I traded him along with C-Charles Jones (whom I acquired from Houston) for a 1998 2^nd round pick and G-Vinny Del Negro who was on San Antonio’s trade list.

            Most of the trades I’ve done were offered by the teams controlled by the CPU. I never forced any trade on the CPU teams in order to keep the realism level high in my game. As a lifelong Suns fan, I wanted to stay loyal to the real life Phoenix Suns but some of these offers were too good to be refused. On 26/11 Milwaukee offered me Ray Allen in exchange for FC-Antonio McDyess and a 2^nd round pick. At that time my starting SG (Rex Chapman wasn’t doing great), so I took the offer. Who wouldn’t want a pure shooter on his roster?

The next trade offered to me was on the 16/12 by the Houston Rockets who wanted a young guard-forward desperately so they offered me PF-Charles Barkely and FC-Charles Jones for GF-Marko Milic and my other starting power forward and really great FC-Danny Manning. I was sad to see Manning leave but couldn’t resist to the idea of a “back to the future” Phoenix Suns from 1993. I already had PG-Kevin Johnson and SF-Cedric Ceballos on my roster so Chuck was the missing link, right? Or was it Majerle…because the next thing I did on 14/1 was to trade SG-Rex Chapman back to where he came from, the Heat, for none else than GF-Dan Majerle. Now my team was about to bring back some sweet memories with Danny Ainge as coach who also played in the 1993 NBA Finals against Chicago.

            Another trade I made was very subjective. My favourite Suns player of all time, Steve Nash wasn’t very happy as the 3^rd point guard behind Jason Kidd and KJ so…I decided to part ways with my starter PG-Jason Kidd in exchange for a player I always admired on and off the court, FC-Brian Williams aka Bison Dele from Detroit Pistons who in real life died in mysterious circumstances in Tahiti being probably killed by his money hungry brother – which was really a modern Cain & Abel story.

            And one last notable acquisition was signing a giant who was a novelty in the NBA at the middle of the 90s, the tallest player at 7’7’’ C-Gheorghe Muresan who in reality was born not far from where I was born. He fit in perfectly and started to dominate the boards and collect game MVPs one after another.

            There were a few minor injuries happening to my players this season: Marko Milic, John Williams, Horacio Llamas-Grey, Chapman, Thompson, Ray Allen were all on the injured list for 1-2 weeks. During SG-Ray Allen’s two weeks injury, my team had the longest winning streak (8!) which can hardly make sense. Ray-Ray is my 3^rd best scorer and my team owes him the recovery at the beginning of the season. But while he was out, other players stepped up.

            At the moment my team leaders are:

And my roster looks like this: