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 revamped 1992-93 NBA Season DLC is out now!

Welcome to the 1992-93 Season DLC! This is a project that initially started in 2015 when I was on the move throughout Europe while volunteering at different households. The internet connection was very bad or completely missing due to the poor hosting by some of the people in the volunteering network (sadly many were taking advantage of the volunteers too which tells you all about the level of decency our society got to in the 21st century).

     My initial project was based on the 1991-92 season mod created by other 2K11 gamers around 2012-2013. As it usually happens with big projects like this, the community based mod was a fiasco because player's ratings were wrong and many had wrong cyberfaces while many players from 1992 NBA were missing. That's were I decided to step in with all my knowledge about the game and 25 years of NBA watching at that time.

     As of 2020 you can forget about the previous attempt to create a playable 1992-93 NBA season. That is all gone because now I've completely revamped the 1992-93 DLC. I personally wasn't happy with the previous version so I've decided to redo it entirely starting with the player database and ending with the graphic part. It took me on and off about 5 months to complete this project between November 2019 and March 2020. So there you have it: the best retro mod ever done for an NBA 2K game! To be more convincing I am going to tell you this is the DLC I am using to play NBA 2K11 in 2020 during the global COVID-19 lockdown when governments and the World Health Organization are still looking clueless at the cousin virus of the previous SARS they ignored since 2003.

     This new version of the 1992-93 DLC includes realistic players with team rotations from the 1992-93 season, 3 teams (Bobcats, Grizzlies, Raptors) that weren't in the NBA at that time but can't be deleted from the game so...they got real players who were injured or away from the NBA during 1992 and 1993 (and that is a bunch of decent players!).

    On top of that this DLC was made from scratch on a clean, default 2K11 Roster file basically an official file which I modified into a retro mod. That means this DLC can be used to play a 100% guaranteed bug-free game in the Association Mode, something I am actually doing at the moment. To make things even more realistic and interesting, I created impeccable draft classes starting with the 1993 Draft Class that can be added to the game following the 1992-93 season. Now how cool is that? For more details about this particular part please check my post(s) about My PHX Dynasty which is an Association Mode game that makes use of these DLCs.

     If you followed the evolution of my NBA 2K11 modding throughout the years, you already know my game is now faster, teams shoot more threes, have better defensive skills, there are more dunks in transition, teammates box out and big men rebound more intelligently, all players make better use of the screens, and the CPU makes better substitutions based on the fatigue method (which triggers the real NBA stamina of each player separately).

     The 1992-93 NBA Season DLC features:

- a realistic gameplay based on my own formula that gives realistic scores, percentages and correct movement of players on the court that emulates the real NBA pace

- players with accurate bio (position, height, age, college, draft pick), appearance (eyes color, muscle & body type), skills and tendencies (including touches, isolation, post up, spot up etc.)  based on a template and several formulas I use now that take into account real stats from NBA players career (it calculates career average ratings per 36 minutes from the data sheet on https://www.basketball-reference.com)

- complete roster (14-15 players) and an accurate lineup plus correct situational (starters and bench players) for each team; historic players for 3 teams (Bobcats, Grizzlies, Raptors) that weren't in the NBA at that time but can't be deleted from the game so...they got real players who were injured or away from the NBA during 1992 and 1993

- advanced textures for player faces created specially for NBA 2K11 or in many cases taken from NBA 2K14 and applied to 2K11 faces that make players in this mod look crispy clean and more realistic than any other video game on the market in 2020 thanks to the genius in rendering of 2K11 that is so difficult to match by more recent "modern" games

- a completely new portrait system for the player's in-game photos with round action photos

- some players' names were tweaked to match the NBA 2K11 name list so the arena announcers can pronounce them; those who weren't on the 2K list in 2010 when the original game was launched will be called by the number on their jersey

- real coaches names (two per team) with real height, cyberfaces and experience years

- historically accurate courtside dornas and reserves chairs, stanchions, banners, floors and jerseys with hex edited colors for each team used in 1992-93

- a new retro TNT Sports presentation and scoreboard with the addition of my logo for the 1992-93 NBA Season DLC

- my own global textures for 2K11 that include progressive sweat, skinnier/realistic legs, simple retro accessories etc.

- sepia style background photos of the top players in the NBA in 1993 for the game menu

     If you want to understand how my version of the game works, you should go to the How To Play The Game page at the top of this blog. There are explanations about the Game Settings, Game Sliders (that also work with the Coach Mode on) and the Universal Coach Profile.

     Installation guide for my roster file:

1. Pay & get the roster file (.ROS) and the season file (.RFG) then place them 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 game files. To do this, go to “Options”, select “Load/save”, and load > “Roster1819″ or "Season1819". 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. After that I will provide you with my PayPal account where you can send your payment for this mod. As soon as I cleared your payment, you will receive an email from me containing the Roster (.ROS) file and the Season Mode (.RFG) file along with all the links to the files contained in this DLC. I am looking forward to hearing from you. Enjoy your game, folks!

     Here are some extra screenshots from the 1992-93 Season DLC:

Music (and videogames)

       I never posted about my musical preferences before so I thought this is now the right time to do it. I am an avid music listener and by music I mean real music - and by that, music that makes your mind happy and your body bouncing. I started listening to Classic Rock in middle school and then in high school I switched to Blues. Everything that was Pop and the horrendous Rap aka Hip Hop had no effect on me. Jazz and Classical music were OK but represented the former generations who in my opinion gave up hope. I realize today my musical preferences would mean the same to the millennials but what the heck, we are not here to please everyone or else we wouldn't enjoy anything on our behalf, right?

      For many, many years I was a huge Blues (and Rock) music collector ending up having over 12000 albums while maintaining a website where I promoted tens of new albums every week. People could download those albums and later buy them at the usual store. It used to be the easiest way to promote yourself if you were a young artist. That was more than 10 years ago before YouTube took over with their ads. Obviously what I did is now called 'piracy' because some of the frustrated artists weren't happy they were losing a few bucks while other decent artists understood this was actually beneficial to them because more people found out about their existence and more fans showed up at their concerts and bought their merchandise. 

       But again, you can't make everyone happy. So...someone reported my page and Wordpress (yes, those MOFOs) decided to close my page without a warning. Last time I checked my website was worth $14000 and earlier that year someone saw a profit in it and offered to buy it but I refused to sell my soul. Now my soul is free while one of its layers is somewhere at the bottom of the sinking belly of the internet.

       Long story short...I am still listening to what I like. But I find it shameful there is less and less good music around. Everybody is talking about these shitty rappers when we all know that is NOT music but a social movement. And like any other protest, it isn't peaceful. So I am not interested in it nor in any other sub-culture products that promote it. Sadly this happens to videogames too. I am simply outraged to see that good funky music from the 90s videogames disappeared completely and was replaced by mumbling or screamed non-musical anger and depression of these so-called "musicians" who can't sing nor play any instrument anymore. 

        Here are a few oldie but goldie samples from back in the day. 

        My favorite by far is the NBA Live 97 menu music. Just like one of the comments to this video said...I spent hours on my Playstation One editing the roster while listening to this soundtrack. Another comments say: "This song fits the game and era it was made in so well, you could swear this would’ve been played as a theme for the NBA on TNT or TBS, or played during commercial breaks." And: "Damn I miss these tracks and 90s games, 90s owned...Fuck 2K!". Well said.

      Not game related in any way or form but I will post a few links to the best songs from my favorite musician. It's someone I have been watching early in his career. Once I've taken a 14000 kilometer journey (yes, you read it right!) to attend his concert in New York. Now he is one of the top guitar players in the world and has tens of millions of fans.

Scottie, the beard trimmer

        It's time you kids nowadays start learning the fundamentals or 1. you will lose your job, 2. this sport will disappear soon (they killed the competitiveness already exposing it to retarded, slow, one sided, unskilled teens).

        That's Scottie, the beard trimmer for you, millennials!

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: 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.

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. ;)

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: