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. :))

NBA Stories: Steve Javie, the retired NBA referee now pastor

Steve Javie (born 1955.01.17) was my favorite NBA referee over 25 years of watching the league. He has had that rare combination of strictness and openness a referee should have but cannot be faked as it has to do with the self disciplined personality of who wears those shoes. A long time referee but also one of a kind impartial game analyst for the media after retirement, he finally retired from sports to follow a different career that doesn't involve busting any more knees on the court.

He worked more than 1,500 games, including 200-plus in the playoffs and 20 in the Finals. “Steve was the best referee I ever worked with, and I reffed with everybody,” said Joe Crawford, a friend and former NBA colleague. “He knew the rules. He got plays right. And he had guts. He was very aggressive but always under control.”

Bad knees finally forced Javie to limp away after the 2011 season, his last assignment being the decisive sixth game of that year’s NBA Finals. By then, he was on a spiritual quest. Thanks to his wife of 28 years, Mary Ellen, he’d rediscovered a faith he’d virtually abandoned as a young man. The couple had started a charity benefiting underprivileged children in Montgomery County and Philadelphia. But he needed more. “I thought, ‘I’ve got to be doing something more with my life than blowing whistles against basketball players,’ " he said.

At a St. Andrew’s event, a visiting speaker mentioned the Catholic diaconate. The possibility of becoming a deacon hung constantly around his neck like the whistles he wore as a referee. “It’s a calling,” he said. “It’s nothing I aspired to. I knew I was getting near the end of my career because my knees were failing. That realization makes you think about what you’re going to do afterwards.”

The journey Javie started in 2012 ended this June 8, when he and six others were formally ordained as deacons during an ornate ceremony at the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul. The grueling process that got him there took seven years and yielded a master’s in theology, a new title, and the right to deliver homilies, wear a collar, and perform such traditional priestly duties as baptisms and marriages.

“I was at the ordination,” Crawford said. “Watching him do all the little things around the altar, you could see how prepared and calm he was. That’s how he was as a referee. Anything he gets into, he gets into all the way. He’s so devout now. As a matter of fact, he’s so devout that sometimes I have to tell him, `Steve, shut the … up.’ ”

Assigned to St. Andrew’s, his home parish and the largest in the Philadelphia archdiocese, Javie delivered his second homily last Saturday. “I’m not afraid to get up and talk in front of people because I’ve been doing that my whole life,” he said. “But talking about something really personal like faith, that’s stressful.”

Actually, Javie, who usually speaks in rapid and intense bursts, seemed more poised and conversational while addressing the parishioners, which he did not from the pulpit but from in front of the altar. “He’s very at ease, which probably comes from what he did all those years,” said Monsignor Michael Picard, St. Andrew’s pastor. “His preaching, even though he’s just starting, is really superb.”

The story of how Javie switched from the arena to the altar is one that combines love found and spirituality sought. It began in the late 1980s when the NBA’s travel demands made him a regular at Philadelphia International Airport’s US Airways counter. That’s where he met Mary Ellen.

“I was someone who except for Christmas and Easter didn’t go to Mass. But I could see she was a devout Catholic,” Javie said. “So on our second date, I thought I’d impress her and I said, `How about if we go to Mass, then get lunch afterward?’ “We’re sitting there in church, and this priest is droning on. I’m looking at my watch thinking I’ll sit here an hour then be with her the rest of the afternoon. I wasn’t paying attention, wasn’t getting anything out of it. Afterward, she asked me what I thought. I told her I didn’t get anything out of it. She looked at me and said, `What did you put into it?’ That stopped me in my tracks. She said, `Did you maybe say a prayer for somebody in your family who needed it? Did you pray to the Holy Spirit for enlightenment?’ She really got me thinking.”

The renewed devotion helped in 1999 when Javie was one of 15 referees implicated in a tax-evasion case that involved misuse of frequent-flyer miles. He was the only one acquitted on all charges.

Noticing their colleague’s newfound focus, the referees Javie worked with began to ask questions. Some even accompanied him to church.

“A lot of guys I traveled with, they struggled with all the temptations that come with being on the road,” Javie said. “I would try to talk to them about it. My thinking was we’re all sinful, but if we can talk about these things with each other, it might make our marriages and families a little more solid. “When I was a crew chief, the second guy would sometimes grab the new guy and say, ‘OK, Steve, tell him what you talked to me about.’ I’d try to mentor them, not just in basketball but in life.”

After retirement and the deacon decision, Javie ramped up his religiosity. From August through May, he took three-hour classes at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in philosophy, theology, spirituality, and homiletics. Then there were workshops, psychological examinations and, before ordination, written, practical and oral examinations. “We’ve never been blessed with children, but we’ve got nine nephews and nieces and I tell them I never studied that hard in my life," Javie said. "Those professors were brilliant. It was a really intense, extensive process.”

His new schedule is sometimes as hectic as his old one. A day after ordination, Javie had to deliver his first homily at St. Andrew’s. There are Masses, ceremonies, home and hospital visits, counseling sessions, and speaking engagements. “I made a living in sports,” he said. “They paid me to referee, and it was a good job. But this is something else, a really incredible journey. I worked in the Finals for 15 years. I worked Game 7s. But that doesn’t compare with this. It’s a feeling I can’t describe.”

Those who know Javie well, such as his fellow Whitemarsh Valley Country Club members, now feel free to move conversations beyond typical locker-room talk. “Now that they know what I’ve been through, they feel like they have permission to talk about their faith, even to complain about it,” Javie said. “They realize that I’ve changed in one way, but not socially or personality-wise. I’m just Steve Javie. I always have been. It just so happens I’m not a referee anymore. I’m serving the Lord now.”

[*Except for my introductory paragraph this article appeared on the Inquirer]

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:

NBA Stories: A shout-out to me from Bill Simmons and The Ringer podcast

2020 is a year that started auspicious for Lee Unagi and his YouTube channel. In case you wonder why I am writing this is because...that is me. My actual name is Levy Nagy but Lee Unagi is the version of the name I came up with while I was in Asia teaching English to kids who wanted a more Asian-friendly name for me as they were struggling with my natural Hungarian name in the classroom.

I went to sleep last night getting notifications from YouTube followers and got a bit surprised at the growing numbers of subscribers on my channel in only a few couple of hours. First thing I checked when I woke up was the news. Surprisingly for me, I got a shout-out on Bill Simmons' newest  episode (number 14) of The Book Of Basketball 2.0 podcast on The Ringer network. Even more surprising was that his guest was Steve Nash, my all time favorite NBA player whom me and other knowledgeable NBA fans consider the last pointgod (a point guard who played godlike basketball) in the NBA. 

There was a link to YouTube and a short 7 minute video with Bill and Steve talking face to face while some highlights of the infamous Game 4 of the 2007 NBA Playoffs Western Conference Semifinals between Phoenix and San Antonio were rolling in the background. The poster for the podcast with Robert Horry's hip checking Steve Nash into the sideline boards  was exactly the picture I cropped and used as a cover for the same very game I uploaded to YouTube in May 2019. That felt good but...must have felt awful for poor Steve!

Another quite shocking thing for me after listening to Bill Simmon's latest podcast with Steve Nash was to find out Steve never really watched the Suns games over the last years and especially the fact the game I uploaded - which Bill asked him to watch entirely so they can talk about in this episode on his podcast - gave a whole lot of anxiety to Steve Nash because of the way things were handled back then by the referees, David Stern who died only a couple of days ago, and the over aggressive Spurs players including Bruce Bowen and Robert Horry. I am really sorry my upload brought sadness and desperation to Steve Nash who evidently was lost for words a few times on the podcast. Also I couldn't not notice Nash wasn't really prepared to have this conversation with Bill despite he is in general a great spokesman and well informed.

On the same 7 minute short video from the podcast, people commented on YouTube saying that Steve Nash is underrated although him and the Suns revolutionized basketball and shaped it the way it is played nowadays.

• The problem is you bring on a player and it turns into a boring interview. With another NBA writer/historian it’s an awesome back and forth conversation between knowledgeable people. Nash admits he doesn't think about this stuff and can’t remember half of this stuff 👍 but as player interviews go this one isn’t bad.

• This was the best podcast in the series so far. Well done!
• Nash is underrated.
• True but the man did win not one, but TWO MVP’s.
• Yeah. But he still does not get enough credit for it.
• People spent a decade slandering him because a white boy won an MVP over Kobe, sad people!
• He is definitely properly rated.

• ME: He is underrated! Just because you and me appreciate him doesn't mean the majority of the people do the same. He has been underrated all his career starting at the draft and when signed with Phoenix in 1996 (the best draft in the NBA history!) and booed by Phoenix fans (yes, you read it correctly!).

• Nash is underrated because he played on one of the best teams in the NBA, but really was FAR better than the other two of the "big three". Stoudemire and Marion were both fine, but neither had any chops on their own: Nash was the engine and soul of that team. Think abut it: they were mostly even with the Spurs, who had a "big three" who could each create by themselves of play off the ball. Stoudemire and Marion could really create efficiently by themselves. Each brought something. But Nash was the key. Reminds me of Barkley in Phoenix. KJ was never enough as a second fiddle. Same with Nash. Both first ballot HoF-ers.
• Dude would thrive in today’s NBA, was just a little to early.
• Since 2000 I don’t think there is a pointguard that has gotten more people paid than Nash. A lot of players owe him a few steak dinners for what he did to their career.
• Steve Nash is the player that really "changed the game." Everyone else took the league he made to the next level. Congratulations to them, but don't erase what Steve and those Suns did.

• That Horry hip check killed the series. As Simmons wrote in his book "even a washed up Horry could swing a series". LOL

• One of the most controversial plays in NBA history and no one even scored.
• Refs always ruining something.

• Make no mistake, the Suns CRUSHED Cleveland twice that same year. San Antonio went on to sweep them but Phoenix would have as well. David Stern decided the championship when he suspended the Suns' leading scorer and his main back up at the same time.

• Probably one of the greatest teams to never make a finals. Though once or twice they were clearly screwed.
• Thinking about that series just made me sick. The league hated the Suns.

On that last note, let me add this. The now defunct and much praised David Stern by the media people who didn’t really know him, helped the Spurs back then and robbed the Suns of their chance to advance to the next round. Spurs were a great team but they were preferred by Stern as they better fit the NBA's international marketing agenda (which ironically was the biggest achievement of David Stern's career as NBA commissioner). 

When fans discuss the commissioner's decision to penalize the Suns by the book, they all realize the law was applied wrongfully - and Phoenix fans knew it back then already. One of the comments on my Game 4 video clearly states the undeniable facts. The rule IS NOT if you “leave the bench you get suspended” or “step on the court when a foul has occurred”; according to Stu Jackson, VP of officiating, the rule it is: “if you leave the bench DURING AN ALTERCATION, you get suspended.” If you check the tape, the “altercation” (assuming it rises to the level) had not happened yet when Boris and Amare came off the bench. It’s only well after Amare and Boris come to check on Nash and are right by his side that the altercation takes place. So the suspension of Amare Stoudamire and Boris Diaw was...unlawful but made by David Stern in a "horry" (you get the pun!).

A few more things about me and the passion for basketball and the NBA. I've been listening and reading Bill Simmons analysis and comments about the NBA for about 15 years, never really missing any of his podcasts. Steve Nash is the player I tried to emulate unintentionally during my 13 years of amateur basketball playing. He was my doppelganger in the NBA. I had played football brilliantly until high school when I fell in love with basketball. Technically speaking I turned long 25 meter leg shots on the football field I used to kick (and destroyed a few rusty goal posts!) into later well known long threes on the basketball court opposing teams were afraid of in the 90s because they didn't know how to guard them so far from the basket. I played basketball at semi-pro level until graduating from college when I got my spinal cord injury just like Steve(!), not to mention I am white European and had long hair for years. 

I've watched Steve's career from day 1 and knew right away he would turn out to be THIS good. The rest is just hate and envy coming from low IQ players like Shaq & co. and their so-called "fans" who just jumped on bandwagons like Lakers, Heat and Warriors at the time. Life is unfair but worth living as long as you keep in mind what Steve Nash always said (but not many listened): "Let's have some fun out there!".

15 Years After The Malice at The Palace

     There are a few YouTubers who brought back the story of The Malice at The Palace but I disliked their videos because they always have a quantitative approach (bring a lot of useless information) and sacrifice quality (a clear, easy to follow storyline). They fail  at being consistent because they fall victims to the new millennial trend of entertaining the uneducated masses. In other words they go too far and ruin a story by forgetting  the power of a message lays in its simplicity.

     2004 was still a good year for NBA basketball. Not as great as the 90s but still competitive with players still being loyal to their teams and listening to their coaches. There was some misinformation in the flash news but not as much mainstream media hyping up sports or  social media creating fake news like they are nowadays.

     The team spirit was high back in the days indeed but...1. NBA players should be able to refrain themselves in these situations (and I am sure this is in their signed contract!), 2. the league should have pulled up  6 or 7 digits fines for  the home team organization for not being able to secure the premises. So yeah, the real wrong doers of the brawl were 1. Ron Artest, 2. Detroit Pistons organization, and 3. the NBA. Historically, this went terribly wrong because the league sacrificed the whole Indiana Pacers team only to find a scapegoat.

     Players taking part in this incident were interviewed and everybody knows now the fight was caused by the previous year playoffs elimination of Indiana which might have won that year finals if that didn't happen in the Eastern Conference Finals. So they were still upset about it and took revenge in this game where Ron Artest was hyped up by Jamal Tinsley during that last free throw (Stephen Jackson named it "putting a pack of batteries in his back"). 

     An angry Ron took it out on Ben Wallace who just lost his brother days before so was very fragile mentally. That led to the fight although Ron Artest still denies he cause it but admits it he was suffering of multiple personality disorder ("I was hearing things and had at least 3 personalities at that time").

     And...of course that infamous beer from the stands and the loosen security at the arena. Now the crazy thing is later in his career Ron Artest contacted the disgruntled Detroit fan (John Green) who threw the beer following a $50 bet and...they have become friends simply because Ron "doesn't like to hold grudges". Maybe there is some peace in the world of...Metta after all.  

     The NBA didn't take the blame nor punished the Detroit Pistons organization. Instead they have found their scapegoat in the Indiana Pacers team's players completely ignoring the huge amount of alcohol consumed by the Detroit fans at the game who were basically rioting inside the Detroit arena. 

     This whole ghetto style brawl had several consequences short and long term. It cost the league and its players tens of millions of dollars that year. Indiana Pacers lost their chance to win the league that year although they have come back strong in playoff time. It shaped for what is better - but probably worse - the future of the NBA imposing strict regulations and bringing more hypocrisy to their face (culminating with the  2019 China incident) and contributing to the widespread PC culture we live in.

     YouTube comments about the incident:

• All because some stupid uncivilized low life threw a beer can.

• I still blame the Pistons fan for this entire situation. You throw beer in another mans face, you deserve to get rocked.
• Piston fans throws beer at Artest, Artest fights back, Pistons fans surprised Pikachu face.
• If it never happened then there wouldn't be metta world peace.
• I don't think anyone can control their temper if they got a beer thrown on them.
• That fan in Detroit is literally the reason why the NBA rules went super strict and why the league is so soft now.
• This is why my dad calls them the Detroit Piss.
• I remember watching this on TV and I've never had so much adrenaline pumping while watching a sports game. It was insane!
• 12 year olds commenting today: "I watched it live"...an event that happened 15 years ago.

• I was born that day! No wonder I’m so aggressive sometimes.

     Here is the full game on YouTube if the uploader still has it. 

     And the boxscore for the game: 2004.11.19~IND@DET (The Malice at the Palace)

NBA Stories: Dirk Nowitzki, not your usual retired basketball player

Another NBA legend came to the end of his career... This time is someone greater than usually. It's Dirk Nowitzki who is the European basketball player with the longest career - even if not the most successful career compared to Tony Kukoc. I watched them both from start till end, and I am more pleased with what Dirk achieved. Tony was a fantastic player and 3 time NBA champion with Chicago Bulls but Dirk was a humble guy who happened to be unguardable in game due to  his size and one leg fadeaway jumpshot. Something that now is forbidden by the soft NBA system just because the 'punk' Reggie Miller abused it with the extra kick he flexed that leg to create space for his three pointer jumpshot.

I remember Dirk Nowitzki from day one he entered the NBA. Because I am a lifetime Phoenix Suns I noticed the trades my team used to make with Dallas Mavericks. So I ended up watching Dallas sometimes because one third of their roster was full with ex-Suns players. A.C. Green, Cedric Ceballos, Michael Finley, Steve Nash are only the most notorious players on that list. But one day this skinny, tall white guy with blond hair was substituted in and life for real basketball fans in Dallas was never the same.

Dirk was an amazing shooter. In case you didn't know the story he destroyed the NBA All Star team when he was only 18 by scoring 42 in one game. That's when Charles Barkley tried to convince him to skip army and go to play college hoops at his Auburn University. Anyway, here comes Dirk straight to the NBA one year later and now everybody is watching him showcasing that typical German precision we all know about if you lived in Europe long enough. What people don't know his humbleness is not German at all. That is only his! I always said Dirk is the nicest German guy you will ever meet.

The time I cheered the most for a player and even a team apart from the Suns was the 2011 Dallas Mavericks. I remember clearly my childhood friends writing me back to my posts on social media about the NBA playoffs and the Finals that year and everybody I talked to agreeing Dallas deserved to win. Some were saying if god existed he would have allowed that to happen. I still have the Dallas 2011 playoffs run along with hundreds of other NBA games in my archives, and watching both the 2006 and the 2011 Finals bring back wonderful memories. All that thanks to Dirk Nowitzki.

The following paragraphs are from the official retirement ceremony reported by the NBA media.

Nowitzki never shared his retirement plans because he didn't want a farewell tour, but he also said he only began serious deliberations on retirement when his lower body gave him issues late in the season. The 14-time All-Star got the farewell treatment on the road anyway, with opposing fans chanting "We want Dirk" and giving him standing ovations, and LA Clippers coach Doc Rivers stopping a game, grabbing a public address microphone and honoring Nowitzki. But the league's 2007 MVP and 2011 NBA Finals MVP also knew how difficult the past two seasons had been physically, including missing the first 26 games of his final campaign after a longer-than-expected recovery from ankle surgery last April. Nowitzki was experiencing flare-ups in his feet and ankles late this season. "It takes a lot at 40 to get ready every night and then with the foot pain," Nowitzki said. "It just took a little bit of the fun away from the sport I love. I think that actually made the decision easier for me." [Yes, the same was the case with Steve Nash and his lower back pain - Me].

Just like that, the best player in Mavericks history officially ended a 21-year, future Hall-of-Fame career. Nowitzki rose from an unknown foreign Draft prospect to a league MVP and NBA champion while revolutionizing the game with his combination of height and shooting touch. In doing so, he lifted Dallas from its doldrums to perennial contention and league-wide respect.

For that and much more, Mavericks fans serenaded Nowitzki with one chant just as heartfelt as the one before: "THANK YOU DIRK." That followed messages of admiration and appreciation NBA legends in attendance. Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Shawn Kemp and countryman Detlef Schrempf spoke in honor of the player who was shown in an old video listing each of them as among those he idolized growing up in Germany. "The only guy that was missing was MJ," Nowitzki said, referring to Michael Jordan - the player he passed to become the oldest to score at least 30 in a game. "That was my No. 1. They brought Larry Legend. I mean, it's, that was an emotional moment when I saw all five of them and I was in shock really."

"This is obviously super, super emotional. Just too many people to really thank. I put you guys on a helluva ride with a lot of ups and downs, and you guys always stuck with me and supported me, so I appreciate it." This is how the NBA report ends.

Well, true fans will support their favorite players no matter what. At least this is what it used to be. Luckily for Dirk, Mavericks fans always had the patience and passion to cheer for their stars. And they deserved to get and keep Dirk Nowitzki until the end. 21 seasons! Basketball players and their so-called fans of this new millennial era will never understand this kind of loyalty. I am so glad I had the chance to witness greatness of the golden era of NBA and international basketball.

Here is the video with the somewhat ad-hoc retirement ceremony that took place on April 9th, 2019.

And because basketball wouldn't exist without fans, I will share some of the most interesting comments I've read on YouTube where the people commented about the ceremony and the legacy of Dirk Nowitzki. I also added a few of my replies to their comments.

JS: I could not believe that Larry bird and chuck actually came. Chuck was just in Minneapolis the night before😂😂and when was the last time Scottie Pippen was social like that

Me@JS: Scottie is very active lately. Check his appearances on ESPN. He even taught NBA teams how to defend James Harden in 2019.

RG: I still dream of mavericks with nash and dirk and what would have happened if they didn't go separate ways

Me@RG: I am the biggest fan of Nash since he was drafted by PHX (and everyone else was booing him!) but I wonder the same.

Mavs got lots of faces that shaped the franchise, and Dirk certainly stood out among the rest. He could have left and joined other teams for multiple rings, but he stayed for 21 years in the franchise that drafted him. Man, humble.

Dirk is one of the best, most loyal player in NBA history. A true role model.

All time great!! Nice and humble guy.. had a great career...  mavs fan are lucky to have had him.

You can't spell DALLAS MAVERICKS without D-I-R-K

More than 31.000 Points, 11.000 Rebounds, 3.000 Assists, 1.000 Blocks, 1.000 Steals und 1.500 3-points. All for the Mavericks.

The perfect example that you don't need to be an asshole to be a great and competitive player. think about it, he came as a young, lanky guy from Würzburg who only had played in the 2. league in Germany. then he won every major award in the NBA, revolutionised his position and by doing so, he kept the same goofy, loveable and most importantly humble human being. that's beyond greatness!

My son now is 4 months old. That's why I name him Dirk because of you Dirk Nowitzki. My Favourite Nba Player Of all Time. #LivingLegend 41/21/1

I flew twice from Germany to Dallas on my own just to see him. It was worth every dollar and every hour of flight time. He is a legend to me because he's one of a kind. I don't know any other athlete who is so successful and at the same time so down-to-earth like Dirk. A role model on every imaginable level. Take care, Dirty and thank you for 21 years!

GV: Mark Cuban should pay Dirk all the paycuts he have made for his entire career. Enjoy your retirement Mr. MVP!

Me@GV: $80M?! Mark Cuban promised to give him a job for life and to build him the biggest statue. I'd say that's not bad.

I am a laker fan and my feelings towards dirk were not positive, but watching this tears come to my eyes...legend

It feels like a part of my childhood is gone

Greatest fade away jump shooter of all time hands down!!!

yo daddy: Lmao in his fade-aways he barely puts his leg up

Me@yo daddy: It's not legal anymore! It's the (NBA) PC era now... You can travel but not compete.

Fan of you from 2006. You are humble and hard-working and talented. Thanks for your guide in my life

Got your jersey hanging in my room right next to the bed to remind me everytime I see it before sleeping why I love the game of basketball so much. Thank you for all the memories and inspiration Dirk. A true loyal legend to the very end.

HH: The first time I watched NBA was during the 2011 NBA finals ... Damn that series ... The mavs and dirk were the reason I started to follow NBA afterwards 😌😌 #MyGOAT #Legend

Me@HH: My first NBA game was...in 1991 but the 2011 Finals were the best and the 2006 Finals the craziest because of Dirk. ;)

I'm Japanese but your are my favorite. Your Championship is the most meaningful of the NBA history I've seen ever. Thank you Dirk.

Hats off to the legend, think about all that money he gave up in order to help the team.

Dirk and Wade both scored 30 on last game and retired the same time!

Comparing to Wade’s circus “last dance”, this is certainly more respectable

H: Dirk will mean more to Dallas fans than Kobe or D-Wade mean to their fans. Only Dirk could do what he did, take PAY CUTS (Kobe) and stay with one team like Dirk did.

Me@H: This is the best comment to all those LAL and MIA fans who hate on DAL and Dirk. Hats off to you, sir! :)

Such a super underrated and humble player... RESPECT THE LEGENDARY DIRK

I will not forget that Dirk destroyed the Super team by D. Wade and L. James(denying he has never been in Super team)

Real champion.. didn't ask for superstar teammates. Won a championship the right way.

Goodbye to the last honest player in NBA history! Not a Mavs fan but this dude is legend!

And now the real test starts for Dirk, good luck

Will gonna miss some legends next year

This new generation of basketball better be good with all these iconic superstars fading away from this league

How can anyone dislike this? I mean srsly... Even if you hate the mavs u gotta respect the man...

It is hard to find negative comment about my man Dirk, this restore my faith in people.

Well, there is always something negative in the comments. Even if not pointed straight to Dirk... Once someone brings up another successful player, the haters come out of their closet. And if it wasn't redundant enough to associate god with a moron's username it would be all swell... I will end with this.

Coin Roll Hunting and Basketball: What the hell, they're not giving credit to Jamal Crawford [from Phoenix]? He had 51 points [against Dallas in Dirk's last home game]. Who was the oldest player ever to score 50+ got 39, and no one's given him credit.

Lolll Jdd: Jamal Crawford as oldest player to score 50+ points.

Swag God: unfortunately no one will give a fuck, dirks career> jamals entire ancestry

jamexxxxxxxx: @Swag God he scored 50 at 39 years old, IDIOT

Hood Rats Unknown accomplice: Swag God why can’t u just be happy for both of them you asshole

Yeah, why can't we all just get along?!...