Sunday, January 10, 2010

Breaking down 2K Sports' 01-08-10 update

As we reach the 3rd month of NBA action (and 4th month of roster updates) we see that 2K's updates are becoming even more infrequent and mindless.

KEVIN DURANT
Overall 86 (+2)
Inside 95 (+5)
Close 89 (+6)
Medium 80 (-5)
3pt 75 (-10)
LPS 86 (+4)
FT 87 (+1)
Layup 80 (+5)
Dunk 82 (+3)
SOD 86 (+2)
SIT 83 (+6)
Handle 77 (+5)
OffHand 71 (+5)
Pass 52 (+11)
Block 50 (+8)
Steal 76 (+6)
OffReb 60 (+21)
DefReb 74 (+6)
PostOff 79 (+5)
PostDef 56 (+4)
DefAwr 75 (-4)
Hustle 80 (+10)
Durability 80 (+10)

Durant is only 91-157 (.572) from Inside when you take away his dunks. LeBron James (also 95 Inside) is 156-248 (.629) when you take away his dunks. HARDLY any difference, am I right?

Durant's OffReb% is only 3.3 yet he has a 60 rating. In case you were wondering how incredibly off-scale and wrong that is... Carmelo Anthony's OffReb% is 6.3 yet he has a 53 rating.

Meanwhile, Durant's DefReb% is EXACTLY THE SAME as it was last season (a meager 16.4). Which makes a 6 point improvement laughable at best.

CHAUNCEY BILLUPS
Overall 84 (-1)
Shot Low Post 60 (-7)
Pass 82 (-6)

These were overrated? You don't say. Now if only we could get a fix on the defensive attributes that pump Billups' overall rating above actual all-stars like Steve Nash, Danny Granger,

AMARE STOUDEMIRE
Overall 82 (+1)
Inside 89 (+5)
Block 66 (+14)

The sad thing is that this is Amare's worst shot blocking season ever, and they are boosting him substantially when a slight decrease would have been in order. He blocked only 2.1% of shots last season (worthy of 52) and is down to 1.8% this season. Instead of dropping him a couple points, he gets a boost. The Suns are the 2nd worst defensive team in the league, and Amare's ineptitude in this area is a reason why... but don't tell that to 2K. They have the "Insider" after all.

I'm also not sure why they'd boost his Inside rating, as the majority of his points in that range come from dunks, which is seperate from the Inside rating. He's 191-305 (.626) from Inside, but when you take away his league leading 81 dunks (recently passing Howard), he's only 110-224 (.491) which is hardly worthy of an 89. A player with 84 dunk and 90 standing dunk rating does not need an even better standing dunk rating. But I guess 2K disagrees, and would prefer if Amare went 14-16 every game instead of 12-16.

EMEKA OKAFOR
Overall 81 (+1)
Close 77 (+3)
Block 87 (+10)

It's weird when 2K actually gets something right, and makes it all their screwups all the more maddening. Okafor packs a 4.9 block%, which is an 87 rating according to scale. So why aren't they following their scale with Amare? (Or Dirk? Or Gasol? Oh wait, I'm answering my own question, aren't I?) Anyway, no way does Amare deserve a block rating 21 points away from Okafor when he isn't even half the shotblocker.

TY LAWSON
Overall 79 (+6)
Inside 85 (+7)
Close 83 (+17)
Medium 78 (+15)
3pt 82 (+4)
Dunk 72 (+47) - He's dunked ONCE this season, in case you were wondering.
SIT 74 (+16)
Pass 78 (+10)
Hands 84 (+3)
OffAwr 78 (+11)
DefAwr 66 (+5)
Potential 86 (+12)

NBA 2K10: Where ignoring sample sizes happens.

Inside: 69-131 (.527)
Close: 12-21 (.571)
Medium: 20-37 (.540)
3pt: 23-52 (.442)

How many of you actually think any of these will hold up over the course of the season?

Real 2K Insider: Where common sense happens.


DAVID LEE
Overall 78 (+1)
Close 79 (+11)

Lee has been playing at an all-star level, yet 2K could only figure out one rating change. His post game, mid-range game, and awareness are all easily underrated... and this isn't a recent development, that was the case at the beginning of the season.

And yes, it's clear he's underrated if he's lower than Ty Lawson.

JOSE CALDERON
Overall 72 (-2)
FT 84 (-14)
Layup 79 (+4)
SIT 55 (+3)
Pass 89 (-6)
OffAwr 72 (-4)
Consistency 70 (-29)

Oddly enough, Calderon's defense gets a pass. But then, we all know 2K Sports is hardly reasonable. Just look at Calderon's FT rating. Calderon is 39-49 (.796) on the season, a relatively small sample. Obviously, he doesn't deserve a 98 rating. Yet, as a career .885 shooter, he clearly doesn't deserve an 84 either.


OMRI CASSPI
Overall 62 (+7)
Inside 78 (+15)
Close 70 (+9)
3pt 88 (+4)
FT 63 (-14)
SOD 68 (+5)
SIT 51 (+7)
Hands 71 (+9)
OffAwr 71 (+9)
DefAwr 42 (+14)
OffClutch 30 (+5)
Consistency 55 (+30)
Stamina 84 (+9)
Speed 61 (+3)
Quickness 60 (-2) (Not a typo)
Emotion 40 (+15)

Nice of you to finally join us, 2K. Too bad Casspi is still drastically underrated considering you have Chase Budinger 67 overall (65 overall out of the box). I also find it interesting that 2K can give Casspi a boost in a meaningless attribute like Emotion, yet finding more than one attribute to improve on David Lee is just asking for too much.

DEJUAN BLAIR

Just kidding.

JONATHAN BENDER

Without getting too in-depth into Bender's atrocious ratings (60 overall fyi), I was actually a little curious why 2K felt the need to actually rip my ratings. A few ratings (Hands & Consistency) are exactly the same as mine, while many other ratings (Close, Medium, PostDef, Vertical, Potential) are increments (multiples of 5) away from mine. While it's flattering that 2K appreciates my work, they're going about it the wrong way here.

I found Bender's tendencies to be much more interesting than his actual ratings. Let's start with his shooting tendencies.

Inside 58 (15 shots)
Close 57 (2 shots)
Med 63 (7 shots)
3pt 37 (14 shots)

3pt tendency is significantly worse than the rest even though this is where most of his shots come from nowadays. Isn't 2K supposed to be working with 82games? I'd have to think that's a baldfaced lie at this point. Continuing along, I found more high quality work.

VARIOUS SHOTS
Triple Threat Shot 0
Self Post 0
Alley Oops 0

FREELANCE
Use Pick 0
Set Pick 0
Isolation 0
Use Offball Screen 0
Spot Up 0
Post Up 0

Very comprehensive, as you can see.

MARCUS LANDRY

Ha! You were expecting Landry to be added? Please. He's only been under contract with the Knicks two months longer than Bender. Check back in April. Maybe.

CHRIS HUNTER

Hooray, he's here. To be honest I'm not interested in discussing his ratings as I'd like to get started on my next update, which should be uploaded by the end of the day.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you know what the emotion rating does? I've always wondered what that attribute means.

Anonymous said...

Nice breakdown. Are you anticipating releasing any updates soon? Probably going to start an association within the next day or so but I will wait a few more days if an update is coming out.

Thanks.

Rashidi said...

Emotion is exactly what it says it does. It's reactions to foul calls and the like. Nothing to do with the actual gameplay.

I should be releasing an update tonight.

Anonymous said...

Please release your update tonite

Anonymous said...

Couple of suggestions

I think Westbrook, Harden & Sefalosa need some adjusting for OKC

and Peja needs a slight ratings boost since he's starting again for the Hornets

Jeff Teague's dunk rating needs a bit of a boost he's had a couple of facials this year, but his shooting ratings need a to be lowered. he's shooting 36% overall and just 21% from 3.

cant wait for the update, good work sir

Anonymous said...

Hey Rashidi, I noticed that you obviously don't think Fisher should be the starting PG for the Lakers.. so who do you think should? Brown or Farmar?

Rashidi said...

I'd probably start Brown as Ron Harper worked pretty well next to Jordan, with Kerr coming off the bench.

Anonymous said...

You can't claim for these to be your own rosters when you use the Insiders rosters he has done from scratch and edit a few things on half the players. Its alot easier to piggy back on someones work then do your own.

Anonymous said...

Release a new update already we are all waiting. You said it would be out last nite. You act like your updates are harder to put up then the insiders. You can release a update at anytime you do not work for 2k and have to wait.

Rashidi said...

Just curious, how do I "piggyback" 2K when I change 10 times more ratings FOR EACH PLAYER than they do?

Not to mention I've edited more than twice as many players.

Rashidi said...

I did say an update would be up last night - life happens. This is a personal hobby I do on my own time, not a professional service anyone (read: consumers) are paying me for.

I still have two players I want to edit before release. I care about the quality of my work, and do not wish to release something I view as incomplete.

Rashidi said...

Further, you act as if 2K has never reneged on a deadline. Anyone who played this game pre-patch knows exactly what I am talking about.

Besides, there are multiple instances where the 2K Insider promised a roster and didn't deliver until the following day. I'm just following the industry standard.

Rashidi said...

Hilton Armstrong was just traded to the Kings. Looks like it was worth the wait :)