Friday, October 25, 2013

NBA 2K14 Roster Analysis 10/25/13 - The return of "Dr. J" Julius Erving

"Dr. J" Julius Erving was added to the 1977 Sixers team in the lastest NBA 2K14 roster update.  Given that we only received one version of Erving (he is still missing from the 1985 Sixers team), I assume that his inclusion is really only for the purposes of MyTeam (which is where the real profit is for 2K).

Julius Erving (SF/SG)
96 Overall
99 Inside Shot (aka Standing Layup)
84 Close Shot
73 Medium Shot
60 3pt Shot
78 Free Throw
99 Layup
99 Dunk
80 Standing Dunk (SF avg = 51)
97 Spin Layup
93 Euro Step Layup
95 Hop Step Layup
98 Runner
94 Step Through
95 Shoot in Traffic
65 Post Fadeaway
62 Post Hook
35 Shoot Off Dribble (SF avg = 71)
89 Ball Handling  (SF avg = 72)
75 Off-Hand Dribbling
81 Ball Security
70 Pass
76 Block
86 Steal
89 Hands
88 On-Ball Defense
69 Offensive Rebound
73 Defensive Rebound
60 Post Offense
68 Post Defense
91 Offensive Awareness
91 Defensive Awareness
95 Consistency
95 Stamina
91 Speed
88 Quickness
84 Strength
99 Vertical
88 Hustle
95 Durability
97 Potential
55 Emotion
Signature Skills: Highlight Film, Posterizer, Finisher, Shot Creator, Closer

2K Sports once again proves they have no idea what they are doing in their player rating department.
How bad is that 35 SOD?  The lowest rated SF is Earl Clark (50) who used to be a PF. Most centers rate higher.  Of course, most centers don't have 89 Ball Handling either.  Many gamers will be fooled into thinking Erving is another LeBron James or Michael Jordan, but the SOD will hinder him drastically and frustrate many.

Erving is ultimately a poor man's Dominique Wilkins.  Nique has an even more absurd 99 Standing Dunk (Erving and Nique are the only non PF/C with 80+ SD), better rebound ratings, and better shooting ratings (that's before a 50 point gap in SOD rating).  Erving is technically a better ball handler (but can't put it to great use), and his defensive ratings are about 10 points better than Nique's.

What should have been the triumphant return of a 4x MVP (3x ABA, 1x NBA) is instead a bit of a dud.  Don't get me wrong, Dr. J will still be a better MyTeam player than 90% of the players out there, but he'll play more like Josh Smith than he will the player Michael Jordan emulated, and the lack of realism is ultimately disappointing.

ATTRIBUTE CHANGES
As far as I can tell, only one player received rating changes in the 10/25 roster, despite numerous over/underrated players that litter the 2K Sports roster.

Andre Drummond (C/Pistons)
74 Overall (+2)
45 Handle (+10) - Uh... what?
30 OHD (+5)
82 DefPost (+12) - Held opponents to 0.77 PPP
83 DefAwr (+3)
55 Consistency (+10)
86 Hustle (+18) - Tell that to UConn
88 Potential (+8)

PLAYER MOVEMENT
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
Daniel Orton (56/C) from Free Agents

ATLANTA HAWKS
Cartier Martin (65/SF) from Free Agents

PLAYERS ON WRONG TEAMS
MIAMI HEAT
Jarvis Varnado (61/PF) to Free Agents

NEW YORK KNICKS
Jeremy Tyler (63/PF) to Free Agents

FREE AGENTS
Seeing as how 2K added camp invite Cartier Martin to the Hawks, I see no reason why they couldn't have added the rest of the camp invites, particularly players who are locks to make their respective teams.

Ronnie Brewer (73/SG) to Rockets
Ish Smith (71/PG) to Suns
Roger Mason (69/SG) to Heat - Varnado was waived to make room for Mason
Jamaal Tinsley (69/PG) to Jazz
Louis Amundson (67/PF) to Clippers
Diante Garrett (67/PG) to Thunder
Darius Morris (66/PG) to 76ers - Long known he would make the team
Mike James (65/PG) to Bulls
Donald Sloan (64/PG) to Pacers - HAS A TWO YEAR GUARANTEED CONTRACT!!!!
Cole Aldrich (61/C) to Knicks
Rasual Butler (60/SF) to Pacers
A.J. Price (56/PG) to Timberwolves

RETIREMENTS
Tracy McGrady announced his retirement and was quickly removed from the game by 2K Sports in their 10/18 roster update.  Maybe they should get around to these guys?

Corey Maggette (74/SF) - Stated he would retire after being cut by Spurs
Raja Bell (71/SG)
Antonio Daniels (68/PG) - Has been retired for THREE YEARS now
James Posey (67/SF) - Has been retired for THREE YEARS now
Jerry Stackhouse (65/SF)
Luke Walton (64/PF) - Broadcasting Lakers games
Kurt Thomas (64/PF)
Jared Jeffries (64/PF) - Nuggets scout
Bobby Simmons (59/SF)
Joel Przybilla (57/C)
Malik Allen (57/PF) - Has been retired for THREE YEARS now
Matt Carroll (57/SG) - Sixers shooting consultant
Vladimir Radmanovic (56/PF) - Announced retirement earlier in month
Brian Skinner (54/C)
Francisco Elson (54/C)
Brian Cardinal (52/PF) - Has been retired for two years now.

OVERSEAS
Terrence Williams (73/SF)
Delonte West (73/PG)
Maurice Evans (71/SF)
James White (69/SG)
Darius Johnson-Odom (69/SG)
Armon Johnson (66/PG)
Antoine Wright (65/SG)
Josh Selby (65/SG)
Sherron Collins (65/PG) - out of NBA for 3 years
Linas Kleiza (64/SF) - has stated no desire to ever return to NBA
Donte Greene (63/SF)
Travis Leslie (63/SG)
DaJuan Summers (61/SF)
Jeremy Pargo (61/PG) - signed multi-year deal with CKSA Moscow
Charles Jenkins (61/PG)
Samardo Samuels (60/C)
Darington Hobson (60/SF)
Christian Eyenga (60/SF)
Luke Babbitt (60/SF)
Kyle Weaver (60/SG)  - out of NBA for 3 years
Kim English (60/SG)
Hassan Whiteside (59/C)
Hamed Haddadi (59/C)
Justin Harper (59/PF)
Earl Barron (57/C)
Luke Haranbody (57/PF)
Andy Rautins (57/SG) - out of NBA for 3 years
Johan Petro (56/C)
Jon Brockman (56/PF)
D.J. Mbenga (52/C) - out of NBA for 3 years
Kyrylo Fesenko (52/C)

COME ON ALREADY
Kelenna Azubuike (71/SG) - Not an NBA player following multiple knee surgeries
Antoine Wright (65/SG) - Out of NBA for 3 years
Quinton Ross (62/SG) - Out of NBA for 3 years
Rodney Carney (61/SF) - Out of NBA for 3 years
Ronald Dupree (56/SF) - Out of NBA for 3 years
Orien Greene (53/PG) - 5 NBA minutes in the last 6 years
Darnell Jackson (52/PF) - Out of NBA for 3 years

3 comments:

Jaysen said...

Unbelievable.. I wonder if the league has a final say so on the player ratings.. I've heard said around the league that everyone is a good player in the league. I say this because I saw Jeremy Lin play way before he was famous and I remember telling my friends he's going to be good. He was getting cut and couldn't play much so they doubted but I always knew.. I'm sure Lin knew too.. they had him rated very very low tho he was better than his ratings.. and them Linsanity happened. There's more players out there who if given a chance will ball on you.. I see what ppl don't. I remember way way back when earl Clark was barely playing for the magic and I was telling everyone this guy can ball and they laughed.. I wonder how many players aren't rated properly simply because they get no minutes. I remember Kobe when he first came in the league schooled Jordan and vice versa but he only gets an 80. Has 2k ever seem Kobe vs Jordan games??? Imagine if they had allowed Kobe to play the whole game vs Jordan?? I ranted too much.. I hope I'm making sense.

maiden said...

Is there a change list for 18/10/2013 roster update?

Thanks

Randy said...

If Orien Greene who has barely played since 2006-07 can be left on 2k every year, why can't they leave Sean Williams on, who played just a year ago, and actually could still end up playing in the league? I'd like to add him on my association teams, but some guys they seem to cut from the game as soon as they are no longer on a roster. If I were them, I would just leave every reasonably high profile free agent on the game until they've been pretty much out of the league 2 years or they've retired. Orien Greene would've been gone in 2009 or 2010 then.