List of NBA 2K12 Team & NBA's Greatest Ratings

What do you think of the "NBA's Greatest" teams?  Which teams would you like to have seen?

Here's a list of the numerical team ratings (the actual number, not the team ranks) for the teams in NBA2K12.  Rather than use 2K's broken Overall rating (for teams), I've found that averaging the Offense and Defense ratings provides far greater accuracy.

NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE
94.5 Heat (99 Def, 90 Off, 89 Ovr)
83.5 Bulls (99 Def, 68 Off, 85 Ovr)
82.5 Celtics (85 Def, 80 Off, 86 Ovr)
81.0 Magic (87 Def, 75 Off, 81 Ovr)
80.0 Hawks (76 Def, 84 Off, 78 Ovr)
74.0 Knicks (61 Def, 87 Off, 74 Ovr)
74.0 76ers (79 Def, 69 Off, 75 Ovr)
71.5 Pacers (78 Def, 65 Off, 73 Ovr)
70.0 Bucks (80 Def, 60 Off, 73 Ovr)
66.5 Pistons (60 Def, 73 Off, 69 Ovr)
63.0 Cavaliers (66 Def, 60 Off, 66 Ovr)
63.0 Raptors (66 Def, 60 Off, 64 Ovr)
62.0 Wizards (64 Def, 60 Off, 68 Ovr)
62.0 Nets (64 Def, 60 Off, 67 Ovr)
62.0 Bobcats (64 Def, 60 Off, 64 Ovr)

The East's Top 9 is down to a T when you look beyond the overall rating.  It's clear that Miami is extremely overrated.  In my most recent sim they went 73-9.  They're good, but they're not that good.  Cavaliers on the surface might seem overrated but it's often forgotten they were a decent team for a month and a half until Anderson Varejao got hurt.  Bobcats also come out low, but they also traded Stephen Jackson (83) for Corey Maggette (74).

NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE
89.0 Mavericks (79 Def, 99 Off, 84 Ovr)
85.5 Spurs (87 Def, 84 Off, 81 Ovr)
83.5 Nuggets (70 Def, 97 Off, 80 Ovr)
83.0 Grizzlies (77 Def, 89 Off, 84 Ovr)
82.0 Lakers (89 Def, 75 Off, 86 Ovr)
80.0 Thunder (77 Def, 83 Off, 83 Ovr)
79.0 Suns (74 Def, 86 Off, 78 Ovr)
75.0 Hornets (80 Def, 70 Off, 77 Ovr)
73.0 Jazz (73 Def, 73 Off, 78 Ovr)
73.0 Warriors (65 Def, 81 Off, 74 Ovr)
71.5 Trailblazers (77 Def, 66 Off, 80 Ovr)
70.0 Clippers (71 Def, 69 Off, 76 Ovr)
69.0 Rockets (74 Def, 64 Off, 75 Ovr)
62.5 Kings (65 Def, 60 Off, 69 Ovr)
60.0 Timberwolves (60 Def, 60 Off, 63 Ovr)

The West is more of a mixed bag.  Nuggets and Grizzlies better than Lakers and Thunder?   During a 3 year association simulation, Nuggets went to the NBA Finals once and the Conference Finals twice.  Hornets with healthy David West worse than the Suns?  Warriors better than the Blazers with healthy Greg Oden and Raymond Felton replacing Andre Miller?

SPECIAL TEAMS
99.0 East All-Stars (99 Def, 99 Off, 94 Ovr)
96.5 West All-Stars (94 Def, 99 Off, 96 Ovr)
70.0 Rookies (60 Def, 80 Off, 71 Ovr)
74.5 Sophomores (84 Def, 65 Off, 76 Ovr)
99.0 NBA 2K (99 Def, 99 Off, 95 Ovr)
99.0 2K Sports (99 Def, 99 Off, 94 Ovr)
98.0 VC (97 Def, 99 Off, 92 Ovr)
97.0 2K China (95 Def, 99 Off, 97 Ovr)

Rookies and Sophs are last year's R/S (meaning the Rookie team will be the Sophs when the real rookies sign contracts).  The last 4 teams are unlockable w/ the following codes.

2ksports
2kchina
nba2k
vcteam
payrespect - Unlocks ABA ball

I'm not sure who actually uses those teams (aside from the 2K devs themselves) and I would hate to think a substantial amount of time goes into a feature that the fans hardly use.


NBA's GREATEST TEAMS
99.0 [64-65 Celtics] (99 Def, 99 Off, 98 Ovr)
95.0 [64-65 Lakers] (94 Def, 96 Off, 95 Ovr)
97.5 [70-71 Bucks] (96 Def, 99 Off, 97 Ovr)
95.0 [70-71 Lakers] (91 Def, 99 Off, 94 Ovr)
92.0 [70-71 Hawks] (85 Def, 99 Off, 92 Ovr)
96.0 [71-72 Lakers] (93 Def, 99 Off, 94 Ovr)
96.5 [71-72 Knicks] (95 Def, 98 Off, 95 Ovr)
96.5 [76-77 76ers] (94 Def, 99 Off, 96 Ovr)
94.5 [84-85 76ers] (94 Def, 95 Off, 93 Ovr)
91.5 [84-85 Bucks] (91 Def, 92 Off, 92 Ovr)
83.5 [85-86 Bulls] (81 Def, 88 Off, 85 Ovr)
99.0 [85-86 Celtics] (99 Def, 99 Off, 98 Ovr)
79.5 [85-86 Hawks] (80 Def, 79 Off, 81 Ovr)
98.5 [86-87 Lakers] (98 Def, 99 Off, 98 Ovr)
97.0 [88-89 Pistons] (95 Def, 99 Off, 95 Ovr)
93.5 [88-89 Bulls] (85 Def, 98 Off, 91 Ovr)
90.0 [89-90 Cavaliers] (84 Def, 96 Off, 89 Ovr)
95.0 [90-91 Bulls] (92 Def, 98 Off, 94 Ovr)
97.0 [90-91 Lakers] (95 Def, 99 Off, 96 Ovr)
92.0 [90-91 Trailblazers] (89 Def, 95 Off, 92 Ovr)
91.0 [90-91 Warriors] (85 Def, 97 Off, 90 Ovr)
95.0 [92-93 Bulls] (94 Def, 96 Off, 95 Ovr)
91.5 [92-93 Hornets] (85 Def, 98 Off, 90 Ovr)
94.5 [93-94 Rockets] (90 Def, 99 Off, 93 Ovr)
88.0 [93-94 Nuggets] (86 Def, 90 Off, 88 Ovr)
92.0 [94-95 Knicks] (92 Def, 92 Off, 92 Ovr)
96.0 [94-95 Magic] (93 Def, 99 Off, 95 Ovr)
97.0 [95-96 Bulls] (95 Def, 99 Off, 96 Ovr)
95.0 [95-96 Supersonics] (97 Def, 93 Off, 94 Ovr)
97.5 [97-98 Bulls] (96 Def, 99 Off, 94 Ovr)
92.0 [97-98 Jazz] (91 Def, 93 Off, 91 Ovr)
93.5 [97-98 Lakers] (92 Def, 95 Off, 93 Ovr)
94.0 [97-98 Spurs] (95 Def, 93 Off, 93 Ovr)
93.5 [01-02 Kings] (88 Def, 99 Off, 93 Ovr)

You know offensive ratings are out of wack when the 94 Rockets and 95 Knicks are better offensive teams than they are defensive teams.  All of these teams with the exception of the 86 Hawks (79) and 86 Bulls (88) are 90+ offensively.  Some of these teams were stacked offensively (1991 & 1996 Bulls, 1998 Jazz) but that certainly wasn't the case with the 95 Knicks (#1 Defense, #16 Defense), or 94 Rockets (#1 Defense, #15 Offense)   They were one star teams that played some of the toughest defense ever played.  The 93 Hornets, while a popular team, were not a great team, only winning 44 games (5th in the east), with the #9 Offense (rated 98?) and #19 Defense (rated 85?).

Obviously it's very cool that these teams were added and they were meant to add some fun to the game, but the one thing I've noticed is that defense is impossible in these games as players simply don't miss shots even when you do defend them well.  Offensive ratings are much too high, and in many cases, various liberties were taken to "enhance" the user experience.  As with every other 2K game, it will be up to roster editors to fix the mess 2K has created to make the game as enjoyable as it was meant to be (for most players).

Rather than nitpick here I think it would be great to make featured posts highlighting various teams.