So I picked up playing NBA 2K16 on PC this last week and it has been by far the most fun I've had on a franchise save outside of NBA 2K11 in about 5 years the game is absoloutely fantastic, from roster ratings, to it being the best NBA season I have ever experienced and just lots of cool players to use. Didn't plan on making something like this tonight but how I ended up winning the chip in the end was so crazy as well as the trip along the way I needed to share it somewhere. I simmed most of each season and the games are set to 12 minute quarters, Superstar difficulty, default everything. I lost most of the matches I played.
We started off in our first season with a BAD Pelicans team
[PG] Jrue Holiday
[SG] Eric Gordan
[SF] Tyreke Evans
[PF] Anthony Davis
[C] Omar Asik
[Bench] Ryan Anderson, Quincy Pondexter
This team stunk
So I traded away all of my picks for the next two years with a couple from the next third and fourth as I wanted to contend right away. I made some good moves most notably for the franchise, trading Eric Gordon and 2 first round picks for Demar DeRozen and Terrance Ross. I also managed to get Andre Drummond for cheap as he was in an expiring deal and ready to leave Detroit in Free Agency. I also traded for Anthony Bennett because he is in the game lol. This left me with a super solid team of
[PG] Jrue Holiday
[SG] Demar DeRozen
[SF] Tyreke Evans
[PF] Anthony Davis
[C] Andre Drummond
[Bench] Terrance Ross, Kentavious Caldwell Pope, Anthony Bennett, Bismack Biyombo, Shabazz Napier
My goal was to trade for the best guys on mediocre teams as this was Demar and Drummonds primes so I was loving this squad. We unfortunately lose in the first round though as the second seed to the GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS in five who through injuries managed to end up 7th with the best roster in the game....
In Free Agency Drummond left understandably as we weren't the superteam we thought we were, but I was able to sign DeRozen to an incredibly reasonable 4 years, $40m contract that would lock him down for a good run. I also resigned Jrue Holiday to a similar contract but on $7m a year. We had a big gap in centre now and after failing to resign Drummond or get Hassan Whiteside, we had to settle for locking down a young Jonas Valenciunas to a 3 year $26m deal which is still pretty decent. I hit the trade finder however and was able to find a deal that was perfect. An expiring Gordan Hayward and Rudy Gobert for Tyreke Evans, Jonas and a future first rounder. Hayward had a pricey $16m player option but I think it was worth the risk.
This left us with an even better team that consisted of
[PG] Jrue Holiday
[SG] Demar DeRozen
[SF] Gordan Hayward
[PF] Anthony Davis
[C] Rudy Gobert
Considering this is prime Demar, Prime Hayward, Prime AD, with both Rudy and Jrue about to enter their prime.... I was thinking our chances were pretty good. And they were we finished as the #1 seed with a 60+ win record.
We then lost however to, I kid you not, the craziest run for any team I have ever seen in my life in any NBA 2K play through or simulation. It was absolutely nuts and I was stunned. Just keep in mind this is default 2K16 roster, injuries on, but... we win the first round versus the eighth but then get swept in the second round. SWEPT, NOT EVEN A SINGLE WIN, VERSUS WHO??? A JR SMITH LED DALLAS MAVERICKS!!! This has to be a fluke right??? WRONG!!! THEY THEN GO ON TO SWEEP THE GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS IN THE WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS!!! A FULL STRENGTH WARRIORS SIDE AND US BEATEN BY JR SMITH AND ROLEPLAYERS.. THEY THEN WIN THE FINALS IN 5 GAMES!!!!!!!! HERE IS YOUR FINALS MVP LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!!
So anyways mission failure.
We were destined for greatness and were just a stepping stone in what in this universe will be the greatest NBA Championship win in history. Hayward takes his player option and I resign Gobert to a super reasonable 4 years $40m very similar to Demar DeRozen. I don't want to switch up this team as I really believe in what I have built but we are absolutely strapped for cash. I decide to make a bold move and put Hayward on the trade market as even though he is the second best player on my team and one of the best in the NBA, I want something cheaper and something different. This is where I see Giannis is on an incredibly tasty 3 year $24m contract. I throw in two future first round picks and the Greek freak is now our starting small forward. That leaves us with probably the best defensive team in NBA history and the cap room now to have a very solid bench to back it up.
Our roster for the 2017-18 now looks like
[PG] Jrue Holiday
[SG] Demar DeRozen
[SF] Giannis Antetokoumpo
[PF] Anthony Davis
[C] Rudy Gobert
[Bench] Shabazz Napier, Justin Holiday, Terrance Ross, Anthony Bennett, Alex Len, Allen Crabbe, Bismack Biyombo
We go 67-15 in the regular season and steamroll everyone. We sweep the first round, sweep the second round and get a gentlemans sweep on the Warriors in the Western Finals. This is where we now face an ABSURD Boston Celtics team. LeBron James and D Wade have taken their talents to Boston to team up with a prime Isaiah Thomas and Andre Drummond and they are incredible. We are also playing with a crippled Giannis who picked up a near season ending injury but he has to come off to bench and can only play 10 minutes a game before his back gives out.
We go down 3-1 in the series and it is looking like we have been outmatched by the king. Game 5 however is at home and we beat them by 30+ making a statement that it isn't over yet and we are still in it. The holiday brothers having a game together straight out of a Disney movie and everyone else knocking down every shot possible. Game 6 back in Boston and everyone just steps up and has the games of their lives. Terrance Ross and Anthony Bennett both have historical performances scoring 20+ each as we defeat the Celtics by 18 points. That means we have a game 7 and it is back home in New Orleans. The place is set to explode.
LeBron James and D Wade come out as clutch as you would expect in such a situation and destroy us through 3 quarters. We are however staying in it, as what I can only describe it as, the Demar DeRozen legacy game. Dude is playing out of his fucking mind and is rising like a star in the biggest moment of his career that he sadly never got to experience in real life. This is where our star man Anthony Davis starts to chip in and all of a sudden we are going back and fourth with the lead as the fourth quarter starts to come to and end. Rudy Gobert is dominating inside, Jrue Holiday is making insanse passes and locking up IT, AD is locking up Bron, Giannis is out here risking his career throwing is body all over the place and the Celtics just can't find a bucket... That's when it happens and with 2 minutes left, Jrue Holiday hits three jumpshots, scoring 8 points in the space of about 20 seconds and the game is over. The Celtics slowly realize this and all energy is taken out of them as their they don't even end the game fouling as by the time the final whistle is blown we have a 10+ point lead.
Surreal scenes but we actually managed to do it as this New Orleans team filled from top to bottom with unsung heroes finally won a NBA title. A roster full of guys who unfortunately in real life will never get such an opportunity so it was bitter sweet for me playing, but also made me realize shit, that was incredible, this game is fucking amazing. The modern 2K's have just such inflated ratings, the offline gameplay is terrible, the AI is terrible, literally every team in the game starts rated 80+, after two seasons theres about 20 guys rated 90+ and 60 rated 80+ it just is not fun that I forgot what being so emotionally attached to a basketball save felt like.
From bumass Anthony Bennett turning his career around to be a key contributing role player on a championship team, Terrance Ross finally finding some consistency and being so entertaining, Demar leading a championship team, Gobert not being a massive twat and just being an unstoppable menace inside, AD while in game not even getting any All Star votes or All NBA First Team awards showed that he was the best player in the league, just no badly put together superteam, a full roster of hard working guys who sacrificed their own stats and accolades to work together and become the best team in the NBA. Awesome feeling, it really was.
I would love the mod this game but the roster is perfect, bar a bunch of missing cyberfaces, draft classes, and who wouldn't like loads of cool free agent additions. This is in my opinion the best season of the last while, the courts and jerseys all look good. There is just so many 3D animated elements and moving parts that were just in 2K16, that you can't easily replace or modify them. But the game is great out the box especially with a nice ReShade thrown on top. If you read all of this I hope you enjoyed my lil last second put together of my New Orleans Pelicans save.
