by crimxon_stallion on Sun Dec 22, 2002 11:48 pm
Those are some really excelent ideas, and several issues that have lingered in my mind for years. It annoyed me terribly last year when i saw Keon Clark excel for the Raptors and really elevate his game, and then when i signed him in franchise mode and made him my starting center, i found he went on to average about 7 PPG, 1.2 BPG and 5 or 6 RPG in around 38 minutes. Another possible idea for that chemistry feature is that (since it is in a way an indication of how well a player understands the game) it should change over the years. For example, rookies are fresh in the league and very few rookies and immidiately excel in the NBA. Most inexperienced players play with less consistency and wuality under pressure, such as in close games, and during playyoffs, so teams full of highly talented, highly rated, but inexperienced players should win games, but struggle during playoffs. After they have played more in the NBA, young players should improve in the "chemistry" rating. At the moment i rarely have older players on my teams in Live, because they are a threat to retire or to degrade in their rating, however if this feature was implemented for the chemistry rating, then it would make me want to have at least a few decent players with experience on the team. I can't think of an NBA without a few experienced players that has gotten past the first round of the playoffs recently. Also, if a player has increadibly high chemistry, then it should maybe influence teh ratings of the other players around him. E.g. Washington signed Oakley so that he could give tips to their young big men, not so much for big influence on the court. Likewise with J-kidd who went to New Jersey and made everybody on the team better. Also, inside scoring doesnt seem to influence simulated stats much. Inside scoring ratings should influence FG percentage i think. For example, a created player in Live now witha FG rating of over 90 will almost always score at over 50% from the field, but in reality agreat scorer wil lnot always score at a high percentage. Also, players with high inside scorign abilities, but not great offensive games (such as mutombo and ben wallace rasho nesterovic) will only score soem 9 or 10 PPG, but will shoot at 48-50+ % from the field. FG ratign should not entirely determine FG%. As mentioned earlier, player tendancy features could be implimented. This way, a player wiht a FG rating or 90 who has a lower shooting tendancy would probably score at high percentages, while a player with the same ratig nof 90, but a higher tendancy to take shots, would probably shoot at a lower percentage. The current primacy ratign could have had this type of effect, but unfortunately when i crated a player with ratign of 90 in FG, 3PT, and 94 Passing, and set primacy to 50, and put him in the lakers with jkobe and shaq (each with a primacy of 95+) he still scored 23PPG in franchise mode. I constantly look for a way to get a player to be able to average high percentages from the field without scoring 20PPG. This happens often in the NBA (i.e john stockton), but a player cant really be created to have such a rating unles sthey are on the bench. This brings me to another issue..bench scoring. i have never seen a starter in NBA live average less then 36 MPG , nor have i seen a bench player in live average more then abotu 12 a game. For this reason, if u have J-kidd starting, and a star like baron davis as a backup, he'll only give youabout 6 points and 2 or 3 (if lucky) assists per game. Also, usually about 0.3 steals. In the NBA, there are few teams in which every started averages 36+MPG. The minutes played should beinfluenced by the quality of other players on teh team and their primacy rating. For e.g. if your 6th man has a ratign of 74 then its fair enough eh wont play a huge amout of minutes and give you massive numbers, but there are several players in the league who average over 12 or 13 PPG from the 6th man position, which does not happen in live unless u constantly which their positions in the roster while simulating. e.g. by having two centres start 41 games each u can get quite even numbers, but this shouldnt be neccessary. im not sure how other bball games handle this, but this is a HUGE issue. IF u have nick van exel as a 6th man hes gonna give u more then 6 points and 2 assists, and hell play alot more then 12 minutes no matter what team he's on. Also, i noticed that u will see that after 10 simulated years, when shaq is 39, as long as hes starting hes still giving u 29 PGP, 11 RPG, 2.5 BPG and 37 minutes. Not to mention often getting MVP at that age. Players ratign go down but their stats stay pretty much the sam eunless they are created player (which case stats are based on rating - as should be). in live 2003 jordan is giving 2.8 steals per game, 1.6 BPG and averaging ab out 25 points, and got defensive player of the year. Lets face it, Mj is not gettign defensive player of the year at age 40. Another issue is for some reason my PG always averagex more points then anyone in simulated games. When my ratings are 90 for all players in FG, my PG and SG usually average around 23 or 24 PPG, while my C will average about 19 and my PF around 17 or 18. the rating should give the same scoring, not the position. IF anything a PG should score less, and a 7"2 280 pound C with a 90 FG rating and 95 inside scorign ratign should average well over 19 or so points per game. I also think that physical size should play a part. No matter how good, a 5"8 150 pound PG will always struggle in the NBA when hes competing against guys 5 inches taller and 40 -50 pounds heavier then him every day. Sure, it shouldnt make them worthless, but it should make themless dominant. A 7"2 centre with a 90 injumping and 90 in blocking should get more blocks then a 6"6 forward with a jump rating of 60 and a block rating of 90. It shouldnt make 2 BPG difference probably, but soem type of ingluence should be there. Also, a player who has a high FG rating, good inside scoring, good speed and quickness, and good jumping and strength, should be near the top of the league in free throw attempts. None of my created players ever get alot of simulated attempts, no mater what the stats. these rating should all influence free throw attempts. Shaq gets to the line more then PJ brown, Kobe gets there more then Allan Houston, and there IS a reason for it. If people don't want rating too closely pased on physical issues, then the "aggressiveness" rating should maybe affect this. "laid back" "hyped up" and neutral are settign now which seem to me to be completely cosmetic. They dont seem to affect the player in the game. they should. Possibly a "laid back" player may be better inder pressure or be a better leader while a "hyped up" player may get to the line more and should get called for more fouls. This is another issue, often when players get experience they earn respect of referees and dotn get called for as many fouls. In live, if a player has greater experience this could possibly affet his simulated fouls per game. Also, a clutch feature should be included (as once was) and should influence simmed games and played games. If you are at the end of a game, down by 2 with 1 minute left, and a player is at the foul line who has a bad clutch rating, then his free-throw meter could possibly move faster then usualy to simulate possibly more stress then usual or soemthign of that form. Comparitively, an average free throw shooter with a very high rating may shoot even better under pressure, and thus hes meter should slow down a little. A player with a neutral rating should be influenced very little by this and play relatively equally at al times. Players with low clutch rating may also score less in teh playoffs, at a lower percentage, and also commit more fouls and turnovers during playoff simulated games. The system with steals at the moment isnt too bad, maybe jsut tone down the number of stolen passes a little, its not so bad. The mid air passes are almost always intercepted in Live 2k3, and i think this should be unchanged unless the player ahs an increadibly good passign ability (90+). Also, a player wiht a lowpassign ability, should throw more bad passes that go out of bbounds eveyry now and then or maybe to the opposing player by accident once or twice here and there. Right now u can get a plyer with a pass ratign of 55 in live and the only affect it has greatly is that he wtno get many assists. Players may have a rating determining nature (e.g. flashy or simple). A simple player might make alot of very plain passes, but they all reach their target, and they everage 9 or so assits per game, while a flashy player might do alot of behind the back passes and the like, and possible get more turnovers, but get a couple more assists as well, as they might get a player the ball that the other passer may not. Shot blockign could have a strength sensitive system. the longer u hold the button the harder the force of the block. a tap coudl result in knockign the ball a touch out of its trrajectory, while holdign it the whole way could result in it flying into the stands or out of court. Players with higher strength ratings would probably throw otu blocks further then those wiht lower ratings. The charge button in live 2k3 was an excellent addition. It is probably one of my favorite moves, and ithink adds a great deal to the game. Praise to EA for that one. The push button, or a hold button , should be implemented again so that fast breaks can be stopped or end of game fouls can be made when the clock has to be stopped. Maybe the hold button would be better because that way it's a non violent way to foul, and more realistic. mabye double tapping the hold button while holdign run or something could result in a push, and 5/10 times could result in a flagrant foul. Players with high intensity or aggresiveness ratings should be more likely to do this and be called for flagrants / technicals. Inside scoring ability should have more effect on a players likeliness to make a shot inside. In like 2k3 almost any player will score a post up bucket if they put one up, even if its a 5"9 PG posting up on a 6"7 SF. That is, assuming they dont get blocked. On the other hand, a 6:10 PF should score 9/10 times when mismatched up against a 6"5 guard. Another issue here, mistmatches should be handles well by the CPU. If the othe rteam has a significant height mismatch, they should post up 9 times out of ten. If they ahve a quicker guard against a taller slower forward on a mismatch, they should try to take them off the dribble. Double teams should be made on 3 occassions only:
1) Against a player with a very high inside scoring rating in the post
2) Against a player with a big height advantage in the post
3) Occasionally if another player is increadibly hot and cant seem to be stopped, then maybe a double can be brought over.
These are soem major idea i have, and i'll add in any more if i think of them. I hope some of these are interesting or possible to implement wihtout to omuch difficulty. Thanks !