NBA Live 2004 did feature unlockable players though. The last two games have contained art files as easter eggs for a few rookies but no codes. That's probably why the question still gets asked.
the unlockables in 04 weren't players though were they? i recall one was jermaine dupri (not to be confused with rene dupree ), and he was one of the soundtrack guys. unless he plays as well, but i have no clue.
*leaves before he makes an idiot of himself more than he has already*
It's kinda hard to play with Smush... he's got like the 5th highest OVR on my team but I never get much production out of him. I tend to forget about him.
You can find ratings for all of the missing players in the NLSC roster update. You don't need the PC version to view it, just DB Commander. You can try CERVANTES' ratings machine as well.
You can find it in CERVANTES' thread over in NBA Live 06 Announcements. It's a utility that allows you to feed in stats and it will give you ratings based on stats-to-ratings formulas.