by arkaeyn on Thu Sep 19, 2013 7:29 am
Well, I'm trying to look at it historically. Who was Penny Hardaway as a player? He was extremely talented, a likely Hall Of Famer, whose career was derailed by injuries. How can that be modeled given what we have in NBA 2k13? Well, that's difficult to do because there isn't a MASSIVE KNEE INJURY THAT RUINS CAREERS mechanic in the game (possibly because those are less and less common in real basketball today).
There are, however, two things that can be done. First, is to raise Potential and lower Durability. Potential doesn't get met as often if there are significant injuries, especially early on (Hardaway's happened when he was 25 or 26, I think). That actually works reasonably well. Obviously there's a huge amount of luck involved, but if you're playing Association, there's always luck--he could get drafted by the Lakers! He could take a free agent contract with the Spurs!
The second way is to raise his physical abilities and lower his skill abilities. Physical stats start declining when a player hits 28 years old, and if you have a player who relies on them, they'll plummet. I had one guy who was a 90 overall at 28 turn into a 77 by 30. Ouch. Both of these methods in tandem might actually get you a historical result of a fantastic young Penny who quickly falls apart. Or they might not, but the idea is to have the *potential* for a historical result.
It's also worth making comparisons to other players. In his draft, Hardaway is right next to Webber as the two best players (indeed, they were traded for one another). But right now, Hardaway has both a higher Durability and a higher Potential than C-Webb, but I think everyone would agree that Webber had a better career. Another interesting comparison is Bobby Hurley, who could have been a potential star in the NBA, but had an accident that forced him out. That's something that can't really be modeled by NBA2k13--whereas Hardaway can be.
Looking at it historically is also why Rose and Hardaway can't really be compared. Two years ago, Rose looked like he might be supremely Durable, now he doesn't. We also don't know if he'll be the same when he comes back. We do know what happened with Hardaway, so we can adjust his ratings correspondingly.
Anyway. I'll look for tutorials on redditor that might help me, if that can indeed be done for free.