Free throws

[fvdmc]

I don't know about you guys, but i'm sick of the way they shoot freethrows, with the t meter thing. They should just make it a regular shot so you don't know if its going in or not, like in the Lakers vs Celtics game. Nba 2k3 also added that option last year. It makes it way more exciting when you don't know if its going in, especially at the end of the game.

I agree. When you play basketball in reality, you don't know 100% if your shots are going in from release.

[Colin]

With free throws...does the "dot" in the "t" move faster during more important moments (eg. when ur team is a point down with 4 secs left...) or is it always the same...also....are all free throws made always swishes....u can't score a free throw unless u get the dots in the centre as best u can...tats just stupid!

The longer you wait the faster it goes, if you wait 5 seconds before you start to shoot it will be going really fast. But if you do it right away it will be much slower.

[Larry Bird]

I agree that the T-meter needs to go. In 2003 I could hit 95% with my top guys and 80-85% with my horrible free throw shooters. This is just unacceptable. What I would like to see is an MVP pitch meter-type of free throw. One where not only player ability matters, but also fatigue. I'm a big time basketball player, and when you're tired, those shots are MUCH harder to hit than when you're fresh. Your arms are tired, your breathing is much harder, sweat's dripping in your eyes. This should be reflected in the game. The MVP-type meter is the best way to go. Guys like Reggie would have a large "Red zone" for accuracy, while guys like Shaq would have a sliver. I think this would be much more accurate than making the ball shoot back and forth faster for a worse shooter.

[Andrew]

I like that idea, but it could be used in conjunction with the T-Meter.

[Larry Bird]

In the MVP pitch-type meter, first time across the meter would be for accuracy... the trip back would be for distance. If anyone here has played MVP baseball, you'll know how accurate and realistic that meter felt. Sometimes, even when you're pitching with Pedro, you'd miss the mark. And when you're pitching with guys like Ishii, you'd miss it often -placing your pitch not where you originally intended. This would work excellently for live, and I think would give the best (most realistic) results. Plus, they should bring back the "Clutch" rating, which of course would effect someone's free throw abilities down the stretch... this is something i think would really work.

[Andrew]

But isn't that basically the same concept as the T-Meter, only with varying "accuracy zones"?

[Larry Bird]

In a way my MVP-meter and the T-meter are virtually the same, but not really. They are the same in that you hit the button twice, in the appropriate zones, and if you get them in the right position, you make the shot.... but the difference, I think, would be huge.

The T-meter just doesn't feel right, and there's no challenge to it. The percentages are too high, and in no way does it feel like you're shooting a shot. It's more like a lottery or a mini-game that determines if your shot goes in or not... something completely detached from the actual shot. With the MVP-meter, it wouldn't be the speed of the meter that would determine if you could make it or not, but the size of your "accuracy zone." Good FT shooters would have a larger zone, making it easier for them to make the shots. Horrible free throw shooters would have a sliver, making the player have to really concentrate and shoot the ball (hit the button) exactly right to make the shot. It would just feel like more of a difference between good and bad FT shooters, plus I think it'd give you a little more confidence if you had someone like Reggie going to the line with his large accuracy zone.... just like in real life. It would just feel authentic.

I don't know, maybe I'm not converting anyone, but I think (actually I'm pretty sure) that if there was an MVP-meter, it would make you feel much more like you were shooting a free-throw instead of stopping a ball in the middle of a T-zone that's wizzing back and forth. The MVP-meter would just seem more smooth, and more free-throwish.

PLus, it'd be fresh, and I don't know anyone who wouldn't mind chucking the T-meter out the window. 10 years of the T-meter is enough.

[Andrew]

I see what you're saying, but I still think it's a similar concept to the T-Meter. I think that the "accuracy zone" concept could work with the T-Meter, but I'm not against getting rid of the T-Meter if there's a better system.

[Metsis]

I see what you're saying, but I still think it's a similar concept to the T-Meter. I think that the "accuracy zone" concept could work with the T-Meter, but I'm not against getting rid of the T-Meter if there's a better system.

Andrew, have you ever played like a golf game? That swinging system has somthing to it... You can see an arc maybe something like 130 degrees or something. Then the you have the sweet spot some where in the middle. And it would work like this: First you push the shooting button down and a some sort of a marker starts it's way from one end of the arc to the other. You'd try to release the button at the sweet spot. After releasing the button, some sort of a shadow marker would be left in that spot and the real marker would continue it's way toward the other end. Then at the end the marker would turn back and head back toward the sweet spot and the original end. Then you'd have to try and press the button again at the sweet spot. And the distances from the sweet spot and the players ratings would determine how the shot fares. The only problem is that you pretty much know where you shoot the ball, so that would have to be determined somehow. And this is actually why the t-meter is so good for basket ball. You know about where your shot will fall. And thus grabbing the rebound isn't just pure luck.

This is a typical system for golfing games... Like the golf swing, the free throw is a one motion that has a start and an end.

Just a thought that occured to me from Birds posts...

And Bird, it seems that EA has to make the free throws in consoles harder and a lot easier with the computer... You can't shoot over 50% free throws on the PC. Buy a computer and then try it out... The free throws were impossible to make in Live 2003.

[Andrew]

I have played golf games before, so I'm familiar with the concept.

[- Ace -]

I think free throws become easier on a faster computer.