"The NBA 2k9 Addiction"

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Wow. It's really been that long since I've last sat down and blogged my crazy opinions and perspectives on the world of basketball. With the 2009 Draft Complete, with all the major trades done around draft day, and with all the important FA signings all in the past, it's like a desert out here. I've thought about blogging about "AI will go to Miami, trust me......or Charlotte", but it seems everyone else is on the same, repetitive, overdone, boring topics. So my topic is that I have no topic.

I've been on a blogging hiatus after my full-fledged NBA 2k9 addiction took over my entire existence. This game by 2k Sports is simply amazing, and I'm talking about the PC version. I am a console gamer(well, used to be), but now that many companies are porting to PC I have no need to but the next Playstation 69 or the next X-box 1080. I happen to be a computer techie part-time too, so my PC is a very high end machine, for running software and gaming. After taking a look at this game on a great computer, watching it on an X-box is just plain ugly. So my infatuation began.

Then I joined this little, goofy, fun league with many of use young 20 somethings obsessed with the NBA and basketball. There are 30 of us all active on a daily basis(yes, there are that many people who have no lives it seems; not just myself). We are each our own GM of an NBA team to start; we used the start date on Draft Day 2008 so we had our set rosters from that exact day, then did the draft, then did the Free-Agency. Now we're set on trading players and building the biggest, best franchise possible. But myself and many others have done these leagues for years(yes, it's sad, lol), and you don't just play one season. You likely play 2 to 3, which means you might want to trade for youth, cap-space, and draft picks, so you can win it all in 2010 after picking up a big free agent(there is actually a few official persons who acts as "Player Agents" who have nothing to do with the game itself), and they treat it real. I can offer Platyer A an extension before he he becomes a FA, but if the Player Agent thinks he can get more money on the market, you will be delightfully declined. I am ranting.

You are probably wondering how we play games. It's a fantasy league going on during the off-season. Well, we use this beautiful system I use, NBA 2k9, to do it all(well most of it). My other good buddy has a different game, one in which he does everything I do to make it realistic(I will explain soon). So initially you get 2k9 and simulate a full season as any team, and the stats are all crazy. Jason Kidd averages 23ppg, 12apg, 6rpg like its a decade ago. Half the league is shooting 50% from the 3pt line. You get my point.

That is where my addiction to be perfect comes in. Each individual player in this game you can edit. They have Attributes(skills) and Tendencies(instincts). To name a few; Attributes: Close, Mid, 3pt, Speed, On-Ball Defense, Post-Defense, Post-Offense, Passing, Ballhandling, Off/Def Awareness, and probably 10-20 more settings; all of which are on a scale of 50 to 100(yes it's weird you can't go below 50, but I don't think any player in the NBA would have a skill below 50). To name a few Tendencies: Mid, 3pt, Attack the Basket, Back to the Basket, Isolate, Fancy Passes, Shooting Tendency(overall most important one, a high one means they take 20 FGA a game). Yes this is boring, but I've spend literally hours each day the past few weeks editing all this.

That's right. I've edited all 350+ Players that are in this game. I've tweaked every single attribute, and tendency they have. Yes, my life consists of a box of doughnuts, Monster energy drinks, and a computer desk. And I might just have to boast and brag a little here, because I think I've perfected the system to a science. Using great sources like Basketball-Reference, 82games, and many others, I have been able to make each player emulate what he does in real life. If 34% of his shots are from 3pt, 50% from mid-range, and 16% in the paint, I guarantee you that player has those exact tendencies. Pretty wild isn't it?

So now when I simulate a season, Kidd averaged 10ppg, 8apg, and 6rpg with his casual 2.0apg on this current Dallas team. Lebron finishes the 2009-10 season with 30.6ppg, 8.1rpg, 7.8apg, 1.9bpg, and 1.4spg. Pretty slick. Then if I decided to just look at a certain box-score of when Houston played against the Cavs.....I notice that Lebron went 7/21 from the field.... must be because Shane Battier stuck to him like glue all game. I can't rant enough about how realistic this stuff is.

So anyway, to finish this boring blog up explaining what I've slaved over the past weeks, is I set all those players to real life settings. Then I swapped up all the rosters, and each GM has their own team; they've made tons of trades, and lineups look all kinds of colors. I am the 76ers and Danny Granger is my star SF, with Kevin Martin at SG; not a bad 1,2 punch if I say so. So all of our teams are personalized, and until the trade deadline we trade, and then apply the trades to the game. You also set the rotations for your team(by position and target minutes), but I'll just leave it at that.

So 30 GM's, 30 teams, and we hae a set web-site with a set schedule where we play 58 games a season(each team twice). I match the teams up in the game, I simulate the results, I take a screen-shot of the box-score, and that is that. The total result is a little more complex, but I'll just leave you with that. I take it my team isn't looking to bad by the looks of it*(this was before I traded for Granger and K-Mart and others, but it's a prime example of what you look at when you want to see your match-up result(remember, I am Philly):

Too bad Philly's future isn't that bright in reality.......or is it?



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