As far as anything tied to a stat / production rate, they do a good job. Rebounds, steals, blocks, etc fall into this. They are mostly just copying data into a spreadsheet, rather than doing each player individually.
Where this does create some issues is with shot ratings, where you NEED context or else you end up with Peyton Watson's Close Shot rating 30 points higher than Aaron Gordon's (93 to 64). That unfortunately requires more time/energy/money than they're willing to invest.
Correct, 2K's biggest problem is they rarely touch anything that isn't tied to stats. They have a scale in place but then create too much differentiation between stars and role players, which creates issues years down the line when those role players develop larger roles, or when those stars fade (Dwight Howard famously had prime athleticism for his entire 30s).
It took 2.5 years for Tyrese Maxey to get a Speed boost.
Cody Martin has been a 58 Speed since he got drafted 5 years ago.
De'Anthony Melton and Patrick Beverley are separated by 10 years but both have a 76 Speed.
^Which is 1 point higher than Mo Bamba, who has had a 75 since draft night 6 years ago.
^Paul Reed has a 47 Speed.
I am not really sure what this means. Especially since by and large, it's the role players who get shafted by 2K.
Well, in general I think this is because the nature of this is players on cold streaks end up playing less as a result (or not at all), i.e. their struggles don't get an opportunity to affect their production as much. A DNP-CD doesn't show up in the box score.
2K does drop players - there is ALWAYS someone asking why someone went down 1 OVR. There just aren't a ton of examples because generally players don't fall off unless an injury is involved (which also means they are out of the lineup / not playing, leading to someone ELSE getting an opportunity and a rating boost)
This is illustrated a bit w/ my Cam Thomas analysis.
They actually do, believe it or not.
That's what's complicated about Blocks & Steals, is they aren't actually indicative of a good defensive player.
Rookie Mitchell Robinson
Per 36 minutes: 4.3 Blocks, 5.7 Fouls (10.0 BLK%, would be 4th All-time if qualified)
2023 Mitchell Robinson
Per 36 minutes: 2.5 Blocks, 3.6 Fouls (6.5 BLK%, 6th in NBA)
Robinson was going for everything back then (only Manute Bol has 10 BLK% seasons), leading to more fouls and wasn't able to stay on the court. Bit on a lot of fakes as most young players do. The block rate is less historic now but he has a greater defensive impact.
There is quite a bit separating someone like JaVale McGee, Shawn Bradley, etc from Hakeem Olajuwon / Dikembe Mutombo. Clint Capela is sandwiched between Ben Wallace and Patrick Ewing in career block rate.
So that rating is a small fraction of the story (and why the advent of badges have been so important).
Yet I have had some direct/indirect influence (and still do), for better or worse.
-A few of the systems they use are things I either explicitly designed (a few Tendency formulas), or loosely built upon (my Intangibles tiers, for example).
-They make a badge category, I figure out how to effectively scale it, and then they alter their own scale the following year.
-I'll make a video on how bad a player's badges are, a month later they'll update that player's badges (Blake Griffin, Julius Randle, Jordan Poole, Victor Wembanyama). I don't make any videos or any written critiques, they go three months without updating anyone.
As a general note they rely on fans to do the work for them. So the more engagement they get, the more focused/polished their rosters get. They don't actually have a pulse on the NBA (being that nobody on the team has actually worked in an NBA circle), so they don't know what's important in the moment without being pointed in the right direction.