Submitted on: 02/23/2016 by
Jayson Young
In a hundred or so head-to-head online matches of NBA 2K16, I can only recall two or three opponents who have taken advantage of the new handoff mechanic that Visual Concepts has assigned to the B button on Xbox One and the Circle button on PlayStation 4.
If you see a play in NBA 2K16 that's named “Weave” or “Give” (like the two sets being demonstrated above), it usually means that the primary action involves one or more handoff actions. Across the league, NBA coaches are increasingly incorporating dribble handoffs into their offenses. This type of action lets athletic players (like Victor Oladipo) catch the ball in motion and continue their forward momentum without breaking stride.
Multiple handoffs and weaves also put constant pressure on defenses, forcing defenders to make quick decisions about how much they should help and whether or not they should switch. These decisions must be made at a faster pace than they would in a traditional screen and roll situation, which helps expose defenses that have sluggish feet, slow brains or undisciplined hands.
If I had to guess the reasons why so few people are using handoffs in NBA 2K16, it's probably because the give and receive animations can both be a bit clunky at times. On top of that, you really need to call a set “Give” or “Weave” play to use the handoff action to its fullest potential -- and of course, most people online prefer not to call any plays at all.
The manual backdoor cut command Visual Concepts added to the Y button on Xbox One and the Triangle button on PlayStation 4 seems to be a significantly more popular addition to NBA 2K16. But even then, I would say only 15 to 20 percent of my online opponents are utilizing this new offensive tool.
The fact that you can have success calling these backdoor cuts without setting up a designed play is probably what's made them more popular than handoffs in the NBA 2K16 online community. All you need to do is bring your center up to the elbow, spread the rest of your offensive players around the perimeter, and you will potentially have several wide open paths to the basket -- until your opponent adjusts his defense and starts sagging back to protect the paint.
You could make a pretty convincing argument that these manual backdoor cuts are actually too overpowered in NBA 2K16, since they're only supposed to work against "tight/deny" defensive settings and the "limit perimeter shots" point of emphasis. But because of NBA 2K16's iffy off-ball AI, slow defensive locomotion, and lack of off-ball contact animations, these cuts will work more often than they should against "gap/moderate" defensive settings and the "protect the paint" point of emphasis.
All that being said, and given how regularly Visual Concepts changes NBA 2K's controls, I hope NBA 2K17 decides to keep both of these mechanics. If the developers can make the handoff animations more fluid and improve the CPU defenders' reactions to backdoor cuts, then that would make these two elements even more enjoyable to use.
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