What Are Your Constructive Ideas for Improving Defense?

[LorenzoDC]

Re: What Are Your Constructive Ideas for Improving Defense?

i know everyone has had a wtf kind of defense is that moment. where you thought your team mate would clearly pickup the opposing ball handler since he was facing him only to turn around and give up an easy basket.

Yeah, that's common. I get that sometimes players flake out on a rotation, and that's what the IQ attributes are about on defense. But a lot of times this seems to happen just because the dice roll dictates an animation where the offense wins, but there are not enough contact or defensive animations available to make the in game representation look like what you will actually see in an NBA game.

Too many defenders in 2k actually get out of the way of guys driving to the lane right in front of them. I don't care how bad your defensive awareness is, no one (except Andrea Bargnani) literally gets out of the way of a driving player down low when he's the last man between the guy with the ball and the basket.

[Roger_Black]

Re: What Are Your Constructive Ideas for Improving Defense?

Some really good suggestions in this thread.

Allow me to add some additional thoughts I had to improve defense.

HARD FOULS

There should be 3 types of fouls in the game, imo.

- Normal Fouls
- Hard Fouls
- Intentional Fouls

So we need a button combo to commit a ‘hard foul’.

No, not a foul that is used maliciously to injure another player…. just a foul hard enough to establish a ‘tough’ defensive style of play.

(And NO, I DO NOT mean give us a button that allows us ‘punch someone in the face’ like in that old-school “Arch-Rivals” video game, either.)

Just deliver hard foul…. like that current 2k15 animation of wrapping someone up around the shoulders, that usually results in a ‘no-call’ form the refs. (Yeah, THAT one - lol)

THAT animation (in particular) could be one of the ‘hard-foul’ animations I am speaking of, imo.

Say if we press [square on the PS4] to deliver a ‘normal foul’ and hold [L1+R1] to deliver an ‘intentional foul’… then we would need to do something like ‘hold all four triggers [l1+r1+l2+r2] and press (square) to deliver a ‘hard foul’, or something like that.

And if the refs call THAT foul.. it is highly likely that you are getting a Flagrant 1 for the whistle.

However, spamming these Hard Fouls will most likely get you ejected quickly… as the penalties get stiffer & stiffer very fast…. and go from Flagrant 2-level fouls / ejections…. to receiving (whole game) suspensions.


Sometimes, a well-timed Hard Foul is strategic. Not Malicious.

It should be used to disrupt someone who is ‘hot’…. at a key moment during the game. (Perhaps during a comeback run, or to stop their ‘scoring steak’)

The Hard fouls is

And ‘Gamefaces’ should also be created to counter (or enhance) the effect of the ‘hard fouls’.


———————————————————————————————————————

GAMEFACES

Some players show up ‘ready to play’.. and bring their A+ game, when you LEAST expect it.

Think of Matthew Dellavedova & Andre Igoudala in this year's 2015 NBA Finals.

With that in mind...

How do players feel when they show up to the game?

Do they feel Loose? Irritated? Upset? Motivated? Hyped Up? Scrappy? Antsy? Determined? Focused? Locked In? or is their Mind Wandering?

Consider “Gamefaces’ to be like TEMPORARY BADGES that only last for (1) single game…. Until the very next opening ‘jump ball’.

And these Badges/Gamefaces are random.
You CANNOT buy Gamefaces with VC.

Gamefaces. Just. Happen.

These types of badges rotate among your roster (from game to game) to ensure that noone is benefitted permanently by them.

- Some of these (temporary) badges might ‘boost’ performance a bit.
- Some of these (temporary) badges might ‘decrease’ performance a bit.
- And if used strategically, some of these (temporary) badges could change the outcome of the game.

Btw, not everyone gets a Gameface. Every game.

'Which player' gets one should be completely random.

And only 2 or 3 Gamefaces are given per team / per game.

Your team might get 3. Or you might get just 1, or none.

And if your team gets one... it might be a bench player that you rarely sub into the game.

Which should become 'the proper motivation' you need to give that benchwarmer some minutes.





There would be LOTS of Gamefaces that do all kinds of stuff.... but here's a look at 2 For example:

The “Energizer Buddy” Gameface:
- This player has been ‘feeling it’ all day… and its contagious.
- Expect your team Rhythm to receive a boost in the 4th quarter (during crunchtime).
- Whenever this player is on the court, his teammates are inspired to ‘take a beating & keep on ticking’.
- This Gameface is nullified when an opponent who has a ’Hard Knocks’ Gameface is on the floor.


The “Hard Knocks” Gameface:
- This player ate his Wheaties today. Seriously.
- So he’s bringing some ‘brick wall’ screens & ‘hard fouls’ to the arena. Get ready.
- If a player with this Gameface is in the game & delivers a (timely) ‘hard foul’…. the opposing team’s rhythm is severely affected (possibly for the rest of the quarter).
- The opposing team will definitely get shook-up if their ‘Energizer Buddy’ is not on the court if this player ever gives out a ‘hard foul’.
- If their Energizer Buddy IS on the court and you give a hard foul… things may get a little testy… but your opponents rhythm is not impacted at all.
- The player with this badge could keep you the ballgame if things get tight, but he may also get ejected for a ‘flagrant foul’. - Will you risk it?


———————————————————————————————————————

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Here’s a ‘real-world’ example of exactly how 2 Gamefaces work in action….

Using: Bulls vs Jazz



Let’s use MJ, Pippen, Stockton & Malone, for example.

- Stockton gets the ‘Hard Knocks’ Gameface, right before the tipoff of the game.
- Malone gets the ‘Energizer Buddy’ Gameface.(or vice versa)

- And Jordan gets the ‘Hard Knocks’ Gameface at the beginning of the game.
- And Pippen gets the ‘Energizer Buddy’ Gameface.(or vice versa)




Now fast forward to the start of the 4th quarter….

- Bulls have been leading pretty much the entire game.
- The game is on the verge of a blowout, in favor of Chicago.
- Pippen gets subbed out to get some rest.
- So stockton takes a ‘hard foul’ on Jordan (….who has scored 30 points by now).
- Since Pippen was not on the court to nullify the effect of the ‘hard foul’… the Jazz go on an extended run, make a serious comeback and tie the ballgame.


Ultimately, the game goes to Overtime….

- And 3 Brand New Gamefaces are randomly assigned to different players, right before the tipoff of Overtime.


———————————————————————————————————————

CREATE YOUR OWN RIVALRIES


Maybe these badges would even have some effect on the ‘crowd reactions & chants’.. .especially if these ‘hard fouls’ occur in a game between ‘known rivals’. (i.e. - like the Knicks vs Heat, or Celtics vs Lakers, or Nets vs Raptors, or Cavs vs Warriors, etc, or Houston vs Golden State. or Pistons vs Pacers, etc)

Imagine playing defense .. then you decide to give out a ‘hard foul’ in the 1st quarter… then having the crowd either ’boo’ or ‘cheer’ your MyPlayer VERY LOUDLY every time he touched the ball, for the rest of the game.

Now imagine (intentionally) giving out a ‘hard foul’ every single time these two teams meet.

After maybe the 2nd or 3rd game…. these hard fouls now establish a ‘rivalry’ between these two teams in the future… (instead of using the RPG-fashion ‘smack-talk’ between predetermined players - which is a rivalry that 2k wants to create… instead of us creating it.)

I liked James Harden in 2k15.

So why I am forced to smack-talk him……. when I would MUCH rather establish a clear rivalry with the Spurs instead?
OR any other team of MY choosing.

If done right... Hard Fouls + Gameface combos can allow you to create your own ‘custom rivalries’.

[Goffs]

Re: What Are Your Constructive Ideas for Improving Defense?

Shot blocking where he actually aims at the ball when he goes up for a block. I think this was introduced in 2k11 or 12 if I recall correctly. I wish they just perfected it rather than forget about it....

[myathebee]

Re: What Are Your Constructive Ideas for Improving Defense?

There needs to be a dedicated button for steals...I don't mean swatting the ball,I mean reaching out and grabbing it. 2k15 Had me messed when I went for a steal and my guy swipes the ball,have it bounce off his hand and it end up in the offense hands giving them an open shot.

Also blocking needs a massive improvement..There needs to be a swatting option,where you hold the block button and release it to time a swat...You know like in real life.


Post play defense is non-existent..Almost every player that goes for a fadeaway post shot has this invisible force field that you cannot pass through...Please make Post defense more realistic. In real life this is a difficult shot,If I time my defense correctly,it SHOULD degrade that shot..Right now nothing can stop it. Not every big should able to make those like they Dirk.

2k15 lacked in defensive rotations and matchups...None of the matchups in 2k15 mimicked real life. If the best offensive player is killing us..Match him up with our best defensive player. Not that difficult and never happened.


Also bring back live ball physics and perfect it this time....

[WishListGOD 1 OF 2]

Re: What Are Your Constructive Ideas for Improving Defense?

———————————————————————————————————————

CREATE YOUR OWN RIVALRIES


Maybe these badges would even have some effect on the ‘crowd reactions & chants’.. .especially if these ‘hard fouls’ occur in a game between ‘known rivals’. (i.e. - like the Knicks vs Heat, or Celtics vs Lakers, or Nets vs Raptors, or Cavs vs Warriors, etc, or Houston vs Golden State. or Pistons vs Pacers, etc)

Imagine playing defense .. then you decide to give out a ‘hard foul’ in the 1st quarter… then having the crowd either ’boo’ or ‘cheer’ your MyPlayer VERY LOUDLY every time he touched the ball, for the rest of the game.

Now imagine (intentionally) giving out a ‘hard foul’ every single time these two teams meet.

After maybe the 2nd or 3rd game…. these hard fouls now establish a ‘rivalry’ between these two teams in the future… (instead of using the RPG-fashion ‘smack-talk’ between predetermined players - which is a rivalry that 2k wants to create… instead of us creating it.)

I liked James Harden in 2k15.

So why I am forced to smack-talk him……. when I would MUCH rather establish a clear rivalry with the Spurs instead?
OR any other team of MY choosing.

If done right... Hard Fouls + Gameface combos can allow you to create your own ‘custom rivalries’.

Your post is gold sir love this rivalry idea this can add team personalites with certain teams being agressive and known too hard foul and not allow easy buckets and some(90s NY team) that just foul alot because there just a bad defensive team(14Hornets). Also it would be cool if the CPU/AI would join in and hard foul the players team creating rivalrys too and the commentators brand certain players AND/OR teams as dirty, agressive, hard nosed, on defense.




Sent from ps4 lol

[jayman504]

Re: What Are Your Constructive Ideas for Improving Defense?

We WishListGod believe that defense can be vastly improved by implementing these simple things. 2k has the foundation already to have good defense but is hamperd by bad balance.

• REMOVING DELAY/Tighten Up. There is a strange floating feeling when playing defense weather online or not a sense of being detached that feeling is because of bad momentum mapping. Your LITERALLY not fast enough on defense so the game makes up for this by sliding you in areas you Couldn't keep up "zig zag cheese" exploits this and auto contest is the excuse. The SOLUTION to this is to tighten up the defense add the missing steps regardless if your beat or not and have attributes of speed determine the shuffle of your feet to keep up. Also if get beat off the dribble give the player the ability to manually cut them off useing the right stick in the desired direction so people can be held accountable.

• MORE CONTROL /Animations. While offense is getting there more and more defense always seems to be two steps slow(pun intended) we need things LIKE being able to bump the ball handler with are bodys by tapping RT/R2 for each an EVERY bumb to slow them down with responsiveness. Being able to guard off ball aggressive effectively by shadowing are match up holding the RIGHT STICK in their direction to sleal them off. If are match up tries to run and get open we can stay with them by continuing to hold the RIGHT STICK in there direction but holding RT/R2 to sprint with them trying to deny ball. Attributes such as fatigue pay a huge part in being effective at this (Tony Allen) or not (Matthew Dellevadova). More defense can hamper offense due to the fatigue of playing both sides(defensive stoper will be required to lighten load) players will have to think(play smart)/strategy MORE CONTROL.

• CLEANING UP/Rebounding. NO MORE baked animation under the rim if i box you out LT/L2 i can use the LEFT STICK and RT/R2 to aggressively guide you away from the rim in ANY direction the stick points, how far depending on your strength, positining and size. Also if i establish good position i have the CHOICE to grab the rebound Hold Y/TRIANGLE or tap it out by taping Y/TRIANGLE useing the LEFT STICK to direct the tap. This should be free moving and fluid no canimations, some players shoud be so good at establishing position that they don't even have to jump get a rebound, tip, or tap this should be skill based with attributes only determining (strength/BOX OUT/back down). Also the game should just give us the ability to box out or keep at bay useing the RIGHT STICK someone just standing under the rim with no position arms folded. The only reason charge cheese rebounding is a problem is because the game WARPS the ball to anybody whos closer to the ball and doesn't count the cheeser until he's jumping for the ball and decides he was there first just bad game logic.

• BRING BACK LIVE BALL PHYSICS/no brainer.

Sorry if this post was a little sloppy typing on a ps4

THIS RIGHT HERE!!!! I played a game last night and I wish my shadow play was on...I had Kyrie grab a rebound and had Al Jefferson back-peddling FASTER than Kyrie running (with Turbo) foward. Speed STILL doesnt count for anything, and honestly this has been a problem for YEEEAARS and I dont see it ever being fixed.

[LorenzoDC]

Re: What Are Your Constructive Ideas for Improving Defense?

I think it should be by a players defensive tendencies, defensive rating, and defensive skill. yes you can only control one player at a time, but say if i am controlling draymond green, i want to feel like "draymond green" playing defense. on the cpu side, all those factors should come into play based off of real life stats they get from the nba on each player. i say this because even though we are playing a video game, i need to feel like i have 4 other guys on my team with me. i know everyone has had a wtf kind of defense is that moment. where you thought your team mate would clearly pickup the opposing ball handler since he was facing him only to turn around and give up an easy basket.

Just want to give a shout out to everyone in this thread. I didn't know if people would participate - I don't post threads much - but the content and tone have all been just what I was hoping for.

I'm not saying there's no more to bring up, because I don't believe that for a second. So don't get me wrong. There's a bunch of solid #simnation names I haven't seen jump in yet who I'll bet have their own insights and ideas.

I just wanted to give props all around.

[Coach2K]

Re: What Are Your Constructive Ideas for Improving Defense?

Just want to give a shout out to everyone in this thread. I didn't know if people would participate - I don't post threads much - but the content and tone have all been just what I was hoping for.

I'm not saying there's no more to bring up, because I don't believe that for a second. So don't get me wrong. There's a bunch of solid #simnation names I haven't seen jump in yet who I'll bet have their own insights and ideas.

I just wanted to give props all around.

If it makes sense to you, maybe you could edit the original post at the top with the suggested improvements categorized in one spot for easy reference.

The main problem with defense is that it's hard and there's no real way to practice your skills in the game except for playing games. People can and do play effective defense all of the time within the game now.

I'd personally love to see some practice drills in the game to work on each component of individual defense and team defense by itself.

Things like:

1. Staying in front of your man
2. Contesting shots
3. Blocking
4. Stealing
5. Help and recovery
6. Team defense
7. Pick and roll defense

Etc.

[LorenzoDC]

Re: What Are Your Constructive Ideas for Improving Defense?

If it makes sense to you, maybe you could edit the original post at the top with the suggested improvements categorized in one spot for easy reference.

The main problem with defense is that it's hard and there's no real way to practice your skills in the game except for playing games. People can and do play effective defense all of the time within the game now.

I'd personally love to see some practice drills in the game to work on each component of individual defense and team defense by itself.

Things like:

1. Staying in front of your man
2. Contesting shots
3. Blocking
4. Stealing
5. Help and recovery
6. Team defense
7. Pick and roll defense

Etc.

Collecting all the ideas would be more than I could take on. Plus, I'd be afraid that I would leave something out by accident or not describe something as the original author intended as I summarize.

Hopefully someone at 2k has seen the thread. They've asked for threads like this - constructive ones - and the devs do drop by from time to time. So hopefully, someone who can sort and collect and prioritize has already been lurking.

I agree with you on the practice drills.

[alabamarob]

Re: What Are Your Constructive Ideas for Improving Defense?

1. Poor and average ballhandlers should not have acess to every dribble stick move.

2. Tendencies should effect the speed, accuracy and control of each players dribble move.


3. Make overall ballhandling and dribble moves more realistic.

[Sundown]

What Are Your Constructive Ideas for Improving Defense?

Strategic wise:


1. Pick and roll settings and defensive matchup setting need to be rewritten. They need team logic defending one person. The setting are designed to how does ANY person on the team defend the pick and roll ball handler. When in reality teams may switch up defense based off who is the setting the pick and what you want to give up on the play.


Example: You wouldn't have your non-agile big defend a pick and roll the same way your athletic big would.


They need "Show" settings for pick and roll as well as "zone up" pick and roll and play well under the pick and roll for the big.


Your defensive on ball/off ball defense should be broken down to how you defend on the perimeter vs. in the paint for both on ball and off ball.

This. So much this. Pick and roll schemes aren't determined just by a ball handler and his presumed matchup (as implemented currently), but also by the who the roll man's defender is, whether a switch would result in a major unfavorable mismatch for either defender, and whether the defense concedes either of those mismatches.

For example, the Warriors switch constantly-- but they never switch if Bogut is the roll defender, and only sometimes if Curry is the ball defender, depending on who the pick/roll man is:

1. A Lebron/Mozgov pick and roll would never have Bogut switch onto Lebron. Bogut is too slow even if Green or Iguodala can handle the switch onto Mozgov. In this case the Warriors would likely ice or have the ball defender go under the pick. Bogut in this case would stay near the paint to help on a Lebron drive or defend Mozgov as a roll man. Unfortunately this isn't a great situation for Bogut which is eventually why he stopped being played.

This is a case of Lebron not being switched onto because the roll defender is too slow.

2. A Lebron/Delly pick and roll would have Curry show hard while Iguodala goes under to recover on Lebron. Again, we see the Warriors NOT switch based on who set the pick and who is defending the screener.

This is a case of Lebron not being switched onto because the roll defender is small.

3. However, a Lebron/Mozgov pick and roll when Green is defending Mozgov WOULD result in a switch. Green has the length and speed to defend Lebron at least reasonably, and Iguodala can play ball denial on Mozgov at least temporarily. The same applies in any Lebron pick and roll with Shumpert or JR Smith because Klay/Livingston/Barnes can reasonably guard Lebron at least length and speed wise.

This is a case of Lebron being switched onto because both roll and ball defenders can handle the switch.

Right here you have a common staple situation in the NBA Finals involving the prototypical switching team where one player is defended differently in the pick and roll dependent on who the pick defender is. 2K's settings are inadequate because the ball handler can only be defended one way.

4. A Delly/Mozgov pick an roll probably wouldn't produce a switch when they are guarded by Curry/Green, but a Delly/Shumpert pick and roll guarded by Curry/Klay might.

Here is a case where the switch is determined by whether the ball defender can handle the switch and whether it might be advantageous to do so.

So in order to reproduce proper switching, 2K needs to allow situational switching based on whether the roll defender can handle the switch as well as the ball defender. The interface for this might be a bit tedious to set-- because it's really a setting for the DEFENSIVE player, and which players he can switch onto when involved in a pick and roll. One would need to set this for every defensive player tagging his potential matchups, or the offensive player in defensive settings needs a way to tag which defenders he can be switched onto by.

In this case, "Switch" would then need to be a new separate setting that can be set to No/When Available/Always-- this overrides the pick and roll setting when available, and when the switch isn't possible, the defense defaults to using the Ice/Over/Under settings.

Of course this becomes somewhat more complicated than the current settings, but NBA schemes aren't that simplistic and require this depth. One can always just rely on the auto settings, and it would be a huge help--a necessity actually- if team defensive settings can be saved outside of MyLeague.

[Sundown]

Re: What Are Your Constructive Ideas for Improving Defense?

Another major issue is that even the Gap setting isn't "gappy" enough against players with no outside threat. Bogut rarely extends beyond the FT line on defense and spends his time mostly trying to avoid the 3 second call. Yet in 2K he's drawn out of the paint by players he has no business following out there.

There needs to be one more setting like "Drop to Paint" so that rim protectors can stay near or in the paint against players that are no threat outside. Currently there is no way to reproduce how most non-shooting bigs are played by other bigs. And there's no way to duplicate the infamous Bogut/Toney Allen "matchup" in the Grizzlies series.

[stillfeelme]

Re: What Are Your Constructive Ideas for Improving Defense?

Sundown I agree with both posts posts. The pick roll settings in my opinion are just outdated and is begging to be re-written to provide how actual teams defend each player based off the strength and weakness of the roll man's defender. It would be complicated but like you said this is the NBA. The pick and roll settings are basically the major defense plays in the game. So we are missing a lot of how teams actually defend various players.

I also mentioned something about having settings that give on ball defense off ball determined by if the player is in the paint or perimeter. I agree that gap may not be enough. We need another setting called dare to shoot where the gap is so big like you mentioned when the player is on the perimeter on ball or off ball. The defender should basically be protecting the paint without getting a defensive 3 second call. So within arm lengths or so of the big in the paint

[LorenzoDC]

Re: What Are Your Constructive Ideas for Improving Defense?

I just went through the thread again and I don't think anyone brought up transition defense. Basically, it's weak. Let's look at how each relevant defensive POE setting plays out.

Important to note: because teammate defensive transition performance is so bad, from what I can tell, all of what I write below is true whether your opponent is playing to Run in Transition, Some Crash, Some Get Back, or to Crash Offensive Boards:

Crash Offensive Boards: You should have a transition disadvantage for this, and you do. However, if you have a very strong offensive rebounding team versus your opponent, this setting doesn't really help you take full advantage of that, as it should. Hit to transition defense is greater than the benefit to offensive rebounding, so effectively, this becomes a less useful setting. This is partly because user offensive rebounding is still weak relative to CPU offensive rebounding.

Some Crash, Some Get Back: This is the neutral one, but it too suffers from the disadvantages of crashing offensive boards because your CPU teammates are bad at getting back, or take some kind of speed disadvantage relative to your opponents in getting back.

Limit Transition: This is the setting I find myself using the most because otherwise the opponent will build up too much transition momentum and easy baskets in the paint before my team can get back. You can limit this by taking control of your SF or best available player in transition to get under the hoop and into the paint as quickly as possible, because the AI is better at perimeter transition than it is at protecting the paint and the rim. You have to compensate and provide paint transition protection manually, and that helps. But you only really have a chance to do this with this setting. It works in spurts under Some Crash, Some Get Back, but you're always toast with Crashing Offensive Boards.

In short, the combination of the game's weaker user controlled performance in offensive rebounding and weak transition defense limits the usefulness of some of the POE's. That limits sim play and limits your options as a sim player for playing more than one style, particularity if you want to run n' gun and still play decent fact game pace defense.

[Sundown]

What Are Your Constructive Ideas for Improving Defense?

I think your "Dare to Shoot" setting would be the same or similar to my suggestion of a "Drop to Paint". Do you see it behaving differently in some situations?

One way to streamline the switch settings is by having one master switch setting and five positional roll defender settings for each player, so that you can configure who will switch onto the player when he is the ball handler in a pick and roll (and also if he is the roll man if you want to simplify, though there may be cases when the two are not the same):

Switch: Auto/Custom/Never/Always

Always -- works like the Switch setting now (not terribly useful)
Never -- disables switching and allows the current pick and roll Over/Under/Double/Hedge settings to work.
Auto -- will allow switches based on what the game determine are acceptable matchups for ball and roll defenders after the switch.
Custom -- enables the follow positional settings:

Switch From:
PG: Auto/Yes/No
SG: Auto/Yes/No
SF: Auto/Yes/No
PF: Auto/Yes/No
C: Auto/Yes/No

Auto -- allows game to determine whether a switch can happen from that positon to this defender, based on length and speed.
Yes -- allows a switch onto this player from that defensive positon.
No -- does not allow a switch onto this player from that defensive positon.

So in a Warriors/Cavs matchup, if I wanted manual settings, I would set:

Dellavedova: No on C if Bogut is playing. Yes on everything else.
Shumpert: As above.
Smith: As above.
Thompson: No on PG if Curry is playing. Yes on everything else.
Lebron: No on PG if Curry is playing. No on C if Bogut is playing. Yes on everything else.
Mozgov: No on PG. No on SG. Yes on everything else.

The problem with this is you would have to change the settings if one of the positions is subbed that necessitates a change in strategy, Green for Bogut at C for example.

Another approach would be to move these positional settings to the DEFENDERS as a setting called Can Switch Onto, with the five positional settings as above.

This is probably quite a bit better as analysts often talk about being able to defend 1-3 or 3-5. These settings can even be saved and would likely not need to be changed as much when defending different teams. For instances set Green to switch onto 1-5 and you're set. If he ends up in a pick and roll situation where the other defender can also make the switch (set in his own defensive switch settings), then the switch happens. Evaluation of the position of the offensive player being switched onto should include all positions the player is listed as playing, and probably not the position the player is actually assigned as to prevent assigning players out of position to take advantage of switch setting mismatches.

You may still need to make tweaks if an opposing team's positional player is anomalous in some way for his position and causes a mismatch with the settings, but this is relatively rare. And if that happens -- say the Cavs start running a lot of 4-5 pick and rolls with Lebron at PF against Speights at C who is set to switch onto 4's according to the settings but would actually be a disaster against Lebron-- then the proper response is to actually sub him out for Green, just like real life.

This is probably much better than having positional roll defender switching defense be set in the offensive player's defensive settings. While it would be best to have individual matchups by personnel be configurable man for man-- after all, this is how real NBA schemes and game planning works-- this would get you quite a ways in that direction with a mostly understandable interface, and being able to save defensive switch settings per player for a team would make such a system much easier to use game to game.