Badging Thread

[Foldzy]

Re: Badging Thread

I really wish they'd let us badge over unwanted badges. Not only could this fix mistakes, but when a player changes roles on a team (for instance if I move David Thompson to PG and Jamal Mashburn to PF) It would still be a significant decision to change their badges.

I don't see any harm in allowing us to do this, it's probably my #1 most wanted feature in myteam. I hate feeling like a player is missing a key badge and not being able to go get it.

[AsYouSwish]

Re: Badging Thread

I really wish they'd let us badge over unwanted badges. Not only could this fix mistakes, but when a player changes roles on a team (for instance if I move David Thompson to PG and Jamal Mashburn to PF) It would still be a significant decision to change their badges.

I don't see any harm in allowing us to do this, it's probably my #1 most wanted feature in myteam. I hate feeling like a player is missing a key badge and not being able to go get it.

This is especially true when you find a player on the auction house with a dumb badge on them. I feel like they had this in 2k14 or 2k15 unless I'm imagining something.

[harryl]

Re: Badging Thread

Okay, last night I decided to not wait any longer to finish and lock in the Historic Blazers and got...

PLAYER: Diamond Rewards Arvydas Sabonis

Comes With:

1. Corner Specialist
2. Deep-Range Deadeye
3. Pick & Popper
4. Dream-Like
5. Drop-Stepper
6. Break Starter
7. Dimer

Open Slots: 6

Badges to Add:

I feel like these two are mandatory...

1. Rim Protector
2. Brick Wall

And then I can pick 4 out of the following 8 badges...

1. Hustle Rebounder: He's 7'3", so that's got to help him. But, for a Diamond Center, he's not all super-elite with his rebounding ratings in the high 90's. 86/90/93. So maybe he could use some help to be on par with the really elite rebounders. I don't know if, say, 90 and 98 makes a significant difference in rebounding.

2. Post Spin Technician: Feel like this is generally a must for a Center, to round out their post threats. I always wonder what all goes into how good a post-spinner someone is...Post Control? Acceleration? Ball Control? Animation?

3. Pick & Roller: With 38 Acceleration, he's not very compelling as a P&R man. So, maybe stupid to add this badge. Or...maybe a good thing, to give him a boost to taking, say, contested driving layups off the roll.

4. Putback King: He's not an elite offensive rebounder so I think this badge is probably easy to strike off the list. In general, I don't necessarily really want my center to try to do an immediate putback, anyway, versus passing back out and resetting.

5. Relentless Finisher: If this, in fact, helps with completion of contact dunks. Reducing energy drain from contact finishes is nice but not a big deal to me.

6. Acrobat: If this helps with completion of all layups, or at least contact layups, not just layups that are altered mid-air, which I'll basically never do with Sabonis.

7. Bruiser: A natural badge for a big, but I'm not big on it this year because of how limited slots are. Draining the Energy of an opponent could be a big deal if they start a Diamond and the bench replacement for that player is a Gold. But I think the reality is that people back up a Diamond with an Amethyst or a Ruby. Something like that. So, not as big of a deal to "force" them to sub in earlier.

8. Posterizer: Maybe a must-have because of the importance of drop-steps into standing dunks and standing dunks in general. Sabonis has a 90 Standing Dunk, so it's high and should be an important part of his arsenal, but not crazy high. And his Contact Dunk is low, at 40.


Which 4 out of the 8 should I pick? I'm thinking...

1. Posterizer
2. Hustle Rebounder
3. Post-Spin Tech
4. Relentless Finisher

[Foldzy]

Re: Badging Thread

^What about Flashy Passer and Mid Range Deadeye? If it was me I'd probably do those 2 plus hustle rebounder and bruiser. I would think Posterizer and relentless finisher would be a waste as he's more of a spot up shooter

[KyrieAbuser]

Re: Badging Thread

Hustle rebound, post spin because that's about the cheesiest post move in game and I'm surprised you didn't even mention this one, limitless range, every player i use with a decent shot I equip that on gold, helps a lot.

[harryl]

Re: Badging Thread

^What about Flashy Passer and Mid Range Deadeye?

Hustle rebound, post spin because that's about the cheesiest post move in game and I'm surprised you didn't even mention this one, limitless range, every player i use with a decent shot I equip that on gold, helps a lot.

Holy smokes. This is why I need to ask for advice. Mid-Range Deadeye is huge for Sabonis, and Limitless Range is very compelling.

Flash Passer is interesting too. As with some of the other badges, I think I need to play with him more and try some things out to get a sense of what would make sense. Like try to throw flashy passes and see how that works out...does he throw them well and just need help with increasing rate of accurate completion?

Man...I thought the decision was too easy. I feel like Mid Deadeye is compulsory as, depending on offensive scheme, will often receive a pass inside the arc and need to put it up.

I want to try and play him with Ben Wallace at the 4. Do things like run 5-out with Ben as a P&R man. Or 3-2 with Sabonis posting up and Ben hopefully cutting to basket. Or Horns. And definitely Princeton Chin, with ball flowing through him and him needing to be able to take a midrange when his defender is close enough to contest.

Limitless is intriguing. Will be something I consider very seriously if I find that I can shoot well with him from outside...that it's a shot I want to take, not just a pressure-valve option.

[Foldzy]

Re: Badging Thread

I don't have him but there is a flashy passer tendancy, if it's over 50 it might be worth it. Flashy passes really are quite useful for getting guys open shots

[Scramz718]

Re: Badging Thread

8. Posterizer: Maybe a must-have because of the importance of drop-steps into standing dunks and standing dunks in general. Sabonis has a 90 Standing Dunk, so it's high and should be an important part of his arsenal, but not crazy high. And his Contact Dunk is low, at 40.

Does he have standing dunk animations? I know the one on the 99 Blazers doesn't have any standing dunk animations. Test him in freestyle to see if he can perform standing dunks before you commit to the badge.

[harryl]

Re: Badging Thread

I don't have him but there is a flashy passer tendancy, if it's over 50 it might be worth it. Flashy passes really are quite useful for getting guys open shots

Thanks for the check on his Tendencies. Will try flashy passes more with him for a while and see how feasible it is to incorporate their use more heavily.

Does he have standing dunk animations? I know the one on the 99 Blazers doesn't have any standing dunk animations. Test him in freestyle to see if he can perform standing dunks before you commit to the badge.

So, according to Roboas, he has standing dunk animations but basically needs Posterizer to use them. Roboas put up a really great, detailed post on Sabonis badging in the thread I started on Sabonis vs. Ewing. It's a long, good read...

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...onis-both.html

In my scheme, i'm not running PnRs with Sabonis. He's too slow to roll, and I haven't mastered the Pick and Pop. That's why I don't have brick wall on him. I also didn't add deep range deadeye because in the scheme I run, I am taking wide open corner 3s. I added:

Posterizer
Acrobat
Relentless
Hustle Rebounder
Rim Protector
Catch and Shoot

Posterizer: He needs it, bad. If you go into practice mode, he won't standing dunk. Nor will he get many in game. I added it, now he smashes it down. He's not Shaq in the paint, but if he has an edge, he will poster dudes hard.

Acrobat: Not sure on this one. He still seems to miss on layup animations. He gets into weird situations where you think he's gonna lay it high off the glass or dunk, but he does some funky reacharound that bounces off the rim. I added acrobat because of this, and I'm not sure if it helps. It does help on the standard layin animations though.

Relentless: I just think this is a must on any guy other than a spot up shooter. Others feel differently.

Hustle Rebounder: You gotta add this one. He gets boards, and if he's fighting Wilt or Shaq, you need all the help you can get. He's a pretty good rebounder. Not as good as Wilt or Shaq, but close, and better than anyone else.

Rim Protector: I got 7 blocks in my first game after adding this. You want it. If you start blocking their shots inside, they'll stop going inside.

Catch and shoot: This is his entire game in my opinion. You give him the corner 3, you want the catch and shoot and corner 3 lighting up with a 3 pt shoe on him, he's greening nearly half of these shots. Its sick.

Also, to your earlier question on the post game - I've played some more with this, and I think his postfade is pretty good, much better than i was expecting. Avoid the right side where his cold zone is, but on the left side, his post fade is just silly. And he has some crazy hop step shot animations that remind me of Dirk. I'm finding more and more ways to score with him and he's really a weapon. He's my favorite card.

As I said in the other thread...DOH. Catch & Shoot is mandatory for Sabonis. Can't believe I forgot it entirely.

If Roboas is reading this: can you elaborate more on your observations regarding Relentless Finisher? This is a badge that has bugged me for a long time. The description, at least in prior years, implies that the effect is limited to decreasing energy drain from contact finishes at the rim. But I've seen some in-game text that implies that it might increase odds of completion of contact finishes. So I wonder what it actually does, and if it applies to both contact layups and contact dunks.

And on the topic of post-fades and hopping post jumpers, this reminds me that I still feel unsettled as to whether or not Difficult Shots activates during these shots.

I've asked in other forum threads and nobody has supplied a definitive answer. So I'm going to try to spam these with the guys for which I have the badge and see if it activates on them.

I hope it doesn't, because I really don't need to have another badge that seems essential for Sabonis.

So, right now, for the additional 6 slots, I have these as mandatory:

1. Rim Protector
2. Catch & Shoot
3. Posterizer
4. Hustle Rebounder
5.
6.

For the last two, I think the ones that call out most to me are these 5:

1. Brick Wall
2. Mid-Range Deadye
3. Relentless Finisher
4. Post-Spin Technician
5. Limitless Range

[roboas]

Re: Badging Thread

I'm just not sure about relentless. I put it on everybody because it used to be the most OP badge, but it might not be that big of a deal this year if it only affects energy on contact finishing animations. I doubt that's the case, you'd just want tireless scorer.

I think your 4 mandatory badges are the best 4. Your scheme will determine the rest. Mine is to stick him in the corner and bomb 3s. You could also put Lockdown Defender on him to help with defense if you wanted to focus on the other end of the court. If you do a deadeye, I think long range is fine because it includes deep 2s. He's not taking 10 footers under normal circumstances. The flashy pass is there for those short passes in the paint, no need for the badge.

[harryl]

Re: Badging Thread

Thanks, that all sounds...sound.

To clarify, I think previous years' descriptions of Relentless seemed quite explicit about how it reduced energy drain from contact finishes. I have seen the screen that congratulates MyPlayers for getting HoF Relentless and it has an extra sentence that seems to clearly indicate that the badge helps with the actual conversion of the shot through contact. Conventional wisdom seems to be that it clearly helps with completion.

Tireless Scorer differs from the reduce-energy-drain aspect of Relentless in that: (perhaps in addition to buffing completion odds) Relentless reduces the drain of energy from contact finishes, whereas Tireless Scorer reduces the reduction of scoring ratings when the player is fatigued. Delaying the red arrows, basically...or diminishing the reduction they indicate.

He's not the best working the post, so it makes sense to let him camp in the corner and pull the opposing center out all the way. I imagine people might try to switch assignments to not "waste" their center as a corner wing defender, but I also imagine, if people do that, you just get the ball to Sabonis, don't shoot, and back the smaller guy down. If the double comes, then...he's the right big to pass to the open shooter.

Thanks for the logic on Deep Deadeye. That makes sense. I'll get a better feel for where he is on the court for me, but if Limitless affects deep twos, then that's almost certainly what I want.

I took, by the way, my first three-point shot with him tonight, in the Terrence Ross Challenge. I was playing 5-out to spam cuts by Ross and Sabonis was camped in the right corner. DeAndre gave him a gap of like 8 feet. Got the ball to someone at the wing, flashy-passed to Sabonis, immediately launched...swish.

Sample size of 1, but his release felt quick for a big, and smooth. Was only the 4th shot I'd ever took with him. And only the 2nd jumper. Previous was a midrange. Both that one and this three were green. Encouraging.

[Foldzy]

Re: Badging Thread

Not sure how to badge my Rookie MJ, he has 4 slots and soo many I want. he comes with Tireless, Relentless and Acrobat and D-Stopper is a must so that leaves 3 spots.

how do I pick between Posterizer, Dimer, One Man Break, Pick Pocket, Lob City Finisher, PNR Maestro, Dream Like U+U, Post Spin, Ankle Breaker, Chase Down Artist etc...

It's not fair he has so few slots I also wish his Duo was Amy Magic Johnson!! They fit so nice together, throw in Ruby Hakeem for a trio haha

[P234thetruth]

Re: Badging Thread

Do you guys find Putback King useful, if you had to choose between Brick Wall and Putback King which way would you go on a center?

[harryl]

Re: Badging Thread

Not sure how to badge my Rookie MJ, he has 4 slots and soo many I want. he comes with Tireless, Relentless and Acrobat and D-Stopper is a must so that leaves 3 spots.

how do I pick between Posterizer, Dimer, One Man Break, Pick Pocket, Lob City Finisher, PNR Maestro, Dream Like U+U, Post Spin, Ankle Breaker, Chase Down Artist etc...

It's not fair he has so few slots I also wish his Duo was Amy Magic Johnson!! They fit so nice together, throw in Ruby Hakeem for a trio haha

I would go with Dimer for sure, and then choose between P&R Maestro and Posterizer.

[harryl]

Re: Badging Thread

Do you guys find Putback King useful, if you had to choose between Brick Wall and Putback King which way would you go on a center?

If you will run P&R/P&P with him a lot, or if you use a Freelance/Plays that have him off-ball screening a lot, then Brick Wall for sure.

If so, it will be used many more times per game than Putback King, which is only relevant when he gets an offensive rebound. The interval is longer than "put it back up immediately," but it still requires that he get the offensive rebound, as far as I know. That will be a fairly small fraction of possessions, whereas Brick Wall could easily be used on a majority of possessions.