Badging Thread

[jschmib]

Re: Badging Thread

I don't think we've covered Diamond Pete Maravich yet. I picked him up a few weeks ago, not sure if I'd keep him. Still not sure if he's really my cup of tea, in terms of being an A-Team Starter, but feel sure that he can always have a roster spot on my A-Team, due to him being a shooting savant.

Card: Diamond Pete Maravich

Comes With:
(Hall of Fame Badges in Bold)

• Catch & Shoot
• Corner Specialist
• Deep Range Deadeye
• Difficult Shots
• Limitless Range
• Mid-Range Deadeye
• Tireless Scorer
• Acrobat
• Relentless Finisher
• Tear Dropper
• Dimer
• Flashy Passer
• Lob City Passer
• Pick & Roll Maestro
• One Man Fast Break
• Charge Card
• Pick Dodger
• Pick Pocket

To Add:

Coming with 18 badges, he can have everything that is a must-have and one is basically choosing between luxuries.

1. Ankle Breaker: Best when ball-dominant, because of his HoF P&R Maestro, and since one is choosing between luxuries, this is in play. Normally, I don't go for Ankle Breaker if space is tight.
2. Posterizer: Again, sort of a luxury on a player who isn't supposed to be a dunker, but he dunks, with 60 Driving Dunk...so why not?
3. Dreamlike: Not something you think of, because he's a guard and not a post-up guard, but he does have 88 Post Fade and that's a good weapon, so Dreamlike gives it more credibility, by making the faking of it that much more dangerous.
4. Rim Protector: 60 Strength at 197lbs and 6'5" is alright, but 54 Low Post DIQ is terrible, so if you're facing a Magic/Oscar who wants to abuse in the paint, best not to play Pete at all. But Rim Protector would at least take away buffing from post badges to make it less overwhelming. Again: a luxury.
5. Brick Wall: Another luxury that is always nice to have for off-ball screens.
6. Bruiser: Another luxury that's nice to have to do maximum impact on ballhandlers.
7. Hustle Rebounder
8. Break Starter

There's 8 total there, 2 to cut out, but it's not that hard since I threw in virtually everything that is even somewhat potentially useful.

The ones that I think are top candidates to cut out are:

1. Hustle Rebounder: He's a guard. Bad rebounding. Will get in position to board when defending drivers, but would put this luxury below the above ones.
2. Break Starter: Same rationale.

So it seems pretty easy to me. But did I miss anything?

I'd drop ankle breaker in favor of Hustle Rebounder. It's nice to have on everyone, bottom line. Rebounds are just waaay more important than ankle-breaking someone once every 3 games.

[harryl]

Re: Badging Thread

I'd drop ankle breaker in favor of Hustle Rebounder. It's nice to have on everyone, bottom line. Rebounds are just waaay more important than ankle-breaking someone once every 3 games.

I can buy that. That said...now that I think about it, I think I actually didn't decide to put on Ankle Breaker...I think the Pete I got already had it applied.

[Nickstank]

Re: Badging Thread

I think you missed Defensive Stopper, which is an absolute must. I also added:

Ankle Breaker
Bruiser
Brick Wall
Pick and Popper (combined with brick wall and HOF catch and shoot, this can be pretty fun and catch people off guard)
Rim Protector

[harryl]

Re: Badging Thread

I think you missed Defensive Stopper, which is an absolute must.

Holy sh!t, you're right. I already added it in-game, but didn't update my spreadsheet.

I also added:

Ankle Breaker
Bruiser
Brick Wall
Pick and Popper (combined with brick wall and HOF catch and shoot, this can be pretty fun and catch people off guard)
Rim Protector

Okay, so in-game, I think I'm already locked in with:

1. Defensive Stopper
2. Ankle Breaker
3. Dreamlike Up-And-Under

And for the last three, my unglamorous tendencies would be to go with:

1. Rim Protector
2. Brick Wall
3. Bruiser

But I could see the argument that, faced with a strong post-up matchup, I shouldn't have Pete in at all, so take out Rim Protector and maximize what he does best: score. In which case Pick & Popper is intriguing.

Oh, but...Posterizer. I think I'd go with Posterizer, since he's so often going around screens and driving.

So, for me:

1. Defensive Stopper
2. Ankle Breaker
3. Dreamlike
4. Posterizer
5. Brick Wall
6. Bruiser

[Nickstank]

Re: Badging Thread

Holy sh!t, you're right. I already added it in-game, but didn't update my spreadsheet.



Okay, so in-game, I think I'm already locked in with:

1. Defensive Stopper
2. Ankle Breaker
3. Dreamlike Up-And-Under

And for the last three, my unglamorous tendencies would be to go with:

1. Rim Protector
2. Brick Wall
3. Bruiser

But I could see the argument that, faced with a strong post-up matchup, I shouldn't have Pete in at all, so take out Rim Protector and maximize what he does best: score. In which case Pick & Popper is intriguing.

Oh, but...Posterizer. I think I'd go with Posterizer, since he's so often going around screens and driving.

So, for me:

1. Defensive Stopper
2. Ankle Breaker
3. Dreamlike
4. Posterizer
5. Brick Wall
6. Bruiser

That's interesting. I didn't go Posterizer because he doesn't have high driving dunk rating or tendency, so while he can dunk I'm more likely to utilize HOF Tear Dropper if I get in the lane or HOF Acrobat on a driving layup attempt. I can see the argument for either, and since he's so well-badged already they really are luxuries like you said

[harryl]

Re: Badging Thread

That's interesting. I didn't go Posterizer because he doesn't have high driving dunk rating or tendency, so while he can dunk I'm more likely to utilize HOF Tear Dropper if I get in the lane or HOF Acrobat on a driving layup attempt. I can see the argument for either, and since he's so well-badged already they really are luxuries like you said

That makes perfect sense. My problem is that I almost never think about putting up a teardrop shot. I am usually just going turbo in with the drive with the reptile part of my brain and so, of course, often with a dunk attempt when that's the animation I get.

I probably ought to try to pull teardrops more. For some reason, I *can* be conscious about a specific move when it comes to euro-step layups...

[Nickstank]

Re: Badging Thread

That makes perfect sense. My problem is that I almost never think about putting up a teardrop shot. I am usually just going turbo in with the drive with the reptile part of my brain and so, of course, often with a dunk attempt when that's the animation I get.

I probably ought to try to pull teardrops more. For some reason, I *can* be conscious about a specific move when it comes to euro-step layups...

I'm right there with you. I have to think ahead about tear drop shots, and part of that is because you'll only get the animation from certain areas and it takes a half beat extra for that animation to be completed. So it really does take some forethought, but man are they effective. I hit an absurdly high percentage with Magic, and his Tear dropper was only gold. Basically if you get the shot off with Maravich, it's going in.

Have you gotten Maravich to dunk in game in MTO? I don't recall if I have, though I've done it in freestyle and against the cpu.

[harryl]

Re: Badging Thread

Here's one that ought not be hard at all, because he comes with 21 badges and is a Center, so it ought to be an anxiety-free breeze to pick 6 out of the remaining 14 badges left. But this Kareem is capable of almost everything, aside from shoot 3's off the dribble, break ankles, and lead the fast break. On 2KMTC, all but 6 of his Ratings are Green, with 4 of them Yellow, and only 2 of them Red.

Player Card: Diamond Beasts Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Comes With: It's easier to just list what he doesn't come with. He's missing...

• Catch & Shoot
• Corner Specialist
• Deep Range Deadeye
• Limitless
• Tear Dropper
• Ankle Breaker
• Dimer
• Lob City Passer
• P&R Maestro
• One Man Fast Break
• Posterizer
• Charge Card
• Pick Dodger
• Pick Pocket

So one needs to choose 6 out of 14, or nix 8 out of 14. As always, the first thing to do is to pick mandatory badges:

• Catch & Shoot: Duh.
• Dimer: I think it's mandatory for everyone, at this point in the game.
• Posterizer: Mandatory for a big. For almost anyone who can/will dunk.

And then I think there are some easy omissions:

• Limitless: He "only" has 74 Open 3.
• Ankle Breaker: While it's nuts that, with a shoe, he could have 83 Ball Control, that's not speed-boostable and his animations are slow big man animations, anyway. And he has 54 Speed With Ball. Should not even have to have this discussion.
• P&R Maestro: Let's not have this discussion.
• One Man Fast Break: This isn't useless, but with 54 Speed With Ball and how fast bigs are now, he's not going to beat his counterpart up the court, with the ball. And while it'd be nice to run the ball up with him so that his 4 teammates could streak to scoring position, would rather use the slot for something else.
• Charge Card: I should probably think twice about this, but I'm always biased against Charge Card. I discount how it could potentially lead to one or two extra defensive stops/turnovers per game. But I do think that one rarely gets charge calls in the paint. They seem to mostly occur around halfcourt, around the perimeter, or maybe just inside the arc. Big men basically never get called for it, and neither bigs nor guards typically get called for it on drives, it seems to me.

So then we're left with 6 badges, and can choose 3:

• Corner Specialist: I guess this is near mandatory or mandatory, especially given what else is left. Especially because this Kareem may actually be run at 4 a lot...even...the 3.
• Deep-Range Deadeye: Always nice to have on a stretch big, for when one has to take the shot, regardless of pressure, because it's end-of-clock. But Kareem only has 65 Contested 3, so probably one of the easy omissions.
• Tear Dropper: Can be a nice option for a big, especially if finishing versus a smaller guy. I just don't think much of it because I forget to manually trigger it, even when it's the obvious shot to take.
• Lob City Passer: To have this as a possibility is very unorthodox, I know. But Kareem has guard-like passing and I'm a little intrigued at the thought of attracting double-teams in the post in a 3-2 offense and then putting up lobs for the other big.
• Pick Dodger: Seems dumb for Kareem but, again, he easily can play 4 and probably can even play 3 if one wants to be cheesy. Even at 4, people may try to run someone like a Giannis or an LBJ, so I think this makes sense. He has 93 Lat Quickness and 88 Acceleration. With a silver shoe, one could boost him to 99 Lat Quickness and 94 Acceleration (92 Speed)...defensively, he basically can be Giannis with 3" more height.
• Pick Pocket: Kareem has 98 Strength, but is only 225lbs, so I think it's important for him to be able to strip the ball as part of defending the paint against the really big bullies. And he has 88 Steal, 85 Pass Perception, boostable to 97 Steal, 91 Pass Perception.

I think, for me, the final three I'd take would be Corner Specialist, Pick Dodger, Pick Pocket, making my 6 to add:

2. Catch & Shoot
   
3. Corner Specialist
   
4. Dimer
   
5. Posterizer
   
6. Pick Dodger
   
7. Pick Pocket

[harryl]

Re: Badging Thread

I'm right there with you. I have to think ahead about tear drop shots, and part of that is because you'll only get the animation from certain areas and it takes a half beat extra for that animation to be completed.

For me, I think the issue is using turbo by default. That said, I'm good about not turboing into people...and was also able to train myself to let go for eurosteps. So I should probably just force myself to shoot teardrops.

Have you gotten Maravich to dunk in game in MTO? I don't recall if I have, though I've done it in freestyle and against the cpu.

Good question. I'm not sure. I'll check video I have and try to pay more attention in the future.

[K_Aug]

Re: Badging Thread

97 Diamond Kawhi

Comes with 7 HOF badges, 14 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze for a total of 26. There's 34 total badges you can have on a player if I remember correctly so these are the 8 he doesn't have.

Bruiser
Pick & Popper
Pick & Roller
Dimer
Flashy Passer
Lob City Passer
Brick Wall
Rim Protector

The ones in the bold are the no brainers for me. Leaning towards Pick & Popper, Pick & Roller and Brick Wall for the last 3.

[harryl]

Re: Badging Thread

97 Diamond Kawhi

Comes with 7 HOF badges, 14 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze for a total of 26. There's 34 total badges you can have on a player if I remember correctly so these are the 8 he doesn't have.

Bruiser
Pick & Popper
Pick & Roller
Dimer
Flashy Passer
Lob City Passer
Brick Wall
Rim Protector

The ones in the bold are the no brainers for me. Leaning towards Pick & Popper, Pick & Roller and Brick Wall for the last 3.

Totally agree on the boldfaced ones being no-brainers. I would add Brick Wall to that list.

So then you have 2 more slots. You can either optimize him as screener, or round out his passing, or some combination of the two. I think, pretty clearly, do you care more about using him as a P&R ballhandler, or a P&R screener? Or do you want to split the difference?

I haven't played with him all that much this year, but my guess is that his animations are not that great and you'd be less inclined to use him as a ballhandler than as a screener.

And to be a good ballhandler, you need to add to his 85 BC. But I think the one attribute I'd want to boost most, aside from always-useful speed boosts, is his Post Fade. Get it into the 90's.

[K_Aug]

Re: Badging Thread

Totally agree on the boldfaced ones being no-brainers. I would add Brick Wall to that list.

So then you have 2 more slots. You can either optimize him as screener, or round out his passing, or some combination of the two. I think, pretty clearly, do you care more about using him as a P&R ballhandler, or a P&R screener? Or do you want to split the difference?

I haven't played with him all that much this year, but my guess is that his animations are not that great and you'd be less inclined to use him as a ballhandler than as a screener.

And to be a good ballhandler, you need to add to his 85 BC. But I think the one attribute I'd want to boost most, aside from always-useful speed boosts, is his Post Fade. Get it into the 90's.

I think I want to split the difference between screener / ball handler. When I had Lebron & Giannis, they operated in the same role as a combination of both. Lebron or Giannis would sometimes bring the ball up for me after made baskets.

I generally didn't use Kawhi like that when I had his previous Diamond but that's because his ball control was very low. I can see myself going into ISO with this card and posting up weaker defenders on the block and also using as a pick and popper.

So for the last 3 I think I'm going to go with Brick Wall, Pick & Popper and Flashy Passer.

[harryl]

Re: Badging Thread

So for the last 3 I think I'm going to go with Brick Wall, Pick & Popper and Flashy Passer.

If you're going to split the difference, then I think those two are the ones to do that with.

[anditbeg1ns]

Badging Thread

Player Card: Diamond Beasts Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Comes With: It's easier to just list what he doesn't come with.

Pick Dodger: Seems dumb for Kareem but, again, he easily can play 4 and probably can even play 3 if one wants to be cheesy. Even at 4, people may try to run someone like a Giannis or an LBJ, so I think this makes sense. He has 93 Lat Quickness and 88 Acceleration. With a silver shoe, one could boost him to 99 Lat Quickness and 94 Acceleration (92 Speed)...defensively, he basically can be Giannis with 3" more height.

I decided to put a cheap silver LQ and Acc shoe on him to make his perimeter defense ridiculously absurd. 99 LQ for a 7'2 center is too OP. He could literally shut down anyone on the perimeter.

Here's a clip of him shutting down AI in the backcourt last night.

via Imgflip GIF Maker

I forced a couple more of those turnovers in the first half and forced a rage quit. If I'm a cheesy dude, I could just put Kareem at point and let him clamp down on other PG with that frame and defensive stats. It would be fun to frustrate the opponent and at the same time drain their energy with HOF bruiser.

[jschmib]

Re: Badging Thread

I decided to put a cheap silver LQ and Acc shoe on him to make his perimeter defense ridiculously absurd. 99 LQ for a 7'2 center is too OP. He could literally shut down anyone on the perimeter.

Here's a clip of him shutting down AI in the backcourt last night.

I forced a couple more of those turnovers in the first half and forced a rage quit. If I'm a cheesy dude, I could just put Kareem at point and let him clamp down on other PG with that frame and defensive stats. It would be fun to frustrate the opponent and at the same time drain their energy with HOF bruiser.

Hahahahaha oh my god. That's so messed up, because of the bumping in this game it can be so hard to get around bigger players when they do that. That's ridiculous lol