Road to the First Seed - Using "Only" the Starter Pack Players and Seed Rewards?

[PandaPower2k]

Hey guys.

I was bored of playing the 1st seed over and over again on MyTeam and I wanted a something new, something challenging, so yesterday I created a second 2k account and wanted to see how far I could go in RttP without spending a single mt coin, using only the players given to me in my Spurs Starter Pack, plus the seed rewards.

I got to the 5th seed today. And before I start playing against unrestricted teams in this seed, I wanted to take a break and share with you my experience in the lower seeds.

First of all, I found the game difficulty in lower seeds to be quite game changing. Especially in the qualifying round, even very well contested shots taken by bronze players have high chance to go in, which surprised me... So it seems it doesn't really matter who you have in your team, you can make shots with any player in lower seeds. And it is really hard to miss an open shot...

One thing I noticed was, people were much nicer in lower seeds. Most people I played against never cheesed and stayed in the game until the end, despite the deficit. They seemed like they just wanted to play the game and have fun.

Things started to change a little though when I got to the 6th seed... A few people quit the game, and one person made the game not count. I think they just wanted to get to the 5th seed very badly... *shrug*

Overall I lost 4 games, I think. 1 game in the 7th seed, and 3 games in the 6th seed. They were all close games, and were so much fun even though I lost!

In 3 of them, I lost to LeBron's game winning baskets... Was hard to stop him with my star player Chase Budinger! By the way, here are some of the teams I got matched up against, and box scores - team stats for each game (I included the ones I lost as well): http://imgur.com/a/bWTxJ

But I know what some of you're wondering. How the hell my bronze guys dealt with their gold-silver line ups, Lebrons, Durants, CP3s etc. And all their cheesy strategies...

Well, it wasn't that hard really. I just tried to play good basketball. Also, I am pretty good on playing defense, especially good against zig-zag and turbo abusers. The only slightly cheesy strategy I was helpless against was post fadeaways, my defenders couldn't do much about it...

I played man-to-man and on-ball defense 99% of the time... Your CPU is terrible on defense in lower difficulty settings, especially if your players are bronze...

I met many teams that used zone defense and double teamed excessively. But it only helped me find easy 3s... Both strategies have weaknesses, I tried to be patient and eventually found an open man.

I had to rely on my outside game on offense, because my team doesn't have good inside scorers, and because finding outside shots is easier against teams that I mentioned in the previous paragraph... Kyle Anderson as stretch 4 helped me a lot. Though unfortunately he got injured in the last game of the 6th seed, and is out for 5 games... Having no back up stretch 4 in my team, I am actually considering to spend MT and buy another bronze shooter PF and perhaps a backup point guard, too. Currently Cory Joseph is the only PG in my collection and I don't know what I'd do if he got injured

I also played a very slow paced game. Bronze players don't have great ball handling and passing skills, so I needed to play slow to minimize turnovers. Bronze players are slow and have low stamina, too... and my bench not so deep... So a fast paced game would not be a great idea. I even walked up the court instead of running, and have time outs to rest my players (never two time-outs in a row tho!).

I ran set plays constantly. The Bulls playbook I was given had some nice plays in it for my shooters... I had fun discovering them. Without set plays, it'd be impossible for me to score consistently against Gold-Silver line ups that have great 1v1 defenders.

All in all, it was a great experience, I had so much fun playing the lower seeds again after a long while... I'd recommend it to everyone who's bored of their current seed and team and looking for a better challenge than the ones 2k gives us each week.

But there was another reason that made me pick up this challenge. I read a topic in this forum about the game rewarding dumb and cheezy strategies... I wanted to show people that the game also rewards good basketball and you don't need to have the best players to compete against better teams and have fun. You don't need to spend hours on the AH. You don't need to upgrade your Gold players with better Gems to beat your seed...

Anyway... I'll update this post after I spent some time in the 6th seed. I don't expect to have a lot of wins with this team, maybe none against stacked teams. But It'll be fun. I have nothing to lose.

I might reduce the difficulty a little bit, try it with all Silver players or something. Who knows... I am open to suggestions...

[itchyroll_51]

I like the Gobert and Kyle Anderson pairing; got a great odd couple feel to it lol

With an undermanned team like that what kind of defensive settings and POE's do you rely on ?? Offense will always come against players that aren't on your skill level. If you are good enough and their D is bad you would crush them. However even if their offense is bad and your D is good you will stil get scored on in MyTeam so how do you try to come out on top on the defensive end ??

*No joke, i played that Las Vegas Gamblers guy too and also crushed him lol....

[BBall1013423]

Pretty interesting read, might try this myself soon

One thing I want to add is use the players you get from the seed reward packs, such as the silver youll get from the fifth and fourth seed packs.

[PandaPower2k]

Quote: Originally Posted by itchyroll_51

I like the Gobert and Kyle Anderson pairing; got a great odd couple feel to it lol With an undermanned team like that what kind of defensive settings and POE's do you rely on ?? Offense will always come against players that aren't on your skill level. If you are good enough and their D is bad you would crush them. However even if their offense is bad and your D is good you will stil get scored on in MyTeam so how do you try to come out on top on the defensive end ?? *No joke, i played that Las Vegas Gamblers guy too and also crushed him lol....

On defense, I employ my trademarked NSR tactic.

Nothing special really Just good old on-ball D.

I start the game with everything on Auto (not to give my tactic away to my opponent! lol nah, I'm just lazy... ). Then I adjust accordingly during the game.

Most of the time I go, Limit Perimeter Shots/Neutral/Crash Defensive Boards and Get shooters open(or Play Through my star player Budinger)/Patient offense/Limit transition.

If I defend the perimeter guys well, I don't have to worry about rim protection. If I fail and let them drive inside, I set one of my bigs on "Gap" their match up, so they feel free to help. If a shooter is giving me troubles I "Deny" him the ball.

That's about it I think. But the thing probably matters the most on D for me, is I play quite good on-ball defense against zig-zagger and turbo abusers. I am also okay at reading the pick&rolls.

Quote: Originally Posted by BBall1013423

Pretty interesting read, might try this myself soon One thing I want to add is use the players you get from the seed reward packs, such as the silver youll get from the fifth and fourth seed packs.

Oh, I yeah I used the seed rewards... I had to. When my Kyle Anderson got injured (and there wasn't another Kyle Anderson on the AH for me to purchase), I had to use the silver reward Faverani on PF spot, hoping his 72 3pt rating would be useful, but it didn't happen. He has a terrible release.



So far I played 6 games in the 5th seed, won 2 of them but it is frustrating... I miss open 3s all the time for some reason

[itchyroll_51]

Quote: Originally Posted by PandaPower2k

On defense, I employ my trademarked NSR tactic. Nothing special really Just good old on-ball D. I start the game with everything on Auto (not to give my tactic away to my opponent! lol nah, I'm just lazy... ). Then I adjust accordingly during the game. Most of the time I go, Limit Perimeter Shots/Neutral/Crash Defensive Boards and Get shooters open(or Play Through my star player Budinger)/Patient offense/Limit transition. If I defend the perimeter guys well, I don't have to worry about rim protection. If I fail and let them drive inside, I set one of my bigs on "Gap" their match up, so they feel free to help. If a shooter is giving me troubles I "Deny" him the ball. That's about it I think. But the thing probably matters the most on D for me, is I play quite good on-ball defense against zig-zagger and turbo abusers. I am also okay at reading the pick&rolls. Oh, I yeah I used the seed rewards... I had to. When my Kyle Anderson got injured (and there wasn't another Kyle Anderson on the AH for me to purchase), I had to use the silver reward Faverani on PF spot, hoping his 72 3pt rating would be useful, but it didn't happen. He has a terrible release. So far I played 6 games in the 5th seed, won 2 of them but it is frustrating... I miss open 3s all the time for some reason

The open 3 misses most likely caused by the reality that you don't have any dimer passers I think. In my experience i found 3pt shots taken via dimer passes lead to much more greens.
I got a question about on-ball D on MyTeam, when do you start doing it ? I mean like in situations such as following a score or in transition. Do you go wherever the ball goes or you try to shift your big into the right spots when they are onviosuly playing dumb help Defense ?

I always find myself guarding on ball and then have to switch off every 3-4 seconds to help the big and then switch right back to on ball D.

[PandaPower2k]

Quote: Originally Posted by itchyroll_51

The open 3 misses most likely caused by the reality that you don't have any dimer passers I think. In my experience i found 3pt shots taken via dimer passes lead to much more greens. I got a question about on-ball D on MyTeam, when do you start doing it ? I mean like in situations such as following a score or in transition. Do you go wherever the ball goes or you try to shift your big into the right spots when they are onviosuly playing dumb help Defense ? I always find myself guarding on ball and then have to switch off every 3-4 seconds to help the big and then switch right back to on ball D.

Yeah badges like Dimer on passers, and Dead eye, Limitless range, Corner Specialist on shooters help a lot. And my players' low 3pt ratings also contribute to my missing wide open threes I guess ^^


I thought a bit about your question about defense... There maybe some exceptions, but I think I play on-ball D most of the time... Like almost always

Even in transition (unless I am outnumbered), and after I score as well...

My main focus on defense though, is putting my (on-ball) defender in the right position to contest outside shots while prevent penetration to the basket, or at least forcing them to drive towards where my help defender is.

And to position my player properly, I need to be able to make good predictions about what my opponents next move gonna be.

Now let's face it, most teams out there play a fast paced, impatient basketball and want to find easy buckets. A lot of times they will try to turbo their way to my basket with their athletic superstars, or they will seek very early 3s with their super shooters right after they crossed half court. And my AI defenders absolutely suck at defending such offenses, especially in transition.

They suck, because the AI is programmed to act in a certain way in certain situations and it cannot predict what the opponent might do, which way he might choose to drive, when he might decide to change his direction or make a shot/or pass etc.

This is mainly the reason I play on-ball defense almost always; in half court, in transition and even after I score... (I also almost never gamble to get interceptions or on-ball steals in the opponents half of the court, because if I fail -which happens most of the time- I am giving my opponent a 5v4 scoring opportunity)



Unlike the 2k AI, we humans are able to learn stuff, we can make predictions based on what we've learned... We can more or less predict our opponents next move after enough time spent against them and things learned from them (or from similar kinds of opponents). That's the key for me on D: predicting what my opponent is gonna do... Of course I cannot do it successfully every time But the more I play against a player, the better success I get with my predictions about him or players similar to him.

I think this is why I am pretty comfortable defending stuff like zig-zag and Turbo cheese... I played against way too many teams that do that, most of the time I can predict what they'll do next. Which helps me put my player in a better position before my opponent makes his next move, and it creates for me enough buffer to react in time despite my players' physical inferiorities, or the annoying online game lag...

As I said, it doesn't work everytime. Sometimes I'll make wrong predictions and be late to react, get scored on, and even lose (yeah I do lose too! )... But consciously trying to put an honest effort to do the right thing, play the right play on both sides is it's own consolation, even if it doesn't make you win at the end.


And even if I play it perfectly, most of the times, a LeBron will bully my Budinger all game long... But I shouldn't complain, at least I am lucky enough to have pulled Gobert in my starter pack who turned out to be a pretty decent interior defender...

I don't even know if this answers your questions, Sam, but I felt these stuff important to mention. Maybe it helps some people...

Oh, one thing I hate very much about off-ball D is when your AI defenders fall for the silliest pump fakes, like Mutombo pump faking my defenders from midrange...

And here are some of the readings I try to make on my opponent that helps me make my predictions/adjustments on defense. It may help some people I am sure:

- Try to get a feel of the frequency and wavelength (so to say) of his zig-zags (so that you can keep up with him in your zig-zag dance after a while you will know when he'll stop his "zigs" and start his "zags" without thinking)

- Does he like to Turbo along the side line and baseline to get to the basket (Then cover those lines better, intercept him)

- Does he tend to Turbo up the court and seek for quick threes (pick him up sooner, yet keep a somewhat optimal distance from your opponent that both minimizes his angular velocity relative to you -so you won't get beaten off the dribble easily- and makes you able to contest his shot should he make a deep three.)

- Does he like the post game? Be ready to show up with your guard to scare him or strip him, or be ready to quickly double him with a guy more than one pass away.

- Which way does he tend to turn, to do a post fadeaway? Knowing it could help you defend it better. (Most players turn over their main hand's shoulder. E.g. Dirk prefers right shoulder fadeaways)

- In which direction he tends to take his first step upon receiving the ball in half court offense? (The First step upon receiving the ball is a great weapon in 2k15 to blow by defenders who are trying to close up on quick perimeter players. At the wing, most people take this first step towards the middle, not towards the baseline)

- That's all I can think for now, gotta go. Might add more later.

Sorry for such a long post + bad English...