High Scorers Collection

[Nickstank]

Quote: Originally Posted by harryl

I would imagine everything premium has dropped at least marginally today. But I have no sense of KG pricing, even on PC. The writing was on the wall with Diamond Gasol and it was cemented by Diamond Hakeem, amongst others, but Diamond Kareem really settles that no Diamond, even Theme Rewards, is safe from obsolescence, in comparison to late-cycle cards. The advantages of Kareem vs. Robinson are overwhelming, even before one gets to the badging. http://2kmtcentral.com/17/players/compare/20445/20050 Kareem is packable and looks to be pretty numerous. Robinson required the lock-in of a very expensive pre-market-crash collection.

It's hard to believe, but David Robinson is about to be my second string PF. These late-cycle cards are just insane. I'm not really mad about it because I've had him for months and I've gotten plenty of fun and value out of him. I just can't believe I'm actually going to take him out of my starting lineup because he's not quite good enough. Crazy times haha

[Bi00]

Times are a changin'. I'm going to hold some MT and if Kareem gets a tendency adjustment, I might just have to pick him up. I'm imagining a Hakeem, KAJ, Duncan, Robinson paint black hole.

[Nickstank]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bi00

Times are a changin'. I'm going to hold some MT and if Kareem gets a tendency adjustment, I might just have to pick him up. I'm imagining a Hakeem, KAJ, Duncan, Robinson paint black hole.

Hahaha, I don't really have any affection for Kareem, but if the price is right I might have to pull the trigger over KG. Then I'd be rocking a similar Hakeem, Kareem, Robinson and Mutombo fearsome foursome in the paint. I love playing with two bigs. So many people go small and playing two true bigs just wrecks them.

[Bi00]

Quote: Originally Posted by Nickstank

Hahaha, I don't really have any affection for Kareem, but if the price is right I might have to pull the trigger over KG. Then I'd be rocking a similar Hakeem, Kareem, Robinson and Mutombo fearsome foursome in the paint. I love playing with two bigs. So many people go small and playing two true bigs just wrecks them.

I've always liked 2 bigs and a traditional 4 as well but I've been going away from that by playing stretch 4s because the game was rewarding 3 pointers heavily. If you guys are telling me that shooting is nerfed right now, bring on the drop steps hell yes.

[K_Aug]

If that Kareem goes under 300k, I'm grabbing him. He can be my end game center unless Lakers Shaq is absolutely juiced. KG, Kemp, Kareem and PD Timmy would be nasty from court rotation and I'll be able to run a switch everything defense.

[harryl]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bi00

I've always liked 2 bigs and a traditional 4 as well but I've been going away from that by playing stretch 4s because the game was rewarding 3 pointers heavily. If you guys are telling me that shooting is nerfed right now, bring on the drop steps hell yes.

I think it may depend on what League you're in. Outside shooting feels normal to me on All-Star and Pro. But when I played the Shaq Moments challenges on Superstar, I was hard-pressed to exceed realistic percentages. Was bricking some wide-open stuff, though some of that was my own bad timing.

I think now that we're at late cycle, while they've gone extremely unrealistic in ratings, we now have four paths to go with choosing a 4 at the elite level:

1. Twin-Tower 4: guys like Kareem, Robinson, and Hakeem could all play super-big 4.

2. Stretch 4: guys like LBJ, Giannis, Pippen, and Marion all make for good smaller/faster w/handles Stretch 4's.

3. Unrealistic Traditional 4?

And then there are guys who are hard to characterize because they're great at everything or are very unique in some aspect. This Malone is ridiculous with the outside shooting, and is otherwise already elite at what a traditional 4 is great at. So are the two Diamond AD's, who bring small-center height. And so are the Diamond Porzingises, to a large extent, who lack in Strength but bring Center height.

And there's Webber and Kemp, who bring ability to run the floor, three-point range, and in Webber's case, exceptional passing as well.

I guess that one could say that these guys, to a great extent, are sort of unrealistic Traditional 4's, and a third path.

The only thing that really keeps Kareem, Hakeem, and Robinson out as super-tall members of the third category is that they lack the Speed With ball of the guys I listed in the 3rd. (With AD and Porzingis in between.)

[Bi00]

Quote: Originally Posted by harryl

I think now that we're at late cycle, while they've gone extremely unrealistic in ratings, we now have four paths to go with choosing a 4 at the elite level: 1. Twin-Tower 4: guys like Kareem, Robinson, and Hakeem could all play super-big 4. 2. Stretch 4: guys like LBJ, Giannis, Pippen, and Marion all make for good smaller/faster w/handles Stretch 4's. 3. Unrealistic Traditional 4?

I'll be back in Superstar soon (3 games) then I'll test the waters on 3 point shooting. But if threes are unreliable, you gotta start going with these super unrealistic 4s/5s.

If this game had balanced players, I would play a traditional rim protecting/low post 5 and a rim runner 4. But freaking KAJ has 95 driving dunk/contact dunk/driving layup. Rim running bigs are already pretty scary if you focus on that kind of offensive set now they can run, stop, then perform a million different post moves. Then if that doesn't work, they can get bailed by 90+ draw foul and 80+ free throw.

[Nickstank]

With the incredible lat quickness, on ball D IQ and defensive badging of many of the power forwards and centers out there, it makes way more sense to me to go big at this point. All other things being equal, bigger is better on a basketball court. Sure you might sacrifice some handles with a true big at the 4, but you will always have the size, post play and rebounding advantage, and you lose pretty much nothing in perimeter defense.

For me, I don't need my bigs to run the break like Giannis. I need them to be defensive destroyers, dominant rebounders, and post bullies. D Rob/AD/Garnett/Hakeem/Kareem can guard or even lock down Giannis, Webber, or LBJ anywhere on the court. The reverse isn't true.