Moments Cards Review Thread

[BellSKA]

Quote: Originally Posted by joeptc

This is a no brainer and one that needs no info but here goes. I pulled the Ruby Harden two nights ago when I opened one moments pack on a whim. I played a couple games with him and obviously, he is the $hit. However, I am not a SG heavy player so i was able to sell him and my sapphire Lebron and get Ruby LeBron. Holy Crap. The last 4 games of Historic Dom just got easier...He is as good as expected. That's all. Still enjoying domination. 4-5 more games to go then I think I may dabble in supermax.

That Ruby Lebron is a dream to play with. I was getting worked by Diamond Magic in the come back Moments challenge. I was tired of the 2K cheese and decided to return the favor. Moved LBJ to the 1 and he shut Magic down without breaking a sweat.

I matched him up with Giannis at the 3 and ran PNR/ PNPop for easy wins. Greek Freak is a total mis-match. I can't wait for him to get a Ruby or higher card.

[harryl]

Quote: Originally Posted by jyoung

Emerald Nikola Vucevic & Brook Lopez This is easily the best budget starter/backup center pairing in the game right now if defense and rebounding aren't your primary concerns at the center position. They are basically the same card on offense, just with Brook having a slightly better post game.

The one thing I would note for folks, with regard to Vucevic vs. Lopez, is that Lopez is, by far, a better defender. Not good. More like adequate. But Vucevic is bad.

Vucevic is much more athletic though and that actually gives him much less-bad Lat Quickness on D. But is just generally Speed/Accel less slow.

So: I'd say the decision should come down to: strength of Block/Contest versus some semblance of athleticism.

Quote:

Gold Luc Mbah a Moute For just 500 MT, you'll get a player who can lock up the other team's LeBron/Durant/Carmelo/Abdur-Rahim with a 90 rating in every defensive category. [color="SlateGray"]

I like the Mbah a Moute cards a lot, as budget 3&D. The one thing I'll note is that, like some other notable defenders, 2K has given him Shot Contest that is actually kind of low. This Gold Moments has 72 Contest. Reminds of other defenders like Beverley, Roberson, and Bradley also getting low-ish Contest in the 70s.

Makes me go back and wonder about how all the Defensive Ratings work. And how important, really, are those DIQ Ratings if a player is manually controlled?

I think it's possible that one *might* get better animations when manualing a guy with higher applicable DIQ.

Let's say one is using Moments Gold Mbah a Moute to guard someone else's Ruby Abdur Rahim, posting up. Let's say you could choose between having 90 Low Post DIQ and 72 Contest, or 72 LPDIQ and 90 Contest.

I think it's possible the 90 LPDIQ helps keep you in front of Rahim as he fakes from post-up position...you know how those Hakeem-esque spin fakes will move your defender around in weird ways? Maybe those are LPDIQ influenced.

But even if you stay in front of him, quality of contest is limited to the 72 Contest. I maybe would feel fine with that on a Abdur Rahim, but not a Dirk. Try to pay attention to good defenders who actually have non-high Contest (i.e. under 85, maybe, but definitely under 80) and try to notice how their contest does or does not seem to drop success rate on opponent's shots.

Quote:

Silver T.J. Leaf Another value player you can pickup for 500 MT who has good height (6'10"), athleticism (75 speed & vertical), and offensive ability (85 three, 84 post fade, 83 post control, 85 post hook) for a power forward. As with emerald Vucevic/Lopez, you can cheaply add post spin/dropstep/pick & popper badges to this card to increase his offensive proficiency.

I hadn't noticed his post ratings and athleticism, just his shooting and horsesh!t defense. But...I've decided to finish three more Sched Challenges to at least get J.R., so I have a lot of use for productive Silver/Gold cards, and will take a closer look at Leaf.

Reminded me, also, how the Pacers would be a good franchise to target for Sched Challenge. Their All-Time team is not very good, and in the game, the team is filled with quality Silvers.

Didn't notice before, but easily can run a bench squad of nothing but Pacers Silvers: Collison / Oladipo / Lance / Leaf / Jefferson, and still also have a useful deep bench of Thad Young, Bogdanovic, and CoJo. That's 8 Pacers. Then run a starting lineup of non-Pacers, with 3 of them being Gold.

Even better: Sabonis is pretty much sure to get a Moments card.

Quote:

It would be interesting to see what he could do with gold posterizer added, but that badge is worth so much MT it's hard to justify putting three of them on a silver card.

Yeah, it's a little ridiculous to be plopping non-cheap badges on such low cards...but given how much play they can get as cheap cards in PvCPU challenges...maybe one can justify it.

I feel like an OP Silver can get a lot of play for the rest of the year and maybe it's not too ridiculous to do something with Mike James like put Gold Posterizer and Gold P&R Maestro on him.

[joeptc]

Quote: Originally Posted by BellSKA

That Ruby Lebron is a dream to play with. I was getting worked by Diamond Magic in the come back Moments challenge. I was tired of the 2K cheese and decided to return the favor. Moved LBJ to the 1 and he shut Magic down without breaking a sweat. I matched him up with Giannis at the 3 and ran PNR/ PNPop for easy wins. Greek Freak is a total mis-match. I can't wait for him to get a Ruby or higher card.

Dude. Saph Giannis is incredible . i put him at the 5 and he cannot be stopped. Loving him and Ruby Bron at the 1.

[jyoung]

Quote: Originally Posted by harryl

I feel like an OP Silver can get a lot of play for the rest of the year and maybe it's not too ridiculous to do something with Mike James like put Gold Posterizer and Gold P&R Maestro on him.

If you plan on playing lots of schedule mode, then badging up silver and gold cards will definitely be worth it in the long run given how stingy schedule mode gets with its lineup restrictions in later rounds.

[jyoung]

Gold Danny Green, Robert Covington, & P.J. Tucker

Just like the gold Luc Mbah a Moute card I mentioned earlier, all of these players can be sniped for less than 1,000 MT and can fill a "3 and D" role on your squad. Danny Green and Robert Covington also come with the microwave badge, which makes it easy for them to catch fire and regularly play above their base ratings. At 6'9", Covington can also guard smaller power forwards along the perimeter, but his 62 rating for strength and low post IQ is so bad that he will get exposed inside if he has to defend a post scorer who plays with his back to the basket.

I like to run these players in a lineup consistenting of:

Playmaking point guard
Danny Green
Robert Convington
Luc Mbah a Moute
Scoring center

Now I just need to find a playbook with a variety of good shooting plays that can get Danny Green some open looks in the half-court that aren't dependent on other people's penetration/gravity drawing his defender away from him.