I'm so excited that you can customize player progression in 2K19. I’ve been following the NBA for over 15 years, and have been religiously tracking player progression the whole time. Player development is the aspect of the NBA that fascinates me the most. Even when i was 12 years old playing NBA Live 2001 i used to love playing season modes and watching stars develop. This curiosity has made me pay close attention to player development in the NBA. I’ve seen all the trends. I’ve thoroughly analysed every draft crop since 2006 and watched their growth. It’s what i enjoy. These sliders are based on my observations over the past 15 years.
Scroll down to the 2nd post below to see the slider settings in writing.
Philosophy:
Players are at their athletic peak at the start of their career, around the age of 20 to 24. Give or take a year or so. This is when they have the most bounce, but not necessarily the most mass/strength. As they build mass, their functional athleticism plateaus during their mid-late 20's. For the most part, players come into the league with their athletic identity set in stone. You can still add functional athleticism (more efficient movements, stronger core and legs, stuff like that) but the changes are more subtle than things like IQ and ball skill (especially IQ).
So which athletic attributes develop/regress the most/least and when?
Since a player’s game stems from athletic profile, as a player’s athleticism starts to decline, as does their impact. But a player doesn’t lose their IQ or their ball skill as they decline, they are as strong as ever, the thing that declines is their CAPABILITIES given their athletic profile...
So what non-athletic attributes are affected by declining athleticism?
What things DON’T get affected by athletic decline?
What about offensive and defensive consistency?
In my mind, these attributes should be THE main difference maker between young players and vets. In my vision for the landscape, it shouldn’t be uncommon for a young star prospect to come into the league with a 50 for offensive consistency and be able to end up with a 90. A young player might have the athletic profile required to be a star but not have the experience required to make him a consistent scorer/defender. Some mental traits are instinctual and locked in (reaction time for example), but some intangible traits are developed from PLAYING in an NBA game. Consistency is one of those things imo. Therefore Off and Def Consistency (and some IQ ratings) is the thing that increases the most during growth phase.
Which attributes are the easiest to develop during growth phase?
Which attributes generally come naturally to a player and are fairly locked in with minimal progression or regression?
Any attributes i haven’t listed above is considered “normal” progression/regression.
These settings are made assuming people make draft classes where young players have less strength and consistency attributes than vets, yet athletic attributes that set their athletic profile from day 1.
Note: Player peak start and ends have a big impact on results, as does the team’s in-season training schedules for the individual player. Injuries also affect regression. Also there is an element of random at play too. Lots of variables.
PSN: barncore33
Filename: BarnseyProgressions
Slider settings are written out and updated in the post below! Enjoy!
Scroll down to the 2nd post below to see the slider settings in writing.
Philosophy:
Players are at their athletic peak at the start of their career, around the age of 20 to 24. Give or take a year or so. This is when they have the most bounce, but not necessarily the most mass/strength. As they build mass, their functional athleticism plateaus during their mid-late 20's. For the most part, players come into the league with their athletic identity set in stone. You can still add functional athleticism (more efficient movements, stronger core and legs, stuff like that) but the changes are more subtle than things like IQ and ball skill (especially IQ).
So which athletic attributes develop/regress the most/least and when?
- -Acceleration and lateral quickness regress faster in father time than speed and vertical. Think about Vince Carter, he can still jump high, but the QUICKNESS of his jump is what goes down. VC is an outlier athletically but there are many examples of this. Twitch-athleticism is the most important kind of athleticism in basketball (more than power-athleticism), and that’s the thing that decreases the most. Vets still have a decent top speed, but how quickly the get to that top speed is what decreases, and how much energy it requires to get to that top speed decreases too.
- -Strength doesn’t decrease in father time, but stamina does significantly. If anything, players in the decline phase are stronger than ever in terms of core strength and mass, but the energy required to move around the court raises, and they run out of stamina much quicker. Think about Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan or any other vet in father time phase, they don’t play less minutes because they can’t play anymore, they play less because their declining athleticism uses up more energy quicker. Hence the minutes decrease.
- -Vertical and Speed is at its highest around a player’s early 20’s. It plateaus through their peak phase, and declines slowly through their regression phase.
- -Strength is at its lowest in a player’s rookie year and slowly increases ever year through growth phase as well as peak phase (but especially growth phase). It doesn’t decline.
- -Acceleration and Lateral quickness is at its highest in a player’s early 20’s. It plateaus through their peak house, and declines quickly through their regression phase.
Since a player’s game stems from athletic profile, as a player’s athleticism starts to decline, as does their impact. But a player doesn’t lose their IQ or their ball skill as they decline, they are as strong as ever, the thing that declines is their CAPABILITIES given their athletic profile...
So what non-athletic attributes are affected by declining athleticism?
- -Shooting off the dribble is largely affected by athletic decline, but open shooting isn’t. Vets in father time can’t create as much space as they used to. Open shooting retains through regression phase. FT also retains.
- -Driving layup is affected by athletic decline. Less acrobatics.
- -All 3 dunking attributes are affected by athletic decline.
- -Drawing foul is slightly affected by athletic decline. Vets retain saviness, but defenders don’t bite on as much stuff as they did when the player had athletic edge. Also, refs don't call it as much.
- -Speed with ball. Self explanatory.
- -Post control goes down a bit. Less flexibility for footwork, less impactful movements.
- -Rebounding attributes are affected by athletic decline.
- -Steals and block success are affected by athletic decline.
What things DON’T get affected by athletic decline?
- -Open shots.
- -FT
- -Shot IQ.
- -All 3 passing attributes
- -Hands
- -Help defense IQ
- -Pass perception
- -Reaction time
What about offensive and defensive consistency?
In my mind, these attributes should be THE main difference maker between young players and vets. In my vision for the landscape, it shouldn’t be uncommon for a young star prospect to come into the league with a 50 for offensive consistency and be able to end up with a 90. A young player might have the athletic profile required to be a star but not have the experience required to make him a consistent scorer/defender. Some mental traits are instinctual and locked in (reaction time for example), but some intangible traits are developed from PLAYING in an NBA game. Consistency is one of those things imo. Therefore Off and Def Consistency (and some IQ ratings) is the thing that increases the most during growth phase.
Which attributes are the easiest to develop during growth phase?
- -Practice based skills (ball handling, shooting based attributes (especially open shot), hands, pass accuracy, boxout)
- -Game experience based attributes (draw foul, help defense, consistency)
- -Gym based attributes (strength, stamina)
Which attributes generally come naturally to a player and are fairly locked in with minimal progression or regression?
- -Passing vision
- -Reaction time
- -Maybe pass perception (i still gotta figure out what that affects in the game exactly)
- -Hustle
Any attributes i haven’t listed above is considered “normal” progression/regression.
These settings are made assuming people make draft classes where young players have less strength and consistency attributes than vets, yet athletic attributes that set their athletic profile from day 1.
Note: Player peak start and ends have a big impact on results, as does the team’s in-season training schedules for the individual player. Injuries also affect regression. Also there is an element of random at play too. Lots of variables.
PSN: barncore33
Filename: BarnseyProgressions
Slider settings are written out and updated in the post below! Enjoy!
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