The Russell Westbrook disrespect has to stop

[J_Posse]

Quote: Originally Posted by salmarino

The most insulting part of his rating is his 96 speed and 96 acceleration, as if he hasn't aged or experienced any athletic decline lmao. Now watch his fanboys get mad.

He's definitely not that guy athletically anymore, but unfortunately 2K always does a porous job rating players as they decline athletically.

I would be shocked if LBJ is still rated extremely well athletically too.

Official HQ of Bills Backer/Spurs Nation

[ojandpizza]

Those ratings are generous but they aren’t AWFUL. He’s no longer athlete number 1, but he’s also not a bottom tier guard athletically either. I would guess there still isn’t more than 5-10 or so guys that are faster end to end than either Bron or Russ. Both have lost some first step speed, but Russ’s biggest issue is that guys play 5 feet off him like he’s Ben Simmons so any speed he has left is negated by that more so than his physical limitations. Bron off a steal is still pretty much a 3 second from one end to dunk type of guy. Matched by the leagues fastest guards and Giannis’s giant strides but not much else. He just finally looks like a giant forward in terms of shifty-ness and first step off the dribble instead of a guy 80lbs lighter than him like he used to.

That said Russ is still likely a bit too high, Bron ranks in the mid to high 80’s in all those metrics as a comparison. Russ seems really close to the top tier fastest guards.

In terms of vertical Russ has lost quite a bit. He was routinely not getting high enough to convert dunks last year. He shot less than 60% on dunks last season. Yes dunks. His dunk% was Jokic’s FG% lol. (Went and checked before posting this and he fished in the mid 60%s but was 58% at the time of the article I read, so he improved that a bit).

LeBron by contrast I’m still not sure another player at his size out jumps him other than Zion, even at his older age. Gordon/Toppin (both much lighter in weight however) His vertical isn’t what it was at his peak, but by comparison standard to the rest of the league there aren’t many who top him. Harrison Barnes being 6 points higher feels lol.. he’s still going through his legs and staring at the rim in warmup lines.






^ that’s a 89 for 2K.. I know singular clips/moments aren’t the answer to everything (Russ had a crazy dunk on Gobert last year himself we could point to) but Bron hasn’t declined in that regard enough to not dunk when he’s loaded up for a dunk. And not out-jump 95% of the league when he wants to.. Russ by comparison didn’t know when to try for a dunk or layup often last year (part of why his shot selection could be *** outside of his *** jump shot selection) because he just wasn’t as high as he expected to be and didn’t know how to finish.

I’d still like to wait and see how Russ bounces back this year before acting like this just is what he is at this point. But obviously that’s not how 2k ratings work. He had a few flashes last season. So there is a chance he’s somewhere between that and what he was overall. If that’s the case 2k will adjust and this whole thread is pointless. If those are still just flashes next year, then yeah 2k didn’t really do him dirty. You can’t base his ratings off what he used to be, or what he can do in 4-5 games out of the year. Would be like me taking Bron’s best 4-5 defensive games when the team was a full strength and saying “why isn’t he rated like an all-defense guy” instead of the guy who half-assed it on that end the 2nd half of the season.

[salmarino]

^^ Yea, Russ is still pretty clearly very athletic, but he's not such an athletic outlier to make up for his bad habits now. Like you said, he gets caught in the air or on drives in spots where he, in the past, would have exploded out of trouble and made something happen. High level pro sports are a game of inches, and you can see his slipped by a few.

He's very clearly not the most explosive and fast player in the league, and rating him that way is weird as hell for anyone watching the last 5 years or so.

[HeatLifer]

Quote: Originally Posted by tru11

Even if it did , thats not in their personality. Some people like to compete and rise to the challenge. Others rather team up and take the easy road. It is what is man. Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Operation Sports

With all this superstar movement and social media era, MJ would've left his team to join others or have others join him and never would've "survived" (his words not mine) the criticism.

MJ hated losing more than anyone (so the legend tells), you really think he'd sit back and let all these stars team up and him just idly stand by letting his team do nothing about it while he constantly loses? Not a chance, he's ultra competitive, all he cares about is winning. He's not sticking around while his franchise does nothing and every other franchise loads up on All-Stars, MJ is either joining or is coercing others to join him no doubt at all.

Also, it's well known prior to MJ's father passing he literally already told the media he's retiring at the end of the year due to the gambling (lol his betting his own money like anyone should care at all) questions from the press. And literally told the world he himself "would not survive the twitter era".

It truly is, what it is.

But anyway, as long as Russ PLAYS like Russ... that's all that matters, I've lowered Kobe and TMac's Shot IQ to 25 just in attempts to get them to shoot MORE and in previous 2K's it worked. 2K likes to keep certain stars previous seasons in mind while balancing their tendencies and attributes while completely disregarding others on a season to season basis. If Russ goes to say, Charlotte, believe he'll be the same ol 20/9/9 Russ. But they chose to take ONE season and make a stance on him lol that's a bit much.

[Champy123]

Wow. This thread exploded. Just fix Westbrook’s rating yourself if you think he’s too low. 2K will raise players’ ratings throughout the season. I don’t think we need a multi page thread for this.

[ggsimmonds]

Quote: Originally Posted by HeatLifer

With all this superstar movement and social media era, MJ would've left his team to join others or have others join him and never would've "survived" (his words not mine) the criticism. MJ hated losing more than anyone (so the legend tells), you really think he'd sit back and let all these stars team up and him just idly stand by letting his team do nothing about it while he constantly loses? Not a chance, he's ultra competitive, all he cares about is winning. He's not sticking around while his franchise does nothing and every other franchise loads up on All-Stars, MJ is either joining or is coercing others to join him no doubt at all. Also, it's well known prior to MJ's father passing he literally already told the media he's retiring at the end of the year due to the gambling (lol his betting his own money like anyone should care at all) questions from the press. And literally told the world he himself "would not survive the twitter era". It truly is, what it is.

Its different eras and we all know that. The superstar buddy team up is a modern thing. If Jordan was a modern player he would be part of the modern era and behave like his contemporaries. If LeBron was in Jordan's era his mindset would likely be different as well.

[Real2KInsider]

Quote: Originally Posted by HeatLifer

With all this superstar movement and social media era, MJ would've left his team to join others or have others join him and never would've "survived" (his words not mine) the criticism.

All the "loyalty" of the 80s/90s was simply because players didn't have a choice. Jordan signed an 8-year extension back in 1988. Pippen signed a 7-year extension and immediately regretted it.

Larry Bird signed a 5-year Rookie contract and then a 7-year extension.

The Lakers and Magic Johnson agreed to a 25-year contract back in 1981. At 1 million a year, he was quickly underpaid. An NBA Owner's wet dream.

The player movement of today is by league design. The players want freedom, yes, but the league also wants the league-wide parity of the NFL, not long-term dynasties. It's much better for business.

There are also plenty of 7+ year contracts that DIDN'T work out and hamstrung teams for the long-term.

Danny Ferry famously went from Duke to Italy, rather than sign w/ the Clippers who had drafted him second overall. His rights were traded to the Cavs the following year, and Ferry agreed to a 10-year deal (34 million - Compare to MJ's 8/25 or Pippen's 7/18). He was one of the league's highest paid players and ended up not being very good. He's one of the biggest reasons why the league setup the rookie contract system.

Larry Johnson signed a 10-year Rookie contract - which ended up being the only contract of his career. He had back surgery mid-way through his career and he was grossly overpaid on the back end.

[BoomFranchise]

Quote: Originally Posted by Champy123

Wow. This thread exploded. Just fix Westbrook’s rating yourself if you think he’s too low. 2K will raise players’ ratings throughout the season. I don’t think we need a multi page thread for this.

You mean... lower his rating as the season goes on

He'll look better on a different team but I have a strong feeling his minutes are going way down this season as long as he's a Laker