Advice for doing a MyCareer Center?

[takki]

I don't have much knowledge of basketball. I briefly got to play the NBA 2k14 next gen mycareer for a day and I have a bunch of small questions as I was having trouble. There's almost no videos or advice on the internet for Centers; everyone seems to be PGs/SF.

1. I want to set screens that knock down players, dominate on the boards and slam down with the vengeance of the gods. Should I be a Center or Power Forward for this?

2. I was barely getting getting any minutes of playtime, so I could barely score, got horrible teammate grades and got almost no VC. Your shooting stats are horrible as a dunking center so it was a catch 22. I remained a bench player as the game wouldn't let me improve. How can I fix this?

3. What stats and signature skills should I be aiming for to be an effective center?

4. Is it harder to become a starter if you choose a team that already has a strong center? I got drafted to a team that already had an elite center and was getting basically no play time whatsoever.Should I draft to an average team or an elite team in this case?

[Caius101]

Quote: Originally Posted by takki

I don't have much knowledge of basketball. I briefly got to play the NBA 2k14 next gen mycareer for a day and I have a bunch of small questions as I was having trouble. There's almost no videos or advice on the internet for Centers; everyone seems to be PGs/SF. 1. I want to set screens that knock down players, dominate on the boards and slam down with the vengeance of the gods. Should I be a Center or Power Forward for this? 2. I was barely getting getting any minutes of playtime, so I could barely score, got horrible teammate grades and got almost no VC. Your shooting stats are horrible as a dunking center so it was a catch 22. I remained a bench player as the game wouldn't let me improve. How can I fix this? 3. What stats and signature skills should I be aiming for to be an effective center? 4. Is it harder to become a starter if you choose a team that already has a strong center? I got drafted to a team that already had an elite center and was getting basically no play time whatsoever.Should I draft to an average team or an elite team in this case?

1. PF in my experience is easier to play than Center, primarily because your athletics are better. Also, try to keep your player 6'9" - 6'10" as taller players still seem to have slower animations.

2. Setting A TON of screens for your guards can get you into a B - B+ grade very easily, add in a focus on rebounds and you can get to an A. Play only on Pro at first, Rookie will cut your VC gained in half and isn't that much easier.

3. I personally focused on taking up the stat line that pushed up my STANDING inside/close shot. Back them down with a post, fake once or twice, then shoot if they bite, if not, pass out to a guard or SF.

4. And it is harder to get starter on a team with a really good player in your position.

Some others may tell you differently from what I have, but it's from personally experience in what I share.

[apriliand]

Quote: Originally Posted by takki

I don't have much knowledge of basketball. I briefly got to play the NBA 2k14 next gen mycareer for a day and I have a bunch of small questions as I was having trouble. There's almost no videos or advice on the internet for Centers; everyone seems to be PGs/SF. 1. I want to set screens that knock down players, dominate on the boards and slam down with the vengeance of the gods. Should I be a Center or Power Forward for this? 2. I was barely getting getting any minutes of playtime, so I could barely score, got horrible teammate grades and got almost no VC. Your shooting stats are horrible as a dunking center so it was a catch 22. I remained a bench player as the game wouldn't let me improve. How can I fix this? 3. What stats and signature skills should I be aiming for to be an effective center? 4. Is it harder to become a starter if you choose a team that already has a strong center? I got drafted to a team that already had an elite center and was getting basically no play time whatsoever.Should I draft to an average team or an elite team in this case?

Hi, another point of view here:

first, you can check out your possible stat caps here:
http://jmp.sh/nLp9tFp

1. Both a C and a PF are equally good, C is actually cheaper to level. Check the stat caps.
2. If you want to be a good scorer and also avoid frustration, level and practice your jump shots. Trust me, relying on your inside shots is a frustration in 2k15, especially at the beginning you will not make many inside shots (or it will feel like it). Defense under the basket on Superstar difficulty (also on All Star, not to mention HoF) is super effective.
3. I would go for athlete, defense, inside scoring and jump shooting. Just a little bit of rebounding, as you will get dozens of rebounds anyway.
4. My PF went to Denver, and after my 2nd 10 day contract I replaced Faried after like 5 matches, who is an 80+ player (I was in mid 60s, maybe 70). You pretty much automatically become starter.

[nry20]

Centers this year are ridiculously over powered because of the stat lines they get.

At this moment (i had to restart with VC from my 82 center who had 19 badges to a new center because 2k servers gobbled up my old one) I have the following which makes me near impossible to guard (I'm a 89 overall center now, 7'3"):

95 standing 3
95 driving dunk
80 ball handle
Some crazy pass, like 90 or something
about 11 points in defense (working that up now)
7 points into rebounding (height and capped athleticism do most of the boarding work)

Add to that I have
Dead Eye
Limitless Range
Posterizer
Step-Back Freeze (? Something like that, can't remember the exact name, I step back and people lock up for a sec before they can chase me)
Dimer


Basically what I did was maxed Athleticism first, every point went into it, I'd grab the boards on both offense and defense (if you let the play break down on offense and just get in position they jack crazy shots up so you get o boards) and if I was clear I'd put the o rebound back up, if not I'd pass it out to an open man.

After my athleticism was maxed I went on to shooting/playmaking, getting 10 of each then maxing out shooting, then maxing playmaking after shooting was 20. This allowed me to become the center of almost all of our offensive plays. Pretty much every play runs through me now which is great because I draw a lot of doubles.

Now I'm working on defense, don't know if I said that already because it's late, but that should round me out. Still haven't touched boards anymore because I have no troubles pulling 15-20 in 6 minute quarters on super-star sim mode.


If you want to play how you said, I'd highly suggest maxing athleticism first and setting a screen for the ball handler every possession. Setting the screen enough will get you brick wall/pick and roll (?? outlet? dunno what it's called this year) and give you great grade.


Dunno what else to tell you, after you've gotten to a point where you set picks, get boards, and have a ton of speed/dunk you should be pretty set in seeing where you need to improve your game for yourself. Goodluck man.

[takki]

Thanks guys for the help, Nry, your response was particularly helpful.


Also April, love your youtube videos. You are 1 of the only 2 people I've seen this year doing videos on Centers.

[Bornindamecca]

Athleticism is definitely the number one skill. Next you can go for outside shooting or inside scoring, depending on your preference.

When you're backing down, the drop step is your friend. The hookshot is ok if you have the height advantage. The step back jumper is fantastic. Other Centers have terrible on ball D, so when you have space you should be able to blow by them, even on Superstar difficulty, with just a jab step-release as long as your speed/quickness are up there. It won't work every time, but it's definitely reliable.

Size isn't an issue. My Center is 7 feet, rated 82 overall and I have no problem scoring and grabbing 20-25 rebounds. I've only put about 5 or 6 upgrades into rebounds, so that's enough with size and quickness to lead the league in boards.

When you're setting screens, be patient. Don't walk too close to the defender. Set it near him and wait for your teammates. Don't release from the screen right away, as the CPU may go back and forth for a bit, running their man into the screen multiple times before making a play. It's a solid source of offense.

I've found that it's easier to grab boards on Superstar/Sim than All Star/Sim, because your teammates are lazy idiots on SS/Sim, but AS/Sim is more fun because they're much more likely to play like their real life counterparts.

[Rockie_Fresh88]

My problem with center is going up against 7'0 small forwards in the park you feel disadvantaged all around

[Bornindamecca]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rockie_Fresh88

My problem with center is going up against 7'0 small forwards in the park you feel disadvantaged all around

I don't know if a Center is viable for the park or Rec Center. The penalties attributed to inside scoring only hurt big men and people will NEVER give you time to post up, lol. With boosted heights and maxed out verts, I think people may want to look into an alternate character for Park play. Rec Center might be a little better because there are fouls, but I don't think the game is tuned to allow the size and muscle advantage that bigs have in real life.