Gameplay
I guess the best way to put this is I want to be able to build a team culture. I want more personality in the MyLeague mode as well. I don't need the cutscenes or the converstaions, just the options and the for the things behind the scenes to mean the same.
The staff needs personalities and preferences like the players so that staffing fits can ruin or make a team. You have to decide whether to get yes men who will do everything you want so things run smoothly according to your vision even if it may not be the best move or whether you want guys who will tell you the best move even if it disagrees with you or each other.
I want the staff badges from MyGM in MyLeague.
I want the facilities from MyGM in MyLeague.
I want the AI in MyLeague to actually USE all the tools at their disposal, so training camps, training schedules, facilities ect.
Also I want the AI to put more emphasis on Staffing than it currently does. Nothing more disheartening in MyLeague than to see the Spurs let Pop go or the Warriors let Kerr go the year the win the Championship. Makes no sense.
All these factors combined would enhance the gameplay and make the simulation FAR more entertaining. You would get teams like the Spurs using their culture and their incredible staff to make a team that almost always outplays the individual parts.
Trainers should be able to setup training schedules for each individual player in League/GM. The better the trainer the better the schedule and the less likely the injury. The trainer would suggest minutes for players to prevent injury.
I would love an expanded staffing so you have a scouting team like the old 2k to go along with the Lead Scout for example or other trainers under the Head Trainer like a Dietician and a Masseuse. These could also be rolled under the badges I guess though managing more personalities would be better from a roleplay/gaming aspect. More layers to deal with to get the team perfect.
Big point here we need better drafting and scouting.
Scouting should give you nothing concrete. I would lobby HARD to remove the numerical ratings for scouts and give us only generalities as you would from a real scout and their stats. The better the scout the more accurate the assessment but as I said above with them having personalities and preferences if they like a certain type of player they may exaggerate their abilities.
I can give you a real life example of this: the infamous Deshawn Stephenson Michael Jordan comparison from nbadraft.net lol
In League/GM player Tendencies should be able to change over time like attributes.
If a player is in a certain system as they learn the system the tendencies tied to proficiency in that system should go up. So for example you put a wing in a run n gun system their tendency to shoot the 3 should go up as long as it meshes with their template and limited by their potential. Or putting him with a hard defensive coach should give him better defensive tendencies over time that sort of thing.
It's easier to conceptualize offensively than defensively but it would all depend on the system the coaches levels and the players potential.
Tying it to the template makes sure that they don't just become a completely different player which is impossible, you don't change players you just bring out what they can do.
Limiting it to their potential means that making them play very differently than they did when you drafted them would be limited to guys like Kawhi or Jimmy Butler who had extreme potential but needed the right coaching to bring out his MVP level ability.
The draft classes themselves need to be majorly overhauled. We need a major expansion to the CAP system. We need more everything option wise and the ability to layer these options. We also need the facial molding back with numerical positions on the grids AND the ability to share the CAPs through 2kShare.
Talked about the tendencies already but they're just out of whack in general and need to be better reflective of the player's abilities. Not always, see Josh Smith chucking 3s though he's horrible at it, but that should be the exception not the rule.
Presentation
We need the Nightly and Weekly Wrapups from College Hoops and NFL back. Can't really say more than that lol those were AWESOME and added so much flavor to the game.
I would love to be able to run a double/triple header or Tonight On NBA 2k TV sort of thing. You already put in the little icon showing that the games are on 2kTV that night. We need the ability to run through consecutive games without going back to the menu and one seamless presentation.
Like how when we select what games we want to play/watch on a certain day in the calendar it actually plays through those games back to back like a TV broadcast and ends with the Nightly Wrapup.