It is not really all that arcadey, it is just a term that has been adopted over the years for certain dribble moves only available to higher ball control. Some of these moves in past years were much more explosive than the normal animations which is why they got the term speed boost and that has just stuck. Now they are not quite as advantageous as in the past but they do give another set of tools and dribble combinations useful to beat players off the bounce and also unlock some cool looking dribble moves/combos such as the shamgod or behind the back shamgod.
The Devs put out a chart showing which my player builds would be able to reach an 86 ball control and unlock these animations. For some of us that either are wanna be dribble gods or like me run point and want all the ball control tools at my disposal this chart is important so I know what kind of player I can make to maximize shooting or finishing while maintaining the ability to utilize those dribble moves. Currently on the Xbox these builds and even NBA players in the game that just meet this threshold are not able to perform these moves even though the same players can on the PS4. The threshold on the xbox must be closer to a 90 and is inconsistent between the consoles and gives the PS4 players an advantage. Now one of my builds that I wanted to be my primary player can only just reach the 86 threshold, but with the way the game is currently I would not be able to utilize those moves unless in takeover which is a small portion of the time, and has actually caused me to put all my time into a different build.