If 2k wants to make association mode good, they need to focus on logic and reasoning

[kwabalicious]

Give players dynamic personalities. Often times players finishing out their first contract will want to sign with the team that drafted them. Guys coming off their second contract will often look for the most money. Guys who have stayed with their favorite team for 5-7 years will start to feel a sense of loyalty. Older players will begin to chase rings if they haven't won one already. Some guys are inefficient stubborn chuckers who will just want to be the number one guys on bad teams. Some guys with big personalities will be attracted to big cities like LA and New York. The personalities should affect the decisions of what a player wants to do. They won't always just test free agency.

Trades, FA, and drafting should be more logical to. What direction is a team headed? Are they tanking? Taking on expirers to free up cap space and trying to acquire picks? Are they a piece away from being a playoff team/contender? Do they need cap space? Are they a team like New York or LA that will never need to tank because everybody wants to play there? In the draft, Does a team have time to develop their players? Or do they need talent now? Teams will almost never simply just trade good players for other good players straight up at the same age and position.

Then, make player ratings and development for draft picks random. No, not completely random. What I mean by this is have a percent chance that a player reaches a certain level. Say Austin Rivers is drafted into the NBA. Give him percent chances towards how successful he would be in the NBA.
For Example:






Probably even make the percentages of being a mediocre player a lot higher, but I'm sure you understand my point. It would add some excitement to the Association mode.

Then just add some simple things like 10 day contracts, guaranteed and non guaranteed contracts, and protecting picks, and we're good to go.

[ronyell]

Re: If 2k wants to make association mode good, they need to focus on logic and reason

Give players dynamic personalities. Often times players finishing out their first contract will want to sign with the team that drafted them. Guys coming off their second contract will often look for the most money. Guys who have stayed with their favorite team for 5-7 years will start to feel a sense of loyalty. Older players will begin to chase rings if they haven't won one already. Some guys are inefficient stubborn chuckers who will just want to be the number one guys on bad teams. Some guys with big personalities will be attracted to big cities like LA and New York. The personalities should affect the decisions of what a player wants to do. They won't always just test free agency.

Trades, FA, and drafting should be more logical to. What direction is a team headed? Are they tanking? Taking on expirers to free up cap space and trying to acquire picks? Are they a piece away from being a playoff team/contender? Do they need cap space? Are they a team like New York or LA that will never need to tank because everybody wants to play there? In the draft, Does a team have time to develop their players? Or do they need talent now? Teams will almost never simply just trade good players for other good players straight up at the same age and position.

Then, make player ratings and development for draft picks random. No, not completely random. What I mean by this is have a percent chance that a player reaches a certain level. Say Austin Rivers is drafted into the NBA. Give him percent chances towards how successful he would be in the NBA.
For Example:






Probably even make the percentages of being a mediocre player a lot higher, but I'm sure you understand my point. It would add some excitement to the Association mode.

Then just add some simple things like 10 day contracts, guaranteed and non guaranteed contracts, and protecting picks, and we're good to go.

10 day contracts are in now.

[Phreezy P]

Re: If 2k wants to make association mode good, they need to focus on logic and reason

10 day contracts are in now.

And they have been since 2K10 I believe.

But I like your potential logic.

[scooper1030]

Re: If 2k wants to make association mode good, they need to focus on logic and reason

I love Association mode, but what always bothers me is the fact that there really are no "busts" in a draft. In any normal draft in real life, at least 3 or 4 of the top 10 picks will spend their careers as bench warmers and might even be out of the league within 5 years. But in 2k, all of those guys will pretty much automatically be at least an 80 overall at some point in their career, which makes all the teams a lot better than they should be once you get 3 or 4 years into a franchise. I think the Austin Rivers scenario you gave was great, keep the mode interesting by giving players a % chance to become star, starter, role player, bench warmer, etc. It would make the game mode more frustrating if you draft someone 2nd or 3rd overall who never amounts to anything despite the "potential" rating, but the mode would also be more realistic and fun.

[scooper1030]

Re: If 2k wants to make association mode good, they need to focus on logic and reason

Also, they should add both protected and non-protected picks to association mode instead of me having to trade picks between teams manually. I'm a Suns fan, and in the next three drafts the Suns have 6 first-round picks, but of course in association they only have 3 which makes rebuilding a team harder.

[kwabalicious]

I love Association mode, but what always bothers me is the fact that there really are no "busts" in a draft. In any normal draft in real life, at least 3 or 4 of the top 10 picks will spend their careers as bench warmers and might even be out of the league within 5 years. But in 2k, all of those guys will pretty much automatically be at least an 80 overall at some point in their career, which makes all the teams a lot better than they should be once you get 3 or 4 years into a franchise. I think the Austin Rivers scenario you gave was great, keep the mode interesting by giving players a % chance to become star, starter, role player, bench warmer, etc. It would make the game mode more frustrating if you draft someone 2nd or 3rd overall who never amounts to anything despite the "potential" rating, but the mode would also be more realistic and fun.

Exactly. No busts and second round pick steals.

[GudStuffzz]

Re: If 2k wants to make association mode good, they need to focus on logic and reason

Love this idea. It gets weird looking at all the teams in your association mode after like 2 years and seeing all of them stacked with a bunch of 80+ overall rated players

[timmio1990]

Re: If 2k wants to make association mode good, they need to focus on logic and reason

Very good ideas. I really like the idea of players not working out or being sleeps in the 2nd round.


I did not realize you could use 10 day contracts in the game though?

[Ejfalcon9]

Re: If 2k wants to make association mode good, they need to focus on logic and reason

I'm an association head, but I just can't play more than 1 year without getting bored. The mode is so Unrealistic. Like the OP said, give these guys personalities. Have guys tell me they wan't a trade and under what conditions they will be traded. Have a guy tell me he's a max player and I have to make the executive decision of what to do with him. Let's have contract restructuring and more negotiations than "My client has accepted your offer" or "My client is insulted by your offer"

The mode is just in dire need of some attention. If it isn't tuned up by next year I feel like it might be thrown out all together.

[Phreezy P]

Re: If 2k wants to make association mode good, they need to focus on logic and reason

I'm an association head, but I just can't play more than 1 year without getting bored. The mode is so Unrealistic. Like the OP said, give these guys personalities. Have guys tell me they wan't a trade and under what conditions they will be traded. Have a guy tell me he's a max player and I have to make the executive decision of what to do with him. Let's have contract restructuring and more negotiations than "My client has accepted your offer" or "My client is insulted by your offer"

The mode is just in dire need of some attention. If it isn't tuned up by next year I feel like it might be thrown out all together.

Exactly.

This may sound wierd, but NBA Live 10 association/dynasty was actually the best association based on the setup. Sure the trade logic was kind of weird, but when I owned Live 10 and 2k10, I actually enjoyed playing Lives. You got to choose your team direction (Rebuild, Compete, and Contend) There was a training camp and you could improve players while actually playing instead of clicking and seeing the ratings improve. Not only that, but I actually LOST games realistically.

[cgalligan]

Re: If 2k wants to make association mode good, they need to focus on logic and reason

Great post. I agree completely and It bothers me that there are "no busts" either... This leads to half the teams in the league having players that are mad about their minutes when you get a few years into association because, everyone is good enough to start lol.

Logic with roster moves and trades would be good too, because, controlling all 30 teams just to ensure realistic roster moves can be / is a pain in the A$$ for many people...

[baller768]

Re: If 2k wants to make association mode good, they need to focus on logic and reason

Players do chase rings in the game. I chose melo in the 2014 offseason and it told me he was willing to take less money for a shot at the title so i signed him and we won the title that following season.

[cgalligan]

Re: If 2k wants to make association mode good, they need to focus on logic and reason

Players do chase rings in the game. I chose melo in the 2014 offseason and it told me he was willing to take less money for a shot at the title so i signed him and we won the title that following season.

Same thing happened in my association, he took about $25m less to leave NYC and sign with the Clipps...

Oh, crap... I just gave away an interesting fact about my association that I haven't posted about

Check my sig for more details

[kwabalicious]

Re: If 2k wants to make association mode good, they need to focus on logic and reason

Players do chase rings in the game. I chose melo in the 2014 offseason and it told me he was willing to take less money for a shot at the title so i signed him and we won the title that following season.

Except it should coincide with personalities and age. Melo, at his age in 2014, would never take a discount to chase a ring. Same with J.R. Smith, who in my association took a 3 million dollar per year deal from a contender when his market price was 8 million. I know he could never get that much money, but if he could, J.R. would go get it.

[BluFu]

Re: If 2k wants to make association mode good, they need to focus on logic and reason

association definitely needs improvement however if you have the time, making your own draft classes and loading it into your association works wonders. also tweaking potential league-wide is a big part too.

in my opinion if they fix potential/development, give college stats and make scouts less accurate but still smart, we'd be looking at great drafts. for example, if team A was hovering around 80/90 ppg + Oppg, they would be looking at Player C that can light it up even if he's not projected to be a top pick or isn't great overall instead of Player B who's a defensive minded center because their defense is already great. stuff like that.

there should still be surprises but no stupidity. dion waiters was a surprise because everyone expected barnes but the pick still made sense.

or maybe the rating system is too basic..?