NBA2K22 Roster Project: 1984-85 Season (PS5)
 

I had been working on custom rosters for the 1984-85 season for 2K21 on the PS5 but got a very late start due to it taking so long to get a PS5. So I paused my work on that project and decided I'd pick it back up again on 2K22. I had 5 of the 23 teams (Sixers, Celtics, Lakers, Bucks and Bulls) basically done so I'm in the process right now of transferring that data over to 2K22 and then I'll start in on finishing the remaining teams.

As someone who grew up watching a lot of NBA basketball and collecting basketball cards and playing NBA simulation board games in the 80s, I know these players well. However, this roster also involves many hours of research and viewing information, videos and pictures of players and testing, testing, testing to make sure the players and teams play like they should. But a big thanks is also owed to MJWizards, Clutch0z, and ojandpizza for their custom rosters and CAPs over the last few years (I've learned a lot from playing with their rosters and studying what they've done), and also thanks to Fidel1978 and bigdougswan for their excellent rosters on 2K21 with 80's teams. Undoubtedly, some of their hard work will be found in some of the CAPs in my roster. Although I am doing full custom edits on all players, it definitely saves time on some CAPs when you have a good, high quality starting point.

I don't have a time estimate yet on when I will be able to complete the remaining teams, but I will periodically update my progress on the project here. The project will include:

• Full, complete 84-85 rosters with CAPS for any players not in the game
• Accurate info, jersey numbers, shoes and accessories for all players
• Signature and tendency edits for all players
• Attributes, badges, rotations and minutes all adjusted for 84-85 season
• Custom coaches and coaching strategies based on 84-85 season
• Realistic sliders for the 84-85 season
• 2K Share set-up to replay the 84-85 season

UPDATE:

Completed: 76ers, Bucks, Bulls, Lakers, Celtics, Rockets, Blazers, Pistons, Mavericks, Jazz, Nuggets, Spurs, Nets, Knicks, Bullets

Working on: Hawks

Re: NBA2K22 Roster Project: 1984-85 Season (PS5)
 

Excellent the 84-85 season would be a fun season to sim. Lakers and Celtics in the middle of their 80's run. Strong 76ers team with a rookie Charles Barkley and MJ's first year in the NBA.

Re: NBA2K22 Roster Project: 1984-85 Season (PS5)
 

Looking forward to playing this classic roster !
Good look for your project

Re: NBA2K22 Roster Project: 1984-85 Season (PS5)
 

Totally...those Lakers, Celtics and Sixers rosters were stacked! The Bucks were pretty strong too with the trio of Sidney Moncrief, Paul Pressey and Terry Cummings.

Re: NBA2K22 Roster Project: 1984-85 Season (PS5)
 

Have you already a "overall ranking" for the top 20 players in your mind? Im very curious about that!

Re: NBA2K22 Roster Project: 1984-85 Season (PS5)
 

Yes! I came up with that first so that, when I was working on teams, I would have a good idea of where to slot various guys in as far as overall ratings. I'm not a fan of all the 98s and 99s so I capped the highest overall rating at 96. I also limited the amount of guys in the 90+ range as I wanted the superstars to have some real differentiation from guys who were periodic all-stars but not top tier players. These are my top guys adjusted for their performance that season (although this is subject to possible revision after testing, etc):

• 96 - Larry Bird, Magic Johnson
• 95 - Moses Malone
• 94 - Bernard King, Michael Jordan, Isiah Thomas
• 92 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sidney Moncrief, Dominique Wilkins, Hakeem Olajuwon
• 91 - Ralph Sampson
• 90 - Terry Cummings
• 89 - Adrian Dantley, Alex English, Jeff Ruland, Michael Ray Richardson, Kevin McHale, Julius Erving
• 88 - Robert Parish, Bill Laimbeer

There may be some other guys that end up as 88s or 89s as I work on some of the other teams. Generally, trying to keep most other strong starters in the 85-88 range, weaker and spot starters in the 80-84 range, stronger bench players in the 75-79 range and end of the bench guys in the 70-74 range. The ratings in the roster for the rookies like Jordan, Olajuwon and Barkley will be based on their full season performance. For the league set-up, I plan on scaling their ratings back to "beginning of the season" ratings so they don't get too inflated by the end of that first season.

Re: NBA2K22 Roster Project: 1984-85 Season (PS5)
 

Good! i love to see that B-King rating

I saw you have Moncrief at 92 and Cummings at 90. So i guess you dont have the 2k official ratings as set in stone, since they are at 90 and 88 in 2k22, which i kind of agree to be honest.

Re: NBA2K22 Roster Project: 1984-85 Season (PS5)
 

Correct. I took the top players in the league and worked my down. So I started with Bird and Magic and then went down the line based on the all-NBA teams, all-star teams, stats, etc. For all of these guys, I had their overall 1 lower when I was making the rosters in 2K21 (for example, Moncrief and Cummings were 91 and 89....Bird and Magic were at top at 95). I'm assuming I'll probably need to bump them all up by 1 though as I expect all these new badges to inflate ratings slightly. But we'll see once I tweak the teams I already had done to include new badges. I already noticed the overalls were different in 2K22 for a few guys I started inputting based upon the same ratings, badges, etc. from 2K21. So there will probably need to be some sort of slight re-balancing.