That's an interesting point. Although one could also see that as 2K realizing they need some kind of extravagant marketing ploy, knowing the game wouldn't sell on its own merits otherwise. Honestly, which other game companies feel the need to entice people to buy their games by offering someone a once-in-a-lifetime chance to become a millionaire?
Here's how I see it: it's great that VC has been able to fix Kush's mess and put together a playable game (2K11) for the first time in half a decade. But they've done it entirely by subtraction. They removed features, removed sliders, and removed editing options. Meanwhile, they've added nothing new to the series over the past three years. All they've done is gotten the game back to where it should have been in 2008 or so. Which is fine.
But let's face it: from a graphics, animations and gameplay POV, the 2K series is still a good three or four years behind most other sports games out there. And VC has shown zero inclination to bring something brand new and innovative to the table with this series. IMO the article is spot on: the series appears to be in a kind of development limbo. And given all that, it seems unlikely as the article says that anything is suddenly going to change for 2K12. If that weren't the case, then surely we would have heard something by now about all the great stuff VC is working on. Once again their silence speaks volumes, just as it does every year at this time.