I think 2K12 is just no longer a priority for them. It wasn't enough but we saw them try to get their act together before opening day. They got a fair amount done in two weeks. Then we saw them go quiet with less complete updates two weeks at a time. I'm guessing that due to the lack of sales this year from the lockout, they've decided to focus effort on 2k13.
If that's true, it's short sighted, because they are building ill-will towards their entire franchise-- and when they are literally the only game in town, their failures will cause existing fans to be even more reactionary.
This was the year to push full forward to cement their relationship with their fans and eliminate any chance of EA making a comeback for the forseeable future. They even had a month or two break where they didn't have to deal with the real NBA. Instead of taking advantage of this to provide more fixes for the existing game in more comprehensive patches, they wasted their time with a DLC that no one asked for and didn't add much to the main game (and I'm guessing didn't sell that well). You can see how little people cared that blacktop was mostly missing when the game was released. I'm not sure what made them think people would be jumping to pay extra for it by adding legends and slapping an ugly cel-shader on it.
This update isn't terrible, now that my Warriors are complete-- but it's still missing some 30+ players. That needs to be fixed and soon. I just wished they would actually communicate what was going on-- whether we should expect tattoos or photo updates for rookies ever this season, about how long this whole process is going to take, whether there will be any more patches. This going dark after release deal even regarding the most basic things is not helping their relationship with the customer. If we have to face dissapointments, dissapoint us early with reasonable explainations so we can deal and move on.
I have no love for EA, and chuckled when NBA Elite died in a fire. I saw the hype for 2k12 and was thrilled that 2k seemed intent to remove EA entirely from the basketball equation. Nothing would please me more to see the demise of everything I felt was wrong with sports gaming since NFL 2K5.
When you've got me of all people eager to see what EA puts out next year, regardless of how bad it probably will be, hoping they do at least a few things well enough to steal just enough market share from 2K to keep them on their toes-- you've done something really wrong.