I'd have to disagree with everything except the communication. I'm not the basketball expert many of you are but it seems ratings in most cases are at best subjective and get argued in every forum across every sport on this website. This year I think they've released far more roster updates w/far more consistency than in any year previous so don't see how it's anywhere close to be the "worst in 3-4 years".
Do agree w/you re the communication aspect; there hasn't been much of a dialogue at all even with the addition of a community liason this year. While I don't think this or any other community should be the leading driver towards development of the game, I would think there would've been more of an effort to have a presence on the boards so debates don't carom so wildly out of control