I actually think it's less about whether gamers are ready for live ball and more about whether a video game developer is currently able to implement such a feature into a basketball game in a realistic and functional manner. If NBA 2K12 was a sneak peek into 2K's current live ball technology, it does not seem ready for prime time.
In 2K12, there was the idea of the existence of a "live ball" in certain situations, so it wasn't true all-enveloping live ball physics. However, even the tiny bit they included seemed to lead to a lot of random and bizarre looking situations. As I'm sure we all remember, shots were being blocked by armpits, heads, shoulders, and stomachs. Loose balls would be haphazardly chased by relaxed and upright competitors. It all generally felt awkward.
I'm not sure the current state of "live ball" translates as well to basketball video games as they may in hockey or soccer games. In those sports, the object (ball or puck) is deflected, poked, and taken away with a very frequent regularity. I feel with NBA video game's current setup (the manner with which defense is implemented, the way the offense responds), true real ball physics would be very tough to pull off. It wouldn't just be a matter of letting the ball be "alive".
Everything about the game itself would have to re-worked so as not to invite 74 poke aways and loose balls every 48 minutes.
Perhaps developers have a trick up their sleeve but from what I've seen, it's not gamers not being ready for live ball physics, it's live ball physics not being ready for us.