Both those things make a HUGE difference. Default sliders make it impossible to contest shots and its too unrealistic. On sim sliders players tend to miss open shots like in real life, contested shots rarely go in, there are more foul calls and less cheese in general. Its a pretty big difference. And not having Noel is a huge loss. Noel not only is a great shot blocker but he has very active hands generating steals and forcing turnovers and makes it difficult for opposing teams to get into the paint. I was a SG for the 76ers and MCW is awesome at generating turnovers along with Noel and Thaddeus Young and Noel lock things down in the paint. I usually have my man on lockdown so defensively the 76ers are good but we sucked offensively. But not having Noel is a big deal. Spencer Hawes and the other bigs suck and cant play defense for anything. Spencer Hawes is as soft as a freaking teddy bear.