[Bornindamecca]

Disclaimer: I have not had any trouble scoring against the AI. This is a discussion about how the defense thinks, not how difficult it is.

Gonna keep this short and simple. So much of the power went into stopping one-on-one penetration and passing into the middle, but the AI is pretty oblivious to switching situations and helping situations. I like the extra contact when it plays out well, though a lot of the recovery and warping just doesn't look good or realistic. But why is this happening? It's happening to stop people from spamming dribble moves and getting into the paint.

What happens if you can get past your defender either one on one or via the pick and roll? You score. One pass. MAYBE two passes. But that's now how good NBA defenses work. Great recovery is about great rotation, not the ability to stay in front of highly skilled, highly athletic ball handlers. If you could just stick a guy in front of Dame or Harden, defensive coaches would have a pretty easy job.

The defenses are supposed to plan for the breakdown, help, recover and when all else fails and you have to bend, give up third or fourth option the offense has. It all starts with dedicating more resources to strong areas of the court, not great on ball D, and certainly not seeing your big man defending a skilled perimeter player and thinking "it's okay, he's got that."

Great on ball D is a rarity and buffing the AI on ball recovery for the league makes it less special when we face Kawhi or Tony Allen.

They either send help or pack the paint, depending on the personnel and situation. I love the focus on punishing lazy interior pass attempts(though I hate the beach ball pass, fix that FIRST), but either in a patch or next year we need the devs to focus on great defenses being better at help, switching, rotation and giving up the lower percentage option. Less on unrealistic collisions and speed boosts.

Disclaimer II: I know how to break down the AI one-on-one. Change speeds, use your combos, don't user Turbo unless the combo requires it or you have a clear lane. It's not that hard. The thing is, the current system doesn't respect athleticism enough. The AI relies on cheats in several situations. I've watched the replays in slow motion and I can see exactly where and how the cheats are happening. This is a band aid covering up a lack of switching, help and rotation logic.