I totally agree with you on that. This year playing reckless and selfish basketball on offense is very rewarding regardless of how you're playing defense.
I think a lot of it comes down to their focus on VC sales. They have in essence dumb down the human to human gameplay so much to try and attract more casual gamers that the integrity and balance of the gameplay is just no longer there anymore.
I've never heard so many people on both live streams, parties, and in game chat mention the word "trash" as much as this year while they were playing 2k18. IMO it would be wise for 2k to get back to their roots of simulation basketball before its too late and they start loosing a large part of their fan base. Of course if they continue increasing VC sales as they have been maybe they don't care.