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It’s been sometime since I was a dedicated 2k player; years of missing point blank lay ups for no reason got to me and I gave up on the game entirely in the early 2010’s. However, 2k is one of those means by which a huge number of younger fans interact with the NBA. For some, it might be the primary way.
Which would be fine if the game were more than a funhouse mirror look at the league. I’ve been told that it’s improved a great deal. Rick Carlisle has some sort of coaching rating card that labels him specifically as the number one coach who doesn’t have patience for rookies. So it’s getting more accurate. They even have assistants too!
Yet the ratings for the Maverick basketball players are a bit weird! Let’s look at the over all rating sorted from highest to lowest and see what stands out:
- Luka Doncic - 94
- Kristaps Porzingis - 84
- Tim Hardaway Jr. - 79
- Jalen Brunson - 78
- Moses Brown - 77
- Dorian Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber - 76
- Dwight Powell, Willie Cauley-Stein, Trey Burke - 75
- Boban Marjanovic, Reggie Bullock - 74
- Josh Green - 71
- Sterling Brown - 72
- Tyrell Terry - 70
First, it has Moses Brown as the fifth best player on the team. If that’s the case, then the Mavericks might be in a world of trouble this next season. In reality, what’s likely happened is that the system overrates counting stats and Brown played 40 games of garbage time last year. He’s not bad but he’s certainly not better than Maxi Kleber or even Willie Cauley-Stein.
Second, 2k ranked the prime off-season acquisition Reggie Bullock as 74 over all, the same as Boban. That’s just... I don’t know. It’s not right. Of course, when teams assemble, the whole should be greater than the parts and there’s plenty of work out there explaining why Reggie Bullock fits.
Still, it felt like something worth addressing because it’s weird. We all had kind of a strange weekend at MMB, but we’ll have more posts out this week with some more meat. Till then, I’ll be thinking about how the 2k ratings of the Dallas Mavericks are quite strange.