Let's come with real solutions to fix this game that we love.

Cyberface for all players, included Euroleague

News classic teams with all the players

A better Created a player, with tatoos, new hair cut and the possibility to add an existing haircut from cyberface to a created player like an old PES (the sixth ?)

Body shapes. I should be able to edit everything on how I look.

No archetypes, either let us upgrade ourselves and change any stat for example 500 skill point upgrades and depending on height and position you'd have a base stat, so a 6'2 PG has default 65 3pt shooting I can leave it at that or upgrade it to 99 if I want and 34 skill points of my 500 have been used. It means we can specialise in stealing but our blocking doesn't increase like it does now with the defending slot in upgrades.
Or do it like fifa and we have to complete a certain amount of passes or shots or whatever to get increases in stats, make 3 threes and 3pt shooting increases by 2. Play 5 games sprint speed increases by 1. That sort of stuff. Gives us either more freedom of what we want to be or makes our players attributes increase to how we play.

For example in fifa if I never pass my passing stats don't increase. So if I decide to make a pass it would be terrible because I don't play that way. So in 2k if I never go into the post, if I decided to post up I would be awful but if I'm always dribbling and hitting off dribble shots then I would be good at that because of the increases to me always doing this. Only makes sense.

The next thing would definitely be mycareer decisions actually making a difference. The dynamic duo is cool and all but I don't think any decisions I make impact anything. The last 2k that a decision we make actually changes anything is when you go to fire your friend from being your agent. I'd like to be able to use the connections to make friends and get players to team up or make enemies and have a go at Lebron and have him hit me with flagrants or really turn up and put 50 on the board. Obviously I wouldn't do that to Lebron and get murdered so I'd make fun of Brandon Jennings or someone hopeless like that.

These aren't even big changes for the game or huge asks, 2k is living off microtransactions and the cost of VC is massively rising. In 2k16 I was earning almost 3000VC a game on HOF and now the most you can get is 1250VC and attributes buckets cost even more than before.

I agree with what they did to the badges and so on but making them such a grind is so unreasonable. 1200 assists for HOF Dimer? Seriously? I'm obviously going to get it but I'm going to spend 2 days calling screens then throwing lobs over and over and over and over again until I get it. Its now fun and its not hard, its just repetitive. The playmaker badges are possible to get on HOF difficulty but sharpshooter? That's 2k asking you to put it on rookie and just never pass and hit 3's all day as if that's realisitic in any way.

They could implement how you get badges so much better, for dimer you need at least an 85 passing rating, average out 8 assists in an entire season, user has to play at least 40 games. It's still a hell of a grind but it means you can get the badge by just playing the game instead of dedicating 20 games to getting 40 assists a game throwing lobs.

Limitless range could be 90 3pt shooting, qualify for the 3pt contest, make 10 30 foot jumpers. Getting limitless range on HOF is the damn hardest badge in the game. 50 deep 3's and the last 15 with a shooting percentage of 30% or higher? Hitting 30 foot 3's on HOF? Even being wide open for 15 of those making 5 is a lot to ask even with a 94 3pt rating.

They have unrealistic demands for badges and the attributes don't cater to being a unique player. Ever playmaker at the park and just filled out the same attribute buckets some things vary 1 or 2 skill points due to height (like speed) but other than that all playmakers are the same.

Rant over

I pretty much agree with everything spreadthem says…
They should allow you to have more customization on body types. It would be cool to make someone skinny, athletic, or “big boned”. Give them long arms (arms should never affect how good someone shoots btw) and big hands (size of hands could affect how you catch the ball though).
The archetypes don’t work. I love the idea of more customization with creating your player whether it’s earned or you get to choose. I’m fine with the body type affecting some caps for some stats but you should be able to make as close to what you want as possible. Weight should not affect 3pts but it could impact speed and agility. Give people some space and see what they come up with. I’m fine with everybody being able to make Magic/LeBron/Kobe/Jordan/Kareem/Bird type players because in the end it will be an even playing field and how you play with those players will matter more than how over powered they are. People can still create rolls for each other (like in 2k16) but they are not so one dimensional all the time like archetypes forces.
I also love the concept of allowing how you play to impact what kind of player you become. If you dribble a lot and are good at it then your crossover move attributes would increase and over time badges would be given. If you only speed boost and use screens then the crossover attributes should not be rewarded for this type of play. This will allow people the option to become a better version of how they play instead of grinding and forcing themselves into a player they will not that good at anyway.
I think the level you play on should impact how fast you can get attributes and badges as well. Reward someone’s skill in the game as well as their dedication to the grind. It should take me less stats to achieve badges and or attributes in HOF than if I played on Rookie the entire time. If I need 1,000 assists on Rookie to get a badge then I should only need to get 500 assists on HOF to get the same badge (or something like that). I think that should motivate everyone to play on the level they feel most comfortable at instead of which one is easier to cheese with.
Pro Am: Please allow us to dictate which position we play. If I have a player who is a small forward but my play making attributes are all the way up then allow me to put myself at point guard. If during a game the matchup is bad then we should be able to switch defensive assignments instead of getting our grade deducted because we are leaving our forced assignment. Also implementing the ability to call zone defenses without the same issue would be really nice!
Animations: Ok I understand the infatuations with animations but I feel like we have too many of them forced down our neck. when I shoot a jumper and I want to go follow my shot but I can’t because I have this weird animation like I’m just stuck admiring my shot, I get frustrated. When I go for a block and the guy misses but I’m stuck in some extended block animation for 2 extra seconds which allows the guy I blocked get the ball back, I get frustrated. How much of this game is physics and how much is animations? Let’s move that percentage more in favor of the physics side please. Way too many animations that get in the way of how I want to play.
AI Guy: I really hate AI Guys… they get more no look steals in one game than Magic gave no look passes his whole career… I’m exaggerating on purpose…