Derrick Williams: It's a lot harder to dunk in the real NBA - SteveM's Blog

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Derrick Williams: It's a lot harder to dunk in the real NBA Stuck

Posted on March 8, 2013 at 09:50 AM.

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Following up on my previous post about Stan Van Gundy and video games, I spoke with Minnesota Timberwolves forward Derrick Williams about his experience with basketball video games after their 87-82 win over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night.

Williams started playing basketball video games after he'd already started playing in real life. "I probably started with NBA Live," he said. "I think McGrady was on the cover in �03 or so." A little research revealed that McGrady didn't make the cover of Live until '07, but it seems more likely that Williams is misremembering the cover athlete than when he started playing.

He still plays NBA 2K now, but not surprisingly it's a little different from playing the actual game at the NBA level.

"You look at people differently when you�re playing with them on the video game from how they are in real life," he said. "It�s a video game�no one�s ever going to get it completely right. But at the same time, there�s a lot of guys that are a lot better than what they show on the game. [In the actual game] I�m like, �He made that shot? He can�t make that in 2K.�"

Even he feels like things got a little arcade-y for a couple years there. He said, "I think that around �06 to �09 it was kind of unrealistic where people were just jumping over the rim on the game." So I asked him: Is it harder to dunk in the NBA than in video games?

"Oh yeah," he said. "A lot harder."

Comments

# 1 @legendm0de @ Mar 8

thats why I changed the dunk sliders, lol . Dunks I get in 2K now are

2K out of the box is going to take about 2 weeks worth of adjusting to get a sim otherwise your playing a very arcade version of the game.

# 2 bigdooky15 @ Mar 8

He was probably thinking about Steve Francis on NBA Live 2002 or Vince Carter on 2004 because he was on both Rockets and Raptors so I can understand the confusion. But Jason Kidd was on 2003, you can never forget that bald head.

# 3 tril @ Mar 8

Jason Kidd on the cover in 03 thats the year and version I made the switch to 2k and never looked back.

# 4 statum71 @ Mar 8

Oh now. Don't get this started. Let's not persuade 2K into ruining the game where you only see 2 dunks in a whole game.

That's why everybody has sliders. I have my game now where I see about 5 or 6 per team each game. That's about right.

# 5 scottyp180 @ Mar 8

Tril I pretty much did the same thing as you. I had a ps2 and the first 2k on that console was 2k2. I remember playing that game but 2k3 was the year that I fell in love. Live 03 was fun, first time they had freestyle stick, but I remember being impressed with how realistic 2k3 was at the time.

# 6 Jarbeez @ Mar 11

Dunking needs to be more balanced for sure, but ask Blake Griffin or Lebron and get some perspective from the other side of the spectrum.

# 7 Jimbo614 @ Mar 11

Joey: Wait a minute. I know you. You're Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. You play basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Roger Murdock: I'm sorry son, but you must have me confused with someone else. My name is Roger Murdock. I'm the co-pilot.
Joey: You are Kareem! I've seen you play. My dad's got season tickets.
Roger Murdock: I think you should go back to your seat now Joey. Right Clarence?
Captain Oveur: Nahhhhhh, he's not bothering anyone, let him stay here.
Roger Murdock: But just remember, my name is...
[showing his nametag]
Roger Murdock: ROGER MURDOCK. I'm an airline pilot.
Joey: I think you're the greatest, but my dad says you don't work hard enough on defense.
[Kareem's getting mad]
Joey: And he says that lots of times, you don't even run down court. And that you don't really try... except during the playoffs.
Roger Murdock: [breaking character] The hell I don't! LISTEN KID! I've been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I'm out there busting my buns every night. Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes.