The Franchise Man: NBA Free Agency and Its Impact on the Digital Hardwood

Feature Article

Submitted on: 07/22/2010 by Andrew Kennedy

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh did something that has never been done before this NBA offseason by bringing their collective free-market talents to South Beach. While they have shaken up the real-life NBA, they have also done the same in the digital NBA world.

The biggest story of the NBA year was not a game or the NBA Finals, but the free agency period and where the league’s stars would decide to go and play. NBA video games cannot let this go unnoticed.

We are no longer in an era where the free-agency period in a franchise mode is something you sim past after 15 minutes. It’s too important and needs to feel that way in video games.

So here are a few suggestions to make free agency more realistic in NBA video games.

NBA Icons

I got this first idea from the old Madden PS2 games when some players were given the title of NFL icon. While it did not mean much in those games, I think it could really help add to the personality of franchises in NBA games. The big names are what made free agency such a big deal this year in the NBA. For the NBA video games to try and re-create this feel, they should incorporate a system that determines which handful of players in the league are considered its icons.

This should not be something where every team has at least one icon either. I am talking about just 10-15 players around the league who have the best chance to alter a team’s chances of winning titles. I would suggest adding a rating that combines overall, age and potential to determine who is an icon. With that element in place, those players would be the ones who would generate the most buzz when they are in contract seasons.

League Buzz

This is something that is missing from NBA franchise modes. Basically, it is almost impossible to really care about other teams within a franchise mode. Other than just checking league leader stats or team records, you don’t really know what else is going on with other teams. I think that from the start of the regular season, taking into account which players are icons, there should be buzz around the wires about what these players are saying and demanding.

If someone was playing with the 2010 Cleveland Cavaliers last season, they should know that LeBron wants another 85-plus overall player by the trading deadline and is expecting a trip to the NBA Finals otherwise he may not re-sign. It would add to the franchise the element of keeping players happy. It would make it so you have to do a number of things to keep your stars instead of just bringing up a screen and pressing a button to re-sign your best players for five more years.

There needs to be some real buzz around the offseason.

Recruiting

LeBron went around and visited multiple teams this offseason, trying to find the best fit for him. In a sense, these teams were recruiting LeBron. NBA video games should take a page out of NCAA Football's book and integrate a recruiting function during the free-agency period. Each player should have his wants and demands listed and then each team can be given the opportunity to pitch what they have to offer.

The wants for players should include money, location, championship potential and loyalty (I vote to give LeBron a zero on the loyalty front). This way no NBA team not located in Los Angeles or Miami would have a chance at a guy like Lamar Odom because he loves living close to a beach. At the same time, guys like Joe Johnson will be easy to keep in cities like Atlanta as long as you pay them.

Twitter Integration

Now that players are breaking news on Twitter, why not integrate that into the game as well. However, players’ wants and demands will not be as straight forward as just checking their profiles. You will have to do your research as a GM and look at their Twitter pages to see that you perhaps do not want to re-sign Michael Beasley because he tweeted something about the coach not playing him enough -- this could perhaps hurt your team chemistry. Then you find out (although this is pretty obvious) that Kevin Durant is perfect for an extension because he constantly tweets about his workouts and how much he loves his teammates. This would give a great personalized feel to any franchise and add another dimension that has been missing.

Final Thoughts

I want more from my NBA franchises and that begins with putting more importance on the offseason. I have never spent more than 20 minutes on an NBA 2K offseason before, but I spent hours reading about where LeBron might end up next year.

Andrew Kennedy is a staff writer for OS. He lives in Orlando and is really good at watching sports and playing video games a lot. You can follow him on Twitter @akennedy41, on OS as crusaderhoops10 or at his sports blog akennedy13.wordpress.com.

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Member Comments

# 1 blocknose @ 07/22/10 01:37 PM

great idea for all sports games not just NBA

# 2 Agent_XX4 @ 07/22/10 02:38 PM

awsome idea

# 3 SlidinThrew @ 07/22/10 02:41 PM

Good Ideas, I would love to see the off season be more important in every NBA game.

# 4 convince @ 07/22/10 03:10 PM

I wonder what KG would do if he had to do it over again. Oh yeah, he already answered that, he would left a long time ago. So i guess KG would have a zero in the loyalty dept. as well. The Cavs did it to themselves, they should have traded for Amare, but they decided to keep hold of J.J. Hickerson, that why they went Jamison route. Its funny how loyalty only is thrown around when that player is a superstar. Many times owners have released and traded players w/o a player wanting to leave. I'm glad Lebron left, he did the best thing for the pursuit of a ring and left about 25 million on the table. Right now Joe Johnson is making more money than Lebron, Bosh and Wade . I guess he's loyal and not greedy. BTW the Twitter idea is horrible. But the Buzz idea is awesome.

# 5 n_cruz69 @ 07/22/10 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by convince


	I wonder what KG would do if he had to do it over again. Oh yeah, he already answered that, he would left a long time ago. So i guess KG would have a zero in the loyalty dept. as well. The Cavs did it to themselves, they should have traded for Amare, but they decided to keep hold of J.J. Hickerson, that why they went Jamison route. Its funny how loyalty only is thrown around when that player is a superstar. Many times owners have released and traded players w/o a player wanting to leave. I'm glad Lebron left, he did the best thing for the pursuit of a ring and left about 25 million on the table. Right now Joe Johnson is making more money than Lebron, Bosh and Wade . I guess he's loyal and not greedy. BTW the Twitter idea is horrible. But the Buzz idea is awesome.

KG didnt leave after his team won 66 games and was a player away from winning a championship, he left after the team failed to make the playoffs in multiple years after giving going through multiple rebuilding process while his talent was being wasted. The funny thing is, it was Lebron who didnt want Hickson traded. You see Lebron had a say an ALL of the Cavs transactions, including the Jamison trade and the Shaq signing. The organization did everything Lebron asked and got the players he wanted, and they still go the shaft. It was Lebron who quit on the team in a very winnable series against the Celtics. IMO, the pressure of winning as THE MAN and in a city like Cleveland got to him and he decided he wanted to take the easy road and not be the man.

# 6 ronyell @ 07/22/10 05:10 PM

VERY good read & i agree with everthing suggested... franchise gets stale because of the lack of what you've suggested.

# 7 user600 @ 07/22/10 05:16 PM

2K series already has the league buzz, you can see what players are asking for trade and possible destinations

# 8 luv_mist @ 07/22/10 05:19 PM

Those were good ideas Andrew. I think those things should be integrated as well as other things into the Association. Honestly, I think that they were headed in the right direction with the way the NBA.com front page was setup. I hope that 2K does improve off-season as well as season hype through the rumors and speculation of the players.

I think they also need to bring about the need for more than "superstars" on teams. There needs to be a better algorithm to the team building. I think that could bring about more excitement to the game also. Still, I like the article.

# 9 cam21224 @ 07/22/10 05:40 PM

Great ideas.

Would love to see this in all sports games.

Especially 2k b-ball & Madden.

# 10 Raven Nation42 @ 07/23/10 04:01 AM

Great article and good suggestions.... Hopefully we'll be able to see this soon

# 11 MarvellousOne @ 07/23/10 04:24 AM

I am really feeling the League Buzz Idea, and I feel that is major for making franchise modes more alive and exciting, these are great ideas and really would do a number on franchise modes to have them feel like they have more of a purpose than just click-clacks of some buttons. Great article.

# 12 convince @ 07/23/10 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by n_cruz69


	KG didnt leave after his team won 66 games and was a player away from winning a championship, he left after the team failed to make the playoffs in multiple years after giving going through multiple rebuilding process while his talent was being wasted. The funny thing is, it was Lebron who didnt want Hickson traded. You see Lebron had a say an ALL of the Cavs transactions, including the Jamison trade and the Shaq signing. The organization did everything Lebron asked and got the players he wanted, and they still go the shaft. It was Lebron who quit on the team in a very winnable series against the Celtics. IMO, the pressure of winning as THE MAN and in a city like Cleveland got to him and he decided he wanted to take the easy road and not be the man.

You're right KG left like two-three years later, when he was just half of what he was in his prime. He is still a good player but no where close to what he was when he was in Minnesota. Lebron was smart to leave when he did, and not six years from now with two bad knees and maybe a ring. But its nice to know that you are in Bron's inner circle to know who he actually wants and who he did not want to trade. But if I'm not mistaken, it was the owner that stated to the media, that Lebron had no input on the roster or the coaching decisions. So either you are mistaken or the owner is a liar, well I will leave that up to you to decide. But lets be clear on one thing, Lebron and Varejao was the only players to show up in that series. It took M. Williams the last game to even put forth an effort. To be honest in the last game Lebron's effort was not the best. Maybe he was tired, maybe just got tired of carrying the team, who knows. But if you believe like the owner does, that the Cavs will win a ring before Lebron, you and the owner need to stop borrowing hand rolled cigarettes from Willie Nelson.

# 13 xRobertitox @ 07/23/10 10:36 AM

Of course Dan Gilbert isn't gonna say "We let LeBron run this orginization".

# 14 convince @ 07/23/10 03:12 PM

Of course not but there was a better way to answer the question. For example, "every player on the team is important and their input is appreciated but the final say lays in the hands of myself and the GM." Maybe its not completely true but at least you don't alienate the star player you are trying to resigned. When its all said and done, I'm not a Cavs or MIA fan so i could care less. But I love to root for players that most people hate.

# 15 thegreatusurper512 @ 07/23/10 03:17 PM

could be a good idea. though since the cba is changing in a year, it's hard to make a big engine change to economic structures in video games.

i think that what this collection of talent should do though is help the teams work on their simulation engines. also I wish they would have teams change styles based on personnel

# 16 stlstudios189 @ 07/23/10 08:32 PM

more personality would go a long way

# 17 what8590 @ 07/24/10 03:18 AM

all that sounds AWESOME except the twitter idea...not really big on that but the recruiting for free agency and your icon player demanding you make a trade would be GREAT. And recruiting New York you would pitch well its New York City and stuff like that. Phoenix no illegal immigrants on the streets lol. But that really would be cool. I always have hated how there is basically nothing involved in the offseasons except in NCAA football

# 18 matthewj @ 07/25/10 02:23 AM

I wish they would do something like this. The twitter idea isn't the best though. I want the A.I. to sign FA and make trades better. Currently the FA process seems random at times.

# 19 Rocboyz101 @ 07/25/10 09:33 PM

Great Great Idea man.

# 20 Acim1234 @ 07/25/10 11:53 PM

I would love this idea.

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