When Damjan Rudež rose off the bench and eagerly began his four-and-a-half-minute shift during the Minnesota Timberwolves season opener, I knew exactly why head coach Sam Mitchell had sent him in: to shoot the rock. The 6-foot-10 reserve forward from Croatia -- who was a "DNP Coach's Decision" in the second game this year -- probably checked in and out of the LA Staples Center without being noticed by most television viewers and audience members. But if you've taken NBA 2K16's MyTeam mode online, you probably recognized Rudež's name and face immediately because his 85-rated standing shot -- plus hot spots in the corners and at the top of the key -- make him one of the best perimeter threats in the "bronze" tier, which is limited to athletes rated below a 70 overall.

Rudež's average auction price of 3,000 MT (the primary currency of MyTeam) actually makes him more valuable in this mode than teammate (and 2015 Rookie of the Year) Andrew Wiggins, whose "gold" tier (given to players rated between an 80 and 89 overall) causes him to be more common on the marketplace. There are 20 Andrew Wiggins cards for sale as I type this sentence, compared to only one Damjan Rudež card. And in the 50 or so online matches I've completed this year, I've faced a lot more Rudež users than Wiggins owners.
 

Scouting "sleeper picks" like Rudež is an important part of all fantasy sports, but not even the largest fantasy basketball leagues will make their members look as deeply into a pro team's depth chart as NBA 2K16's MyTeam mode does. One of the best "bronze" centers in this year's game, for instance, is the 7-foot-5 D-League behemoth Sim Bhullar. He has scored a mere two points in his brief NBA career, but can utilize his huge body and high strength rating to back defenders underneath the rim for any easy two points on most possessions in NBA 2K16.

MyTeam contains over 1,000 players who could potentially fill your (and your opponents') 13 roster spots, so if you're trying to advance through the mode's online seasons ladder (called Road to the Playoffs), you'll want to become familiar with every obscure bench warmer, free agent and developmental prospect in the NBA. That is, until you reach the fourth seed of Road to the Playoffs, where all lineup restrictions are lifted, allowing users to stack their squads with do-it-all superstars like LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis -- completely removing any potential weak links from their lineups, and entirely eliminating the need for careful roster construction and pregame scouting.
 

As someone who's not interested in spending more than $65 on any single video game, MyTeam stopped being fun the second I hit the fourth seed and began facing the same flawlessly built, difficult-to-obtain lineups in every online match. I would love for Visual Concepts -- the company that once gave us All-Pro Football 2K8 -- to finally give fans of restricted team-building a separate ladder to climb in MyTeam, featuring realistic roster limitations such as one "amethyst" card, one "gold" card, two "silver" cards and nine "bronze" cards.

Unfortunately, for people like me (and fortunately, for all the employees and shareholders of Take-Two Interactive) the "superfans" who are spending hundreds of dollars every year in MyTeam want to play with no limits, other than the ones on their Visas and MasterCards. All-Star teams are also what the millions of people who are following NBA 2K-themed Twitch steams and YouTube channels want to watch.
 

Still, I cringe whenever I see people trashing a highly trained professional sharpshooter like Luke Babbitt, calling him "a garbage pull" as his picture pops out from underneath the foil of their 10th consecutive card pack. Streamer/commenters all become fixated on Babbitt's "silver" tier and 70 overall rating, while overlooking his Microwave badge, 92-rated three ball and hot spots that stretch across the entire 3-point arc.

For me, there's no finer pleasure in MyTeam than torching a trendy, expensive lineup with relative unknowns like Babbitt or Rudež, and hearing -- right before they rage quit -- a crackling voice enter my earbuds asking, "Who the $&@% is that guy?"