Poor spacing hurts this game

[Smirkin Dirk]

It hasnt been improved upon since last gen. It makes the game very crowded, particularly in the paint and doesnt let the game flow. A few things contribute to the problem.

1. The player dimensions seem big. I have no evidence for this, just a hunch.

2. Suck-in animations into defenders. I just watched Caron Butler squeeze past 2 Grizzlies baseline as he was quicker and had better position. If that were 2K he would have been sucked in to the 1st defender and couldnt get past. These animations limit the maneuverability of players.

3. Slow passes. Ive just started a myGm with the Mavs who rely on swing swing passes. WHat Ive noticed is the slow velocity of passes and lack of touch passes give defenders plenty of time to close up space.

4. Sliding. Its better but still occurs. It enables players to morph into positions unnaturally and further reduces on court space.

This spacing issue has to be the focus of this generation.

[El_Poopador]

[RapAssassinator]

Omg, the passes are so annoying. Especially online with lag and off ball defense, its fast breaks for days. Extremely hard to swing the ball. I also feel defenders recover to quick in this game. For example, if I post up down low, a wing defender will come to help, I will pass out, but the combination of slow passes and this quick recovery make it so that the help defender can get right back in the shooters face.

I think this also has to do with why you feel dimensions are so big.

I personally don't notice much sliding anymore, but never looked for it that much either tbh.

[Shunsui]

Yeah, passes get stolen way too many times.

[Chocolate Chip]

the court needs to be bigger

[lockdownD]

The animations in the game for player movement and passing have gotten pretty bad since 2k11, which has really hurt the spacing in the game IMO. If the devs are gonna improve the spacing they are gonna have to really re-work the animation system a lot more.

Sadly, the way the animations are right now they're far too sluggish. The start-up and transition of the animations themselves are too delayed and slow. Its frustrating both on offense and defense.

Off-ball contact animations there is so much sliding, floating, and bouncing around on the court. If you play a mode such as Team-up for instance where your have to play off-ball a lot this really stands out and is very annoying.

Also, too many contact animations you get stuck to other players for far too long and can't break out of the animation until its done. It happens when trying to pass, pump fake, jump, defend, or just general player movement around the court.

Without the ball on offense and defense we should have more control over our movements, it should be much more precise. I'm tired of feeling like I'm floating on the court and don't have great control over my players movements, this is basketball not hockey.

Pass/Catch animations, as the receiver of passes far too often your pushed and pulled in certain directions, forcing you way out of position on the court. The pass animations need to start-up quicker, so you can do quick touch passes and swing the ball around better. Passes to cutters and players in the paint are too floaty, I'm tired of seeing passes bounce off defenders backs and bodies since a pass was too slow. There are also too many unnecessary fancy passes that are thrown now automatically. Lastly, catches of passes players should be able to grab and secure the ball a lot better when it is thrown to them (unless its a bad pass), the ball is too lively when it is first caught, resulting in too many loose balls and/or turnovers.

A.I. Teammate intelligence and movements on the court should get better as well. Too many times CPU teammates have crowded around another teammate of mine making it more difficult to catch a pass or shoot the ball. CPU players should be much more aware of their surroundings on the court, both in terms of where other players are and also where the sideline and out of bounds is. If the lane opens up and the CPU cuts to the basket and no defender is there, he shouldn't just keep running past the basket (towards other defenders), but should instead stand still and wait for the pass under the basket.

Those are some of the things that I think if the devs really worked on for 2k15 it would really improve the spacing a lot more and the flow of the game and make it more enjoyable to play.

[Smirkin Dirk]

Quote: Originally Posted by lockdownD

A.I. Teammate intelligence and movements on the court should get better as well.

The rest of your post is spot on. I want to focus on this.

I was coming down one side of the court with Caleron, Dalembert running the pther lane. I was looking for the oop but Sam ran to the corner 3.

Im sure we've all got stories like that

[EASTS2k]

The court is just smaller than it's supposed to be, this is to make the game easier to manage for unskilled players.

The game is also too animation-trigger happy/heavy, which does not allow for realistic movement and contact (easy way out for developers, animations take little-to-no time to create).

I didn't buy 2k14, not buying 2k15 if they keep getting lazy and catering to casuals, as we all should.