NBA 2K: Should Zone Defense Be Removed?

[RaychelSnr]

From the YMCA to the NCAA, zone defenses have become a go-to strategy for many amateur basketball teams.

But at the sport's highest level, the National Basketball Association, true zone defense remains as rare and successful as a Zach Randolph 3-point shot.

No current NBA team uses zone as its primary defense, and excluding outliers like the Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks and Toronto Raptors, who utilize zones in no more than 10 percent of their defensive possessions, few NBA squads show much interest in the scheme.

Read More - NBA 2K: Should Zone Defense Be Removed?

[Dr. Banner]

I never used zone, and won't! Feel like it's basically cheating in NBA 2k.

[kevin young]

when is patch 5 coming with the shoe update??????

[TalenT]

I would hate for them to remove something that can actually be used in a real game so I'm gonna say no. What SHOULD happen is they should fine tune it to where whatever zone you're playing has the same weaknesses as they do in real life.

[VDusen04]

I just posted about this issue in a separate thread so I'll deliver only the cliffnotes here. Since zone defenses, however rare, truly do exist in the NBA, I believe they have a place in NBA 2K. What I believe needs to be addressed, are the aspects of the game that allow zone defenses to be so effective and readily abused - defensive recovery speed, teammate logic, passing capabilities, specific offensive sets for countering a zone defense, and a host of other factors that'd allow teams to run zones, but also give users enough ammo with their own real life strategies and capabilities.

I think there's a laundry list of reasons zone defenses are so rare in the NBA in real life. It's just, a lot of those reasons do not hold true in NBA 2K.

[XxSpiritHunterX]

Not at all. I agree with the usage of zone defense on multiple possessions, no more than a full quarter. I do believe that zones, especially 1-3-1, should be less effective.

1-3-1 Zone: players move too fast for the pace of the passing game
2-3 Zone: corner pieces lock on to wing players to easily
3-2 Zone: frontcourt can stop a corner-to-corner pass to easily and interceptions are too common behind the 3 line

Man-to-Man is the only true defense, but it needs to at least better than the zones. Just make all defenses have their strengths and weaknesses like they would in the NBA. Do I need to mention the 1-3-1 zone, the best zone in 2K, is the worse zone to use, even at college level?

[Dr. Poe]

The computer runs zone too much. It's like it's scared to man up. They can have zone as an option, just reduce the frequency the computer uses it.

[tril]

I like using zone defense when playing against another person.

Zone defense in the NBA2k series plays more like a college zone than an NBA zone, which is fine, cause zone defense is designed to mask a teams defensive weaknesses.
Its rare to play a human in 2k that can actually play great fundamental man to man defense (spamming the steal button does not count as good fundamental defense)

I dont mind that the close out speed is so quick when using zone. Its about making the extra pass. I personally believe the 2k devlopers just ripped the zone defense code out of CH2k8 and added it to the NBA series without making any adjustments to it.