NBA 2K16: Aggressive On-Ball Physicality

[ChaseB]

When it comes to NBA 2K, the developers who have to figure out the best way to create an environment where both defense and offense are rewarded has to be a tricky balancing act. I would even say it has to be frustrating at times. Some of the decisions you have to make in terms of deciding what two-man interactions you implement, deciding how dribble moves work, how the defensive slide works, how defensive assist plays into the equation, how the ball itself acts in this situation, and how physical you can even be all play into a showdown that occurs 100 billion times a game.

In other words, it feels really complex to me.

Some folks have been poking me to write about on-ball defense, and I’ve sort of tried to avoid writing about it because it’s a quagmire of sorts. I don’t know if it’s really possible to nail a perfect balance when you have a million animations, a ton of attributes, oodles of dribble moves, and a lot of various player types and bodies all bouncing off each other in all these scenarios. It’s not a simple paper beats rock scenario (though come on, we all know rock flies right through paper).

That being said, I’ve come to think of on-ball defense like a mini-game version of a fighting game. It’s reading and reacting as one player tries to do an input that the other is predicting or trying to counter. I’m not sure if that’s the right way to think about it or not, but it’s the way I’ve settled on thinking about on-ball defense as I’ve written this all up.

After the jump, I’ll talk a little bit about the real NBA vs. NBA 2K. From there, I’ll dive into what I see as the positives, the negatives and the I-am-not-even-really-sure territory of on-ball defense in NBA 2K16.

This one might get a little weird. Let’s do it.

Read More - NBA 2K16: On-Ball Physicality

[ChaseB]

Quick notes:

-I did not talk about warping back into place once you've beat your man as I feel like that's just an obvious thing that should be fixed and worked on.

-I also did not talk about boosting charging calls on-ball, though obviously it's one thing that could be done. I know many folks grew tired of questionable on-ball charging calls in the past though so steered clear of that in this article.

[jeebs9]

Quote: Originally Posted by ChaseB

Quick notes: -I did not talk about warping back into place once you've beat your man as I feel like that's just an obvious thing that should be fixed and worked on. -I also did not talk about boosting charging calls on-ball, though obviously it's one thing that could be done. I know many folks grew tired of questionable on-ball charging calls in the past though so steered clear of that in this article.

Nice Chase! I've only drawn 2 charges this season. I'm still shocked to see my opponents standing in the back court waiting for me to run them over.

[Rockie_Fresh88]

Playing pro am all of my charges have come on perimeter. I have not drawn a single on ball charge anywhere else. Anything else is a blocking foul. That takes away a lot of defense from me. I've always pride myself on getting good position yet I'm not rewarded for it.

I have drawn so off ball fouls in the paint though

[Baebae32]

Maybe 2K should penalize ball handlers that try to barrel through their defender with a push off charge animation. Maybe that would help deter that play style. Idk just a suggestion

[infam0us]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rockie_Fresh88

Playing pro am all of my charges have come on perimeter. I have not drawn a single on ball charge anywhere else. Anything else is a blocking foul. That takes away a lot of defense from me. I've always pride myself on getting good position yet I'm not rewarded for it. I have drawn so off ball fouls in the paint though

It's so frustrating when your match up is going baseline 90% of the time and you set yourself up to be there to defend and you get hit with a blocking foul when's he's running into you.

[Dyslexicphish]

Great post about something I feel no one really talks about: on-ball defense in 2k is a poor representation of actual real life on-ball defense. 2k is far too physical and is more about bumping and in some cases holding the ball handler to restrict their movement. In the NBA that kind of contact is a foul most of the time. Even when it isn't called you'll sometimes hear the crowd moan and groan about the contact. I have however seen overly physical on-ball defense called a foul in 2k but it seems almost random.

[PPerfect_CJ]

Awesome article, Chase. Made perfect sense. This really needs to be worked on.