35 Year Fantasy Draft Experience- 1,460 Edited Rookies from 1948 to 2018

[Zeke11]

What's up Operation Sports Friends, the day has finally come! I'm at last ready to begin sharing details about the massive project I've been working on.


34 Draft Classes

1,460 Players 1,107 from Historic Draft Classes 162 Real In-Game players not in classes 271 New players. Spanning over 70 years of NBA rookies, and also includes ABA, International, Dead-too-soon Prodigies, and Playground Legends. Going back as far as 1948.

ALL Edited to accurately match their rookie counterparts!

I will begin with notes on the players, draft classes, and editing process.

This will be followed by a breakdown of each set, including progress status for each. Finally, I will detail everything I am doing to make this project compatible with MyLeague (this step will have to wait until everything else is collected). The post proceeding this one will reveal a preview of the first set of draft classes.

Once all sets previews have been posted, I have a complete spreadsheet that can be used to track and navigate through any basketball fantasy that I craft.

Playstation 4



Years Pro

If you have ever tried using a historic draft class in NBA 2K20's MyLeague mode, then you may have noticed that the players you draft do not register as rookies, and the game does not recognize them as so. This is because all real players in those draft classes have a value that is greater than '0' on their 'Year Pro' attribute by default. In the draft class editor in the main menu and MyLeague, this attribute is hidden and not editable. *Note- "fake" players ie. created players have 0 as a default value and do not have this issue.

This is actually a much bigger problem than some might think initially. Because of their years pro stat, players will actually start progressing or declining right after signing their rookie contracts. This will mess with the progression of players and alter career paths. Furthermore, players will not be eligible for any rookie honors during All-Star break and End of Season awards. And lastly, they will not appear in the 'Rookie Report' tab when viewing rookie stats across MyLeague.

Good news is all of this can be overcome by exporting players from a draft class and editing this attribute in the player DNA menu and importing them back. A very time consuming thing to do for over a thousand players, but it's necessary. Head banger # 1

Here's a look in to the rookie stats from a season with draft classes from 1984 to 1989. Pay no mind to the actual stats, point here is that you can see that all the cyber faced players are appearing in the list. The other issues I mentioned are also avoided.





Player Nicknames

In NBA 2K20, all players are assigned a nickname as part of their DNA profile. It is latent for real players, but commentators and PA announcers will address created players and stand-in players by their nicknames regularly if their name is in the commentary database, and entirely if it is not. It's not often, but you sometimes hear it too for players that are in the game. I've heard commentators refer to Scottie Pippen as 'ABC'. I mean come on, seriously? How annoying.

There's been a fix to this nuisance since last year, but as far as I was aware, it only applied to roster editing and not draft classes. I really beat myself up over this thinking all hard work might be undone because the nicknames were just too much, especially because there is hundreds of new players added. I am extremely grateful to say there's a fix to the nickname issue for draft classes too.

Here's a preview of what draft classes sound like, no nicknames whatsoever. If a player's name is in the commentary database, then that's what commentators and PA announcers will refer to them as. If not, then they will simply be called by their jersey number. Check it out!



It's so nice this way. So simple, you'd think this is how it'd be out of the gate but, no. I despise all this importing/exporting
Head banger #2



Player Vitals

- All Players corrected to actual rookie year age. The only exceptions are players who had their careers delayed due to mostly non injury related reasons. For example, players like Roger Brown and Connie Hawkins were held back because of gambling and point-shaving allegations. A handful of 50's and 60's players like Cliff Hagan and Johnny for example spent time in the military after graduating college. International players like Drazen Petrovic and Arvydas Sabonis started late in the NBA because of commitments or restrictions from overseas. These kind of players will begin their NBA careers as young prospects, in this simulation.

(Update) I have decreased all rookie ages by one year so that their age may be correct after draft them.

- Peak Start and Peak End has been revised for all players to accurately resemble their real life counterparts. Exception to this is current young players whose careers are still unfolding. I have left them alone basically. Start and End peak was calculated via Basketball-Reference.com. I analyzed Per Game statistics, PER, Off/Deff win shares and rating, Injury records, and used general knowledge of a player to determine these values. I was a little bit forgiving on players with minor blimps on their injury history report, however if a player had their peak cut short then they will follow that same trajectory in my draft classes. Do I want Bill Walton, Brandon Roy, Maurice Stokes and countless others that I won't spoil to serve my franchise longer? Then I will have to find some means of extending their playing days.

- Correct Height and weight information for all players. I have slimmed down some players very slightly, if they happened to be skinnier in their early years. Depending on the player model, Wingspan/Shoulder Width/Body Length can be edited for certain cyberface players. Those that have older player models, not sure about the specifics. I've edited some of these players, too. Shawn Bradley for instance, looks more realistic with longer arms and legs.

- Correct rookie year jersey numbers for all players. Many of them will be set to something else once I draft them in MyLeague if their number is retired by the team. Out of my hands. There is a workaround for this after the fact I believe, but I haven't played with that yet.

- Correct University/High School/Other information for all players.

- All created players have accurate play types. "Real" players mostly left alone, only edited a few.

- Durability has not been edited. Created players will have their default durability ratings. I play with injuries off anyways to be honest, since I like to set rotations for all teams.

- Hot Zones set to neutral from most retro created players, only a handful edited


Ratings/Attributes


As part of the edits to player signature that I will discuss later, I have watched footage of each and every single player. Well, except for Raymond Lewis and Earl Manigualt. There is no footage of these two players. In addition to this, I've taken all information available to me on Basketball-Reference.com and coupled that with my personal knowledge to make revisions to pretty much all attributes. I have entirely re-worked all the stats and overalls. "Hidden" attributes, that aren't editable in quick-edit like PnR defense, Reaction time, and shot contest have been edited. All Potentials have also been corrected, with a realistic universal scale.

Did you know that, outside of the 2018 class, all rookies in every draft class have a 75 rating for both Interior and Perimeter Defense? Steve Kerr has the same Inside Defense as Olajuwon. I appreciate it over nothing obviously, but these historic rookies are lacking in many areas. And yes, these values have been adjusted.

To the best of my ability, I have edited every stat across all players to have them more accurately represent their true rookie selfs. Later I manipulated the overalls using the intangibles value and attributes to have them fall more in line with prospect rank/notoriety and draft position. I wanted to replicating having busts and sleepers in each draft.

That is still the case, however I had to tone that down after finally playing the game and MyLeague. I learned two things from doing so. First, that Badges have a huge effect on gameplay and animations, and need to be revised. Second, I learned that configuring MyLeague to run a smoother and more realistic simulation is very tricky and I needed to revise some of the logic and scales of overalls, attributes, and potentials. So, all the base files underwent a second round of editing. The focus changed to characterizing the rookie version of the player, without consideration to some of previously included context. I have to do this, it's much more practical. Badges and attributes were adjusted to reflect the level of the player during his rookie year and also unlock animations that allow players to play like themselves. Prior to this, I underrated/overrated certain players too much in an attempt to replicate their draft position and career trajectory. I was also stingy with badges, but they're necessary for realism. Some players have slow starts, and record mediocre first few seasons due to one reason or another. Injury delays, adjustment periods, and young age are causes for poor starts. Or sometimes players become superstars simply because they're given more minutes. Check out Neil Johnston's story. This kind of control over a player's career is sadly not possible with NBA 2K20, but later I'll look into what effect sliders can have on this. However, all in all I think it was a change for the good because replicating the rookie year of the player allows for more accuracy and is more consistent.



Accurate and Era-Specific Tendencies

Tendencies have been adjusted to accurately match true player profiles. I must admit that tendencies are not my biggest strength. However I am very content with the edits here. I trust my knowledge and resources to be able to represent the play style of players, although I am not as confident with my grasp on how to apply that to tendencies. I'm pleased with them though after seeing how off 2K's tendencies are and how far some of mine have come. It's frustrating how incorrect some of these tendencies are for players. It's no secret actually, but many players are actually just DNA copies of other players. We've always known this, but it's egregious when it's done for tendencies.

One judgement call I made was to give 3 pt. shooting tendencies to certain players during eras before the line existed. It's crucial to do so actually, because long-range shooters would qualify as 3 pt. threats today. Also, the ABA introduced the 3 pt. line before the NBA did.

The title of this section makes reference to era specificity. I've quick edited players to have less flashy dribble, layup, and flashy dunk tendencies to account for variances in style of play across different eras.

I'm a bit sad to say, but this mostly applies to the 271 added players. Players who have models in game were mostly left alone, with changes only being made to small handful of big names. There is simply too many players to go through, and it not entirely needed in many cases.


Badges


Badges have been overhauled. When I looked across the different classes, I was upset to find them wildly inconsistent. Some had very few badges on the best prospects and others had low rated players with over 10. Take a look at 2003's DC for instance, the top players are severely lacking while some players from the 80's and further back have the same badges as their All-Time version.

I've revised badges for all players to have them be more accurate, consistent, and line with a universal scale. They have also been revised to suit overall ratings and gameplay. In order to have player perform like themselves, certain badges are required to be assigned. With that being said though, I have removed many badges entirely because I believe they have a negative effect on gameplay, and also because it suits my preferences.

Pro Touch, Hot Zone Hunter, Flexible Release, Green Machine, Pogo Stick, Hot Start, Unpluckable, Ice In Veins are badges that have been removed from all players in each draft class. I also intend to remove these badges from whatever roster I choose as a starting point.

Intimidator has been limited to Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell
Worm has been limited Dennis Rodman, Andre Drummond, Wilt Chamberlain, and Bill Russell. I will also stay true to this with any roster I use for MyLeague.

Floor General and Defensive Leader have been assigned to players that are deserving. However I am monitoring this badge to ensure that no player has it set on Hall of Fame initially and throughout the MyLeague progression. A Hall of Fame level on this badge is responsible for the percentages underneath players. It's something that I don't appreciate seeing, hence this decision.



Shoes and Accessories

I've edited both, for all players. I began modeling players according to their college years appearance, with the only caveat being ignoring undershirts in all but a few cases. Slowly around 1990 or so I started to mix it up. As of now the players will have the correct accessories from either their last college season or NBA rookie year. Short lengths have been adjusted

You know, I figured that such a massive list of rookies could keep me entertained for years. Most definitely. This encouraged me to pay attention to detail when it came to shoes. I'm a sucker for perfection sometimes and I wanted to outdo myself big time. I set out with a goal to have either a custom colorway or custom shoe on every single player that needed it, and have zero 2K default shoes. And oh man I got so far too. Up until 1989, almost all players have had a custom modification made to their shoe setup.

I went months without actually playing the game, just trying to get my draft classes and shoes done as soon as possible. HUGE MISTAKE. I had already finished custom shoes for 500+ players when the soul-crushing realization hit me- colorways, custom colorways, and custom shoes do not transfer once draft classes have been uploaded. Shoes get reset to their default, and match team colorway. I was so freakin' excited to share all the creations that brought a real sense of realism into these players, but no. None of that. I am denied and blue balled. God damn it, I should have read about this somewhere or at the very least try testing the game before committing all this effort. I'm still sick to be honest, and I won't preview the creations here because they won't be seen in game anyways.
Head banger #3

So, still correct accessories though (with efforts to correct color options too but it's not perfect obviously). A lot of shoe choices will not make sense now, since they have been reset. BUT, it is still much better that having any 2K shoes.
Good news is that this realization has caused this project to speed up massively, as not only will I not customize shoes for 1990 onwards but I will not even choose different colorways. Saves me ages of time.



Created Players


Something else that required time investment is creating players that are missing from the game. There's almost 300 players that are not available in NBA 2K20 that I intended to add to my pool of rookies. I leaned on the resources available from various creators in the community. Problem is that a majority of these players are relatively obscure and played too long ago, and have not been created by any one. I had to call my own number and learn how to make use of the CAP feature.

It didn't take too long to get the hang of honestly, you just gotta get very very familiar with the presets. That's all it is really. There is a level of artistry that I might attribute to certain creations I've seen on this board and YouTube, but more importantly it is about understanding the presets. All the limitations, combinations, and possibilities to make the least amount of compromises when creating a player. From there, you can add artistic flair by determining what to observe and look for during sculpting. I had no choice but to learn, and I think my creations came out more than okay.

Let me give a huge shoutout to the following CAP creators for their help with this project. TGor, Sellaz, OJandPizza, Clutch, and the CAP thread here on OS.

Stand-in players have been used, although very sparingly and only if I deem it a great fit. Out of 271 added players, I estimate there to be maybe 25-30 stand-ins. Their info, stats, tendencies, what have you are correct.


With that out of the way, here's a look at some of my work.

Len Bias




Ben Wilson




Hal Greer



Oscar Robertson





If applicable, I have updated player models to more accurately reflect their rookie selfs. Beardless Blake Griffin, Baby face Kyrie, Buzzed chubby KLove. Karl Malone, Big Z, Jason Kidd, Barkley with hair. Plus many, many more. Here are a few examples:



















Player Signature


There's almost 1,500 players in these 35 draft classes. And every single one of them will have their signature styles edited.

I mentioned earlier that that I watched footage of every player who needs it. Basically this means any player which has not been edited already by our friend Woody Traorethroughout the last few years. A vast majority of players drafted in the year 2003 and after can be found amongst his videos, with only a few here and there to fill in.

Well, I have bookmarked videos for jumpshots on all players, and even created GIFs to help me study the shooting forms. It goes without saying, but we are rather limited with the options in the signature editor, especially with regards to some of the more antiquated movements of years past. I believe that my edits have made the most of the possibilities available, though.

I ended ditching the GIFS because its too time consuming. And it's okay, since the worst of it is already done. I've completed signature edits for 500 players from 1948 to 1989. Do you marvel at this? Well, it is true! Even non-shooting bigs have their form replicated in this project. It's not just jumpshots either. The whole signature set has been revised. I was mindful of implementing Era-Specific animations. On top of the shooting release and base, this means setting the most appropriate dribble and layup package, free throw, and dunks for different eras. The logic I followed while editing these is that professional basketball included more rigid dribbling and finishing during certain time periods. Traveling rules prevented flashy dribble moves, so as I go back in time with my draft classes there will be fewer of those animations and dribble packages assigned. Along the same lines, rim-hanging and flashy dunks
were outlawed once upon a time, so the animations present will reflect that.

If I wasn't blessed to find individual highlights, then I had to search through box scores of games that featured the player I was editing. Spent hours fast forwarding through old matches until I found an appropriate field goal. Here are some examples of the GIFS I made. More will be included in the jumpshot comparison video I will release sometime soon.

Elgin Baylor
Jerry Lucas
Pual Arizin
Rick Barry
Hal Greer
Willie Nauls
Guy Rodgers
Gus Johnson
Chet Walker
Dave Debusschere
Dolph Schayes
Bill Russell
Bob Pettit

During the process of editing player signatures, I was appalled by the number of players I found who are near exact copies of other players. This is the complacency that we are used to, unfortunately. There is a list on this forum somewhere of DNA copy players, I don't want to look for it now. But there's actually a ton more than that. Some
more that I bothered to make note of:

Purvis Short/Vince Carter. Fred Brown/Kyrie Irving. Dan Issel/Kevin Love. Geoff Petrie/Dwayne Wade. Bingo Smith/Lebron James. Brian Winters/Klay Thompson. Mark Jackson/Austin Rivers.

let me stop and take a moment to thank all the YouTube accounts that upload retro highlights. Some of these guys will have your mind blown with the depth of their channels.

Hal15Greer
BasketballJones48021
Wilt Chamberlain Archive
ginoongkamote
Ryan Van Dusen
And the biggest shoutout goes to
LamarMatic God bless you brother.



Here's my Alex English for example






Video preview of Jumpshots COMING SOON



Draft Class Sets Breakdown

1948-1965 Post #2

1948-1965 A 30 players
1948-1965 B 30 players
1948-1965 C 30 players
1948-1965 D 30 players

100% Finished

1966-1975 Post #6


1966-1975 A 30 Players
1966-1975 B 30 Players
1966-1975 C 30 Players
1966-1975 D 30 Players

100% Finished

1976-1983 Post #7

1976-1983 A 30 Players
1976-1983 B 30 Players
1976-1983 C 30 Players
1976-1983 D 30 Players

- 100% Finished

1984-1989 Post #19

1984-1989 A 30 players
1984-1989 B 30 players
1984-1989 C 30 players


- 100% Finished

1990-1995 Post #21

1990-1995 A 30 players
1990-1995 B 30 players
1990-1995 C 30 players

- 100% Finished

1996-2000 Post #30

1996-2000 A 30 Players
1996-2000 B 30 Players
1996-2000 C 30 Players

- 100% Finished

2001-2005

2001-2005 A 30 Players
2001-2005 B 30 Players
2001-2005 C 30 Players

- Nicknames
- Signature Sets
- Shoes & Accessories

2006-2010

2006-2010 A 40 Players
2006-2010 B 40 Players
2006-2010 C 40 Players

- Nicknames where necessary
- Import Woody Signature Sets
- Shoes & Accessories

2011-2015

2011-2015 A 40 Players
2011-2015 B 40 Players
2011-2015 C 40 Players

- Nicknames where necessary
- Import Woody Signature Sets
- Shoes & Accessories

2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

Standalone years.

- Import Woody Signature Sets
- Shoes & Accessories


MyLeague Sliders & Compatibility

COMING SOON





Thank you very much for reading. If you have any comments, then the only thing I ask is that you don't quote this post in your reply. It is kinda long. Thanks!

[Zeke11]

1948-1965

PG SG SF PF C

Prospects Quick Look

#42 Connie Hawkins

#13 Wilt Chamberlain

#14 Oscar Robertson

#33 Willie Nauls

#17 John Havlicek

#9 Bob Pettit

[Doc Jota]

Holy fuc**ng sh**
Beyond amazing. Your young karl malone and Charles Barkley are perfect. And you created Ben Wilson and young Sabonis :0

Have you done Marvin Barnes too?
This is the greatest piece of work Ive seen in 2k20.
Congrats and a million thanks.

This is for ps4 right? Whats your psn name or how do we search it?

[SethMurphy]

I might start a MyLeague with the 1989-90 roster being finished up and pair it with these classes to at least get some historic rebuild feelings.


Amazing work and mad props to you and your contributors.

[auburnfan2]

Please tell me this for Xbox.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[Zeke11]

1966-1975

PG SG SF PF C

Prospects Quick Look

#33 Lew Alcindor

#44 Pete Maravich

#21 Dave Bing

#14 Oscar Schmidt

#21 Sidney Wicks

#32 Julius Erving

[Zeke11]

1976-1983

PG SG SF PF C

Prospects Quick Look

#22 Bernard King

#11 Isiah Thomas

#32 Magic Johnson

#11 Arvydas Sabonis

#33 Larry Bird

#50 Ralph Simpson

[Doc Jota]

No Marvin Barnes?