Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is Part 19 in an ongoing series looking at players who only appeared on certain teams in video games.

In Part 18 last month, I covered a couple of well-known players who only appeared on certain teams in video games, including an example from last season. For Part 19, I’m going back a bit further, with the most recent phantom stint occurring during the 2015 campaign. The older examples are also more obscure names that even hardcore NBA fans likely haven’t thought about in years. I do enjoy discussing those players though, as I’m sure that I’m not the only one that gets a nostalgic kick out of seeing or hearing the name of a long-forgotten journeyman that was once a mainstay in the league!

The fifth example – the one from the 2015 season – is the only player to have enjoyed a lengthy NBA career, which included an All-Star appearance and a couple of other honours. It’s obviously a good idea to include at least one player that we’ve all heard of and remember, but I’m also pleased with that example because it’s another one that I encountered by chance! As I’ve said before, David L has been extremely helpful in pointing out many players that needed to be covered in this series, but it’s always fun when serendipity delivers another name to me. With that being said, let’s get to the next group of five players whose phantom stints have been preserved in video games!

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Today’s NBA 2K14 mod releases feature the latest 2024 season jersey and jersey sponsor updates by Pep. Pick them up at the links below!

Pep
NBA Nike 2023/2024 Sponsors Updates (Updated)
NBA Nike City Uniforms 23/24 (Updated)

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m reposting my impressions of the NBA Live 10 demo, originally published way back in 2009.

As I note in the introduction of every Wayback Wednesday, one of the goals of this feature is to repost old articles, particularly ones that are no longer accessible in our archives thanks to switching content management systems a couple of times over the years. It’s probably my most-overlooked Wayback Wednesday concept, as there are plenty of old titles to profile, as well as other topics related to retro basketball gaming. Still, it’d be a shame to leave these early attempts at original content rotting away in the archives. They’re a part of our history, and cover some interesting topics, too.

One such article is my original impressions of the NBA Live 10 demo. NBA Live 10 is a game that I’ve come to appreciate even more in recent years, after initially souring on it due to issues with its second patch. I’ve spoken at length about losing interest in the game, and my subsequent change of heart as it entered my retro basketball gaming rotation, but what were my first hands-on impressions of the NBA Live 10 demo? How do they differ from my post-launch impressions, and how I feel about the game today? Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #508 of the NLSC Podcast!

We’re back on the air after a hard drive mishap, and it’s also our 2023 Christmas Special! After celebrating the arrival of a brand new desktop, we catch up on an exciting Top 10 Plays, and also compare NCAA March Madness 08 to NBA Live 08. Since we got into the festive spirit by playing a couple of games of NBA Live 16 using the Christmas Day jerseys, we recap those sessions, and once again discuss the game’s strengths and weaknesses. With the 2024 season well underway, we also join the community in listing the players and teams that we’re enjoying watching, and reflect on some of our favourite Christmas gifts involving basketball and basketball video games.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:35:28 — 65.9MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!

Merry Christmas and Season’s Greetings, basketball gamers! I hope that you’re all enjoying the festive season. That might include spending some time on the virtual hardwood, and indeed, that’s what Dee and I have been doing, playing a Christmas Day showdown between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors in NBA Live 16!

As you may recall, Christmas Day 2015 featured that NBA Finals rematch, and the special jerseys that were worn in that game are available in NBA Live 16. To that end, it only made sense to take control of the eventual champion Cavs in co-op play, and try to gain some revenge over the team that defeated them just a few months prior. It was a competitive battle with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving doing their thing, while the Splash Brothers gave us everything they had at the other end. It reminded us of how fun NBA Live 16 can be, and you’ll find the highlights below.

You can also look forward to our recap of the game in Episode #508 of the NLSC Podcast, which will be out soon. Prior to our most recent show, Dee also fired up NBA 2K24 PC with some NBA In-Season Tournament mods installed, and played the finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers. On top of that, I’ve put together a highlight reel from Games 21-30 in Year 6 of my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER on PlayStation 4. Both of those videos can also be found below.

It’s been a great year of producing basketball gaming content for the NLSC YouTube channel, so be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already! As always, feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play. Once again, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and best wishes to you and your family!

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Following on from the NBA 2K16 mod releases on Sunday, sticky-fingers has also updated the Cheat Engine table for editing players in NBA 2K17! Pick up that resource at the link below.

veriyan (mainly) & sticky-fingers (eyes colors)
Cheat Table – Edit Players (Any Player in Edit Player Menu) (Updated to v1.2)

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with some thoughts on racking up statistics, and keeping track of the virtual numbers we accumulate in basketball video games.

Grumpy Elder Millennial of 39 that I am, I have a love-hate relationship with stats. I dislike how basketball and NBA discourse has been reduced to numbers, often cherry-picked to suit an agenda. Of course, even in my 20s – when I wasn’t quite as old or as grumpy – I disliked the way advanced metrics were beginning to creep into hoops talk. Some of the statistical feats being cited these days are utterly ridiculous: “first player to have 39 points, 17 rebounds, 13 assists, three steals, two blocks, and shoot better than 54%, on a Monday, in a blue jersey”. Just stop!

With that being said, stats are still interesting, and they do factor into analysis of the sport. They’ve always been relevant to some degree, and part of the discussion. Big performances matter, and are fun to watch. After all, if a player scores 50, they’ve clearly hit a lot of shots, potentially on some spectacular plays. The same goes for the numbers we post on the virtual hardwood. Whether we’re controlling NBA players or an avatar in a career mode, most of us enjoy filling the stat sheet. Game-to-game, it keeps things interesting. Over the course of a virtual season, those numbers can be almost as fun to look at as the statistics that star players are tallying in the real NBA.

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It’s always great to see modding resources updated for games that are still favourites, and we have such an upload in today’s NBA 2K16 mod releases. sticky-fingers has updated the Cheat Engine table for player editing, aiding in the creation of custom rosters. Check it out at the link below!

MyNameIsDirty (orginal big work) & sticky-fingers (eyes)
Cheat Table – Edit Players (Any Player in Edit Player Menu) 1.2

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee4Three! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, or hit up Dee on Twitter.

The festive season is upon us once again, so it’s time for 2023’s Christmas Edition of the NLSC Top 10 Plays! This week’s countdown truly is a gift, as we have Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James all in action, throwing it down in signature style. The NBA Live 2001 Legends continue their recent kick with NBA 2K9, and even Santa Claus himself makes a timely appearance, courtesy of NBA Jam: On Fire Edition. A total of nine different titles ranging from NBA Live 06 to NBA 2K24 are on display, so let’s get to the action!

What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.

Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is drawing some interesting comparisons between five pairs of basketball video games.

It’s difficult to make comparisons these days without stepping on anyone’s toes, or drawing pedantic complaints if the likenesses are imperfect, or esoteric. Consider the scorn that Phil Jackson received when he compared Steph Curry to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Many fans sneered because Curry has reached greater heights than Abdul-Rauf ever did, putting up bigger numbers and achieving more fame and success. However, Jackson’s comparison was apt in the way that he meant it: their styles and the way they got shots off are very similar. He wasn’t saying the two were equals as players.

Comparisons are not always one-to-one, and they are not meant to suggest that the objects in question are identical. To refer to the old “apples and oranges” idiom, while there are many ways in which they aren’t comparable, apples and oranges are both fruit that grow on trees. Also, along with bananas, they’re a commonly recognised and popular fruit compared to, say, durians. My point is that while some of the basketball game comparisons I’m making here today may seem bizarre, there are interesting commonalities in their quality, approach, and vibe. I’m not saying that these games are completely alike, but rather in some ways, they’re oddly reminiscent of each other.

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If today’s NBA Live 08 mod releases sound familiar, it’s because CarolusXCI previously released new net animations for NBA Live 2005! This version is compatible with NBA Live 08 and NBA Live 07 however, so check it out at the link below if you want to freshen up those games.

CarolusXCI
New Net Animations

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at some of the crazy accessories that were once available in Create-a-Player.

It’s stating the extremely obvious to say that basketball video games have become far more realistic over the years. From graphics and animations to AI and content, the advances in tech have facilitated sim games that resemble real life far more closely. That’s not to say that older games didn’t do their best, and sim titles were definitely aimed at hardcore hoop heads more so than arcade games such as NBA Jam. They were still video games at the end of the day though, and as such, sometimes featured elements that weren’t so serious.

A great example is the crazy accessories that were often available in Create-a-Player. I’m talking about the accessories that you’d never see an NBA player wearing during a game, but were nevertheless available to assign in Create-a-Player in many old sim games, such as the early NBA Live releases. They’re something that we don’t see today; at least in traditional gameplay. They’re a relic of 90s basketball gaming, and looking back, their phasing out heralded a shift towards a more realistic approach. It was the right move, but they did serve a purpose. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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As I’ve discussed before, as essential equipment in basketball, the net is one of those details that we want to see done right on the virtual hardwood. When it isn’t, the community has been eager to step in and fix things! To that end, today’s NBA Live 2005 mod releases feature a net animations update by CarolusXCI. Download it at the link below!

CarolusXCI
New Net Animations

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with my thoughts on a lack of true role-playing opportunities with your MyPLAYER in MyCAREER.

It’s been interesting to see the birth and subsequent evolution of career modes in basketball video games. Putting aside the story-driven campaign in Sony’s NBA series, or the single season experience in the PlayStation 2 version of NBA Live 09, the first true career mode came with NBA 2K10’s My Player. That name eventually morphed into MyPLAYER and was given to our avatars, while the mode itself was re-branded as MyCAREER. NBA 2K14 brought a more cinematic approach to the mode, and since then, MyCAREER has essentially become a basketball MMORPG.

While the core concept of MyCAREER remains the same – you’re an NBA rookie with an opportunity to play through a career in the league – these changes have obviously impacted the on-court and off-court experience. Ironically, as the mode has become more and more RPG-based, there’s actually been less opportunity to role-play with your MyPLAYER! Where we were once left to use our imaginations and project a personality onto our avatars, we’re saddled with a character that’s following a script. Whether it’s by limiting our choices, or putting the story on rails via cutscenes, there are undoubtedly times when our MyPLAYER doesn’t feel like it’s our player.

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We have exciting news for basketball gamers still enjoying NBA 2K20 PC, as RayRay_953 and company have released V6 of the Olympic Basketball Legacy mod! Originally titled Olympic Basketball History, the project celebrates the Olympic Basketball tournament, and other international competitions, with 160 playable teams. Key features of V6 are as follows:

• 160 playable teams
• More than 150+ cyberfaces added for retro and current players. Many of them were commissioned exclusively for the mod, while others were borrowed from Thunder Shaq’s and Shuajota’s rosters (extended credits to sticky-fingers, maumau78, Mr. Star, trevorjpt33, Dee4three84, Shuajota, Retroman, 2kspecialist)
• Retro shoes by Mickachiste from the 2K19 Classic Seasons mod
• New year-specific basketballs for Athens ’87, Zagreb ’89, Toronto ’94, and Indianapolis ’02
• Improvements to many jersey textures for accuracy
• More hidden Euroleague/NBA alumni audio added for certain players
• Preolympic and Tournament of the Americas uniforms added for appropriate teams
• Selecting the “Home (Tournament of Americas)” jerseys for any of the ’92 Tournament of the Americas teams will load the Portland Memorial Coliseum floor
• Selecting the “Home (Delta Center)” jersey for the ’96 Dream Team III will load the Delta Center floor as seen during their World Tour game against Australia
• Complete overhaul on attributes and ratings for a more realistic approach
• Signature updates for more than 200+ players

Download the mod here! For more information and previews, please see the release and support topic in the NBA 2K20 Modding section. Congratulations again to the Olympic Basketball Legacy team on the release of V6!