Monday Tip-Off: How Roster Updates Kept Me Engaged With The NBA

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 reflections on how maintaining roster updates used to help keep me engaged with the NBA.

Although I still consider myself a hardcore basketball fan, I’m not as engaged with the NBA as I once was. There are reasons for this, of course. First and foremost, I’m not enamoured with the style of play that’s taken over the league. I believe that analytics have been extremely damaging to basketball as a spectator sport, to say nothing of the discourse surrounding it. To that point, the coverage has become obnoxious, and very disrespectful to NBA history. And of course, as I’ve gotten older, the players have gone from adults that I admire to generational peers to kids I struggle to relate to.

On top of all that, I’m no longer making current season roster updates for any NBA Live or NBA 2K titles. There are reasons for that, too. My lack of enthusiasm for the current NBA doesn’t inspire the necessary motivation to work on those mods. Also, whenever I start toying with the possibility of updating a game for the current season, lingering burnout from my final years of maintaining roster updates for NBA Live quickly puts an end to that idea. In that respect, my passion for the NBA and roster updates for video games were symbiotic. Keenly following the NBA inspired me to create roster updates, but creating roster updates also kept me hooked on the NBA.

Simply put, if you want to produce high quality current season roster updates for any NBA video game, you obviously need to pay attention to everything that’s going on in the league! Sure, you can look up numbers and devise formulas, but when it comes to giving players appropriate athletic attributes or rating their intangible qualities, you need to see them in action. It’s also how you account for the little things that do still matter, such as assigning players their appropriate accessories. Watching how teams play also allows you to make adjustments to strategy and playbook settings, so that your rosters strive for authentic gameplay. To know the NBA, you must watch it.

And indeed, to watch that much NBA, you need to want to watch it! I certainly did while I was maintaining those roster updates for NBA Live, so once again it ended up being a situation where my enthusiasm was mutually beneficial. I was already eager to catch as many games as possible, but it was another reason to tune in, even when it wasn’t a matchup that I’d normally be all that keen on, or invested in. It only made me more excited when ESPN Australia would change things up and showcase teams that didn’t get featured very often. Not only would I get to see some fresh matchups and players I wanted to watch, but it helped out greatly with my updates for NBA Live.

This isn’t to claim that my knowledge of the NBA was infallible, or that my roster updates were flawless. If nothing else, there were players that I didn’t get to watch as often, and I’m as prone to oversight and errors as the next person. However, when you want to catch every game that you can, and then spend time updating the rosters in a video game for yourself and others, you’re extremely locked in to the product to say the least! Granted, at the time I probably would’ve been just as enthusiastic about watching games and keeping up with the NBA even I wasn’t making roster updates, but as I said, it was an incentive to pay attention to everything down to the last detail.

As such, back then I could tell you all of the starting lineups from around the league, because I was poring over the box scores. I knew who was leading the NBA in every statistical category, because I was adjusting ratings and eager to see who finished the season on top. I could name the 12th man on a team’s roster, or even the players that were languishing on the inactive list. I’m not saying this to brag, or claim that I have unique insight. Any roster modder that takes pride in their work can make a similar claim. My point is that because my love of basketball and gaming led me to create current roster updates for NBA Live, I was striving to be as plugged in as possible.

To that end, when I stopped maintaining current roster updates, I found that I wasn’t engaging with the NBA on the same level. Of course I knew the best players in the league, and the new rookies coming in. I was watching games, paying attention to the news, and hitting the virtual hardwood. It’s not as though I had zero knowledge of or interest in the NBA after I stepped away from roster modding. However, beginning with the 2014 season – the first campaign I didn’t create a roster for in quite some time – I noticed that I didn’t know every teams’ roster from top to bottom. As more years went by and the inevitable player turnover occurred, the names became less familiar.

Getting hooked on MyCAREER for many years didn’t help here, either. It’s a mode that encourages a singular focus on your avatar, from levelling up and earning more minutes to fulfilling your role and dealing with your matchups. Furthermore, it’s a mode that can only be played with an official roster, and I was primarily playing on console to boot. Not only did I lack incentive to maintain roster updates that I wasn’t going to be using myself, but I wasn’t spending a lot of time looking at the rosters the way that I used to. I hate to admit it, but as the 2010s were drawing to a close, I could definitely relate to Charles Barkley’s lacklustre performances on “Who He Play For?“!

It was dismaying to realise. Yes, there were reasons that I wasn’t as hooked on the NBA as I used to be, but that didn’t mean I was happy about it. I missed being able to name deep bench players as easily as All-Stars, and picture any given team’s starting lineup without the need to double-check. I missed the regret that came with missing a game I’d intended to watch, and the feeling that no matter how many games I saw, it wasn’t enough to sate my thirst for hoops. I hated the growing feeling that something I’d loved and enjoyed not only seemingly wasn’t for me anymore, but was actively pushing me away. Believe it or not, I don’t relish being the old man yelling at clouds!

After all, my passion for basketball and watching the NBA lasted well into adulthood, even as burnout made maintaining roster updates a bit of a chore. This isn’t a case of pining for childhood and the players I grew up admiring. I was still enjoying the NBA when I was not only old enough to play in the league (if only I were that good!), but also had years on the latest batch of rookies. Despite what the “We’re done with the 90s” crowd bleats, I and other basketball fans my age don’t have to go back that far to find a time when we were more enamoured with the NBA. In fact, I’m sure that many of my fellow Elder Millennials still love it as much as ever. I wish that I still did, too.

Candidly, it’s one of the main reasons why I’ve tried to get back into making current roster updates, such as my ill-fated attempt with NBA 2K11. Knowing how symbiotic my love of watching the real NBA and creating roster updates for video games once was, I’ve wondered if it’s the missing ingredient to recapturing that passion. If I have that added incentive to try to catch every game that I can, pore over box scores and other statistics, and hang on every rumour and news bulletin because I’m aiming to create the best roster updates possible, then perhaps a renewed enthusiasm for the NBA will follow. For lack of a better term, I saw it as a form of exposure therapy.

Unfortunately, those attempts have been unsuccessful. It’s not altogether surprising. Even though my passion for the NBA and making current season roster updates for video games would feed off each other all those years ago, ultimately the former is what inspired the latter, and not the other way around. All things considered, NBA 2K11 wasn’t the best choice of game, either. Although it’s a classic, it’s become a niche interest in the modding community, and much harder to update as a result. It’s also not one of my top all-time personal favourites. Of course, maybe if the project had gotten off the ground sooner, it could’ve succeeded in renewing my enthusiasm.

It’s why I can’t completely dismiss the idea. I still love basketball, and want to enjoy the current NBA more than I do. I found joy in making roster updates for NBA Live for so many years, and the lure to tinker with some old favourites remains strong. The situation would have to be right, and I might have to collaborate more than I did with my updates back in the day. Nevertheless, I’d love to feel that connection again. Like I said, I miss being familiar with entire rosters, from the big names right down to the bench warmers. I miss thinking in the midst of enjoying a game “well, he’ll need to have his ratings adjusted”, and “oh, looks like I’ll have to remove his headband now”.

That may sound incredibly nerdy, but once again, it comes from a place of passion and being completely hooked on the NBA! It remains to be seen whether I can ever recapture that, but even if I don’t, I’ve come to appreciate how maintaining roster updates contributed to my enjoyment of the NBA all those years ago. I think I lost sight of that as burnout took hold, and I had to step away from those mods. It was a healthy decision, but it’s still unfortunate to have lost that connection, and not feel as informed. I know it’s fashionable to celebrate ignorance and derisively ask “Who?” nowadays, but I’m from a time where being a big fan meant knowing the obscure!

I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t a factor. To not know NBA rosters from top to bottom like I used to makes me feel like more of a casual fan, and that’s a blow to the ego for anyone who’d describe themselves as a hardcore hoop head! It’s why I’ve sought to rebuild that connection. I don’t relish feeling like a fair weather fan – only tuning in if my team is winning, or for the big games – or being cynical about one of my favourite things. Creating current roster updates isn’t a requirement to be a dedicated NBA fan, but speaking from experience, it does help! I may never make those mods again, but even if I don’t, I hope that I can regain the same passion for hoops that inspired them.