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Monday Tip-Off: The Case of the Mysterious Screenshot

Monday Tip-Off: The Case of the Mysterious Screenshot

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Start your week here at the NLSC with a feature that’s dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games. This week, I’m tipping things off with the story about a mysterious screenshot that I found in my collection.

For a long time – far too long, in fact – I left my weekly articles until the last minute. Not just writing them, but coming up with the topic, too. Even after I devised lists of ideas for future articles, I didn’t always have anything prepared by the time Monday, Wednesday, and Friday rolled around. In recent years, I’ve made a point of building up a buffer of articles based on my list of topic ideas. It’s meant that I’ve always got something ready to go, and if I’ve set aside the time, I’m able to schedule features a week or two in advance.

This prep work has been important for time management, consistency, and quality. Even though I’ve been pleased with certain articles that were actually written at the last minute, I’m far more satisfied with features that I haven’t had to rush. Part of preparing articles in advance is ensuring that I have appropriate screenshots to use, which means taking the time to fire up the necessary games to capture them, and set up any specific scenarios as required. It’s usually obvious why I have a particular screenshot in my archives, but recently I discovered one that left me stumped. This mysterious screenshot was for an article idea that I’ve completely forgotten about.

As you can see below, the screenshot in question is from NBA Live 2004, and features LeBron James on the Phoenix Suns alongside Scott Williams. If you know your NBA history – and I’m assuming that many of you do – you’ll be quite aware that LeBron James has never played for the Phoenix Suns; not in his rookie season, or at any other point in his career. This is a scenario that I’ve deliberately set up, but to what point and purpose? As I said on Twitter when I shared the screenshot, I have absolutely no idea. Looking through my notes and topic ideas, as well as the articles I already have in the can, it doesn’t relate to anything that I’ve planned or prepared.

Mysterious Screenshot of LeBron James (NBA Live 2004)

Thinking of topics that would concern LeBron James and Scott Williams, the only one that comes to mind is a list of players that played with both LeBron and Michael Jordan. There are four of them: Scott Williams, Larry Hughes, Brendan Haywood, and Jerry Stackhouse. I have thought about writing that article, but many others have covered said topic, and it’s also one name short of a Friday Five. Of course, I could pad it out to five by including Shaquille O’Neal, who played with MJ in a couple of All-Star games and spent a season with LeBron in Cleveland. I’m not above fudging the criteria when need be, but in that instance, it’s arguably a bit too much of a stretch.

More to the point though, even though I was considering writing an article on that topic, it doesn’t explain why I would’ve traded LeBron to the Suns in that mysterious screenshot. Williams’ tenure as LeBron’s teammate in Cleveland came during the 2005 season, so if anything, I would’ve taken a screenshot of the two of them together in NBA Live 2005. A shot of them together in Phoenix in NBA Live 2004 doesn’t illustrate the history that I’d be discussing. There are no real events, nor “What If” scenarios, that provide context to this mysterious screenshot. It isn’t illustrating anything that ever was or might’ve been. I don’t know why I’d ever need or want it!

That only leaves two possible explanations: I had an esoteric idea for an article, or I was just messing around and ended up taking a screenshot. Once again though, I have no clue what that idea could’ve been, as it doesn’t fit any of the topics I have planned, or articles that I’ve already drafted. At the same time, I can’t imagine why, on a whim, I would’ve traded LeBron James to the Phoenix Suns in NBA Live 2004, specifically to take a screenshot of him alongside future teammate Scott Williams. What makes the screenshot so tantalisingly mysterious for me is that it feels as though I had an interesting idea for an article, and neglected to write it down when I thought of it.

LeBron James on the Phoenix Suns?!? (NBA Live 2004)

In an effort to satisfy my own curiosity about this mysterious screenshot – and perhaps to see if I can ever use it in an article that isn’t meta – I decided to investigate further. The file is dated April 30th 2020, so I looked through my archives for other NBA Live 2004 screenshots taken on that date. There were only two: one of LeBron in a Suns uniform during the starting lineup introductions (the one you see above), and a duplicate of the screenshot with Scott Williams. That didn’t tell me anything that I didn’t already know – that at some point I set up this scenario and took screenshots – but looking through my saves folder, I noticed that I’d saved a roster on that date.

Unfortunately, firing up NBA Live 2004 and loading the save did little to make the screenshot any less mysterious. I’d titled the save “SocialMedia”, which didn’t offer up any clues as to my original intentions. Indeed, as Hermes Conrad might say, it just raises further questions! Was it meant for a social media post rather than an article? If so, what point was I trying to illustrate? Had I posted it at some point? A quick search of my Tweets from the NLSC account indicates that I hadn’t, though it did yield this Tweet illustrating a couple of “What If” scenarios related to Scottie Pippen and The Last Dance. It’s possible I set up the LeBron scenario for a similar social media post.

Once again though, I can’t imagine what it might’ve been; what point I would’ve been trying to illustrate. As I said, the only connection between LeBron James and Scott Williams that I would’ve written or posted about wouldn’t have required a screenshot of the two players on the Suns in NBA Live 2004. I can’t think of any reason that I would’ve traded LeBron to the Suns just for fun, and then deemed it necessary to save the roster under the name “SocialMedia”. I haven’t made any other changes to that roster except to trade LeBron to Phoenix for Stephon Marbury, and seeing as how I don’t have any screenshots of Starbury on the Cavaliers, it definitely wasn’t about him.

Michael Jordan on the Bobcats (NBA 2K14)

And so, I’m left with this mysterious screenshot as the only remnant of some wacky idea I had for either an article or a social media post. I have other unusual screenshots in my archives, but I can explain them. For example, I have a screenshot of Michael Jordan on the Bobcats in NBA 2K14. That was for an article in which I discussed predictions that were way off. I can also find a few screenshots from NBA 2K18 and NBA 2K19 that I set up for future Friday Five articles describing retro teams that I’d like to see added in future games. And of course, I have screenshots from Ultimate Team and MyTEAM games in which familiar faces are wearing unfamiliar jerseys.

There’s no explaining this mysterious screenshot, though. I thought about trying to workshop an article that could utilise it, but all that I could come up with was this one talking about how it’s a mystery. I’ll admit that it’s somewhat frustrating not to have any answers here. The screenshot was only taken a year ago, so the context shouldn’t be lost to time. I wish I could explain why I fired up NBA Live 2004 and traded LeBron James for Stephon Marbury on a random Thursday in 2020. If it was for a specific article or social media post, I wish I could remember what the idea was, or that I’d made a point of writing it down so that I wouldn’t forget it so quickly.

Indeed, if there’s a lesson to learn here, it’s to make notes for later. Speaking of my list of topics for future features, I’ve had to discard a couple because I wrote down what seemed like a catchy title, but completely forgot what the topic was supposed to be (a reminder to avoid making your titles too esoteric!). As for the case of the mysterious screenshot, I’m going to have to reluctantly file it under “unsolved”. I may be able to repurpose it for another article at some point – perhaps one about making unrealistic moves in franchise modes – but its original purpose has been forgotten. Just in case it’s doomed to the archives however, here it is one more time in all its glory.

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