Tag Archives: B.J. Tyler

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 a list of five random and interesting NBA player stories that I’ve encountered.

Writing articles for the NLSC for all these years has been a rewarding experience. Obviously, it’s creatively satisfying for someone who has always enjoyed writing and is passionate about basketball and basketball video games, but to that point, it’s also catered to my enthusiasm for history and trivia. Covering NBA history and roster trivia through the lens of basketball video games not only conveniently avoids the need to use copyrighted images, but has also led me to discover some fascinating facts and stories about the hardwood, real and virtual.

To that end, I’ve recounted these tales in previous articles, but I wanted to revisit some of the most interesting NBA player stories that I’ve encountered while producing content for the NLSC. We all know the stories and many basic facts and figures about the all-time greats, but we so often overlook the interesting journeys of lesser-known names; stories such as the promising player who never quite made it to the NBA, the player whose journey to the NBA could inspire MyCAREER stories, players whose careers are What Ifs, and some interesting records. You may have heard these five NBA player stories before – from me or someone else – but they’re worth telling again.

Read More »

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! In this feature, we dig into the archives, look back at the history of basketball gaming, and indulge in some nostalgia. Check in every Wednesday for retrospectives and other features on older versions of NBA Live, NBA 2K, and old school basketball video games in general. You’ll also find old NLSC editorials re-published with added commentary, and other flashback content. This week, I’m taking a look back at the inactive players that can be found in the rosters of NBA Live 96 PC.

The PC version of NBA Live 96 is one of my all-time favourite games. I have so many fond memories of playing it, but it’s also a sentimental favourite. It was actually the first NBA Live game I owned; the Super Nintendo version of NBA Live 95 was the first game in the series that I played, but it was a frequent video store rental, and I didn’t add it or the PC version of NBA Live 95 to my collection until later. The game is obviously set in the 1995-96 season – also a personal favourite – and searching for NBA Live 96 content is what led me to discover the NLSC way back in 1997.

Even after I’d moved on to newer games, NBA Live 96 continued to be a valuable resource. Before Basketball Reference launched, we had to work a bit harder and consult various resources when we made retro roster mods, including older games. As I was quite fond of creating 1996 season mods, NBA Live 96 was one of my go-to resources. Unfortunately, its roster contained a few inaccuracies. While this certainly isn’t uncommon in games that predate official roster updates, the PC version of NBA Live 96 notably includes a number of players who were retired or inactive. Let’s take a look back…way back…

Read More »

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Friday Five! The Friday Five is a feature that I post every Friday in which I give my thoughts on a topic that’s related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, as well as the real NBA, and other areas of interest to our community. The feature is presented as either a list of five items, or in the form of a Top 5 countdown. This week’s Five is a list of five more players who only appeared on certain teams in video games.

It’s time for Part 2 of a topic I’ve previously covered here in The Friday Five: players who appeared on certain teams in video games, but not in real life. As I said last time, one of the fun parts of revisiting old games is seeing a snapshot of the NBA as it was when they were current, and recalling players’ forgotten stints with various teams. In doing so, you can also discover oddities such as players appearing on the rosters of teams that they never actually suited up for in real life. Although these look like mistakes, there are several reasons why it happens.

As I noted in my previous article, these include early roster cut-off dates and deals made later in the offseason, deals that are voided, and injuries that put players on the shelf for the entire time they’re with a particular team. Roster cut-off dates aren’t an issue anymore thanks to official updates – and we could always make updates to the rosters ourselves – but due to the aforementioned circumstances, some players will still only ever suit up for a particular team on the virtual hardwood, while being little more than a name on the roster/payroll in real life. Once again, I find trivia like that to be quite interesting due to the different back stories, so here are five more examples!

Read More »