Tag Archives: Hakeem Olajuwon

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 ways that basketball games fail to properly represent big men on the court.

Although I came to favour creating point guards for my career mode avatars, and my all-time favourite player is a shooting guard, I definitely have an affinity for big men in basketball and basketball video games alike. Back in the 90s, I loved watching the superb post play of Hakeem Olajuwon, the raw power of Shaquille O’Neal, and the spectacular slams of Shawn Kemp. As one of the taller kids who ended up playing centre at school and in my local junior league, those were the players that I tried to emulate in one way or another.

Naturally, whenever I play basketball video games, I want to use those big men like their real life counterparts as well. However, that hasn’t always been possible. From reflecting the advantage that comes with height and size, to accurately depicting skills and play styles, big men often haven’t felt like themselves on the virtual hardwood. In the case of older games, primitive mechanics and AI are frequently to blame, but even newer titles have their issues. Furthermore, misconceptions and stereotypes have also led to big men having wildly inaccurate ratings and other attributes. With that being said, here are five common ways that basketball video games get big men wrong.

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Next up in Nba2kfadeaway’s new mod releases for NBA 2K16 is a face for another Legend, namely Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon. Check it out at the link below!

Nba2kfadeaway
Hakeem Olajuwon Face

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.

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #615 of the NLSC Podcast!

On a recent episode of the No Fouls Given Podcast, Paul Pierce and Danny Green opined that Michael Jordan had a “limited bag”; a notion that The Truth’s former teammate Kevin Garnett vehemently disagreed with! We’re with KG when it comes to one of the most commonly used buzzwords in basketball discourse these days, and to that end, this week we join the community in discussing what we think having a bag means and looks like. Is it just dribbling moves and ballhandling flair, or does it comprise a player’s entire offensive arsenal? We also provide examples of the players past and present that we believe boast some of the deepest bags in basketball history.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 48:27 — 33.6MB)

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!

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 players who ended up being notable names in the free agents pool in video games.

In a previous article, I mentioned that a number of future Hall of Fame players and other notable names have appeared in the free agents pool in various titles. Needless to say, they stand out among the selection of veteran journeymen and other far less prominent players. It was undoubtedly weird to see those all-time greats, multi-time all-stars, and other notable mainstays in the league languishing in the free agents pool. Once again though, they facilitated countless roster projects. Of course, it also led to some strange sights when CPU teams picked them up in franchise modes!

Obviously, there are reasons that notable names have occasionally turned up in the free agents pool of video games, particularly towards the end of their careers. Also, because older games came out on different platforms at different times, there were differences in their rosters. As such, not all versions of a game featured the same notable names among their array of unsigned free agents. I can’t pass up a chance to discuss NBA history when there’s a connection to basketball gaming trivia, and there are definitely some interesting stories here. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #571 of the NLSC Podcast!

What are some of the biggest What Ifs in the history of the NBA? This week, we join the community in reflecting on what might have been, from the tragedy of Len Bias to the various injuries, trades, and Draft picks that shaped the fortunes of teams and players alike. This includes some of the NBA Finals matchups and results that could’ve come to pass if not for a couple of plays going another way, or indeed, a certain all-time great retiring in 1993! We also discuss a couple of other interesting notes about the 1986 Draft, and some of the international players who could’ve had a better run in the NBA if the opportunity was there for them when they were in their prime.

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!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 59:57 — 41.5MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #563 of the NLSC Podcast!

With rumours that both EA Sports and Visual Concepts are considering bringing back their respective college basketball video games, which series would we personally prefer to see return? Our answer may surprise you…or then again, perhaps not! We also join the community in naming the players from NBA history and today that we most wish we could play like. It’s probably not a huge spoiler to mention that among others, we wanna be like Mike! Finally, we wrap up with a recap of a fun co-op session of NBA Live 2004 in which we took on the Houston Rockets with the Phoenix Suns, and reflect on it being a transitional year for both of those teams, as well as the NBA Live series.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 56:17 — 39.0MB)

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!

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 flashing back to NBA Live 18 and paying tribute to Ultimate Team with a highlight reel featuring stars of the 90s.

Now that the servers have been shut down, NBA Live 18 Ultimate Team is no longer available. This was most unfortunate for my retro basketball gaming habits, as I’ve enjoyed jumping back into the game every now and again to play with my squad of 90s All-Stars. Although that fun is over now, it was a blast while it lasted, and I made sure to capture my favourite plays. You’ve no doubt seen them show up in the weekly Top 10 countdown that Dee curates, but with the sunset of the mode, I decided to put together a supercut of some of my best highlights. Let’s take a look back…way back…

It’s one of the longest basketball gaming highlight reels that I’ve made to date, but I hope you enjoy some spectacular moments from a title that had a lot of potential. To that end, while Ultimate Team may no longer be playable, NBA Live 18 will still be in my rotation, and therefore in our content from time to time. With that being said, please subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming videos, including the Top 10, highlight reels, video essays, and game retrospectives, including a look back at NBA Street Homecourt that I expect to have ready in early 2025. And, as always, be sure to hit us up with suggestions of games you’d like to see us play!

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 offseasons that ended up being quite exciting for basketball gamers.

As another offseason draws to a close and a new season gets ready to tip off, we’ve got some new lineups to look forward to in the NBA this year. To that end, for those who play with current season rosters, the offseason always sets the table with some intriguing scenarios for the upcoming campaign. Whether you want to play with a team that just made a big trade or signing, or defeat them if they’re a bitter rival of your favourite club, gamers are just as invested as seeing those stories play out on the virtual hardwood as in real life.

Some offseasons are wilder than others of course, leading to lineups that make the games set in the forthcoming season even more memorable. With that in mind, I’ve compiled a list of what I believe are five of the most exciting offseasons from the perspective of basketball fans and gamers alike. Before I get into them however, I’ll give an honourable mention to the 2003 offseason, which saw Gary Payton and Karl Malone join Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant on the Lakers. It’s an honourable mention because it feels like a played-out example, and other offseasons were arguably more exciting league-wide. With that being said, here are my five picks!

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #550 of the NLSC Podcast!

Assuming that we could get anyone from NBA history into a mo-cap suit, who are the five players that we’d choose to perform motion capture for a basketball video game? This week, we join the community in naming our All-Time Mo-Cap Starting Fives! We also recap a most unusual session with NBA Live 2000 PC in which we took on the Indiana Pacers with the Detroit Pistons, and got utterly smoked by the sharpshooting duo of Reggie Miller and Chris Mullin. In addition to that, we’ve got an update to share about getting back on the court, recommendations for basketball shoes, and some reflections to share as both digital broadcasting milestones and a milestone birthday loom.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 58:23 — 40.5MB)

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!

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 players who retired after a video game’s roster cut-off date.

The roster cut-off date – aka the “accurate as of” date – is ultimately responsible for a lot of basketball video game trivia. Phantom stints, rare stints, unrepresented stints, player absences…it all comes down to the rosters being locked on a specific date as a game is being finalised for launch. A major trade or signing late in the offseason is all it takes to leave a game notably outdated, or indeed with a glaring inaccuracy, such as Michael Redd infamously returning to the Milwaukee Bucks after NBA Live 2003 PC went gold. Yes, I know I bring up that example a lot, but it’s a really fun one!

Needless to say, if a player abruptly retires after a game’s roster cut-off date, that also leads to a rather noticeable inaccuracy. When I discussed players who had remained active in games after their careers ended in real life, I noted that Larry Johnson was an example of such a player. While the other players I mentioned in that Five were still under contract and on the injured list when the games in question were released, LJ retired on October 10th 2001; after NBA Live 2002’s rosters had been set, and too late to be accounted for. Here are three other All-Stars, along with a couple of notable role players, who retired after the roster cut-off date and thus remained active in games.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #512 of the NLSC Podcast!

It’s Wishlist season once again, so this week, we join the community in listing our top three gameplay wishes for NBA 2K25! Not surprisingly, many of us have similar thoughts on what we want to see out of this year’s game. Following our recent sessions with them, we also discuss NBA ShootOut (aka Total NBA ’96) and Sony’s NBA 08, and compare them to their contemporaries. We’ve also got an injury update to share, and spend some time reflecting on past-their-prime players still having something left in the tank in real life, as well as being fun to play with in video games; especially when they’re familiar faces in unfamiliar places.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:41:02 — 69.7MB)

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!

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 reminiscing about re-playing the 1995 season in NBA Live 95 PC, a few years after it had concluded.

As I’ve said, I was born to be a retro gamer. My introduction to gaming was through a console that was already outdated, and even in the late 90s I was sticking with and going back to old favourites. The family’s aging 486 PC and the Nintendo 64 being the console I owned were also factors, especially when it came to basketball gaming. I didn’t have much choice without the hardware to play the newest NBA Live, nor could I convince my folks that I needed yet another basketball video game (“you’ve already got plenty!”). Nevertheless, my collection began when I was a teenager.

One of the most exciting pickups was NBA Live 95 PC. The Super Nintendo version of NBA Live 95 had been my introduction to 5v5 sim basketball games, but it was a frequent video store rental. NBA Live 96 was the first game I owned on PC, and also one of the first basketball video games that I actually owned, period. It was by chance that I happened across a copy of NBA Live 95 PC one school holidays, and as soon as I had it, it entered the rotation of games that my cousin Clinton and I played as often as we could. We eventually decided to re-play the 1995 season, and it became one of my all-time favourite hoops gaming experiences. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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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 how weird stints can enhance the retro basketball gaming experience.

A topic that I’ve managed to get a ton of mileage out of for Wayback Wednesday is the phenomenon of familiar faces in strange places. It even spawned a companion series: familiar faces back in familiar places! Both are part of the interactive almanac aspect of basketball video games that I’ve frequently touted. It’s what makes revisiting old games and combing through the rosters so much fun, especially when there are weird stints that you’ve forgotten about. Together, they’re a great way for me to indulge my interest in NBA history and basketball video games alike.

However, these weird stints aren’t just fodder for creating content. Seeing them in games and reminiscing about them in articles makes me want to spend more time with those titles whenever I’m looking for something to play. That may seem odd, since the players usually aren’t in their prime and playing for the team that we mostly associate them with. Needless to say, I enjoy revisiting classic games that capture famous stints too, as they involve historically significant matchups. There are some rather intriguing scenarios involving those weird stints though, so let’s take a look back…way back…

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On the most recent NLSC Podcast, Dee and I recapped our co-op session of NBA Inside Drive 2004, and shared our impressions of the game. The next episode will feature a discussion of NBA Inside Drive 2003, as our co-op game over Parsec turned into one of the most epic virtual hardwood contests that we’ve ever had!

Dee and I chose to play with the Toronto Raptors, and take on the Philadelphia 76ers. Desiring more of a challenge after quickly racing out to an early lead in our first attempt, we abandoned it in order to crank up the difficulty and start over. The CPU was now suitably ruthless, and although we kept pace through two and a half quarters, the 76ers pulled away and seemingly had the game in hand by the end of the period. This set the table for a furious fourth quarter Raptors rally, in which we had to overcome a 23-point deficit. Check out the highlights as we attempt the seemingly impossible!

Gameplay videos from a variety of basketball titles are frequently being uploaded to our YouTube channel these days, so please subscribe and check out what else is on tap! As I’ve mentioned before, Dee and I both have large collections of basketball video games at our disposal, so feel free to hit us up with suggestions of what else you’d like to see us play.

Although I’ve chiefly kept NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4 in my gaming rotation because I’m enjoying an ongoing MyCAREER, it’s not the only thing I’m doing with the game. If you’re subscribed to our YouTube channel or follow us on social media, you may be aware of my NBA 2K14 Retro Series.

In short, the NBA 2K14 Retro Series is a journey through NBA history, using NBA 2K14 PS4. On top of playing various matchups with the game’s selection of classic teams, I’m adding effects in post-production to capture the aesthetic of their respective eras.

First up, there’s a showdown between two bitter rivals, the ’89 Bulls and ’89 Pistons. In addition to the filter, you’ll also see some VHS tracking, as you might if you were re-watching the game on an often-played and well-worn tape. Next, there’s the ’65 Lakers and ’65 Celtics squaring off, in glorious black and white with some era-appropriate audio and visual effects!

After that, I got a little creative and used the ’95 Magic and ’94 Rockets to play a November 1994 matchup between the two future 1995 NBA Finalists. My most recent entry in the series is a matchup between the ’86 Hawks and ’86 Celtics, as Dominique Wilkins duels Larry Bird in the old Boston Garden. Along the way, you’ll notice a few other touches to take you back to the year in question.

Check out the first four games in the NBA 2K14 Retro Series below! Stay tuned for more classic matchups using NBA 2K14 PS4, and feel free to throw out some suggestions for other historical showdowns you’d like to see. Be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content.

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