Tag Archives: Legends

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 the time that Stephen Curry was briefly rated 99 Overall in NBA 2K16.

Sunday marked ten years since Stephen Curry was named the first unanimous Most Valuable Player in NBA history. We can certainly debate as to whether he should’ve been the first, as there’s been some questionable MVP voting over the years; even when the “correct” player won the award. However, I’d suggest that even if Curry shouldn’t have been the first, he was nevertheless absolutely deserving of the honour. He had a tremendous season, with both he and the Golden State Warriors breaking records. Of course, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers spoiled the ending!

A month before the Cavaliers’ 3-1 comeback became the story that defined the 2016 season however, Curry and the Warriors were obviously the talk of the league. Their impressive campaign and Curry’s individual brilliance naturally inspired debate about ratings and rankings, which also carried over to the virtual hardwood. In the wake of taking home a second-straight MVP and in unanimous fashion, Stephen Curry was boosted to 99 Overall in the official rosters for NBA 2K16, in an update that came through ten years ago yesterday. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #630 of the NLSC Podcast!

Entering 2026, we had some plans and goals for the virtual hardwood. Since we’re rapidly approaching the middle of the year – no, don’t ask us where the time went – we decided to check in on how those plans are going! To that end, this week we’re joining the community in discussing our basketball gaming habits so far in 2026, from the selection of titles that we’re playing to the modes that have kept us hooked. We also recap a fun Parsec session with the Snes9x Super Nintendo emulator featuring a five-player co-op game of NBA Live 95 that was an absolute blast, and an intense four-player head-to-head showdown in NBA Hangtime that was ultimately decided in overtime.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 52:14 — 36.2MB)

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 remnants of missing and removed features in basketball video games.

Features and content are removed from all genres of video games for a variety of reasons, from design changes and technical challenges to deadlines and legal issues. It’s unfortunate even when it’s understandable, but it’s also entertaining to discover the remnants of cut content. They’re intriguing mysteries when we stumble upon them, fascinating What Ifs when we know their back stories, and sometimes even things that can be restored through modding. Our community has definitely been able to make good use of leftover content in NBA Live and NBA 2K!

Of course, the remnants of cut content can also be annoying. Not only are they proof of what we missed out on, but sometimes they’re a sign of anti-consumer design. A feature that would’ve been useful to have – and indeed was in a previous game – may have been removed because it isn’t conducive to recurrent revenue mechanics being as profitable as they could be. That may not be quite as insidious as removing content in order to sell it as downloadable content, but it’s still lacking in goodwill! Whatever the case, there have been some memorable remnants of missing and removed features in basketball video games over the years. Here are five that spring to mind for me.

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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 how real agendas have been infiltrating the virtual commentary in basketball video games.

The other day, I saw a social media post praising the positivity of the NBA on Prime crew’s coverage of a Lakers game. It drew comparisons with Inside the NBA, opining that Shaq in particular would’ve been negative in his commentary. It echoes recent remarks from Nick Wright, who at least tried to couch his callout with compliments. Back in November last year, Nikola Jokic wrapped up an interview with the NBA on Prime crew by calling it “much better“; a not-too-subtle jab at the lack of positivity he’s endured from other analysts, including the notoriously petty Shaq.

As much as I have my quibbles with the modern game, I can’t entirely disagree. When I first got into basketball, the NBA and its stars were presented as being part of a great ongoing legacy. That’s how it should be today. The problem is that in recent times, past generations have been disrespected in a way that I couldn’t imagine back in the 90s. Talking heads like Nick Wright have been a big part of that smear campaign – the “plumbers and dentists” rhetoric – so it’s rich to hear him plead for intergenerational peace and respect now. It’s bad enough that agendas like his plague coverage of the real NBA, but these days we have to listen to them in video game commentary too.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #626 of the NLSC Podcast!

We’ve recently been connecting to play Konami’s NBA Starting Five 2005, which was released exclusively in Japan for the PlayStation 2. Unsurprisingly, that has inspired us to take an in-depth look at the game on this week’s show! After breaking down its assortment of classic teams and other historical squads, we share our impressions of its gameplay, modes, presentation, and other features. While the game can be rough, it definitely has its strong points, including some that were ahead of its time. We also join the community in discussing whether we would’ve bought NBA Starting Five 2005 instead of or in addition to NBA Live 2005 and/or ESPN NBA 2K5, had it been made available in our region.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:06:28 — 46.0MB)

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 taking a look back at the classic teams in the College Hoops series.

It’s well-known that EA Sports included a variety of classic teams in their college basketball video games, in no small part because they ended up being the catalyst for Ed O’Bannon’s lawsuit against the NCAA. Their infamy arguably overshadows the inclusion of classic teams in the College Hoops series, but 2K’s games did indeed feature a complement of historical squads as well. Considering my current preference for indulging my nostalgia and passion for basketball history, they’re an incentive to consider spending more time with the two College Hoops titles that I own!

Time will tell if those games will crack my rotation. As far as their NBA counterparts are concerned, I do enjoy NBA 2K7, but I’m not a fan of NBA 2K8. For now though, let’s talk about the historical content in the College Hoops games. As you may expect, there’s a generous selection of retro squads spanning decades of college basketball history, though the array of teams did change slightly every year. So, what were the classic teams in College Hoops like, and why didn’t they lead to the same controversy that befell EA’s NCAA titles? 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 revisiting NBA Live 19 with an updated retrospective, in light of the game re-entering my rotation last year.

Last year, after I made a post that mentioned NBA Live 18 on the NLSC’s socials, I received a response asserting that NBA Live 19 was “ten times better”. As someone who never really warmed up to the game, that was certainly an intriguing claim! I was sceptical, but I wasn’t about to stubbornly dismiss it out of hand. After all, a second look at NBA Live 18 made me realise that I enjoyed it even more than I remembered. Furthermore, a dedicated contingent of gamers continued to play NBA Live 19 for many years after its release, suggesting that there was a fun experience on offer.

And so, I decided to give NBA Live 19 another try. Considering that it became my basketball game of choice from August last year right through to its server shutdown back in January, it’s safe to say that I have a far more positive view of it now! There are still aspects that I don’t like, or believe could and should have been better, but at the very least I’ve developed more of an appreciation for it. Is it ten times better than NBA Live 18? Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s a respectable release that should’ve been a stepping stone to an even better game. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #620 of the NLSC Podcast!

The NBA 2K series has been packed full of retro content for over a decade now, but despite some major additions throughout the years, the overall quality still leaves us wanting. After reflecting on the issue of quantity over quality and the general lack of care for classic teams and players, we join the community in discussing how we’d enhance the retro content in future NBA 2K games. From fixes and updates that are absolutely essential to some more ambitious ideas that would make the retro content even more fun to use, there’s plenty that can and should be done. We also touch on how this lack of attention to detail is also already affecting the new collegiate content that recently debuted in NBA 2K.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 52:48 — 36.6MB)

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!

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 how challenging it can be to accurately rate a fading star in basketball video games.

Since they became a visible part of basketball video games, player ratings have been a contentious issue. We’ve rarely been completely happy with the ratings in the official rosters, sometimes for very good reasons; particularly when it comes to the historical players! Developers have also shared stories about players arguing about their ratings when they come in for motion capture or face scans. On a lighter note, when Hassan Whiteside returned to the NBA for the 2015 season and began turning in some good performances for the Heat, he joked about doing it to get his NBA 2K ratings up.

As someone who used to maintain current roster updates for NBA Live on PC, there were certainly ratings in the default rosters that I disagreed with. At the same time, I also sympathised with the producers who were responsible for those official rosters, because it’s impossible to please everyone. We all have different views on how certain players should be rated – with bias often being a factor – as well as how player ratings should be handled across the board. All roster makers end up settling on a system of some kind, me included. Even so, some players have proved particularly challenging to rate over the years, and a fading star will generally be among the most difficult.

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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 another list of potential comebacks that would’ve been fun to play with in video games.

Seeing as how this is the fifth Friday Five article looking at comebacks that would’ve been fun to play with in video games, I’ve already covered some of the most notable examples. From prominent players whose attempts to make it back to the league came up short, to Legends who were close to donning another uniform before opting to stay retired, to vague interest that ultimately didn’t amount to anything, there have been some fascinating stories of comebacks that could’ve been fun to see in real life, and a blast to play with on the virtual hardwood as well.

For Part 5, I’m doing something a little different. These are still comebacks that were at the very least rumoured or hinted at – I’m not just making up fictional examples – and they’d make for fun scenarios in video games. However, they’re not as serious as the previous stories. When it comes to these potential comebacks, it’s more a case of them being fanciful thoughts by the players in question, or there’s not much evidence that a return was ever truly close to being a reality. Indeed, in one case, it’s extremely clear that it wasn’t actually happening! Nevertheless, it’s still entertaining to look back and wonder What If, and perhaps even customise rosters to set up these scenarios.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #610 of the NLSC Podcast!

With the NBA Live 19 servers shutting down next January, a recent kick has inspired us to take another look back at the final release in the NBA Live series…at least for now. From new perspectives on the last official patch and the gameplay experience, to thoughts on Ultimate Team, The Streets World Tour, Legends ratings, and depth, we reflect on our overall impressions of the game after giving it another chance. We also touch on developing a greater appreciation for other games upon revisiting them with fresh eyes, Ultimate Team lineups, where NBA Live 19 ranks in the series, and what should be done differently if NBA Live ever returns with a new console/PC release.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 52:06 — 36.1MB)

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!

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 revisiting games in which I mostly played MyCAREER, and enjoying some fresh experiences.

When it comes to our impressions of basketball games with an array of modes, what we play is a significant factor. After all, while the underlying gameplay mechanics are obviously the same, their suitability and our tolerance for any issues can vary from mode to mode. There have definitely been games that were more enjoyable in certain modes, depending on the tuning and whether or not we could alter it. As such, if you mostly stick to one mode, you may not be aware of some of a game’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s why we can remember the same games very differently.

After really getting into MyCAREER in NBA 2K13, it became my mode of choice for the next seven years or so. That’s not to say that it was the only mode I played, but when it comes to NBA 2K on PlayStation 4 and PC, many of my fondest memories are of MyCAREER and its connected experiences. I don’t regret that, as it represents hours of fun on the virtual hardwood. At the same time, it does mean that there were modes and content I wasn’t able to truly enjoy, since levelling up a MyPLAYER and playing through an NBA season is a huge commitment. To that end, revisiting some of those games and playing something other than MyCAREER has been refreshing.

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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 reflecting on my feelings of nostalgia and indeed anemoia when playing with players from before my time in basketball games.

Like most people, my nostalgia for basketball and basketball gaming is intertwined. Whether I’m dusting off a classic game or playing with historical content in a newer title, I’m usually indulging my nostalgia for the 90s and 2000s. However, I’ve grown increasingly fond of playing with many of the Legends from before my time. This includes players who retired before I was even born, as well as those whose careers wrapped up shortly before I became a hardcore basketball fan in the mid 90s. Even though I didn’t grow up watching those players, they’re still nostalgic to me.

It may sound strange to have nostalgia for a time that I never experienced, but it’s not uncommon. In fact, John Koenig’s Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows has given a name to such feelings: the aforementioned anemoia. Needless to say, it applies to more than just basketball and basketball gaming, but it aptly describes my newfound enthusiasm for playing with players from before my time. Although it’s more of a recent habit for me, upon reflection, my introduction to basketball clearly laid the groundwork for such anemoia. Let’s take a look at how I’ve come to enjoy going back…way back…

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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 the challenges we face while trying to capture historical screenshots.

Between the topics I cover in various articles and my retro gaming habits involving classic teams and matchups, I’m often capturing screenshots of historical scenarios. Needless to say, there are some challenges when it comes to trying to snap the ideal shot. Obviously, many of them apply to virtual hardwood photography in general. From technical limitations to the available content to difficulty in staging everything the way you see it in your mind, the final result may not be exactly what you want. Of course, other times the results can be extremely satisfying.

To that end, I really enjoy firing up a game, tinkering with the rosters as necessary, and finding ways to stage historical scenarios for some great screenshots! Indeed, on top of using historical screenshots to illustrate the facts and trivia that I’m writing about, the theme of a number of my features in recent years has basically revolved around virtual pictures speaking their proverbial thousand words. Not only has this allowed me to indulge my nostalgia and love of NBA history, but it’s been fun trying my hand at some more visually creative content. Once again though, these historical screenshots come with several challenges, though tackling them has been rewarding.

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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 coincidences with squads in the series of Legends Challenges in NBA Live 19 Ultimate Team.

As was the case with NBA Live 18, Ultimate Team has been one of my main modes of choice during my NBA Live 19 kick. It’s the only way to play with all the Legends, which appeals to my nostalgic approach to basketball gaming these days. Because I’m getting into NBA Live 19 Ultimate Team so late in the game, I’ll still have plenty of unfinished Challenges when the servers are shut down. With that in mind, I’m picking and choosing the ones that appeal to me the most. Needless to say, that includes the 31-game series of Legends Challenges!

Each game in the series of Legends Challenges places a former great back in uniform, albeit the jersey that their respective teams are sporting during the 2019 season. While they may be playing alongside one or two of their former teammates – or at least other greats who played for that team at some point – the squads are generally comprised of whichever Legends would make for a challenging lineup. For the most part, it doesn’t seem that those out-of-place Legends have been selected for any specific reason. To that end, I noted what I believe are some fun coincidences with the (mis)placement of certain players in the Legends Challenges, from actual history to infamous What Ifs.

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