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 five teammates who were once traded for each other, and the video games that feature those stints.
When I posted my previous Friday Five recalling five teammates who had once been traded for each other, I mentioned that there was an example that I cut after being reminded of a pairing that I definitely couldn’t leave out the first time around. Since I hate to waste any writing and research, I kept that example aside, with the intention of revisiting the topic. It actually didn’t take too long to find four more examples of players who became teammates after being traded for one another, and as such, the time has come to follow up with a new instalment.
As I’ve often said, I love roster trivia like this! It’s fascinating to trawl through NBA history to find interesting trades, unique lineups, and other unusual events, including phantom stints, and familiar faces in strange places and back in familiar places alike. I look at them through the lens of the virtual hardwood, not only because it’s the focus of our content here at the NLSC, but also because as I like to say, basketball video games are interactive almanacs. I had to search beyond the obvious games to find virtual representation of a couple of these pairings, but that’s all part of the fun! And so, let’s tip things off with the pair of players that were cut from the previous article.
From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #559 of the NLSC Podcast!
There have been scores of basketball video games released over the years, but which one has been the best sim? This week, we join the community in nominating some of the top candidates for titles that have achieved the most realism on the virtual hardwood. We also reflect once again on what it actually means to be sim, from playcalling and performance to mechanics and motion systems. Following up on last week’s show, we also discuss even more madness with three-pointers in the NBA, as teams continue to brick treys at an alarming and historical rate, driving away hardcore hoop heads who are desperate for a better product.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:06:41 — 46.1MB)
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 another list of potential comebacks that would’ve been fun to play with in video games.
As I’ve taken a few more trips around the sun, I’ve become increasingly bothered by the tendency for veterans to get pushed out of the league. Yes, young players who are the future need their opportunities, and it feels like we’re seeing more All-Stars stick around beyond their fifteenth season, but over the years, quite a few veterans have seemingly been ushered out of the NBA while they were still productive. Other times of course, injuries unfortunately cut their careers short, robbing them of the chance to settle into a veteran mentor role while still having the opportunity to contribute.
Those are the times when we hope to see comebacks, if only so a former star can go out in style rather than fade away unceremoniously. We’ve seen that happen, but not every player who leaves the league too soon gets a chance to return and write a better final chapter. Not only is that a shame in real life, but it sadly puts the kibosh on what could be a fun scenario to play with in video games as well. I’ve already posted two previous articles discussing comebacks that would’ve been fun to see in video games, but some of the examples I’m sharing today – particularly the last one – are returns that I really wish had come to pass. Without any further ado, let’s tip things off with…
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 the battle between nostalgia goggles and recency bias.
For a long time – indeed, pretty much as soon as I hit my thirties ten years ago – I’ve found myself defending nostalgia. It’s not surprising. When we’re young, sneering at the older generation and all their silly likes and beliefs, we think we’ll be immune to suffering the same fate. After all, when you’re still in the younger demographic that pop culture is catering to, you don’t consider the next generation that’ll be mocking you the same way you’ve scornfully dismissed your elders! You don’t see yourself getting stuck in your ways, or your tastes and views ever becoming old-fashioned.
To once again reference an iconic and insightful scene from The Simpsons however, it’ll happen to you! You’ll realise just how divisive nostalgic opinions can be as the years go by. Not everyone is nostalgic of course, and the backlash to nostalgia – which often carries the accusation of wearing those proverbial nostalgia goggles – doesn’t just come from the younger crowd. It’s very strange to see one of your generational peers denouncing what you both grew up with, and claiming that new is always better, without any further nuance or exceptions. In any case, it draws up the generational battlelines as we accuse each other of recency bias, or donning nostalgia goggles.
Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee4Three! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, or hit up Dee on Twitter.
You’ll see a lot of wild and spectacular moments in the NLSC Top 10 Plays, but it’s a safe bet that the #1 play this week is one of the most insane submissions that we’ve ever received! Such a unique moment is almost always guaranteed to take first place in the countdown, but there’s plenty of excitement in the other nine entries as well. From prime Vince Carter doing his thing in NBA Live 2001, to a glimpse of the 2025 season with a Russell Westbrook poster in NBA Live 18, to a ridiculous move from Derrick Rose in NBA 2K11, it’s another exciting Top 10 to tip off a weekend of basketball gaming. Let’s get to the action!
What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.
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 star players who played for both the Lakers and Celtics.
It is undoubtedly the most iconic rivalry in the history of the NBA. It even inspired the title of the very first game in the NBA Playoffs/NBA Live series! As of writing, the Lakers and the Celtics have combined for 35 of the 78 championships in league history, and have clashed in the Finals a record 12 times. The 2024 season saw the Celtics edge ahead of the Lakers with their 18th championship, and they also have a 9-3 edge in their twelve NBA Finals clashes. Boston also leads the all-time series, and is the only team with a lifetime winning record against LA.
Of course, despite the rivalry and all of the passionate responses it invites from Lakers and Celtics fans, the teams have often done deals. Furthermore, taking into account players that joined one or both teams via free agency, there’s a long list of players who have donned both Celtics green and Lakers purple and gold. That’s inevitable with the teams being around for decades, but it does get interesting when you look for stars and Hall of Famers who ended up playing for both of these storied franchises. To that end, there are five particularly noteworthy players that come to mind here. As we tip off a new season where all eyes are on both teams, let’s take a look at who they are!
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!
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 by envisioning a return to modding.
I’ve said it before, but even though I haven’t been regularly maintaining a roster update for over a decade and my modding output in general has been sporadic, the interest – indeed, the itch and the urge to mod – is still there. Lingering memories of burnout and the more finicky and frustrating aspects of modding don’t exactly help me to get motivated, but I also fondly recall the creative satisfaction of the hobby. It’s why I’ve dabbled here and there, without committing to any larger projects.
To that end, this isn’t some grand announcement of a huge return. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from other attempts at returning to modding over the past decade or so, it’s to avoid jumping the gun and announcing a big project that I can’t guarantee I’ll deliver on! At the same time, my casual dabbling with minimalist modding and other ideas has encouraged me to get more involved again, and even consider tinkering with NBA 2K25. I touched on this when I shared some of my roster mod philosophies, but as I envision a possible return to modding, it’s essential that I choose projects that appeal to my interests, not to mention suit my current habits on the virtual hardwood.
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 celebrates Derrick Rose by recalling five of his best plays.
As we discussed earlier this week in Episode #548 of the NLSC Podcast, Derrick Rose has called it a career after 15 seasons in the NBA. D-Rose is – as I’m sure many of you are aware – one of my all-time favourite players, right up there with fellow Chicago Bulls alumni Michael Jordan and Ben Gordon. To that end, I’m sorry to see him retire, especially without more fanfare and indeed a farewell tour back with the Bulls. After all of his injuries and with family life ahead of him however, one has to respect him for being at peace with his career, and his decision to walk away.
Obviously, there are some wistful What Ifs when it comes to Derrick Rose. If not for that devastating knee injury in the 2012 Playoffs, I’m sure he would’ve been one of the top stars of the 2010s. Who knows what the Bulls might’ve achieved had he remained healthy, and if they’d acquired some more firepower to support him? While it does sting to think about, I’m also grateful that I was able to see him become an All-Star and MVP, and truly get excited about the Bulls’ chances again as I did in 2011. He was a really fun player to watch – and play with in video games, too – so in honour of his retirement and his 36th birthday, here are five of my favourite Derrick Rose plays!
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 by sharing some of my roster mod philosophies.
Sometimes, I feel uneasy about giving modding advice, or commenting on modding-related topics. It’s been a long time since I regularly participated in the hobby, to the point where many people might not even know that I’ve been a modder! I was very active throughout the heyday of NBA Live modding though, and I’ve also dipped my toe into some NBA 2K modding here and there, even releasing a fixed official roster for NBA 2K10. Even though I did eventually become burned out on modding, as I’ve previously admitted, the urge to tinker is still there.
Moreover, I do know what I’m talking about when it comes to our community and creating mods, particularly rosters. I realise that times have changed and there’s always value in exploring new methods and possibilities, but there’s some advice that is evergreen. As Batman once put it on Justice League Unlimited, sometimes the old ways are best; a sentiment echoed in Skyfall many years later! And so, as we consider creating big projects for new games and old favourites alike, I’m sharing some of my roster mod philosophies. They’ve served me well when working on various rosters over the years, and it’s how I’ll approach any projects that I take on moving forward.
Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee4Three! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, or hit up Dee on Twitter.
Even though it’s only been a couple of weeks, it’s clear that the community is already making some fond memories with NBA 2K25. With that being said, several classics are in our rotations, and basketball gamers are also still keenly playing NBA 2K23 and NBA 2K24 while the servers remain online. To that end, this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays continues to spotlight a variety of titles, which produced another dazzling array of dunks, ankle breakers, and a clutch play in a clash of legendary rivals. Let’s get to the action!
What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.
Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee4Three! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, or hit up Dee on Twitter.
Basketball gamers have been coming through in the clutch recently, as this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays has a distinct buzzer beater motif! It’s one of the few plays in basketball that can beat a spectacular dunk, but with that being said, this week’s countdown still features an assortment of exciting jams. Also, despite NBA 2K25 being fairly well-received so far, the classics are definitely still in many hoops gamers’ rotations. Incidentally, that includes a 2008 season title for PlayStation 3 which you’ll read about in Wayback Wednesday later this month. Let’s get to the action!
What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.
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 basketball video games that are somewhat overshadowed by their immediate successors, or even predecessors.
As I’ve acknowledged in previous articles, “underrated” and “overshadowed” are relative and subjective terms, as are “overrated” and “overexposed” for that matter. They assume some level of consensus, and to that point, once we start talking about how something is underrated or overshadowed, it often ceases to be either. With that being said, when it comes to basketball video games, there are some that always seem to fly under the radar. Even if they were well-received at the time, they still don’t get their due in hindsight, because another title from the same era is more acclaimed.
This can easily happen in the annual sim titles when they’re at their peak. While there may be several strong releases during a series’ golden age, we tend to focus on the ones that always land on lists of all-time great basketball video games. It can happen to arcade titles as well, even when the games were released a couple of years or more apart. I hesitate to declare all of them to be hidden gems as they were popular, and it might be swinging the narrative too far in the other direction. Nevertheless, in my opinion, these overshadowed games deserve some more love. I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for some retro basketball gaming inspiration!
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 the long-running modding practice of rolling back rosters to the previous season.
Two of the most exciting modding ideas for basketball video games are bringing an old favourite up to date, and winding back the clock in new games with a detailed retro season mod. There’s something truly enchanting about a mod so comprehensive that you almost forget that several years – or indeed, decades – separate the game and the season that the roster mod is set in! In comparison, roster mods that just involve rolling the rosters back one year may seem like a more humble affair, particularly if they’re completely minimalist and don’t include any court, jersey, or logo updates.
And yet, these projects can be immensely satisfying to create and play with! There are reasons that for as long as we’ve been able to meaningfully customise rosters – with or without the aid of external tools – we’ve had the idea of rolling back a game’s rosters to the previous campaign. In short, it’s a combination of some of our favourite aspects of playing and modding basketball video games, to the point where a season needn’t be particularly old or established as nostalgic for us to want to re-create it. It’s a way of changing things up, so let’s look at a popular way to go back, that goes way back!
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 and advice on the old basketball games that are the easiest to get into.
If you’ve been around a while, reading my articles and listening to Dee and I on the NLSC Podcast, you’ll know that we’re enthusiastic advocates for retro basketball gaming. It’s not that we won’t play newer titles – and of course, the term “retro” is also subjective in that regard – but we love to revisit the classics, and encourage anyone who feels disappointed with modern games to do the same. Whether it’s a brief trip down memory lane or it becomes your primary means of hitting the virtual hardwood, there are many old basketball games that hold up and are still worth playing.
With that being said, some old basketball games are easier to get into than others. Needless to say, the further back you go, the more primitive the games, and everyone has a threshold as far as what’s too old to enjoy all these years later; at least on a regular basis. There’s also the matter of feasibility. You obviously need to be able to run the games, and that requires the necessary hardware, and sometimes technical savvy. There are ways to play pretty much any old basketball games that you can get your hands on, but some are definitely more accessible. To that end, here are my recommendations of where to begin if you’re interested in retro basketball gaming.
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