Tag Archives: Ray Allen

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 a few of the free agents who were in NBA Live 16, and putting them back in uniform.

To say that the roster customisation options in the eighth gen NBA Live releases were a disappointment is a massive understatement. After all, they were missing entirely until a patch added roster editing to NBA Live 18, and even then, the functionality was botched and buggy come NBA Live 19. Still, it’s far easier to set up a custom roster or fantasy scenario in those two titles, compared to the first three releases on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Indeed, outside of the official roster updates – which are no longer available – Dynasty mode is the only way to see players in a new jersey.

It’s also the only place that you’ll see the selection of Free Agents that are included in NBA Live 16. To that point, there are some veterans still in the game that, if we could create custom rosters, would’ve allowed us to set up some fun scenarios. It can still be done in Dynasty, but with the limitations of the salary cap and an inability to edit jersey numbers, re-creating lineups is quite a challenge. Nevertheless, I’ve been able to place some of those NBA Live 16 Free Agents back in a uniform that they once wore, correct number and all. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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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.

Needless to say, a star player coming out of retirement is a big deal, no matter what the sport. There have been some significant comebacks in NBA history, with Michael Jordan’s returns easily being the most famous (not to mention the most successful, thanks to the second threepeat). Of course, while nostalgia leads us to reflect on some of our favourite and most memorable events, curiosity also draws us to the “What Ifs”. There’s an undeniable appeal to pondering the trades and signings that could’ve been…and also, the comebacks that we might’ve seen!

A couple of years ago I reflected on five comebacks that, had they actually happened, would’ve resulted in some fun and interesting lineups to play with in video games. When Dee and I ended up discussing Darryl Dawkins’ attempted comebacks during the 90s on the NLSC Podcast, it inspired me to revisit this topic. To that end, Dr. Dunk is the first example on this list, but there are four other noteworthy players whose returns would’ve been exciting to see in real life and on the virtual hardwood alike. Their names will certainly be quite familiar, but many fans may well have forgotten that these players attempted (or at least considered) a comeback or two.

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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 teammates who were once traded for each other, and the video games that feature those stints.

While it’s become far more common – and some would say, acceptable – for stars to change teams nowadays, it’s always been somewhat rare for players to spend their entire career with one club. Even if a player does stay put, they’ll end up playing with a host of different teammates throughout the years. Between the players that join the team they’re on and the teams that they may go on to join, old rivals will become teammates, former teammates will reunite, and superteams will form, giving us plenty of interesting lineups to talk about…and of course, play with in video games.

Needless to say, trades also break up duos and teammates who no doubt enjoyed playing with one another. We’ve even seen former college teammates get traded for each other during the Draft, as Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison were back in 1998. A trade where former teammates end up being swapped for one another gets you thinking, specifically whether the reverse has ever happened. In other words, have any players who were once traded for each other later become teammates? It has indeed happened, and since I explore such trivia through the lens of the virtual hardwood, here are five traded players turned teammates, and the games featuring those pairings.

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The NBA 2K14 Retro Series was put on hold when my old desktop crashed late last year, putting a halt to my video production. However, I’m back in business with a new rig, which means the fun can now continue! In the most recent entry in the NBA 2K14 Retro Series, I flashed back to 2008 with an overtime thriller between the Nuggets and Magic. We’re staying in that season as the first instalment for 2024 is a re-creation of Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers.

As you may recall, the Celtics entered Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals up 3-2, following the Lakers’ win in Game 5 to stave off elimination. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen – aka The Boston Three Party – were determined to finish the job at home and deliver the Celtics their seventeenth championship. Easier said than done with Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol standing in your way! It was a great series that revived the NBA’s most legendary rivalry, and it was fun to put the teams together to re-create the showdown in NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4. See how it played out, and keep your eyes peeled for an all-time classic NBA commercial during the halftime break!

Stay tuned for the next instalment, coming soon! As always, be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content, and feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that 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 reflecting on five weird outcomes in my various franchise and career games over the years.

There are many ways to play franchise modes in basketball video games. I’ve always preferred a more straightforward approach: take control of a team with current rosters, leave injuries and CPU trades on (assuming they’re optional), and play through the season to create my own reality. While this may be more conventional than a fantasy draft or using a heavily customised roster, it’s not immune to weird outcomes. Sim engines are prone to producing unexpected results, from season standings and Playoff outcomes to weird league leaders. Obviously, this happens in career modes as well.

Of course, when we’re talking about realism and weird outcomes with sim engines, it isn’t easy to define what that actually means. Results and player movement may not reflect reality, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re unrealistic in nature. In real life, we do see puzzling trades, bewildering awards and All-Star snubs, and teams that are surprisingly better or worse than expected. Some outcomes are unlikely, but weird things do happen practically every year in the NBA. With that being said, sim engines do produce some illogical and weird outcomes that are unrealistic and highly unlikely given the circumstances. Here are five examples that I’ve encountered.

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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 ten longevity records players have set on the virtual hardwood.

With the Atlanta Hawks’ 2020 season officially over, Vince Carter has officially retired after 22 seasons in the league. The player once dubbed Half-Man, Half-Amazing, has certainly had a wholly amazing career. Beyond his breathtaking dunks, 360 layups, and other highlights, Carter set new marks for longevity, not only by playing the most seasons in NBA history, but also becoming the first player to appear in four different decades. Not bad for a player who briefly gained a reputation – albeit one that was somewhat overblown – for being fragile and constantly injured!

Needless to say, Vince Carter’s lengthy NBA career has set a few records in video games as well. However, he’s not the only player who holds some longevity-based distinctions on the virtual hardwood. I ran through these in Episode #329 of the NLSC Podcast, but I know that audio content isn’t for everyone, and it pays to have trivia like this written down as well. These records span many years of basketball gaming, so let’s take a look back…way back…

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Episode #183 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Join Arcane, Kenny, and myself as we talk about the upcoming NBA 2K17 patch, some huge performances in 2K Pro-Am, and a couple of NBA stories from the past week.

On this week’s show…

• We tip off Episode #183 of the NLSC Podcast with some community announcements, including additions to the Contributors group in the Forum, and new content in the Wiki.
• NBA 2K17 hasn’t received a roster update since mid-October, owing to a problem caused by the most recent patch. An upcoming title update is expected to fix that issue, as well as problems with disconnections in 2K Pro-Am, but what about the timeout glitch?
• In Our Week in Basketball Gaming: the best three game stretch of 2K Pro-Am that any of us are likely to have, a quick session of LIVE Pro-Am, and the latest results from our respective MyCAREER games.
• We wrap things up with some NBA talk, including Ray Allen’s retirement, hot starts for Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook, and the highly anticipated Golden State Warriors vs. Oklahoma City Thunder game.

Click Play to listen to the show!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 53:28 — 25.1MB)

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Have some thoughts on the latest episode? Sound off in the comments below, or here in the Forum. Also, if there’s a topic you’d like us to discuss on the next episode of the NLSC Podcast, feel free to hit us up in this thread.