What purpose does a pick serve?

So, I was over at my friend's house the other day so I sat down and watched him play some career games. One thing that stood out like a sore thumb is that when someone sets a pick for an AI player, even another AI player setting the pick, the one with the ball runs in the direction away from the pick, doesn't run the defender into the pick. So why bother having picks at all?

the problem with 2K, plays reset depending where you are on the floor. The same issue plagued NBA Live. I actually requested to them to take it out or give us the option to turn off auto motion in Live and they actually did. Game played a whole lot better and players stayed where they were unless you initiated a different play. There's a ton of unnecessary movement because of it.