Hi! Just A Couple Questions

[BullsaholicFan]

First post here. I'm not new to forums as I post on MaddenMania.com (FSU Cowboy), OperationSports.com (FSU Animal), and Football-Freaks.com (FSU Animal). I've been registered here for quite some time now but never posted due to never actually having the game. I am a hardcore football freak, so I post mainly on those three sites. Well, just recently I purchased NBA Live 2004 for the PC. So far I'm loving the game with no complaints. I decided that for the first time in a long time, I'm not going to read any of the complaints about this game as they will only make me hate the game and not have any fun with it.

I found rosters and sliders and have already begun my Chicago Bulls dynasty (4 games in).

Now for the questions:

I noticed there is a Sporting News (or whatever magazine name) at the beginning of the dynasty. Is it possible to open that magazine up and read it? If not, then I question why EA decided to put that in. Also, will that be the only time I see a cover...at the start of each season?

I did not look at the default rosters but I'm wondering about the rosters I'm using. There is only one player that is rated in the 90's (94 to be exact) and that is Kevin Garnett. Shaquille O'Neal is the second highest at 88. Kobe is 80 and so are a few others, though not very many. Then you run across a few good players in their 70's. Then the playing field evens out to the players that are reliable being in the 60's and high 50's, while the rest drop off to the mid 50's and below (even to the teens). I like the way this roster is, so is that how the rosters are in default? I like how the rosters are because you can certainly tell the difference between a star and a mediocre player.

When I distribute training points for the whole team, I like to evenly spread them. However, I rarely see anything go up. So should I distribute the pionts into one category rather than spreading them out evenly hoping for a raise? Does the CPU distribute training points too? If not, I think EA should because by only allowing the Human team to train, then they are giving the Human team an unfair advantage.

Usually when I get a basketball game, I trade for mediocre players that I like. For example, I'll trade away an aging star (last year it was Jalen Rose in NBA 2K3) for a younger player needing playing time. I'll usually go for Antwaun Jamison as well since he is one of my favorite players. However, this year I tried trading Scottie Pippen plus my 2nd Round Future pick for Shane Battier of Memphis. Then to my suprise, Memphis turned that down saying they were not interested in draft picks just yet. My first reaction was "Wow!!" I like how EA implemented that trade logic into the game. Now I'm being forced to deal with who I have now or go through free agency or wait till the standings are better defined. I must say that is one of my favorite parts of dynasty.

So far it is pretty realistic basketball. I have four guys that can shoot threes (Jamal Crawford, Jay Williams, Kirk Heinrich, and A.J. Guyton - from free agency). At first, I tried using them too often. When I went one game 0-21 on 3-pointers, I decided to raise the Long Shot Accuracy slider....but then decided against it as that has become my crutch in games....to raise or lower a slider when something isn't going my way. So after reading some posts on here about working the ball inside to try and free up one of my three point shooters on the outside, I decided to give that a shot. It worked wonders. My Long Shot Accuracy slider is still at 40 instead of 60, which is what I was going to raise it to due to the frustration. My three point shooters shot 6 for 17. My previous point leader was Jamal Crawford when he dropped 22 in one game, but in the game when he actually hit a three, he dropped 30. I'm 1-3 so far in the season with my only win a 98-94 win over Atlanta. Washington destroyed me 130-109 (jumped right into Dynasty with learning any controls).

Anyways, I hope to post here when I can so you should see me around.


Oh yeah, does anybody know of anything that shows what the basketball plays look like and how and when to use them? I'm not a basketball strategist so I have no knowledge in basketball play diagrams. Basically, I know what the Point Guard's and Center's duties are but not the other positions. Anybody know of anything?

Thanks...see you all around!

Edit: Forgot to mention this, but I think I'm using Andrew's rosters

[oboeguy]

Welcome! Nice first post.

As for running plays, I would say learn to run a couple of truly basic basketball plays. The pick and roll is a nice way to run a quick two man play. Big guy sets a pick on the defender of the PG or SG. Then, depending on how the defense reacts, the guard either shoots, passes, or drives. Then there's the post up play, where a guard holds the ball on the perimeter when a big guy fights for position down low (everyone else moves out of the way). From there again you can play a two man game, depending on how good your big guy's position, if he's double-teamed, etc. Oftern you can pass back out to the guard for an open J.

Enjoy the game!

[Andrew]

Welcome to the forum!

Forgot to mention this, but I think I'm using Andrew's rosters

Are you sure? There's at least three or four players in the 90s in my roster, not including the Legends...at least I'm pretty sure there are. I know I've lowered some ratings, but I'm pretty sure KG, Duncan, Shaq and Kobe are still all at least 90 overall.

But the overall ratings in my roster are pretty much the same as default ie. there is a large gap between role players and stars. The ratings themselves have been changed from the default.

I noticed there is a Sporting News (or whatever magazine name) at the beginning of the dynasty. Is it possible to open that magazine up and read it? If not, then I question why EA decided to put that in. Also, will that be the only time I see a cover...at the start of each season?

The magazine shows up at the beginning of the season, the All-Star break, the beginning of the playoffs and after the playoffs. It's just a cover though.

When I distribute training points for the whole team, I like to evenly spread them. However, I rarely see anything go up. So should I distribute the pionts into one category rather than spreading them out evenly hoping for a raise? Does the CPU distribute training points too? If not, I think EA should because by only allowing the Human team to train, then they are giving the Human team an unfair advantage.

If you assign a little more training time to one area, you will see a slight increase. I've found that you have to assign at least 10-15 points to an area to prevent too much decline.

I don't know how effective training camp is for the CPU, though I assume CPU teams also assign training team as the game appears to simulate training camp for the other 28 teams.

[FanOfAll]

First post here. I'm not new to forums as I post on MaddenMania.com (FSU Cowboy), OperationSports.com (FSU Animal), and Football-Freaks.com (FSU Animal). I've been registered here for quite some time now but never posted due to never actually having the game. I am a hardcore football freak, so I post mainly on those three sites. Well, just recently I purchased NBA Live 2004 for the PC. So far I'm loving the game with no complaints. I decided that for the first time in a long time, I'm not going to read any of the complaints about this game as they will only make me hate the game and not have any fun with it.

i used to post at maddenmania.com ...until i got bored of madden 2004.

I found rosters and sliders and have already begun my Chicago Bulls dynasty (4 games in).

I did not look at the default rosters but I'm wondering about the rosters I'm using. There is only one player that is rated in the 90's (94 to be exact) and that is Kevin Garnett. Shaquille O'Neal is the second highest at 88. Kobe is 80 and so are a few others, though not very many. Then you run across a few good players in their 70's. Then the playing field evens out to the players that are reliable being in the 60's and high 50's, while the rest drop off to the mid 50's and below (even to the teens). I like the way this roster is, so is that how the rosters are in default? I like how the rosters are because you can certainly tell the difference between a star and a mediocre player.

are you sure you're using andrew's sliders? i'm using them atm as well, and i don't get these problems. these could be the default rosters, since they did it on a scale of 0-100...

Usually when I get a basketball game, I trade for mediocre players that I like. For example, I'll trade away an aging star (last year it was Jalen Rose in NBA 2K3) for a younger player needing playing time. I'll usually go for Antwaun Jamison as well since he is one of my favorite players. However, this year I tried trading Scottie Pippen plus my 2nd Round Future pick for Shane Battier of Memphis. Then to my suprise, Memphis turned that down saying they were not interested in draft picks just yet. My first reaction was "Wow!!" I like how EA implemented that trade logic into the game. Now I'm being forced to deal with who I have now or go through free agency or wait till the standings are better defined. I must say that is one of my favorite parts of dynasty.

I'm not sure I like that....usually teams only accept picks at the trade deadine or after the season. But I like trying to trade whenever I can and draft picks are a large part of trades...

So far it is pretty realistic basketball. I have four guys that can shoot threes (Jamal Crawford, Jay Williams, Kirk Heinrich, and A.J. Guyton - from free agency). At first, I tried using them too often. When I went one game 0-21 on 3-pointers, I decided to raise the Long Shot Accuracy slider....but then decided against it as that has become my crutch in games....to raise or lower a slider when something isn't going my way. So after reading some posts on here about working the ball inside to try and free up one of my three point shooters on the outside, I decided to give that a shot. It worked wonders. My Long Shot Accuracy slider is still at 40 instead of 60, which is what I was going to raise it to due to the frustration. My three point shooters shot 6 for 17. My previous point leader was Jamal Crawford when he dropped 22 in one game, but in the game when he actually hit a three, he dropped 30. I'm 1-3 so far in the season with my only win a 98-94 win over Atlanta. Washington destroyed me 130-109 (jumped right into Dynasty with learning any controls).

Nice to hear that throwing the ball into the post is working for you. That's my #1 rule...get the ball into the post. BTW, if you do use/are using Andrew's newest sliders, you might to try out Eddy Curry down low. He's a very good inside scorer and works wonders for me...so much that I can get him to shoot something crazy like 15 for 18 in a 32 minute game.

Oh yeah, does anybody know of anything that shows what the basketball plays look like and how and when to use them? I'm not a basketball strategist so I have no knowledge in basketball play diagrams. Basically, I know what the Point Guard's and Center's duties are but not the other positions. Anybody know of anything?

I'm not sure what you mean...do you mean in the game? You can pause the game, go to "Settings" --> "Playbook" and then the option on the bottom (forget the name). Basically there are 4 quick plays there for you to pick out of I think around 100 plays. On the right is a half court that has the positions...and it shows the players moving around. That's what will happen if you take the point guard, place him where the diagram has him (or near there), and just stand there. Or if the play has the point guard doing a pick and roll, then do the pick and roll. If it's a play like Flex 1 (which I call a lot), the point guard is at the top of the key, the 4 and 5 (PF and C) are down low, each on one side of the block. The 2 and 3 (SG and SF) each use the 4 and 5 as screens...the SG ends up going baseline left and the SF comes up on the left shoulder.

The default quick plays are iso, post up, pick and roll, and basket cut. Iso is good if you have a player like T-Mac, Kobe...take them to one of the wings and isolate them...then school you're defender . I use post up to call one of my big men inside. If I want to throw the ball to Eddy Curry in the post, but he's standing around the 3 pt line, I'll call "Post Up." If it sends Antonio Davis into the post instead, then press it again and the other big man should go in. I use "pick and roll" a lot to either get a man off me, or play, like oboeguy said, a 2 man game. It's really good for quick guys like Stephon Marbury who can nail the open jump shot coming off the pick and roll...or he can drive to the hoop. The pick and roll is a pretty cheap play IMO...the big man cuts inside and you can feed the big man for an easy dunk/layup. Cash in on the dimes...I admit I do this when I want my PG to get a double double . The last default quick play is basket cut...I find it quite useless unless you want one of your guys to cut in...which often times it doesn't pick the right guy so you have to press it a few times.

lol i read your question wrong...you want to know the duty of the other players? Traditionally, the duty of the power forward is to play the weak side and hit the offensive glass hard (strong side = side with ball). The shooting guard is supposed to do what his name says...shoot! The small forward does a variety of things. However, as basketball has evolved, there is no longer a definite role for each position. You'll see guys like Antoine Walker, Scottie Pippen at the 3/4 bring the ball up. You'll see guys like Kobe, Doug Christie play point guard and have Fisher or Bibby play the off guard. In addition, back in those old days, you're main option in the post was usually your center...these days are reverse (usually, although some teams, like the Lakers or the Rockets still have first option centers). So to answer your question, the role of the position isn't dictated anymore by the position, but instead by the player himself...these days you'll see freakish guys like Dirk Nowitski or Lamar Odom with a vast range of skills. Dirk can play the 3, 4, or 5, but no matter which position he's playing, he usually has the same role. Stand around the 3 point line, drive, shoot, move around a bit, play the mid-long range game. On defense...well he has no defense. Odom plays the 4, but he sometimes plays the role on offense as the playmaker...he drives and will dish or something like that.

This is a really long winded answer and I'm getting off course, but the main thing now is to adapt to your player's strengths/weaknesses. As the Bulls, sometimes I'm forced to play Jerome Williams as my 3...but he can't shoot for beans, so if he gets the ball out on the perimeter, I have to make him pass. Or, what you really should do, is call plays based on your players strengths/weaknesses. You're the Bulls, called plays that send Jamal Crawford through the paint (so he can get a screen from a big man) and out to the 3 pt line where Hinrich can feed him the ball for an open jump shot. But if you bring in Kendall Gill, don't do that...Gill can't shoot, make someone else your main option. Hope that helps.