how can i make the sonics more competitive

when sim my franchise they always seems to be one of the worst team in the league. as you can see they are the 3rd seed out west.

You cannot without making their players better...

This is exactly why player chemistry, team play and coaching should come into play.

A team of average players can play good team offense and defense and be better as a whole than any of it's parts... Sure they got Allen, but he can't do it alone.

Well managed teams are often better than the sum of their parts... This is exactly why Sonics have played as well as they have... When you look at their roster, you'd say that it's one of the worst in the league, little similar to Milwaukee...

Yeah they finish crap on mine too...

Well you cant expect EA to be oracles do you?

Did ea know that the Sonics would go so well?
That being said in NBA 2K the Grizzlies and the Nuggets always finish very high

You would think Memphis would, they have the best team on paper

No mate. Im talking about 2K as in 2000. Not 2K5

Live seriously underestimated quite a few Sonics players, just like they majorly underestimated Dwayne Wade (he's rated so bad that the AI won't even START him as a SG).

Ridnour is far quicker than a Center (in Live Tyson Chandler is faster tha he is ), and shoots far better than 60 (earlier this season his 3P% was higher Ray Ray or Rashard's, top10 in the L).

Reggie Evans is the #1 rebounder per 48 minutes (19.0) in the entire League, in game he's a 50 player, worse than most 2nd round draft picks.

Radmanovic is one of the better 6th men in the League, his ratings should be similar to Ricky Davis (70ish).

Jerome James, however, does suck.

Live seriously underestimated quite a few Sonics players, just like they majorly underestimated Dwayne Wade (he's rated so bad that the AI won't even START him as a SG).

Ridnour is far quicker than a Center (in Live Tyson Chandler is faster tha he is ), and shoots far better than 60 (earlier this season his 3P% was higher Ray Ray or Rashard's, top10 in the L).

Reggie Evans is the #1 rebounder per 48 minutes (19.0) in the entire League, in game he's a 50 player, worse than most 2nd round draft picks.

Radmanovic is one of the better 6th men in the League, his ratings should be similar to Ricky Davis (70ish).

Jerome James, however, does suck.

Dwayne Wade is point guard... For starters. The AI won't start him as Shooting Guard if he is listed as a PG and you have a better PG than him... I doubt it though...

Ridnour is a rookie and it's hard to tell how good the rookies are before they've played a single game in the NBA. Having him slower than Chandler, well Chandler isn't the slowest guy in the league either. So this falls to the category of prophecising about something you know nothing about. And about the three point percentage... Percentage is nothing. Even Shaq could have a 100% three point shooting percentage if he only took one shot in a season and for some god forsaken reason made it. Allen is one the best three point shooters in the league and that means shooting and shooting alot. If Ridnour would shoot as much the three as Allen, I don't think his percentages would be as high as they are. If you only shoot when you're open, you are bound to shoot so much less and when you are the top three point gun in your team you are sometimes forced to put up the shot because there's no one else around to do it... And when you are a great perimeter threat, you attract better defenders too so you have harder time getting your shot off... Maybe Ridnour should have a higher 3pt rating, but don't go comparing his shooting with the shooting of Ray Ray... It's a whole other ball game when you are known for your three point shooting.

Reggie Evans... He does very little else except collect those boards... Even if you took his rebounding figures and pushed them to 99 his overall wouldn't increase that much. But again it's hard to tell how these new guys play before a single game has been played...

These two guys are a prime example why Andrew's roster updates are so valuable... A very good example. These two guys are probably a bit better in the updates and so the entire Seattle team is a bit better.

Radmanovic can score... I'll give you that, but again he does very little else. He's a great back up, but he ain't no starter... Guys like Ricky Davis and Jerry Stackhouse and even Ben Gordon would probably be starters in other teams... But then there's the 'some guys just seem better off the bench' factor... If you look Ben Gordon's first couple of games this season you'll know what I'm talking about. Radmanovic would probably not be a starter if he was moved... Again, he can score, but not much more there... Not the most athletic guy or the best defender or rebounder... Great scorer, nothing more... Rated 62 is fine. Rating 62 isn't bad in this game...

I just started a new fantasy draft dynasty and I picked me Jason Collins a back up center... He's so big and strong and great at grabbing the boards that he usually leads my team in rebounds off the bench... His over all is like 52-55 or something... A great rebounder... Not much more, just like Reggie Evans...

i think that it's fine that they underestimate players when making the game; i mean who would've thought rafer alston would make it to the nba, much less the starting 5 for a ball club. it's fine that they underestimate, but make it better with patches as the season progresses. but what's vexxing with this goddamn game is that not only do they not patch teh damn game, they don't even have options for those of us who WANT to fix it to be able to do so. if a game like madden could be so goddamn successful and be so innovative in just a year, i see no reason why nba shouldn't be the same as well. i know that they're created by different developers, but they're all part of the same company and should use the same technology. im not saying that i hate the game, in fact quite the contrary. i just think that the people working on this product rob us of our money by giving a lackadaisical effort, and generally not knowing the sport well enough. perhaps it's just me and my stigma that canadians know nothing about sports aside from hockey and hunting (is it even a sport?); but why in god's green earth are canadians developing a basketball game for, eh?

Patching... The problem with EA is that they don't have time to patch their games... Only some games get patches and those are rare too...

They only have a year to create a game in the process and one that is as complex as these EA Sports titles are, it isn't easy...

I believe the process to be of something like this... They come up with a great new idea for a new feature, but it would take them too long to create it, so they bring more and more of it into the product each year, so game #1 might have some basic parts in place but not much more and you get fans griping in the forums about how this new innovation was a total wash etc. etc. Game #2 would take it a step deeper into the system and by Game #3 time it would be totally implemented like they wanted it to... A year is a short period of time...

I've always been a little worried when they just add some Glitz-and-Glamour to the game so it will look good and play smooth etc. When the game a year ago already had that... They should really get the dynasty mode up good and running as that is what eventually keeps us playing the game... A dunk contest etc. is all fun for about 15 minutes, but after that it gets kind of repetetive etc. And you don't turn your computer on to play the dunk contest, you turn it on to play a game or two of your dynasty...

Ridnour is no rookie. hes probably already one of the top PG's in the game. top 7 by far.

Miami's specific guard positions are debatable, but in context of NBA Live if you look at Damon Jones and Dwayne Wade, clearly DJ fills the PG spot and Wade fills the SG spot. When Miami faces the Lakers, you think DJ is guarding Kobe and Wade will guard Chucky? Not. Wade has the quickness & handles & court vision of a PG, but so does LeBron, that doesn't make LeBron a PG either.

As pointed out Rindour isn't a rookie and Evans has been playing 20 mpg since 2002.

to make them more competitive..u cant possibly try to win the title straight away..play a few more seasons..look at the task list points...try to eg. let ur whole team score..so u can get more points..give them training..during games that are very close...go to playbook and put high pressure on the shooters..and double team the main pf or c...or after that..u can try to draft a good centre for sonics,scout a couple of them..prolly draft those with strength.after for a few years..i m sure u will be one of the contender

to make them more competitive..u cant possibly try to win the title straight away..play a few more seasons..look at the task list points...try to eg. let ur whole team score..so u can get more points..give them training..during games that are very close...go to playbook and put high pressure on the shooters..and double team the main pf or c...or after that..u can try to draft a good centre for sonics,scout a couple of them..prolly draft those with strength.after for a few years..i m sure u will be one of the contender

Man, how could you miss the point of this entire thread that well... This isn't about how to be successful with Sonics, this is why the simulation process always places them quite down in the pack...

About Ridnour, Evans... No matter if they've been in the league for 25 years, if this is the first year they get extensive playing time and become starters it's always hard to tell. And these two guys are too relatively young... With young guys, they can go from "suck" to "super-star" quite fast and it is like with the rookies and that crystal ball thing...

Ridnour is a good point guard, but a good point guard doesn't neccesarily have to have 90 overall... He just isn't that versatile. And I don't know about his defense, so it can't be that good. He can shoot and dish... No boards, no incredible hops/dunks, no great defense... So that certainly isn't a overall 90 guy by a long shot... I would give him 60-70 overall at tops. Same goes with Evans... He does very little except the rebounding, so he isn't a high profile player and plays only limited minutes although he starts... Fatigue maybe 30 or something would be in place. Great board grabber, but nothing else.

James is a point guard... He played that position in high school, first year of his NBA career and he's still playing it although he's set as a forward in each game... He is the point guard... They just have better guards than forwards after him... And he can guard forwards so he's a forward mainly due to this.

Point guards: Kidd, Nash, Marbury, Hinrich, Bibby, Wade, James, A Miller, Tinsley, Francis, Payton, Arenas, Billups, Boykins, Cassell, Baron Davis, Iverson, Parker are all ahead of Ridnour on the point guard stuffs... They are all better than him at this moment. Don't get me wrong, I think Ridnour is a good point guard, a solid stable rock to build the offense on, but he's still got a lot of growing up to do. In a year or two I think he will join the elite point guards of the league if he continues to develop his game... But as of this moment. He isn't that incredible... He has shown us flashes of the greatness that is yet to come, but give him some time and he'll play more consistently on a higher level.

Take any young guy Kobe, TMac, KG etc. Who in their first years show flashes of things to come in their first few seasons. TMac was told during his rookie season he'd be out of the league after his rookie contract ended... Boy was that guy wrong...

But what I have been trying to say all along is that Seattle's great game comes from everywhere else than the players individual skills. They have players that believe and play the coaches system. I believe they get along quite well and have a great chemistry... And well they are a team! This is something that isn't well put into the game... It's one of the biggest things missing from the Live 2005 game... Knicks have a good line-up and have had a good lineup on paper for years already, but they always falter and fall... They are not a team, they probably don't have that great of a chemistry... Seattle is a very good example of the guys who just want to play and play hard every night and really enjoy playing hard every time they step on the court...

Michael Jordan for example... I don't think he everh thought of playing NBA as a job... He just loved the game so much that he had to unretire twice in his career... He just couldn't stay away... He loves the game and if you love the game, you'll cherish your team mates and try to do what is good for the team and thus make your team better.

Seattle is packed with average to good players, but other than Ray Allen, no one is that spectacular... They'll get better if Allen sticks around this summer...

The whole TEAM consept should be brought into NBA Live games and it should have the effects of real life... Last spring Detroit was more of a team than the Lakers although the individual talent was heavily favoring the Lakers.