My Player - A matter of committing?

[todd_10]

Ok, i've just started My Player mode, i'm a 6'4" all round SG.

Now, i'm wondering, am I expecting too much to begin with, or is it damned hard to get anywhere near the three objectives per match at the Draft Combine?
So far i've played two games, and i'm in the negative for SP.
I'm finding it really hard to make any shots, even with open looks, simply because my ratings are terrible.

Can anyone give me some hints or tips...

[kongemeier]

There's a thread here with lots of advise for My Player mode: Your Myplayer Career (NBA 2K11)

[Birdman]

Don't worry too much about the objectives, just go out and play your game. If you can't shoot, then don't shoot. Try to drive or cut for the lay up. If nothing else you can set screens and go for rebounds on offense. Depending on your position, length, and athleticism.

Try to defend as well as you can. A few good contested shots do wonders for your grade, even if the shot goes in. And don't turn the ball over.

[airaron32]

The objectives make no sense sometimes. How are you supposed to keep your man from assists!? You have no control over that.

[Self313]

you do have control over keeping your man from getting assist bro... its all about positioning... they wont make a pass thats BLATANTLY not there... so watch what the players are doing off the ball... if you see dude come around a couple screens positions yourself so you can either play help D or best case scenario get a steal... its on you... if you're standing back and letting dude dribble of course hes going to drop a dime... whos there to stop it?

The challenges make since... Im a 59 right now... pick the right jumpshot and it will change EVERYTHING... I like Jordans, but Joe Johnsons is the easiest to learn... try that one its easier to time...

and one more thing... when you get those 10k points... GIVE YOURSELF A MID RANGE JUMPER AT THE VERY LEAST OF A 70... dont distribute ya points even... put um where they are most needed... I wish I would have given my point guard better lay ups from the beginning because it was outta control how many I missed before I won a rivalry game and boosted um...

[mnus03]

For a lot of people the beginnings of my player can be really tedious and the challenge to getting points is a struggle with boredom. Personally i don't mind it cause it makes me feel that much better when my skills finally improve.

Anyways the only way i got through it the first time was to be really patient.

1. Its better to avoid negative actions than trying for positives. Forcing the things they want you to do if it doesn't work knocks points quick, which you've probably experienced. (if your struggling never even think of the objectives they give you. It will make you make bad decisions)

2. Stay locked on your man. A couple lapses in attention span on defense can sap your points quick. Don't let your man shoot or rebound. stay on him and don't worry about the score.

3. On offense some simple things to do every time down the court especially with a shooting guard is setting on or off-ball picks whenever possible. Gives you a decent amount of points for a safe action.

4. Don't be afraid to go for a rebound unless your man is near the hoop, if he is box him, if not rebounds are definately gettably early on and one rebound is over half a grade by its self, so even one or two helps a lot.

Those are simple and low risk actions that can get you in the A's by themselves if you minimize the negative actions. Passing can be tough so be really careful with that. One bad pass leading to a turnover will take you down a whole grade.

Early on if you haven't invested in any shooting skill points not even a made shot will give you points and if it does, not a lot. One strategy to think about if your willing to start over is to throw your 10000 points into mid range shooting. If you do you don't have to make a shot to get rewarded you just need to be open and it will give you good shot selection. Its worth about the same as any screen though.

Another thing to think about is instead of doing all around to do Athletic SG. I started over once i realized just how expensive Speed points and quickness points are. And those two attributes are arguably two of the most important.

If you do do this you wiil start at 85 speed and 82 quickness. Both those are decent numbers. But honestly your gonna want to get both up to 90 or more sooner or later. And starting out with high numbers will save you alot of games. I believe speed points are in the 2000's by the end and qui points are close to 1000. Also using your dribble drills to get guaranteed speed point is a common (some would say cheesy if you play online) tactic. I started doing it out of instinct in nba2k10 and i love it.

What you do is take AutoSave off in the options menu and then save the game and get gold on the dribble course . Its random but it will give you either Speed, ball handle, off ball dribble, or ball security. If you don't get Speed then quit out and reload and do it again until it does. Its tedious and sometimes i do just settle for ball handle but Speed is crazy important in this game and this will save you a lot of time and frustration in the long run.

With even 85 speed and dunk at 48(which you'll start out with as Athletic SG) and depending on your iso skills its very possible to get quite a few dunks in the combine and summer league games. Dunks are like gold in this game.

There's probably a lot more tips but i think the most important things IMO to start having fun in my player and not feel like your walking on egg shells is to get speed up so you can create your own shot and dunk every once in a while and to get your shooting up for midrange and 3pt so that it rewards you for open shots and is a lot more lenient with contested ones. Investing in dunk after that is much more important then layup and will help you finish on drives better.

So yeah if your struggling the most important thing to think about is getting your grade up. If its an A+ its 900 points and that by its self is usually over half your skill points for a great performance game. Once you feel comfortable in the boredom of not screwing up you can get more risking and start trying to drive sometimes especially with mismatches and start shooting more. Oh cherry picking is a nice way to get easy dunks right away. If your hovering around the 3pt line and someone hucks up a shot just bolt for the other hoop and hope your cpu gets a rebound. Usually works a couple times a game.

I would seriously think about started as athletic SG though.

[todd_10]

Wow thanks mnus03, I appreciate the effort you put into all that. I might look at the athletic SG, it makes sense.
I think for me it's just the struggle of playing out games where it's all concentration, and not a lot of reward for the effort. Still, I want to give this a good crack, so i'll stick with it.
I just hope that once i've got a decent number of games behind me i'm still not some poorly rated bench warmer!

[mnus03]

Yeah no problem. I remember the first thing i did in 2k10 was my player cuz like any stupid kid i wanted to be in the NBA lol. But playing with a guy with no skills might be the worst way to learn the game and the fastest way to hate it. Its pretty hard getting excited about setting a pick. And this year there really isn't a setting that makes it easy. Default pro in some respects is still no joke when your guy can barely walk out there. When you end 20 minutes or more of your life in the Negative on this game its pretty hard not to think...Why the F am i doing this? Marked with that vague sensation that tells you to break things...especially flat shiny round things.

Definitely agree there doesn't feel like enough reward for the effort at the beginning. Its fun when you finally get there though and it definitely stops being a concentration game

[Streets]

I created an athletic SF and I agree speed is key. I put ALL of my starting points into speed and did the dribble course to get it up. It maxes out at 95 for me. So, I play with my speed at 94. When I get a new drill, I'll sell a speed point (bringing me down to 93) for about 1500 extra SP. Then I'll do the drill until I get my speed point back (I leave room for a plus 2, but that's rare. So rare in fact, I've never gotten it since doing this method). This brings my speed back up to 94, and I can use the SP to get like a plus 3 or plus 5 in other attributes (depending on cost).

I just really started doing this once the drills became 1 every few games. I didn't have patience to do it when I had like 20 drills, but now that it's one drill every once and awhile, I don't mind exiting and restarting until I get speed.

I'm maxing out ball handling next with my guy (75 currently). It'll be interesting to see if I no longer get that bonus once it's maxed out. If so, it makes the chances of getting speed that much greater.

I also agree that being a specialist is a necessity.

I started as basically just a fast guy who would crash the boards, run the break and be the first one back on D, and had a quick enough first step to get to the hole. Very limited.

I then maxed out my midrange J while bringing my close shot and shoot off the dribble up to 70-75. A new facet of my game opened up as I did all of the above and could also hit open shots and the occasional pull up jumper. It's also easy to get points by pump-faking you're opponent and pulling up.

After that, I started to get my dunks up (90), and maxed out my vertical (99). The former helps me actually finish at the basket (with MJ's dunk package how can I not??) when my speed gets me there, and the latter helps with rebounding, contesting shots, and dunking, so it made sense to max it out. I can now get more boards because my vertical helps me get up for them and I can also sag off my guy into the paint more, but still get back to my defender (Speed) and jump out of the building (Vertical) to contest a shot if he's passed the rock. Slowly I become more polished.

I just had a career game which happened to be a key game. I dumped all those points into ball-handling (75), and off-hand dribbling (60). When these get maxed out, I'll be able to create space for myself and others and will be the complete package on offense (sans a 3 point shot).

I also throw the occasional point into consistency and JUST started to actually look at defense and put a few into steals.

It's a process, but definitely work on ONE thing, and let your game expand from there. It's definitely a commitment (so always keep a backup file or two), but it's rewarding when one element of your game opens up. Also, when you get the right attributes, a bad shot selection becomes a good one, a bad steal/block becomes a good one, etc. The game takes into account your ratings when making that call. Now that my midrange is a 93 (due to the shoes I'm wearing I get +3), sometimes I get a "good shot selection" even when a defender is in my face, when before that shot was bad when i was wide open.

[Birdman]

Speed and quickness are important and expensive but if you're good at dribbling and know how to turn off auto-save then you can get your speed up in the dribble course. And the stealing drill (which can earn you quickness too).