THE SPORT COUNT

In exciting news for Australian fans of the NBA, big Nathan Jawai has been traded today to the Minnesota Timberwolves – joining his third team prior to starting his second season of NBA basketball.

Originally drafted by the Raptors in 2008, Jawai was traded in the offseason to Dallas as part of the Shawn Marion sign and trade bonanza.

Jawai’s move to the Timberwolves is timely for the Aussie seven footer. With a bevy of injuries plaguing Minnesota’s young front court, Jawai is well and truly in the frame for a starters role or big minutes off the bench. With Kevin Love down until at least early December and Al Jefferson looking like his ACL injury is wreacking havoc on the rest of his body, this is one of the better spots for the young centre to find himself in.

With Pecherov and Hollis potentially still in front of Jawai, we look forward to seeing this positional battle playing out – and hopefully seeing big Nate staking his claim to becoming yet another elite Australian big man.

Posted by: James

Let’s first acknowledge there’s a lot right with the game. Indeed, the reviews have been almost overwhelmingly positive, lauding the mechanics, graphics, and gameplay. It’s a good game.

Unfortunately, video game reviewers often tend towards the complimentary, foregoing any serious criticism in favour of being the first to talk up a new feature (we saw this when Madden 10 was released, when each and every review seemed to dedicate three paragraphs to the new ‘Pro-Tak’ feature — a fairly inconsequential element that amounts to little more than new animations — instead of actually reviewing the game).

So, let’s look at what’s wrong with NBA 2k10. What needs work? How far are the developers from a legitimate simulation of the game of basketball?

NBA 2k10 has some flaws.

The Navigation: Confusing & Ugly

By far the most baffling shortfall comes as soon as the disc starts spinning:the menus are terrible. Completely unintuitive, tedious to navigate, and totally lacking in any sense of tiers, or levels.

The benchmark for sports navigation is, of course, Madden 10, which boasts clean, uncluttered and — most importantly — easy-to-figure menus, with unobtrusive backgrounds. There’s a distinct sense of consistency and cohesiveness, with tiers — Play Now, Game Modes, etc. — vertically listed, like the contents of a book. The aesthetic is clean, iPod-modern, with shining silver menus coupled with well-integrated game photography.

2k10, on the other hand, is black and grey, ugly as sin, looking more like a gothic-themed Geocities website than a highly touted sports simulation. Instead of an index-style menu, we get 9 mini-panels, placed 3 to a row, taking up the entire screen.

And selecting those mini-panels is far more difficult than it needs to be, as your selection reverts back to the middle panels as soon as you let go of the left control stick, as if the game doesn’t trust you to make a selection, think about it, and then select it. (And if all of this sounds confusing, that’s because it is). The lack of linear, logical menus — especially when they’re so aesthetically sub-par — is a serious oversight.

My Baller: A Great Idea, With Aggravating Problems

The definite highlight of 2k10 has to be ‘My Baller,’ in which you create a player who is relatively terrible, and try to struggle your way to the NBA, through summer leagues, the D-League, and — if you’re lucky — a training camp.

The idea is a near-masterstroke,  combining the motivation-heavy ‘leveling up’ elements of role-playing geek favourites like World of Warcraft with basketball.

But there are problems. Significant ones. You’re graded after each match by a Stephen A. Smith-looking pseudo-agent. The concept is excellent — you really do want positive feedback — but the execution often falters, as you’re chastised for ‘letting your man light you up’, when your opponent has dropped a paltry four points on you. Or you’re told off for taking bad shot choices — like completely open, unguarded mid-range jumpers.

You’re also forced never to call for the ball, even if it’s a completely appropriate time to do so. If you’re playing shooting guard, and your struggling centre has been doubled in the post, and you’re looking for a kick-out for an open three, you better not call for it. If you do, you’ll find your ‘Teammate Grade’ — a school-style mark, from A down to (I presume) F — slips quickly.

Basketball is a tough game to simulate, with its ebbs and flows and odd rhythms. Of course, accurately trying to grade your play will be difficult. But we’re talking about flaws here, and the dubious — and incredibly difficult — leveling up system certainly is one.

Looks real enough; doesn't quite feel it.

The Gameplay: Sort Of Basketball, Sort Of Not

I’ve mentioned how difficult basketball is to stimulate, but it’s a serious issue for a game trying to do just that.

American football is clinical, calculated, the roles of each player obvious and clearly delineated. Tennis is even easier; the ball will travel from one racquet to the other. Basketball is, for the most part, the exact opposite. Like hockey, movements are relatively free, often improvsied.

How do you quantify and manifest, as a video game designer, the difference between Rashard Lewis (nails treys, off-the-ball movement, spots up) and Carlos Boozer (bangs in the post, fights for rebounds, effective to 17-foot)? They both play the same position. But they’re well-apart points on the wide-ranging power forward spectrum.

It’s clear that the fundamental problems inherent in trying to capture such a free-flowing sport have been recognised by the 2k10 design team; the ratings are seriously detailed, in an attempt to fine-tune the process of differentiating players.

But the game just has to feel right. And, for now, it isn’t quite there.

Players still feel like they’re skating. Like running the ball in Madden, movement just happens — there isn’t the sense that you’re controlling a human body, dealing with gravity, reliant on twitching muscles, with force exerted from outside forces. 2k10 tries to capture the physics of athletics — like the FIFA series, changing directions takes time, and there’s a tangible ‘weight’ to players. But the intense transitions in basketball simply aren’t captured; the movement from being clogged in the post, body-to-body and then, all of a sudden, flying down the court in transition.

Perhaps this is, more than anything, a problem with technology. We can capture motion superficially, but we can’t quite capture the physics of motion. That isn’t surprising — physics aren’t easy.

But this what serious sports simulators aspire to, and 2k10 is well off. It’s a good way from the sophistication of Madden, and it’s lagging behind FIFA.

Random Problems & Bugs

Besides the macro, there are a number of isolated, micro issues.

Why, for example, did I play through a season in which the 6th leading scorer was Eric Padgett, a seemingly non-existent rookie playing with the Chicago Bulls? (For the record, Padgett won Rookie of the Year, over Blake Griffin). Great news for Chicago fans happy to live in an alternate world, but terrible news for video game users who can’t abide bizarre roster glitches.

And why, when you take the Knicks through to the summer of 2010, are you faced with the prospect of using all that cap space for either Joe Johnson, Carlos Boozer, or Rudy Gay? Why doesn’t Amar’e want to test the free agent market? Why does 2k10 assume LeBron and Wade and Bosh are staying put? And why — this is, by far, the most baffling development — did Eddy Curry decline his $11m player option? (One person will love that: Donnie Walsh).

Why, during a regular season game, did I sit there while Jeff Green, ready for an inbounds pass, simply gifted the ball back and forth between himself and a referee? For 2 minutes, the little Green sprite passed to the referee, who passed back to Green, who passed to the referee. It was only when Russell Westbrook accidentally walked into Green that bug fixed itself.

Why is Kevin Martin constantly on the trading block from Sacramento? Why, in my Knicks season, did Ben Wallace win both Most Improved Player, and Defensive Player of the Year? And why, of all the teams in the league, did the Atlanta Hawks win the championship that year? These aren’t isolated problems. These are consistent misfires that speak to a lack of sophistication in how the game simulates a season.

Posted By: Anton

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With the return of one of the NBA’s most enigmatic superstars for the 2009-2010 season, the world is asking the question: what is actually going to happen to Gilbert Arenas in the coming year?

Previously, we’ve been disappointed by injury, early returns, and re-injuries. But, this year, there is a genuine buzz and excitement building for the NBA’s forgotten superstar.

What will happen? Well, as diligent students of basketball and gambling, The Sport Count team has developed a book on potential scenarios for Gilbert’s upcoming season.

Is this the year Gilbert Arenas evolves? (Illustration: Ben Toupein)

Become an All-Star – 3:2

The odds of Arenas becoming an All-Star are pretty short, given fan voting and internationals will likely get him in there. The odds of him deserving an All-Star berth, however, are significantly slimmer.

Become an All-NBA player – 10:1

With a log-jam of talent ahead of him at guard, Arenas will struggle to dethrone some of the talent out there. Whilst barring injury, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and Brandon Roy will be locks for four of the six All-NBA guard spots — leaving third team honours up for grabs.

Arenas faces very tough competition from incumbents Chauncey Billups and Tony Parker — not to mention those who didn’t make it: Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, and Devin Harris.

Shoot Better than 45% from the field – 25:1

Gilbert has done this just once in his career — as a Warrior, in his rookie campaign, when he averaged 24mpg.

Whilst there’s been a lot of hype from the Gilbert camp about him amending his role so as to become a distributor, there is little, if anything, to suggest this is more than simply bluster.

While we’d love to see a more efficient Gilbert, the odds are indicative of the realistic chances of this happening. Once the bloodlust of shooting 40-foot three pointers starts to turn his eyes yellow.

Evolve – 20:1

The odds of Gilbert Arenas evolving are long, but well worth a flutter if you’re so inclined.

Evolution can occur in Pokémon for several different reasons, the most common of which is gaining enough battle experience. There are many other factors that can determine if, when, and into what, different Pokémon will evolve.

For example, some evolutions will only occur if the Pokémon is holding a certain item; at a certain time of day; if the Pokémon’s Loyalty is high enough; if the Pokémon is a certain gender; and if it is traded to another player. The player can choose to halt evolution at any time before the animation is finished (only by level up), simply by pressing the B button, unless the evolution was purposely initiated using an evolutionary stone.

Posted by: James

Illustration: Ben Toupein

We’ve already checked in with Steve Kerr (and his daughter, Miranda), Mike D’Antoni (and his friend, director Steven Soderbergh), and Andris Biedrins (on set with Ice T). Let’s take a further look around the league.

Spurs shooting guard Manu Ginobili having a very good time, yesterday.

‘It is, in San Antonio, not good for party,’ says Manu Ginobili, taking a break from festivities with his Argentinian friends. ‘Tim, I love him, but he is not crazy, you know? For this off-season, I must find fun for me.’ Ginobili loves nothing more than partying in the traditional South American fashion: great food, cold drinks, and the humor innate in putting a plastic fork in your mouth.

Troy Murphy, chuffed to have completed a flight into space.

Troy Murphy, the sharp-shooting power forward for the Indiana Pacers, spent his off-season somewhere special: the depths of space.

‘Growing up in Jersey, you always wonder what’s out there,’ Troy tells us after arriving safely back on earth. ‘And what’s more out there than space? Nothing.’

Murphy arranged the trip through NASA, becoming one of the less-than-20 private citizens to float aimlessly through the darkest of skies. What did Troy think about up there? ‘Nothing matters,’ he says, staring blankly into the distance. ‘Who cares if the Pacers win or lose, ultimately?’

Sport-loving rapper Lil' Wayne, with his protegé, Marcus Banks.

Toronto point guard Marcus Banks met Lil’ Wayne while sitting on the bench in his Miami days.

‘They were tough days, dude,’ Marcus explains. ‘I wasn’t getting court time, and Weezy helped me through that.’ The two would chat constantly, thought Wayne did most of the talking. ‘He’d tell me about how dogs can actually talk if you listen, and how the shotgun is the most powerful gun, and everything.’ They became so close, then-Miami coach Pat Riley would have to threaten Banks with fines to get him to listen during timeouts, so reticent Banks was to leave the side of his new best friend.

‘I spent all my time off with my boy,’ says Banks. ‘He’s been teaching me to spit fire on the mic. I can’t ball forever.’

Monta Ellis, taking a brief break from the slopes.

‘If I ain’t allowed to ride the moped, what the fuck else am I s’posed to do? I ski, son.’

Posted By: Anton

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