Lower Ratings, Better Gameplay

When our team of writers took a look at the first ratings released for NBA 2K12 the reactions went from ecstatic to mildly disappointed, but one thing's for sure; no one was complaining about ratings that were too high. (well, one person thought the ratings should top out at 96) The question bears asking: Is there a correlation between lower ratings and better gameplay? Taking one look at the Heat roster tells us that too-high ratings will not be an issue. Outside of the Heat's Big Three, none of the other players is rated a 70. That's not only correct, but its consistent.

 
Ask yourself, are guys like Big Z, Mario Chalmers, Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem quality starters in this league? While the argument could probably be made for Haslem, his 68 rating is so close to 70 it doesn't make sense to argue it. And while we thought Bosh's 80 was a tad low (seems more like an 84 or so) we trust 2K enough not to haggle over four points.

You can argue Lebron's clutch-ness all you like, but what you cannot argue is 27pts, 7 assists and 7 rebs and if you're not impressed by it, kindly tell us the last player who put up numbers like that? Or for giggles the NEXT person who will. From a production standpoint James is the league's standard and its not like he's putting up those numbers flaming out in the first round of the playoffs or on a 30 win team--he's competing for Championships. Although we'd argue that with the inclusion of all-time greats in the game this year, it wouldn't have hurt to top current players out at 96, and reserve 97-99 for Guys like Bird, Magic and MJ. Kobe's 94? We're fine with it, an accurate rating if we've ever seen one: We'd probably have gone with Lebron 96, Wade 95, Kobe 94 but we're fine with what we have. The best thing about any of the ratings is....they're fluid and subject to change based on level of play. So if Kobe comes storming back to take the league like Jordan did in 1996, we're pretty sure the roster people over at 2K will raise his rating accordingly. There's just nothing like accurate and consistent ratings quite honestly, it just makes everything right with the world.