Tools: Defense Stick

Many of our readers know we've been pretty big supporters of offensive and defensive balance for some time now. In that time we've gone on record stating that "there's something missing" on defense from a lack of options standpoint. Gameplay tries to make up for it in a way we don't like at all--by allowing too many out of position defensive plays to be too effective. While its cool occasionally to get a block from behind after we're beaten or chase down an offensive player and strip them, these things happen at much too high a rate in NBA 2K12--we should see a lot more fouls in situations like these...while things we see frequently (like charges) in the NBA, simply don't happen enough. This is unworthy of a game who's gameplay is head and shoulders above anything sports gaming offers right now and we'd like to see some change. The defensive side of the ball feels so naked and desperately in need of features and options.



ENTER the Defense Stick. We're proposing the full use of the right analog on defense to provide a more balanced game with the proper options 2K players need to effectively counter offenses.

Cheating Right/Left - While we like the movement in NBA 2K, too often a quick move by an offensive player is almost impossible to match. And since gameplay renders them "open" if we're slightly to the left or right of them and most importantly causes our help defenders to leave their men, we need some realistic tools to better stay in front of offensive players. Very few defenders can stop a player from getting to the basket without giving up something. We'd like to see the ability to push the defense stick right or left and cheat/shade/force an offensive player to one side so that we can send him to our help or atleast cut them off from one side of the floor, limiting their options. While this shouldn't be absolute and ball-handlers should sometimes be able to beat "shading defense" it shouldn't be anything they could do consistently and would do a superb job displaying an important aspect of playing team defense.This could extend to getting physical and crowding an offensive player (pushing the Defense Stick towards them) or backing off (pushing the Stick away from them) these two options would add to the long list of effective uses for the Defense Stick.

Steals - You can't really fault us for wanting to use shot-stick for defense after seeing what its done for the offense side of NBA 2K. The CPU deflects and plays the passing lanes with skill that we can only dream about. We feel handicapped by not being able to play the passing lanes for steals or intercept the ball if we anticipate where its going next. Why not allow us to press the defense stick in a direction twice (quickly) and trigger a lunging steal attempt. It should easily be balanced with missed steals, stamina drain, occasional contact fouls as well as being badly out of position if we're unsucessful. The mechanic requiring two commands will require anticipation to be effective. To prevent the too-many-steals in the passing lanes we saw in 2K5 and 2K6, timing should be critical when trying to play the passing lanes for steals. At the very least it will make the fake pass relevant again and give us a real weapon we can use in future versions of NBA 2K.

Challenge Shot - Wouldn't it make more sense to challenge shots by pointing the defense stick in the direction of the shooter? We certainly think so. The current system reacts to any use of the right stick but that system limits the other options we could use the defense stick for. It'd be nice to see our defenders challenge the shot of a shooter and offensive players at the basket if we pointed the Defense Stick in their direction. And while the animations and effectiveness would certainly be based on the defenders abilities this would give defenders a way to play that "semi-physical defense w/o fouling" Clark Kellogg talks so much about.

Defensive Square Up - Due to the fact that movement too often makes it impossible to stay in front of ball-handers, we'd like to see a user-friendly feature here. Gameplay inteprets offensive players as "open" if we're not directly in front of them glued to their hips (and our help defenders leave their men, breaking down our defense) it also lets them drive by us easily if we're not in perfect position. Clicking L2 currently has no uses, so it would work almost perfectly here. This feature is simple, it automatically positions our defender in good defensive position between the offensive player and the basket. As a checks and balance, this feature wouldn't be effective if the offensive player were already past the defender (as a quick recover) so there's no opportunity for it to be used as "defensive cheese". it would essentially be a way to reset our defenders in good position on a ball-handler who isn't attacking.

Drawing Charges - We blame cheesers for this one. For years they abused the charging foul and now we have a system where its not called nearly enough. Where has the offensive foul gone? Another reason its near-impossible to stay in front of offensive players is that they have no fear of an offensive foul. FACT: An offensive player who has no fear of being called for a charge has zero conscience driving to the basket. If we beat an offensive player to a spot outside of the restricted area and get set? Let's see more calls against the offensive player when they initiate or refuse to avoid contact.

Ball Denial - This was such a good feature for years that its almost criminal that its not in-game this year, it has so much potential and gave us more off-ball options. All it needed was balance. This is easily done by making it spend a high amount of stamina and by balancing it with holding and contact fouls so that it isn't abused. In the same vein, if we instruct one of our defenders to deny the ball (in the strategy menu or with a command during actual gameplay) he needs to do it until the command is changed--if his fatigue gets to low or he gets into foul trouble he needs to be subbed out. If an offensive player separates from him, he should immediately resume ball denial at his next opportunity. The benefits we should see  from ball-denial are more steals, deflected balls, catches under duress and bobbled passes when offenses try to get the ball to players being denied. They should under NO CIRCUMSTANCES be ineligible to receive passes due to being in animations, like we saw in 2K11 and this year in 2K12, however.

Chasing Shooters - This is a nightmare because we have no tools to counter it. Too many times we chase players off-ball and are easily separated from them because our defenders jog when the offensive player is sprinting and sprinting too often leaves us out of control and overshooting plays. Even the median speed provided by holding L2 hasn't rectified this. Lets resolve this once and for all by having our defenders match the speed of the offensive player they're assigned to automatically. If they sprint, so should our defender. If all else fails, lets us pull a jersey or something!

Boxing Out/Rebounding - A defensive possession doesn't end until the defenders collect a rebound. Here's another instance where the intuitive nature of stick controls could make gameplay much more fluid and instinctive. Why not give us the ability to push the stick towards the player we intend to box out and press it towards the ball to jump for the rebound. The intuitive nature of stick controls has the ability to push gameplay to new heights.

Auto-Defense - Hardcore players will whine and moan about this option but there are many casual players dumbfounded and clueless to playing defense. Its also a necessary option in most sports simulations. There are also still too many instances where we're defending a player who goes into our blindspot (off-screen). Give us the option to click R3 and have the AI play defense without manipulation from the controller, the user will regain control as soon as one of their players secures a defensive rebound.

Given his dedication to improve 2K Gameplay as a whole (and specifically defense very recently) we decided to get some opinions from the none other than Da_Czar on what a Defense Stick could do for the NBA 2K series.

Defense must be a key ingredient to what 2K13 brings to the table. The offense has improved by leaps and bounds since 2K10 while the defense has only seen slight improvements to its mechanics. To maintain the balance of the game the defense must be given it due share of development resources. The right analog is really wasted with only the 2 options it currently has. Ball Denial and and any direction hands up. I agree the hands-up should be directional to allow for other commands via the Defense Stick.  It must also allow for Deny and help defensive postures depending on the relationship between the defender, the man he is guarding, and the basketball.

Off-ball control improvement is absolutely necessary. The offense has an advantage in running off screens as they have access to situation appropriate animations while the defense is left with only the option to sprint. In addition there needs to be diffferent animations or physics engine adjustments to account for moving contact animations in off ball situations. The current system makes off-ball my player a chore since the only bumping animations provided are more appropriate for the post rather than perimeter players on the move.

Hopefully the Defense Stick or a better alternative is available in future versions of NBA 2K. Players are sorely in need of options to better be able to counter what offenses throw at them.