Coaching Focus: Inbounding

"Inbounding?" you're thinking. Well....yeah. Its something thats been irking me for awhile. Not in the sense that you can't do it, there's just a huge disparity from what we see in reality versus what happens on the virtual courts. The Laissez Faire nature of getting the ball onto the court in general, but especially in a close game late, not only robs of us a level of excitement, but also lets a team with a slight lead off the hook, BIG TIME.


I have to confess, playing hardcore shooters for years one of the things they've provided is GUESSWORK. Its great for the user experience too. There's no kill feed, health bar, health regeneration or mini-map to hold your hand. You fail or succeed based on if you can play or not and its an experience that you can get lost in. It all adds to the level of excitement and angst because of the unknown. 2K could adopt many of these same qualities in general--but especially at end of games. Right now the whole thing is so anticlimactic and it dulls the experience. There's nothing I hate worse than knowing what my release for FTs is--its something that could be completely under the hood. A defense that doesn't remotely try to disrupt me getting the ball in play? Where's the fun in that? More importantly, is it genuine?

We would really love to see future versions of NBA 2K make strides in regards to coaching decisions. One of the main culprits that could use a more authentic feel are end-of-game scenarios. Here's what the current end of a 2K game looks like in regards to inbounding the ball:

Seems more than a little tame right? There's very little sense of urgency on either side. On offense you don't see the players get into a set to make sure they execute the inbound properly. On the other side, players are back on defense like the clock isn't their biggest enemy, and you see virtually no pressure, attempt at denying the ball or players in position to quickly foul if they don't get the steal. The inbound isn't under duress in the slightest, in a ONE SCORE GAME, you'd barely know it was close unless you looked at the score.

By contrast, here's how it looks in the NBA:

Notice the heightened level of execution, notice the physicality and duress the defense is putting the inbounds under--they're literally fighting them for every inch of space, yielding nothing. One look at the motion, screening and movement Czar has implemented in offensive playbooks tells you they could easily replicate what inbounds plays actually look like.

I hope its sooner rather than later as it can go a long way into making the game more exciting overall. It also would separate users savvy enough to close games versus the guys that will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I CAN'T WAIT.

Until next time,

Kushmir