NBA2K13 - My Own Dream Team

The Game Room
1

So I recently picked up NBA2k13 for the PS3. I had played it awhile back and enjoyed the idea of making my own team with the legend players. I’m not a big basketball fan, but out of all sports games, I had the most fun with this one. Its just a blast!

I was wanting to see what you guys thought of my team that I constructed. I’m currently taking them through the playoffs to see if we can win the whole thing. I’ve got a mix of legends from the late 70’s to the 90’s - the era that I grew up watching. I didn’t go for the super obvious ones, because I like to go against the grain and not pick the ones everyone else would pick - hence, no Jordan, Shaq, Pippen, Kobe etc.

Hakeem Olajuwan
Dominique Wilkins
John Starks
Karl Malone
Detlef Schrempf
Clyde Drexler
Larry Bird
Spud Webb
Bill Russell
David Robinson
John Stockton
Kevin McHale

I know there are better players out there, but I am liking my team.

So what do you guys think?

2

That team would be a dynasty. (Even though John Starks sucks. Pacers fan here.)

Realistically though, you’d have a hard time keeping all those players happy with enough playing time or money.

3

Starks seems a little out of his league, I would have picked Terrell Brandon instead.

4

Russell isn’t really from the late 70’s era, but he’s a good pick nonetheless. You should cut Starks, Webb, and Schrempf. If you want to go for less obvious guys, I’d pick from the following list:

Dennis Rodman
Gary Payton
Moses Malone
Isiah Thomas
Ralph Samson
George Gervin
Andrian Dantley
Tim Hardaway
Penny Hardaway
Jason Kidd
Grant Hill
Mitch Richmond
Chris Mullin
Shawn Kemp
Reggie Miller
I’d probably replace the 3 above with Payton, Miller, and Samson.

5

If we pretend that a team that good can still have an “issue,” I think the issue is that your rotation is imbalanced.

Starks, Spud and Schrempf are of an appreciably lower caliber than the rest of the team, which is fine because nobody plays 12 guys regular minutes. But Spud and Starks are actually your backups at the 1 and 2, and there’s not anyone else on the roster who can really take minutes there. Meanwhile, you can’t reasonably play more than two of Malone, Hakeem, Robinson, Russell, McHale at once. So you’ll have a decent amount of minutes with all-time, top 10 type guys at their position on the bench while you have borderline all-stars out there in guard spots, unless you play Stockton and Drexler 45 minutes each.

In a hypothetical world where this is a real team playing a full season, you’d worry that Drexler hurts hits knee, and then you’ve got John Starks and out-of-position Dominique trying to space the floor for you the entire game while you can’t even find minutes for your other hall of famers. I would hypothetical-trade Russell for Ray Allen (Reggie Miller also a good option) or something like that.

6

Just for fun, I’m going to try to put together a team that I think could beat yours, using only guys who were in that game and without using Jordan or Magic Johnson. It’s going to be hard as hell. Here’s my best effort.

PG: Gary Payton
PG2: Steve Nash
SG: Sam Jones
SG2: Ray Allen
SF: Julius Erving
SF2: Scottie Pippen
PF: Dirk Nowitzki
PF2: LeBron James
C: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
C2: Moses Malone
X: Dennis Rodman
X: Reggie Miller

I don’t know if my team would beat yours, but we’d certainly give you a run. My team is much stronger defensively; a lineup of Payton-Pippen-Rodman-LeBron-Kareem would be a nightmare. Offensively, we’re relying on Dr. J and Kareem for the bulk of our first-team scoring. If we want to kick it up and try to score big, we can run out a lineup of Nash, Allen, Dr. J, Dirk, and Kareem, which gives us Kareem single-covered in the low post (though, admittedly, the combination of Russell and Robinson is pretty awesome defensively). I think my team could outrun yours, though, and apply a lot of defensive pressure for easy transition scoring. Our biggest weakness here is that we can’t really handle Malone or McHale in the post, but I think it’d be a fun game to watch.

7

KG & Duncan had to be in that game, right? How about Payton/Pippen/(Rodman or Bron)/KG/Duncan matching up against a Stockton/Drexler/Bird/Malone/Olajuwon lineup for big defensive possessions?

Good luck.

8

As a Pacers fan, I assure you that Reggie Miller isn’t in NBA 2K13, nor are any of his Pacers teammates during our peak mid-'90s years.

9

That’s right - I forgot about that whole thing. I remember it for Barkley, which is why he didn’t make the cut, but forgot Reggie was on the same train.

10

Thanks for the input everyone!

I recently started a playoff and I have made it to the finals with my team. I’m in a best of 3 final with Miami Heat for the championship. As of last night we were tied 1-1 in the best of 3. I swear I think Lebron James has the ability to teleport… some of the plays he makes just seem unfair.