2K Sports is set to release NBA 2K12 on October 4th, and every year as we get closer we learn more and more about the game. Most recently leaked online: overall player ratings. There’s certainly enough juice to fuel some player-related fires across the league, but here’s how it looks in New Jersey:
- Deron Williams — 90
- Brook Lopez — 76
- Kris Humphries — 70
- Sasha Vujacic — 67
- Travis Outlaw — 66
- Anthony Morrow — 64
- Jordan Farmar — 63
- Stephen Graham — 57
- Johan Petro — 52
Rookies are not included in NBA 2K12, because of this weird decision the NBA made that the best course of action is to avoid basketball at all costs. That means no MarShon Brooks or Jordan Williams until a post-insanity roster update.
A few more thoughts/observations:
- Deron Williams is the third-highest rated point guard in the game, behind Chris Paul (93) and Derrick Rose (92).
- D-Will is also ranked below Carmelo Anthony (91).
- I get that Anthony Morrow isn’t really a great player, but a 64? When Travis Outlaw is a 66, Sasha Vujacic is a 67, and Stephen Graham is even on the radar, you’d think the fact that he’s arguably the best spot-up shooter in the universe would give him a little bit of a bump.
- Speaking of Sasha, this roster must have been constructed before Sasha agreed to a binding contract overseas — unlike Farmar or D-Will, he’s not coming back.
- Brook’s rating may seem a little low, but it’s par for the course with big men – these games generally have ratings systems that favor guards and wing scorers; there’s just more skills & abilities to assess with them. And frankly, his rebounding lackumen doesn’t help.
- Just eyeballing, I think Mr. Kardashian had the biggest ratings increase of any Nets player from 2K11.
- This is a separate thought from rosters, but I hope 2K12 takes a hint from the Madden franchise and develops a method for franchise relocation in Association mode. Hopefully they take it a step further and have the Brooklyn move already planned in the game. As of now, there’s no Developer Insight for Association online, and outside of the Commissioner’s involvement in the game, they’ve kept almost all Association mode information under lock and key.
