Review: NBA 2k14’s MyCAREER Mode (Part III) (NBA.com/Philippines Exclusive)
Below is an except of my article from NBA.com/Philippines.
Becoming “The Man”
With the role of go-to player firmly established, Doc’s point totals (a league leading 34 PPG) and defensive intensity (a league best 2.5 steals and 1.1 blocks per game) increased, and with it the number of Celtics wins. By midseason, the Boston Celtics were challenging the Miami Heat for the best record in the league and for his efforts; Doc had been named as one of the Stars’ starting guards in the NBA Rising Stars Challenge. In that game, the Stars beat the Elites 90-82 and Doc was adjudged as the Jordan Player of the Game (46 points, 14 treys, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal). Doc’s fingerprints were also felt in the other 2014 All-Star Weekend events as he participated in the Foot Locker three-point shootout (Won by the Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson.) and was also tapped as an Eastern Conference reserve in the All-Star game. (Doc had 18 points, 6 treys, 2 rebounds, and 1 block in the 119-115 loss to the Western Conference All-Stars).
In less than 50 games into his rookie season, Doc had “come into his own” and reached a “superstar status” of sorts (It is also what I believe to be the ultimate objective of the MyCAREER mode). However, it was a success that also had its fair share of criticism. Coming into the league as a pass-first point guard, 2k14’s social media updates would relentlessly admonish my player on his insipid assist totals (I ended up with a season average of 2.3 APG).
The corresponding media backlash reminded me of an offseason interview that RacineSportsZone.com’s Gery Woelfel did with point guard Brandon Knight. Much like Doc, Knight was criticized for his low assist totals and reasoned out that his numbers actually had a lot to do with his shift from point to shooting guard while he was with the Detroit Pistons.1
Addendum:
Click here to read about my NBA 2k14 MyCAREER Review (Part I)
Click here to read about my NBA 2k14 MyCAREER Review (Part II)
Click here to read about the statistics of MyCAREER Player
Knight shared, “In the first half of the season, I was playing the point guard position; in the second half, I played off the ball. So, of course, my assists are going to go down. A lot of people outside looking in … they look at the stats. But a lot of them didn’t know that.”