In contrast to players like Kwame Brown and Darius Miles, Garnett’s relatively quick rise to superstardom at such a young age meant that he was already one of the best players in the league while still having a lot of years ahead of him. One of the most successful players to come straight out of high school, Kevin Garnett has been a great player to have in NBA Live over the years. I’m no fan of flopping but hey, when the CPU cheeses, you do what you have to do. Of course, the following year NBA Live 2003 added a “take charge” button and I was able to have a game in which I held him to six points in limited minutes as he fouled out. During an NBA Live 2002 franchise, Virtual Shaq once had a couple of games where he scored 71 and 58 points against me. Having him on your team also kept him out of the hands of your CPU opponent, where he was usually very difficult to stop.
As games progressed and offered better ways to effectively make use of his gifts – better recognition of strength and weight, features such as Freestyle Superstars – he provided an even bigger advantage.īeing a highly rated player, Shaq wasn’t always easy to trade for but always well worth acquiring in addition to his on-court performance, he also provided you with a player who could help net just about any other star in a trade. The Journeyman Shaq thread is a good example of how sought after he was in both NBA Live and NBA 2K, as the all-time great possessed the ability to get the job done at both ends of the court. In his prime, Shaquille O’Neal tore up the real NBA and subsequently enjoyed similar dominance in basketball video games, being a must-have player throughout the years in NBA Live. With such a high overall, he could also be used to trade for superstar players and tended to develop into a 90+ overall player. Rated an extremely generous 87 overall in NBA Live 2003, his good athletic ratings and a Dunking rating of 95 made him a dangerous threat in a game that was skewed towards an up-tempo, arcade style of play, thanks in no small part to the fact that the newly introduced Freestyle Control was too overpowering upon its debut. Like Kwame, however, he was afforded a much better chance at superstardom in NBA Live. Once compared to KG, Miles’ career didn’t come close to resembling that of The Big Ticket, as he never developed into a star and injuries ultimately cut his time in the league short. Speaking of players who skipped college, a year before Kwame Brown was picked first overall Darius Miles had become the high schooler taken earliest in the Draft when the Los Angeles Clippers selected him at number three. Thanks to his hidden potential attribute giving him the best possible chance to develop, he almost always turned out to be a superstar player within a few years in Franchise Mode. As most of you are probably aware, things didn’t pan out so well for Kwame in real life, but as a rookie in NBA Live 2002 he was a generous 78 overall, which not only made him a serviceable big man right out of the box but one that was also very attainable via a trade.
Then-Wizards executive and part-owner Michael Jordan certainly seemed to buy into the idea when he made Kwame Brown the first high schooler to be taken at number one overall.
These young players came into the league brimming with talent and athleticism, with tremendous upsides and oodles of potential, the latter attributes being something that sportswriters and commentators loved to talk about. Anyway, circa 2001 there was a huge obsession with drafting high schoolers thanks to the recent success of players such as Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady. Remember when words like “upside” and “potential” hadn’t quite yet become grossly overused in regards to the NBA Draft? Pepperidge Farm…alright, that meme has long since taken an arrow to the knee. Therefore, this week I’m listing the five players that I believe you had to have at some point while playing through a Franchise or Dynasty game. Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time with NBA Live’s Dynasty and Franchise modes, building plenty of teams and in the process getting a feel for some of the best players to acquire in different iterations of the game. The “Five” refers to the way in which I present my thoughts on the week’s topic, which either takes the form of a list of five items or a Top 5 countdown. It’s Friday once again, so welcome everyone to this week’s edition of The Friday Five! For the uninitiated, this is a weekly feature that I post on Fridays, discussing a variety of topics related to basketball video games, the real NBA and other areas of interest.
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