NBA Showdown - 2022 Finals New Style

 Its been a long time since I have posted some NBA stuff on the blog, been doing most things on my own, and showing glimpses on twitter and in the discord. But here I am back, as I am slowly working on the 2022 NBA Showdown Set. Now since last time, some thing have changed, and I know my formulas have changed multiple times, but while the original game was fun, I could never pinpoint exact calculations in the speed and power area, and found some flaws and exploitations in how they rated players. So I went back to my original style, and that is an offensive and defensive rating. To me it plays better in a team building style, as you decide do I take the offensive guy who is a defensive liability, or do I build with a more balanced player. In my opinion it can lead to more versatility in team building. So as the Finals are about to begin I figured I would kick it off with the two final teams standing in the NBA. This should give you an idea of what to expect from this set. I will try to give more explanations as I go along about the changes in the game as well. 

Eastern Conference Champion Boston Celtics
Starters: What a turn around mid-season for the Celtics to get to this point, led offensively by Jayson Tatum and Defensively by Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart. The Celtics were one of the best defenses in the league, and it is reflected in this squad. An average defensive score would be a 10, so a player over a 10 means they were at the least a positive defender for their team. Same goes for the offensive side of the ball. The Celtics are versatile, and can shape their lineups to work with their 6 best players if one player needs to come out, which is always helpful to keep the best players on the floor. 

Bench: Derrick White was a huge pick up for the Celts at the deadline, he brings great defensive energy, and a solid ball hander off the bench. going strictly off of points, in this game he would probably get the starting nod over Smart, but I just used their real lineups for this post. Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard are safety net bench players that can come in in emergency to spell a cold marker, and then Nesmith and Theis will never see the court in meaningful situations. 

Western Conference Champion Golden State Warriors
Starters: Look who is back on top, the Warriors looked great once the playoffs started up again, and they are looking to reignite their dynasty into a second decade. Steph is awesome, not many guards in this set can even defend him to where he is not a +3 at minimum. Defensively he got a pretty good score this year as well, which makes him not a super liability. Klay is working his way back from devastating injuries but his card is deadly on the offensive side. Defensively he is a liability but with this team, it may not even matter. Wiggins is a great two way player, especially with this team, his role is perfect, guard the best wing, and hustle on offense. Draymond is the defensive stopper for this team, he can take on the best forward and neutralize most rolling bonuses. Kevon Looney found his footing in the Memphis series and provides solid defense and rebounding for this squad. When the Warriors go small though is when this team is offensively at its best. 

Bench: Most of the year Jordan Poole was a starter, and talk amongst media personalities is how will he adjust when Klay comes back and starts taking his minutes and shots. At the beginning it wasn't great, but he got comfortable again and has had many moments of his own in this playoffs. Roster him and have your very own Poole Party. Gary Payton II or as I love his nickname "The Mitten" he is very much like his father on the defensive end of the floor. Running him with Draymond puts two elite defenders on the floor for this squad, and while super limited offensively his impact will be felt. Otto Porter is very useful as well, another plus player on both sides of the ball but on the depth chart he falls to 4th at his positions. Bjelica and Kuminga are emergency players, and most likely will not hit the floor in any big moments.

Gameplay Notes:

Why Offense and Defense? To me it made the game fundamentally better. As you see more of the league, and you see the players you know exactly what they will bring to the table. Just because they have a low offensive rating, doesn't mean they still can't hit a big number on their chart. You see teams building rosters with players that fit the mold of their team. If a team has a star player who isn't a great defender, it is in their best interest to get some good defenders around that player. The more matchup flexibility the better to me, and there will be some of my own house rules that make players able to play out of position. 

Original Card Crossover?
Sadly these cards aren't directly compatible to play with the original card game. The good news is the game was only out for one year, so this is more of a fresh start to me. For those that don't want to shift away from the original, you may be seeing some work from someone else very soon to hold you over. If you're a strategy card player I think you can mix the strats, any offensive card can change the offense number and defensive cards can change the defense number. The one that stands out to me is the THIS IS MY HOUSE, and I would recommend if using it, the players offense and defense both have to be higher than the opposing player.

House Rules: While you can follow the original rules of the NBA showdown game, I have a few things that I do that seems to make for better games. Assists, instead of allowing teams to build and stack assists all game, I choose for assists only to carry over to the next roll. For this it makes the order in which you choose which player to use more important. It helps control the blow outs a tad bit as well. 
3 Rolls- another thing that I enjoy more is each player rolls three times per turn, one for each stat, that way you get more variance in box scores, this one is 50/50 because games will take longer, but if you like varied stat sheets, it is a nice way to go for that specific purpose. 

Out of Position- Playing a player out of position should be penalized yet still legal. For a player to play out of position, I subtract 1 from their offense and defense for each position they are playing at away from said position. So Magic Johnson playing Small Forward to match up with Larry Bird would be a 18 Offense and 10 Defense, but if he had to chase him to power forward he would be a 17 Offense and a 9 Defense. (I have also thought about making it a -2 per position moved, but it seemed a little too steep.)

Negatives- When subtracting the players offense from the opponents defense sometimes a negative number is the result, while original rules call for you to roll as a 0, I think the negatives would make for a more intense experience, and make matchups matter even more.  

That is all for now, enjoy the Finals everyone and make sure if interested in the game to check back for more players and teams to be added soon.