I hated last years mode for the same reasons as you. I started to hate this year (I originally made a PF before going to PG) but I gave it a few games, and it turned into something really fun.

I haven't played an NBA game in years, but I was always an NFL 2K fan and this game looks amazing.

How does My Player work? Is it like Superstar mode in Madden?

Do you just play as your created player, or all the players on your team, including yours? If you're benched, do you watch the game or skip to when you're back in?

Can you refuse trades, have your agent haggle over the contract, etc? Trying to understand the depth the mode has.

Thanks.

99% (or more) of NBA players can't refuse trades in real life, so it would be silly if you can do it in the game. With that said, I don't know anything about this game. Just wanted to say that.

The online of this game still sucks. We always get our game dropped after a minute or two due to some stupid error.

You just play as your created character. If you're benched, you can either watch the game or skip to when you get put back in the game.

I'm not sure if you can refuse trades, but you can request trades to particular teams.

You always only play as your player. When you're subbed out, you can either watch the game (I never have, so not sure how good that is) or you can press a button to skip to the next time you're called back into the game. You cannot sim through the season automatically, though once you start a game you can sim through that game (so you have to start each game to sim through it)

Once you get a certain amount of recognition within your own team, you can get the designation of floor leader, which allows you to call plays, and they start asking you advice on what players you want to get. They don't always succeed (in fact, I've never seen one of my recommendations go through) but they do ask. You can also see which teams are interested in you, and request a trade to any team, though it's not always honored.

I haven't made it past the first season, but I think you become a free agent and can choose from three different teams (including your old team) at the end of the season. No contract negotiations that I know of, and I'm unsure how the cap affects this.

This is basically how it works:

You start off by creating your player (looks, height, weight, etc., standard stuff). You can pick a position and a type (athletic, all around, etc.), and they'll give you skill points to distribute to a bunch of attributes (3 pt shooting, medium range shooting, layups, dunking, steals, etc.). It's basically a sports RPG. You get more points to start off with as well. Every game, you're given two goals to accomplish (eg: hold your opponent to under 5 layups/dunks) which are worth 100 skill points each at the end of the game. You are also constantly graded during the game... if you do what the game expects you to do, you'll get a better letter grade, which also gives you more skill points. You get skill point bonuses for winning the game, and also for hitting career milestones.

You start off in pre-draft camp playing against other rookies, then you're drafted based on how well you do. You play a few summer league games and either get called up to the NBA or play in the d-league until you're good enough to get into the NBA. The game is fairly difficult at first; your skills are limited, you're learning how to play the game, and your minutes are few, making it tough to get higher grades and hit the bonuses. The game, however, is obviously geared more towards making it a fun individual game, so you can become a superstar fairly quickly.

After each game, you get a press conference where they ask you one question and you choose the type of answer you want to give (professional, loyal, arrogant, indifferent) and this affects three attributes: team chemistry, local popularity, league popularity. These are often hit and miss, however, as unless you get the same question multiple times, you don't really know what your exact answer will be.

Unlike other modes, you cannot change individual sliders in this mode. You can change difficulty (only down to Pro) and the number of minutes in a quarter. Difficulty only seems to make your teammates even dumber.

I didn't intend to play this game online because I had heard that the timing was different because of lag, etc but a friend convinced me to give it a try and I have been playing online all week and I have to say my experience is awesome. Never once in any game have I experienced any lag whatsoever and there is no difference in timing. Actually I have been hitting 40+% from beyond the arc almost every game.
This is on the 360 though, and I know you play on PS3. Just sayin'.

Thanks for the in-depth answer.

The press conference thing is interesting. If you answer arrogantly (or indifferently) often, can you still emerge as a league-wide popular player who lands endorsements and has clout? I'm an NFL guy, but I'm wondering if you can adopt a Terrell Owens-like attitude off the court and still have your created player be highly regarded and sought after?

Sometimes I think your league wide popularity only goes up if you answer arrogantly...

I think nickdawgy said previously he answered arrogantly every time and the fans would chant to trade him.

yeah, but that's local popularity.

Yeah, I did.

Got a shoe endorsement during the playoffs, and it was kind of cool to hear the announcers mention me debuting my own shoe.

Is there a way to jump into defenders when shooting? You know the way dicks like Paul Pierce do? I really want the 4 point play achievement. Anyone get it?

I was wondering the same thing.

I don't think there's a way to do it directly, but i've seen multiple times where if you pump fake and get the defender in the air, you'll draw the foul as you shoot.

I did a damn 4-Point play in an online game but didn't get the damn achievement for it. I guess it is only 1 player games.
I was having so much fun with this game but a buddy of mine has found a cheese move in the paint with Westbrook that works about 90% of the time even if I am draped all over him or have a hand in his face it still goes in pretty much every time. And he does this EVERY FUCKING TIME down the court. Pretty much killed the game for me.

Wow, no talk about this in a while. I started my PG and have him at 92 entering the playoffs. You can jump into a player to force the foul, I got my 4-pt play achievment pump faking Paul Peirce. Oh the Irony.

I'm still playing this game still too. I recently finished 2 seasons worth of the Association mode playing about 50 games of each season + the playoffs getting the Winning Streak, Best Record and Championship achievements at the end of my 2nd yr. Think I am officially done with that mode.

I am currently halfway through the Jordan challenges and just entered my 2nd season in the My Player mode. I am still trying to get the All-Star & MVP achievements. Somehow 20 games into the season despite averaging 35ppg, 11 rpg and almost 7 assists, I'm 4th in the voting for the All-Star game for Guards in the West. I don't get it, is there a trick for getting that higher? Kobe I can understand being behind (his scoring is right around the same as mine) but my numbers dwarf those of Paul, Westbrook & Ellis and my team is 18-2 on top of it.

I was first in scoring, second in all-star voting and still didn't make the team. Apparently you have to answer the questions as being selfish. Be a total dick and you'll get on the team.

I was able to win MVP my rookie year. Didn't make the all-star game though. I'm just at the start of my 2nd year but stopped playing regularly.

I am late to the table and picking this up this weekend to try - the playoffs and recently attending my first NBA game has me wanting to play some b-ball again. How are the classic teams on this? Are they complete rosters?

Only the Bulls teams have complete rosters. All the other teams have generic bench players.

Are there ways to get updated fan created rosters like in the Madden series?

Yes. There's an entire sharing system for custom characters, teams and entire rosters. I think the highest rated custom Roster has some "all time" team lineups including created players for big stars not included (Barkley, Chamberlin, Kareem)