Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of the five worst decisions I made with my Franchise mode games.

Since I’ve discussed five of the best decisions that I made with franchise modes over the years, it only makes sense to counter it with five of the worst! Even though I know the approach that’ll allow me to best enjoy franchise modes and also what tends to ruin them for me, I’m not immune to making mistakes. Knowing that a change of pace can be a way of keeping things fresh, you might be inclined to try an out-of-the-box idea that turns out to be a flop. Alternatively, a tried-and-true approach might actually be the wrong move on some occasions.

Fortunately, as I noted in my previous article, I haven’t really ruined any franchise games that I was heavily invested in, to the point where I couldn’t continue them. I’ve come close a couple of times, but I was able to correct course before doing any lasting damage. With that being said, there are other examples where poor decisions have set me up to fail in franchise games, creating scenarios that weren’t fun. Some of them were wild ideas, though overcaution can also have its drawbacks. For all of my fellow franchise enthusiasts, may these stories of my worst decisions and biggest blunders serve as cautionary tales the next time you’re getting ready to start a brand new game!

1. Trading John Stockton for Mike Bibby (NBA Live 2002)

NBA Live 2002 is the game that made Mike Bibby my point guard of choice for a time. Obviously he was right there in my Sacramento Kings Franchise, but because I enjoyed him so much, I made a point of trying to acquire him in other games as well. When I decided to start a second Franchise in NBA Live 2002 with the Utah Jazz and take a wacky approach with it, one of the first big moves that I made was to acquire Bibby. The catch here of course is that at the time, the Jazz already had a good floor general; a tremendous one in fact, namely John Stockton! Bibby and Stockton had similar Overall Ratings in NBA Live 2002, so it was no problem to swap them.

That is to say, there was no problem getting the CPU to accept the trade offer. As far as setting up an appealing scenario, it proved to be an utter disaster. I also traded for Scottie Pippen and turned Karl Malone into a bench player, because…well, I liked Pip and didn’t care for the Mailman, so it seemed like a funny idea! It was funny for about as long as it took to set up that weird scenario, with the novelty wearing off pretty much as soon as I tipped off the new season. I didn’t really want to play with Utah, the revamped roster was a distractingly strange sight, and there was little thought beyond “Ha ha, Malone is on the bench”. Easily one of my worst franchise mode decisions!

2. Not Making Any Trades (NBA Live 2003)

Although I chose not to make any trades in my NBA Live 2002 Sacramento Kings Franchise, it turned out to be one of my best decisions, as I loved playing with their actual roster. The main reasons that I didn’t finish a full season in that game were that school and other obligations kept getting in the way, and then NBA Live 2003 came out, so I moved on. I decided not to make any moves as I played through a Franchise with the Minnesota Timberwolves in NBA Live 2003, but this time, it proved to be a mistake. Sure, it was fun experimenting with different lineups, but I had enough talent to shake things up and retool around Kevin Garnett, without gutting the roster to do it.

Granted, making trades out of boredom, or because it seems like the thing to do in a franchise mode game, can be a risky move. Make a regrettable trade, and it’ll kill your enthusiasm just as quickly as standing pat, if not more so. Looking back however, I was tiring of the default lineup that I’d started my Franchise game with, so a couple of changes – perhaps bringing in some of my favourite players – might’ve prolonged my interest. At the same time, I did sour on NBA Live 2003’s gameplay after a while, and when you’re not enjoying the action between the lines, your team and lineup doesn’t really matter. Ironically, I’d love to pick up that Franchise save today if I still had it!

3. Making Lopsided Trades (NBA Live 06)

I mentioned this in my previous article because I was ultimately able to turn it into a positive situation, but one of my worst franchise mode decisions was failing to adhere to my rule of being careful about trades. As I’ve observed when reflecting on the dos and don’ts of franchise modes, trading too early and too often is usually a blunder. It leaves your team without a consistent identity, and if you’re a little too shrewd with your moves, you can end up with a lineup that’s too stacked. That’s what happened to me in the second year of my NBA Live 06 Chicago Bulls Dynasty. Unsatisfied with my offseason signings of Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Chris Wilcox, I made some changes.

Unfortunately, I got a little carried away. I flipped Dunleavy Jr. to the Knicks for a generated rookie who had been the fifth pick of the Draft, mostly because I wanted a player who could contend for Rookie of the Year. I added Danny Granger and Trevor Ariza. Both were still a long way from their peaks, but they were promising young players that I’d stolen from their respective teams, upsetting the balance and leaving me with a lineup where I was struggling to find productive minutes for my bench. I didn’t like my new lineup, which is usually the beginning of the end in a franchise game. Luckily, I was able to make some moves that restored balance and enjoyment.

4. Clearing Cap Space (NBA Live 06)

Thankfully, some ill-advised trades didn’t ruin my Bulls Dynasty in NBA Live 06, and to be honest, clearing cap space to make a run at the big name free agents didn’t either. It was still one of my worst franchise mode decisions though, even if it wasn’t ruinous. Despite my domination of the league in Year 2 of that Bulls Dynasty, I set my eyes on landing a major free agent. It’s often easier said than done in franchise games; not only must you have sufficient cap space, but you need to be lucky enough for those top free agents to decline to re-sign with their current teams. That’s actually quite realistic of course, but the opportunities to sign big names are frequently scarce.

Still, I decided to give it a shot. My young, overachieving Bulls squad didn’t have the biggest payroll in the league, so after making some quick calculations, I made a note of the core players I wanted to keep, and the players that I’d let walk in free agency to maximise my cap space. All well and good, but I really needed to double-check those numbers, as I didn’t have quite enough cap space to meet the demands of the few big names who were open to signing elsewhere. As a result, entering my third season, I do still have my core players, but after re-signing Kirk Hinrich, I had to round out my deep bench with low-rated free agents and undrafted rookies on minimum contracts.

5. Opting Not To Simulate (Multiple Franchise Games)

This definitely doesn’t apply to all of my franchise or indeed career mode games, where playing every single minute of every game in a full length season on regulation quarters has made it a memorable experience. There’s a reason that I find it difficult to make peace with the idea of simulating: I like to be in control of the results, and of course, to actually hit the virtual hardwood! Nevertheless, while my eagerness to play every game and use authentic settings has resulted in many fond basketball gaming memories, it’s undoubtedly meant that I’ve finished fewer first seasons (to say nothing of subsequent years) than if I’d chosen to simulate a handful of games here and there.

It’s not something that I’d want to do in every single franchise game. If I’m completely hooked and can’t stop playing, then I’m not inclined to simulate, because I’m enjoying the journey in real time. However, in games where I’d begun to feel bored, or it was getting close to the release of a new title, speeding up the process by simulating a few games or jumping ahead to the Playoffs would’ve been worth a try. As I said though, making peace with simulating is easier said than done when you’re a sim head who wants a direct hand in all of your team’s results, good or bad. Still, some of my failed franchise games suggest that it should always be a fallback option that I keep in mind.

What are some of the worst decisions that you’ve made while playing franchise modes in NBA Live, NBA 2K, or other sim titles? Let me know in the comments, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.

The post The Friday Five: My 5 Worst Franchise Mode Decisions appeared first on NLSC.