This is going to be a very long and drawn out post but if we truly want consistency in this game and a healthy community around it, then we should really all come together and make a logical effort to make it so. With that being said lets get into it....

The Gameplay: First to even truly being to fix this game as a whole, we must understand what type of game 2K truly is at the core. While yes its a sports game at its core, truthfully 2K is more akin to a fighting game/Rhythm game systematically when you realistically dive into the systems in place of it. Animations have specific inputs and frame data that link with one another depending on many variables as well as shooting, dunking, and layups require you to have timing and visual knowhow to consistency be proficient in hitting the specific mark (Green Window) to achieve the desired result (making shots). This all works well when you have a perfect 1 to 1 representation and control of your player knowing that when you press that button or move that analog stick in the direction that you want that it will preform said action down to the ms giving you full control but sadly thats the biggest glaring issue with 2K and has been since I can truly remember (Been playing since 2K14).

The Issues: The biggest glaring issue currently in this game and quite frankly this whole franchise is solely around consistency and latency. Lets just keep it real.... Your MyCareer jumpshot is not your park jumpshot, Your park jumpshot is not your Rec jumpshot, Your Rec Jumpshot is not your ProAm jumpshot...You see where I'm going with this? While yes fundamentally they are all the same form and base we set, latency plays the biggest roll in determining consistency to hit said jumpshot in all modes 2K currently provides. The issue presented by this type of gameplay is that we are forced to adapt to each of these different scenarios on the fly and make adjustments mid game to accommodate said latency to still be consistent with how our players should be shoot based on attributes in shooting, boosts, badges, etc. Another issue that's present within this game that was supposedly fixed was the speed up/slowdown RNG in shooting as a whole. If this was 100% fixed? Great! skip this section and move on, However I don't think we truly have evidence showing that it is truly taking out and that's a huge issue for many reasons, Lets give an example. In Tekken lets said a fighter throws a regular jab simply by pressing square and lets say said jab is about 10ms worth of screentime/input time (10 frames for my FGC folks in here) you throw this daily and know its always gonna be 10 ms right? but what if the opponent was slightly in front of you and now this 10ms move you've been practicing all of the sudden becomes 5ms (5 frames) and now its coming out faster? Seems nice right? you get it off faster and can hit them but now your consistency is gone so you now accommodate for the speed up so you can now use a faster tool to hit your opponent. Lets take that same jab and throw it again but wait.... now your opponent hit you with a jab of their own when you were throwing yours. You look at the input history and see that the jab is now 20ms (20 frames) But wait... how does that make sense? my move that was 5ms is now 20ms but wasn't it just 10ms when I started practicing?! You see the issue with that type of system? Especially with something that has internet latency already, that 10 ms move was probably realistically actually 12-13 (using fighting game data since they usually operate on 1-2ms of delay but now are making progress towards 0 latency) Consistency is very key to 2K because without have the same point for every animation (theres over 100) how can there be a point of consistency if every time we shoot its a different point at random.

The Solution: One of the fixes has already been implemented being removing the RNG from shooting which explained earlier is great for consistency purposes. The next biggest issue to tackle is simply the latency. In a perfect world 2K would be lag free, However that will never be the case and with every nonsensical city addition they make, it will sadly just come with more latency, So how to we navigate through this? For starters just make a place where we can truly work on our jumpshots. not the Gatorade gym where things are buggy as is, not these useless courts thrown around the city for god knows what reason, a legit shooting gym that will give you actual data to improve your shot if it truly is a user issue and skill gap that you devs claim it to be. How can people egt better at a game where the environment we're practicing in isn't comparable to the actual modes we will play? You had this with the Art of Shooting gym which is amazing, but notice how it isn't riddled with latency? Ahhh because you know it would not be a good place to practice your shots consistently....Interestinggg. This might come as a hot take but shooting truthfully doesn't need to be touched at all anymore, Anymore changes to make shooting better should come from systematic changes implemented in the game like what was stated above, improvements to defense to make it more effective (My personal opinion but nobody should be hitting 60% contested or above 3s without Takeover but that's just my opinion) if you don't want people shooting lights out and actually making sure badges apply the way that should. The answer should never be to shrink the Green window because we don't want people to shoot easier, the solution should be people cant get easy shots off because defense is being played the correct way. I truly understand from a balanced perspective why the window has to be relatively small but making it a needle-sized sliver isn't the solution either. green windows should be based off your shooting rating, badges, hot zones, and takeover. Afterwards depending on the defense rating of opponents and their coverage on you, that window should shrink, simple as that. If you are 90% covered then sure make the green window 2ms big for all I care, But if someone is wide open and all their badges are activating and the window is only 22ms worth of success rate with a game that's probably already fighting with 20-30ms of latency where's the logic there?

Closing Statements: I will give 2k Credit for trying to fix issues but as an organization you gotta do better. You have to give this type of data to players, you have to be transparent with your players, and most importantly you have to accommodate your players. Jumping online and telling your community its a skill issue but then not having proper channels for players to work on their skill is just not the answer. 2K is a monopoly at the end of the day so we truly got two choices. Be vocal or leave. And to everyone reading this message, truthfully understand that choice as well. Stop feeding a machine simply because its the only outlet. You want them to make changes? stop applauding them for the bare minimum.

Thank you.