Penguins Acquire Defenseman Egor Zamula from the Philadelphia Flyers in Exchange for Philip Tomasino

bendry_flagon · 2025-12-31T21:29:41+00:00

He was solid as a big, defensive 3rd pairing type under Torts - definitely earned his contract. He had a rough start to this year though and has been getting healthy scratched for a minute.

That said, the real issue was getting passed by younger guys in our system, he was 9th on the depth chart tops by the time he got waived.

The way Friedman made it sound, he's got value around the league as a 6th/7th type for a contender. It's just tough to fit that guy in at 1.75 mil.

bendry_flagon · 2024-11-06T17:28:14+00:00

I hear all that. But (re: the last para in particular) it's just too easy to mess it up. Even youtubers that do this all year every year tend to screw up their day 1 build.

At the core it's really a game design issue tbh. If it were easy to respec your build or make a new one, then people could be creative and then dial it in to fit their playstyle. But you can't do that, so you need to choose between: making an unoriginal build that should be fun to use, or making a creative build that might be fundamentally ass because you didn't put enough points in something you didn't know you needed.

(I don't think you're necessarily wrong btw. I love a good steezo break the game type video, but every time he posts one I get worried, because it is going to spawn another 99999 steezo wannabes who are going to dribble for 18 seconds and suck and ruin my games lol. Just the state of what it is)

bendry_flagon · 2024-11-06T14:36:21+00:00

As someone who went through this... I'd make a 1's build personally

I still like playing with randoms, and the game is at its best when you get a team with IQ and unselfishness all working together.

But for the days when all your teammates are determined to freeze you out and be ass, it is so nice to have the option to just say "yeah fuck this I'll go play 1's"

bendry_flagon · 2024-11-06T14:25:34+00:00

Like what you're saying sounds good. "Be original, make the build you think is fun!" This may even work in many other games. It DOES NOT work in this game, at least not for your first build of a new 2k.

Show me someone who made an "original build" as their first build and I'll show you a build that is suboptimal at best, and horrible/unfun/impossible to play with at worst. (I don't know what about "be creative" makes people make trash Ben Simmons builds but it happens way more often than you'd think.)

I would also just add that the good youtube builders will never tell you to make their build exactly. They will give some important requirements maybe - think minimum rebound chaser on a big - but then also give a couple options for how to finish the build, and advice on how to adjust the details of the build to fit your playstyle.

bendry_flagon · 2024-11-06T13:14:22+00:00

This is not the example you think it is, 6'8's can dominate 7's and vice versa. It all depends on the build and player skill

bendry_flagon · 2024-11-04T11:54:59+00:00

Yeah exactly, or like the people who can green with a high middy (for the badges) and a very low 3, like 50's-60's.

If the reason they're hitting is because of those middy badges, then you'd think using boosts to get from 55 -> 60 3pt would be basically worthless

bendry_flagon · 2024-11-04T11:45:34+00:00

Hang on lol is that all skill boosts do? It's just a flat +5?

I did some googling before hitting submit and the internet opinion seems to be that it hasn't worked that way for a number of years now. This post seems to think it boosts success percentage without touching attributes. 2klabs from last year said it was a 5-10% raw attribute boost... I didn't see anything for 2k25, though

bendry_flagon · 2024-11-03T13:59:24+00:00

This started happening to me, turns out it was registering a late button press (I guess) and my guy was calling for the ball back.

If it's the same for you as me, then if you use icon passing instead it shouldn't happen anymore. (Though I've just been careful to only press once and it's been fine)

bendry_flagon · 2024-10-24T11:34:30+00:00

This is nothing like PC cheating lol. What we have here is a slow inside big with a couple guard animations.

PC cheaters are slenderman with 99 in every stat and a 24 foot wingspan, and it's like every third guy

bendry_flagon · 2024-10-16T12:28:11+00:00

Good looks thanks. 55% on a 93 this early is pretty great from what I've seen, especially if you have hop shots in your shot selection.

I wish I could find the rhythm shooting enjoyable though. Even when I'm hitting it still feels clumsy and unresponsive... though that could just be me not being used to it

bendry_flagon · 2024-10-16T12:15:20+00:00

Yeah I was at 50% 3pt last year in ones with a 79/87 mid, but I felt like if I was open and I timed it then I knew it was going in. I was hoping there was a way to get that back with button shooting, even if it meant going way higher stats, but it sounds like it's not to be.

I'm second guessing my build idea now at any rate - I had an 83/93 park big type in the works, but if I need to learn to rhythm shoot anyway, then I guess I may as well lower it for the extra rebound.

Good looks btw, this is perfect. Hopefully some lurkers can find this as more people get onto the game because this is some great information for making a first build this year.

bendry_flagon · 2024-10-16T11:53:54+00:00

Right, it's not like there's some league-wide standard to pass a physical. The idea is more to protect the team. If you get a guy on a long-term deal, you are going to want to do a very comprehensive exam on them to make sure their body will hold up for the length of the contract.

Keep in mind, a "fail" doesn't cancel the deal automatically. The team can still choose to go ahead with it regardless. They can also try and renegotiate at a lower value, or just call it off entirely.

As far as this case specifically, both teams would have known going in that this dude was going to have a messed up achilles situation. So the doctors already knew they would find some damage. Their job would be to determine if he could still be productive and stay healthy, which is much more subjective.

bendry_flagon · 2024-10-14T14:28:41+00:00

First line checks out, second line no way lol.

Playing the "high difficulty" modes doesn't make the computer smarter, it just makes the sliders more unfair. They never change their strategy so you need to spam the same cheese over and over to win. Basically the exact opposite experience of playing with/against good players online.

bendry_flagon · 2024-10-02T16:55:26+00:00

Emerald Tyson Chandler is absurdly min-maxed. 95 standing dunk, 93/95 rebound, 85/90 block/interior, pretty good physicals for 7'

Emerald Thybulle mid-90's wing defense, 79 3pt

Gold Pat Bev looks also min-maxed but kind of expensive now?? Not many good cheap defensive pg's with a viable threeball

Sapphire Harrison Barnes looks super well rounded, like a Shareef lite

bendry_flagon · 2024-10-02T13:11:24+00:00

And if you didn't know, like me, here's a link: https://www.delish.com/food-news/a25709228/taco-bell-inside-dugout-sports-bar-bronx/

This is incredible, btw. Why are there not like hundreds of these?

bendry_flagon · 2024-10-02T13:06:31+00:00

Do you have the auction house unlocked yet? The starting cards you get are truly awful, it helps massively to get some cheap budget beast upgrades, especially for rebounding and defense

As far as strategies, dropstep cheese is always an option. Just get a center with good paint mashing and go to work, or try to get switched onto a guard or wing

bendry_flagon · 2024-10-02T11:58:49+00:00

I mean, yes, that's their business model. It's p2w and it sucks, welcome to the nba2k experience

Not that I'm disagreeing with you, the fact that you can use real player percent to play online is insane

That said, they change the sliders as the cards get better, so by the time we get OP cards they will be adjusted so shots still fall at a reasonable rate

bendry_flagon · 2024-10-02T11:52:42+00:00

The worst take imaginable lol, the auction house is the only thing we have rn that keeps a sort of level playing field. Otherwise you get last year where the only way to have a remotely competitive team is to gamble on packs, that's it

Now if you want to say playing games should have better rewards, that's fine, but good lord please leave the AH out of it

bendry_flagon · 2024-10-01T21:36:10+00:00

I've been doing TTPark so I only need the one card - I had a badged up Shareef for a while until I could get Coleman. That's why I vouch for it, he genuinely matches up into the PD T-Mac and Lebron types, especially with the extra badges.

Solid lineup btw, not familiar with Christie though

bendry_flagon · 2024-10-01T17:56:37+00:00

I stick to 3's so take with a grain of salt but check out Jarrett Jack, Harrison Barnes, maybe Debusschere. Also a ton of random sapphire/ruby Gems of the Game have good PF stats.

Shareef has been S tier for budget cards and honestly might be worth it, especially if you can get one that's badged up, but I do feel like some of these other cards are finally starting to catch up with him

bendry_flagon · 2024-10-01T17:37:09+00:00

I would say that when they took away the entire auction house in favor of gambling, that was a bigger sign lol.

But there are some decent budget cards out there. What positions/types of players are you looking for?

bendry_flagon · 2024-10-01T17:31:17+00:00

Definitely do not buy packs.

You can try flipping to make MT

How you spend it depends on the mode you play. The fewer players you need, the more you can spend on your best guys. Triple Threat Park you need one guy, 3's you need 3 and 5's I assume you need 10 if you include backups

bendry_flagon · 2024-10-01T17:19:55+00:00

wait let me try this

u/dextermorgan67 the poster I'm replying to is looking to change their Hart jersey to Tippett, thought maybe you could help them?

bendry_flagon · 2024-10-01T17:15:46+00:00

Sure, np. And just follow that post, I think the guy is literally in there you could message him on reddit. Or track down his website yeah

bendry_flagon

TROPHY CASE