NBA teams get 'In the Game' to scope talent
by James Ransom-Wiley 
on Dec 3rd 2008 8:30PM
Apparently, all it takes to manage an NBA roster these days is a working knowledge of a game console and a copy of
NBA Live 09. (
LA Times seems to think you'd do just fine with the '08 edition, too, but it's simply not in that version's "
DNA.") You don't even need to know how to
play -- just sit back and let the game run its own simulations, as Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey recently admitted. While it sounds like the sort of desperation measure fit for a Clippers GM, reportedly, roughly half of NBA teams use EA's
NBA Live to evaluate players around the league. "Say if you're thinking about acquiring Ron Artest," explained Morey, "On the game, you can see how adding Artest can change the dynamic of your team. You can program it to run offensive sets with Artest and any combination of your players."
On the flip side, "you can't simulate a player being out too late the night before or his body language on the bench or how he interacts with teammates" conceded Morey; or his potential to attend practice in a
bathrobe or put out an embarrassingly clichéd
hip-hop record. (All great ideas for the next installment of
NBA Live, by the way.)
[Thanks, Wonderflex]
