The Atlanta Hawks NBA 2K19 starting lineup was leaked recently, and we’ve got some issues with it.
In advance of NBA 2K19, all starting lineups were leaked recently including a likely Atlanta Hawks starting lineup scenario.
While we’ve already weighed in on how we believe the starting lineup will be organized, the creators of NBA 2K have a different opinion on it.
The leaked video featured a starting lineup that looked like this. Each players’ rating is listed after his name:
PG – Trae Young – 77
SG – Kent Bazemore – 77
SF – Taurean Prince – 78
PF – John Collins – 79
C – Dewayne Dedmon – 77
As you can see, the Atlanta Hawks are only one of two teams (the Sacramento Kings being the other) that do not have a starter who’s rated 80 or above.
In fact, two players on the Hawks that are multi-year veterans who had terrific seasons in 2017-18, Dewayne Dedmon and Kent Bazemore, are actually rated lower than incoming #2 overall pick Marvin Bagley.
Beyond that, Taurean Prince, whose rating was originally revealed to be a 79, dipped one point to a 78 – making second-year player John Collins the highest-rated player on the Atlanta Hawks with a 79.
Don’t get me wrong, we adore John Collins here, but foisting him with the Hawks top rating in 2K seems a bit premature – especially since both Baze and The Prince That Was Promised had the ball in their hands a lot last year, whereas JC was used as more of a play finisher (a role he played with aplomb).
Another misstep seems to be granting identical ratings of 77 to Baze, Dedmon and rookie Trae Young.
Though certainly Trae comes in with the promise of transforming the future of the Atlanta Hawks, having an identical rating to two established NBA veterans seems a bit too hyped up.
You certainly can’t blame the creators of the game, though, as the accelerated deadlines and endless cycle of sports video games makes it difficult for developers to do anything more than create a lot of noise surrounding the game’s release, then unleash it upon a hungry fanbase – then work out the kinks later.
Either way, some of the ratings for the Atlanta Hawks seem a bit off, but we’ll see if they normalize once the season actually begins.