One Player on Every NBA Team Who Should Have the Highest NBA 2K13 Rating

Being a basketball fan, I'm an absolute NBA 2K12 junkie, and with NBA 2K13 set to be released in just under a month, I've become giddy with anticipation.

The 2K franchise of NBA games has become the most innovative and consistently exciting sports game over the past few years in terms of the big three American sports. I've got love for Madden and the NCAA College Football games, but it always seems like another year of different players (although Madden has made some impressive improvements this season). Meanwhile, college hoops is sadly without a game and I've always been completely blasé toward MLB games.

Compared to 2K's recent run of NBA games, the only thing that really overshadows how exciting and radical they have been is 2K's NHL 2K13, which has been phenomenal.

Of course, one of the most fun things leading up to a new sports game release is learning which players are the highest rated, followed by the subsequent complaints and critiques. 

Now, the boys over at 2K have had a fun time releasing ratings bit by bit while promoting their game via Twitter, dishing out a few more ratings with every thousand followers they add. Here's a list of the ratings released as of the end of August, with three more tweeted out late on Septermber 5th:

"

Here are 3 more #NBA2K13 ratings: Austin Rivers-67, Chris Paul-94, Amare Stoudemire-84. Will reveal 3 more at 286K followers. Discuss!

— 2K Sports 2K13 (@2KSports) September 6, 2012"

In the interest of getting a head start on the rest of their tweets, I'll go ahead and play spoiler, taking a stab at the best player on each team in the NBA.

First a quick note, all ratings are from the initial release of 2K12, not the in-season updates throughout the year. All 2K13 ratings are my own projections unless otherwise noted.

Atlanta Hawks: Josh Smith

2K12 Rating: 84

Projected 2K13 Rating: 85

Josh Smith is the epitome of a player who is more valuable in a video game (or fantasy basketball for that matter) than he is on the court. Most Hawks fans will look at Al Horford as their most valuable player as he's not only got a level head but continues to show consistency and reliability. Meanwhile, Smith continues to be immature, shoot wild shots and make bad decisions overall.

Even still, Smith can do a multitude of things, which usually translates into video game success. With his ability to block shots, shoot from long range, score in traffic, jump high enough to hit his head on the jumbotron and pass well for a man his size, he'll continue to be a very high rated player in basketball games.

He may drive people batty in real life, but he's a pretty damn good player to have on your team in a video game. 

Boston Celtics: Rajon Rondo

2K12 Rating: 85

2K13 Rating: 90

Rajon Rondo was one of the players whose ratings were leaked by the company, showing that he is potentially the league's third rated point guard behind Chris Paul and Derrick Rose. Of course, Deron Williams may still hang around those three, even though he had a sub-par seasons as far as his standards go.

Rondo stayed ahead of Kevin Garnett as the highest rated member of the Celtics just as he was in 2K12, although he put some space between himself and the big man. Paul Pierce should fall in line right around Garnett, giving them a still formidable Big Three even after Ray Allen left.

What Rondo needs now is to show that he can have a consistent jumper and he could get into Derrick Rose territory, possibly even Chris Paul.

Brooklyn Nets: Deron Williams

2K12 Rating: 90

Projected 2K13 Rating: 90

Deron Williams had a down year as far as his standards go in 2012, but that probably won't mean a decrease in his overall ratings in the coming game, his past reputation should speak for itself.

Williams will be joined by Joe Johnson, who should be right around the mid-80s, along with Brook Lopez and Gerald Wallace, who will flank him in the low 80s or high 70s, giving the Nets a well-rounded top four players.

What will be more interesting than his rating this year, however, will be how the updates go as the year goes along. If he reverts back to averaging double-digit assists and continues to score well, we could see him climb up to 91 or 92.

Charlotte Bobcats: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

2K12 Rating: N/A

2K13 Rating: 78

I have to say I was a bit surprised when I saw Charlotte's Michael Kidd-Gilchrist at just 78 overall in one of 2K's leaked ratings tweets, although it did fall in line with the rest of the rookies.

It seems they didn't want to give too much credit to guys who have yet to play, which makes sense, and they're more keen to wait a few months and give them a real, concise look with the game's first ratings update.

Even still, at a seemingly low 78 overall, MKG should easily be Charlotte's best player, as they don't have anyone on that roster who should come near 80 overall, let alone 78.

Chicago Bulls: Derrick Rose

2K12 Rating: 92

2K13 Rating: 92

Thankfully the people over at 2K didn't punish Derrick Rose in terms of his overall ranking because of his torn ACL. Playing with him in 2K12 is just too much fun and a diminished Rose might take away from the game just a little bit.

Rose will continue to sit atop the Bulls until something terrible happens to him or until some young buck a long time in the future dethrones him, until further notice, Rose continues to be the man in Chicago.

Cleveland Cavaliers: Kyrie Irving

2K12 Rating: 76

Projected 2K13 Rating: 84

Aside from one key player that we'll get to in a little bit, Kyrie Irving should have one of the biggest jumps from 2012 to 2013.

Uncle Drew taught the young ones how to ball in Cleveland as he thrashed his way to a Rookie of the Year award that was all but locked up by March, already outplaying his preliminary 76 overall by that time.

From then on out, Kyrie continued to show an improvement in his inside scoring (one of his worst attributes initially in 2K12), while showing that even trivial things like his speed and ball handling were underrated by the game.

Eight points may sound like a huge jump, but after watching Kyrie for two-thirds of a full season, most people would say that it would be justified.

Dallas Mavericks: Dirk Nowitzki

2K12 Rating: 85

Projected 2K13 Rating: 83

Dirk Nowitzki had a leisurely victory lap in 2012, cruising around the league with his team, winning enough games to get into the playoffs and sitting back and hoping for some help this offseason.

Well, the help never really came in the form that he expected it to, and his ratings should take a hit to reflect the season that was for the Dallas Mavericks.

Dirk continued to be a very good player for Dallas, but his scoring dropped by a few points per game and his field goal percentage dropped by a full six points. That's too much decline to ignore.

The worst part about this all is that Dirk deserves to fall a bit, but his fall is going to put him behind guys like Monta Ellis in the new game, players that he is clearly superior to.

Denver Nuggets: Andre Iguodala

2K12 Rating: 85

2K13 Rating: 86

Here's my guess at what happened for Andre Iguodala's ratings for this year's game. Basically they decided that he was about as good as he was at the beginning of last season, a good athlete, great leader and defender and a decent enough shooter to get by. They then put him back to an 85 rating and forgot about him.

However, the Olympics came along and he started putting down alley-oop after alley-oop and they, along with everyone else outside of Philadelphia remembered just how athletic he is.

Not only did that lead to his rating bump for 2K13, it also led Denver to look at him and go, "Holy crap, that dude would be amazing finishing alley-oops from Ty Lawson and Andre Miller. He's on the trading block? Let's get him."

Detroit Pistons: Greg Monroe

2K12 Rating: 65

Projected 2K13 Rating: 77

Detroit's highest rated player at the release of 2K12 was Tayshaun Prince, followed by Rip Hamilton and Ben Gordon all the way until we got to Rodney Stuckey at 74, the first ranking that made sense for Detroit. Then numbers dropped until you got all the way down to Greg Monroe at 65 overall.

Let me put that in perspective, that's lower than Marreese Speights who started last year at 67 overall. I like Speights' game and I recognize that Monroe didn't exactly have an overwhelming rookie season, but even after one year it was easy to see that Monroe was better than Speights, and by a lot.

This year we should see a backlash to that, as Monroe has proven himself to be a capable offensive threat with some great footwork on defense. That ought to be good enough to bump him up to a mid-to-high 70s rating.

Golden State Warriors: Andrew Bogut

2K12 Rating: 82

Projected 2K13 Rating: 81

He's injury-prone and he might not fit in well with the Warriors style of play, but what Andrew Bogut has proven he can bring to the table is more than what Steph Curry has shown us in his three years in the league.

Bogut has terrific defense, with a nose for blocking shots and grabbing loose balls; along with his above-average offensive prowess for a big man in the post which gave him that 82 rating in last season's game.

Curry has proven, meanwhile, that he's just as injury prone, a shaky defender and not adept to racking up assists on offense, although his redeeming shooting ability is great. Still, it's not enough to make an argument that he should be better rated than Bogut.

Houston Rockets: Jeremy Lin

2K12 Rating: 56

Projected 2K13 Rating: 77

With the biggest jump in, well, perhaps all of video game history, I'm guessing that 2K totally buys into the Jeremy Lin story not only because of the fan reaction, but also based on what they amped him up to during the season.

Lin went from 56 overall to 69 overall in the middle of February, and then gave him another bump, this time six more points just two days later. In the span of 48 hours, video game Jeremy Lin picked up nearly 20 full points.

Keep in mind, those two updates were in February before Lin dropped 28 points and 14 dimes on Dallas two days later and finished his season out with 15 more double-digit scoring games out of 18

That, combined with a painfully visible decrease in production and efficiency from Kevin Martin should lead to a drop from him and an overpass by Lin.

Indiana Pacers: Danny Granger

2K12 Rating: 81

Projected 2K13 Rating: 80

The Indiana Pacers have a flurry of players who should be clogged in right in between 75 and 80 overall after marked improvement over their overall numbers in last year's game.

Roy Hibbert may make the leap to 80 overall, that's possible, but I think he gets to 79 and ends up stuck, while the likes of Paul George, George Hill and David West stick in right around 77 or 78.

Then there's Danny Granger who continues to be a middle-class man's Andre Iguodala. He's a bit less of a leader, a bit less of an athlete, a bit more of a shooter and a bit less of a defender, but he's still good enough overall that he'll be able to hang onto the top spot in Indiana for one more game.

Los Angeles Lakers: Dwight Howard

2K12 Rating: 93

Projected 2K13 Rating: 94

Let me go ahead and say it, Kobe Bryant is ranked too high in the new game. Sure, he's still an amazing basketball player, but who in their right mind is going to argue that a past-his-prime, 34-year-old Kobe is better than 1992 Scottie Pippen? Sure I'm splitting hairs, but Pip at 92 and Kobe at 93 kind of churn's my butter.

Beyond that, we should see Kobe's first overtopping in a video game in nearly a decade, truly a sight to be seen.

Dwight Howard's 93 ranking last year seemed a bit low to me, although he can't shoot the ball from more than 12 feet out and his offensive skills were a bit limited. However, as the league's best center and one of the top five players, you'd think his video game persona would reflect that with an appropriately high ranking.

It's not a huge improvement, but Howard just ahead of Kobe would at least make sense on a micro-level from the Lakers standpoint.

Los Angeles Clippers: Chris Paul

2K12 Rating: 93

2K13 Rating: 94

Blake Griffin took a hit in the ratings, dropping one point from last year's final update, but Chris Paul's recently leaked rating puts him a point higher than he was a year ago, and should keep him as the highest rated point guard in the game.

It might not be that Paul played that much better last season (although he was better last season), but rather the developers are slowly starting to realize how much better he is in comparison to the rest of the league's point guards. For a guy who can lead the league in steals five times in seven years and assists twice in seven years, there's got to be something special.

Chris Paul is going to continue to improve as a video game character as he stays steady as a player and his accomplishments pile up, even if those accomplishments don't include MVP Awards or NBA Titles.

Memphis Grizzlies: Rudy Gay

2K12 Rating: 86

Projected 2K13 Rating: 85

The Memphis Grizzlies continue to be a tough-nosed team out in the Western Conference, and they should be able to make a run in the playoffs if they meet the right team. In addition, they'll continue to be an extremely effective video game team.

As far as the rest of the team goes, Marc Gasol will likely see a marked improvement over his 73 overall of last year's game, while Mike Conley could see another point increase and Zach Randolph should hope to stay in the low-to-mid 80s.

Rudy Gay, while continuing to be the team's best player, may see a bit of a hit in his overall rating as his shooting percentages took a definite hit this season, although they could just be outliers.

Miami Heat: LeBron James

2K12 Rating: 98

Projected 2K13 Rating: 99

There are two guys that we know for sure will be ranked 99 overall in NBA 2K13. One of them is the reigning MVP, NBA Champion and Finals MVP, the other is Michael Jordan. I'll sit here while people start complaining.

As much as we hate to relent that LeBron James is anywhere near the level that Michael Jordan was on at any point in his career, it's impossible to argue that LeBron's season last year was downright Jordan-esque.

He had one of the best statistical seasons in recorded history, won a title and was visibly better than he was the season before. Why shouldn't his rating go up?

Elsewhere on the Heat, we should see a marked decline for Dwyane Wade who didn't play up to his 96 overall in 2012 and perhaps an increase for Chris Bosh, whose 80 overall was a slap in the face at the debut of the game last season. 

Milwaukee Bucks: Monta Ellis

2K12 Rating: 83

2K13 Rating: 86

Is it possible that Monta Ellis put in a call to the game developers before they programmed in his rankings? Perhaps he gave them a sweet deal on a slightly used moped? Regardless of what happened, the strategically leaked rankings have Monta at an 86 overall, a full three point jump from last season.

Monta is a fine player, he's an amazing talent on offense, but his game is a product of years past and no longer the ideal for a number one option on any team. It's not 2003 anymore. Monta can score, but he takes a lot of shots to get his numbers, plus he's a shaky defender to boot. He's got positives, for sure. He's a good leader, his basketball IQ is relatively high and he can pass incredibly well for a shooting guard, but ranking him this close to guys like Kevin Love and Andrew Bynum is a bit puzzling.

Elsewhere on the Bucks, Brandon Jennings may threaten to break 80, but he's not going to come anywhere near 86 overall.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Kevin Love

2K12 Rating: 81

2K13 Rating: 89

What's a dude have to do to get a decent rating around here? Kevin Love was saddled with an 81 overall to start out in 2K12, despite leading the league in rebounds and pumping out 20 points per game. Now he can't break 90 after saddling up fourth in scoring and continuing to rebound like a machine.

Love's 89 was one of the leaked ratings sent out from 2K's Twitter machine as it told everyone that even after showing off a dominant inside-outside offensive game, debuting as a terrific passer and keeping an injury-riddled Timberwolves team afloat, a 90 rating still isn't warranted. 

New Orleans Hornets: Eric Gordon

2K12 Rating: 82

Projected 2K13 Rating: 81

An injury led to just a few minutes of playing time for Eric Gordon last season with the Hornets, but that shouldn't mean too much for the guard in terms of a hit in his overall rating in 2K13.

Even still, at just over 80 overall, Gordon can feel Anthony Davis breathing down his neck as he checks in with an 80 rating after one of the first 2K Twitter leaks.

Gordon will continue to be an extremely fun guy to play with on New Orleans, but the Hornets suddenly become a great team to play with now that Davis joins the crew.

New York Knicks: Carmelo Anthony

2K12 Rating: 91

2K13 Rating: 92

We've already gotten a look at Carmelo Anthony, and much like Andre Iguodala with the Denver Nuggets it seems like the Olympics might have influenced the rating just a tad.

'Melo didn't exactly do much in 2012 that made me think he should be better in 2K13 than he was in 2K12, but the Olympics definitely reminded us all that he can take over a game and score at will whenever he's feeling his shot.

That alone might have given him that extra point on his ranking.

Oklahoma City Thunder: Kevin Durant

2K12 Rating: 92

2K13 Rating: 94

Kevin Durant's ratings have taken an interesting road over the past year, starting with a seemingly low 92 overall at the release of 2K12 last year. Updates led to Durant reaching 95 overall near the end of the regular season in 2012, but that didn't last for long.

Whether it was the fact that LeBron James outplayed him in the NBA Finals or that the game creators think they took it a bit too far for a guy who is still mediocre on defense at best, Durant dropped back down to 94 for the release of this game.

The rest of the team isn't going to challenge Durant for his top spot, as Russell Westbrook should probably reach 90 in this game, James Harden should hover in the mid-to-low 80s and Serge Ibaka in the high 70s.

Orlando Magic: Arron Afflalo

2K12 Rating: 71

Projected 2K13 Rating: 75

Boy, ummm...what can I really say about the Orlando Magic that this ranking doesn't already? Even with me giving the benefit of the doubt to a visibly improved Arron Afflalo, Magic fans everywhere should be depressed at the thought of playing with their team in 2K13 this year.

Afflalo's rating will almost certainly out-pace that of Jameer Nelson, Big Baby and whatever other players they have left to throw on the garbage heap that is the Magic this season.

It's time for Orlando to do what they've done a few times already in their history, hunker down, wait this season out and hope that Nerlens Noel is going to be the next big thing in the society of NBA big men.

Philadelphia 76ers: Andrew Bynum

2K12 Rating: 79

2K13 Rating: 87

Andrew Bynum came out in the most recent leak of 2K13 player ratings, and what we see is a guy who has suddenly jumped to become the second best center in the video game. Art reflects life.

It makes sense, obviously, as Bynum had his best season by leaps and bounds as he was able to both stay healthy and productive while minimizing his mental lapses and not tackling any guys who are more than a foot shorter than himself. Good onya Bynum.

The big jump is likely mostly offensive, although he did show some increased ability on defense in 2012, however small it was. 

Coming into his new city, Bynum should be able to boast that he's the highest rated player on his team and he hasn't even played a game with them yet.

Phoenix Suns: Michael Beasley/Luis Scola/Marcin Gortat/Jared Dudley

2K12 Rating: Beasley: 78, Scola 77, Gortat 73, Dudley 72

Projected 2K13 Rating: 75s all around.

I've been bouncing back and forth between the Houston Rockets and the Phoenix Suns as the most confusingly configured team in the league, but finally decided on Phoenix after taking a look at the would-be, could-be 2K rankings.

Jared Dudley's ranking was already released in one of the 2K tweets, and while the rest are just speculative, but it seems entirely possible that all four of these guys end up at 75. I swear it's not just a cop out.

Beasley was disappointing last season after breaking out in his first year with Minnesota, making a drop likely, while Scola took a step down in production in a turbulent Houston lineup, making a drop likely for him as well. Gortat, meanwhile, showed that he's growing on offense in the post and on the pick-and-roll, enough that a two-point uptick in production seems modest at best.

In the end, Houston's confusing lineup is jumbled around in the middle, while Phoenix has a legitimate identity crisis with the team they've put together, which can only mean entertaining things from them this season.

Portland Trail Blazers: Lamarcus Aldridge

2K12 Rating: 83

Projected 2K13 Rating: 84

As the Portland Trail Blazers crashed and burned last season, the fans turned on Raymond Felton quicker than he can turn on a microwave and J.J. Hickson looked to be the only thing to finish the season better than when he came into Portland, LaMarcus Aldridge continued to be a solid basketball player.

Not only did he continue to play out of position at center, he did so with great ability on the offensive end and some stifling defense at times.

He's not improved by a lot compared to last season, but there's no doubt that he's continuing to grow as a player, as he should as a video game character as well.

Sacramento Kings: Tyreke Evans

2K12 Rating: 80

2K13 Rating: 81

Tyreke Evans' 2013 rating was released in one of the 2K tweets, showing that he increased just a point from last season's rankings, which seems more or less fair. 

Meanwhile, Thomas Robinson's have been released as well, ranking him as the third-best rookie behind Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. DeMarcus Cousins should fall somewhere in between. Boogie definitely improved last season, but he's still a terribly inefficient center with a low IQ on the defensive end.

That leaves Evans at the top of the team by default, although he's definitely not the most important member of the Kings moving forward.

San Antonio Spurs: Tony Parker

2K12 Rating: 80

Projected 2K13 Rating: 84

San Antonio had three players ranked in the 80s last season with Tony Parker bringing up the rear. Manu Ginobili was situated at 85 and Tim Duncan was at 84. If the 2012 season was anything to base the ratings on (which it just might be), Parker was obviously their best player.

Parker showed he continues to be underrated in terms of his speed, passing, shooting, leadership, basketball IQ and even his defense a little bit. Meanwhile, Duncan and Ginobili are both getting old and should see a drop in their ratings.

That leaves nobody but Parker to fill the void at the top of the Spurs lineup.

Toronto Raptors: Kyle Lowry

2K12 Rating: 76

Projected 2K13 Rating: 78

The Toronto Raptors were an excruciatingly bad team in 2K12, which makes sense considering they weren't very good in real life either. But, this team was so bad that it was more fun to be the Bobcats, at least then you got to sprint around with Kemba Walker and try to make Byron Mullens hit a three.

Toronto finally got a guy who can pull the team together and make them worth talking about, and while they'll continue to be underrated in the game (DeMar DeRozan 69 overall? C'mon 2K, get it together.), they at least have a chance of being playable this time around.

Utah Jazz: Al Jefferson

2K12 Rating: 81

Projected 2K13 Rating: 82

Good old reliable Al Jefferson. He's a center, and even though he has never shot north of 53 percent in a season nobody ever gives him any guff. For the most part people take him as he is, a great offensive low-post presence with a killer jump hook and a good range, let him make half his shots and move on.

He's never flashy, but he's always there, and what more can you ask of a guy in the middle?

Nobody else on Utah is really there who is capable of stepping up and overtopping him, although they should have quite a few players who are capable of playing alongside him and making a formidable all-around squad.

Washington Wizards: John Wall

2K12 Rating: 82

Projected 2K13 Rating: 82

John Wall had a tough first half of the season in 2012, which is going to contribute to his lack of improvement, but it wasn't bad enough to bring him down a notch overall.

Wall actually upped his scoring numbers and did it in a more efficient manner, but he shot an embarrassing .71 percent from three-point range last year after having a halfway decent long-range jumper in 2K12, which should all but eliminate that. Elsewhere, Wall showed that he was little more than athleticism and speed on the defensive end while continuing to learn his way along as a passer.

The developers shouldn't be too hard on the guy, as he did make some obvious improvements, but don't expect to see him threatening to jump into the top half of the 80s.