Have you ever wondered to what extent does each badge affect various stats in NBA 2K17? The team at NBA 2K Lab has gone about answering the question in a scientific way and brought their results to us. With the research done, you’ll be able to judge for yourself which badges are worth attaining the most.
Today we are looking into the dunking badges and stats that might actually affect your ability to drive it to the rim. First, we are going to talk about the Posterizer Badge.
In order to test the badge, they created a team of 7’3″ centers with glass cleaner attribute caps and bronze rim protector badges in order to simulate the average defender that you would post up on. They also used a 6’6″ player with the slasher attribute capped to dunk. They then ran 100 dunks that caused contact in the post for the Hall of Fame, Gold, and Bronze badges, ruling out any play that resulted in a contested layup.
The results of the test showed a marked difference, with the average success rate on a contact dunk rising by 9%. But probably the most marked difference, which couldn’t be quantified by their tests, was how much more difficult it was to go into contact dunk animation without a posterizer badge equipped. Without one equipped, it took 3 times as many attempts to achieve the animation.
| BADGE | SUCCESS RATE |
|---|---|
| Hall of Fame | 58% |
| Gold | 49% |
| Bronze | 39% |
| None | 32% |
Next, they tested the impact of the strength statistics on your ability to succeed in dunks. Using the same defense setup as before, they equipped the Hall of Fame badge, then attempted 100 dunks with each stat plateau. They ruled out any attempt that failed as a result of a foul. While the gap between 60 and 65 strength is bizarrely small, the success rate does indeed steadily climb, making strength a decent stat to consider for dunks.
| STRENGTH RATING | MADE DUNKS | MADE LAYUPS | MISSED ATTEMPTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 70 | 26% | 25% | 49% |
| 65 | 20% | 26% | 54% |
| 60 | 19% | 22% | 57% |
| 55 | 15% | 26% | 59% |
| 50 | 5% | 29% | 66% |
Next, they took the same process and the same player makeup, and applied it to judging the effect of weight on dunks. The only factor that changed at this point was the weight, which ranged between 180 to 225 pounds, which was the only range available for the forward’s selected archetype. While there was still an increase in success rate, the results were not nearly as steep as strength, meaning weight is not that much of a factor.
| WEIGHT | DUNK | LAYUP | MISS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 225 | 25% | 24% | 51% |
| 210 | 23% | 24% | 53% |
| 195 | 20% | 25% | 55% |
| 180 | 19% | 25% | 56% |
But surely vertical would make a huge difference on the success rate of dunks right? Well, they set up the test using the same parameters, with the only thing changing being the player’s vertical statistic. But it does indeed seem like strength is the biggest determining factor on the success rate of dunks, as vertical caused about the same increase as weight. Not only that, but vertical caused an even bigger fluctuation on layups, which could allude to this stat being not all it’s cracked up to be on offense.
| VERTICAL RATING | MADE DUNKS | MADE LAYUPS | MISSED ATTEMPTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 86 | 26% | 25% | 49% |
| 81 | 22% | 24% | 54% |
| 76 | 20% | 27% | 53% |
| 71 | 21% | 22% | 57% |
| 66 | 20% | 24% | 56% |
Stay tuned for more of our NBA 2K17 Badge Analysis here at Sports Gamers Online and be sure to checkout our friends over at nba2klab.com.
