Chicago Bulls: Predicting start and end NBA 2K22 ratings

These are the reasons behind the rating changes for the Chicago Bulls players

As mentioned in the opening slide, player ratings for NBA 2K fluctuate based on which attributes get removed/added and how they’re weighted to the final tally (a player’s position also plays a role in this).

In most cases (and this applies to sports games across the board), any changes to the algorithm result in a player’s rating dropping a couple of points, but not to such a degree that it adversely alters their in-game effectiveness.

This could play a big role in Zach LaVine sporting a lighter-than-expected rating at launch, combined with the low defensive ratings that are likely to come his way (he’s a better defender than some advanced metrics give him credit for, but he’s still not great and a bad reputation is a hard thing to shake).

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However, if LaVine replicates his offensive production from last year (27.4 PPG, 63.4 true shooting percentage) and improves on defense, his rating will quickly rise.

Same for Nikola Vucevic. After coming over from the Orlando Magic during last season’s trade deadline, Vucevic played like an All-Star during his 26 games in a Bulls uniform. The offense-first nature of his game may adjust his ratings down, but another strong year will get him back to last year’s levels.

New Bull DeMar DeRozan would fall into this trap, but unlike his standing among some of the analytics community (some of the critiques are valid, others are not), 2K often shows him a lot of love with their overall ratings. Unless he turns in some horrific numbers, he’ll hover around the high-80s for the duration of the season.

Lonzo Ball’s numbers will depend on how high his defensive and 3-point ratings are. Patrick Williams flashed enough skills as a rookie to warrant a similar rating to last year, but don’t expect a huge jump unless he increases his usage. The hot-and-cold White was probably overrated a bit last year thank to counting stats, but if he comes back from his shoulder injury and puts up some eye-catching numbers, he’ll stay in the mid-70s.

Second-round pick and Chicago native Ayo Dosunmu will get the second-round treatment as far as ratings go; he may show enough to bump his rating up a tad — especially if he gets White’s minutes early and thrives. The rest of the rotational players will mostly remain steady for most of the year barring an unexpected breakout.