Cristiano Ronaldo/LeBron James

When you think of the latest sports superstars that would be named in any conversation, two that come into mind are: LeBron James and Cristiano Ronaldo. While each of these two do play their respected sports, they are arguably the best players in their sport. Let's breakdown the two:

Players:	LeBron James	Cristiano Ronaldo
Points/Goals	27.5 Points Per Game	69 goals in 2013 alone
Assist	6.9 Assist	118 Career Assist (2003-2014)
Awards	4 time MVP	2 time PFA Players’s player of the year
Current Contract	6 year , 110 million	6 year, 132 million

As we see here , both are highly ranked in their respective sports. My belief is that both are in their prime. Both Ronaldo and James are 29 years of age. Coming from different backgrounds, both had a lot of hype as a youngster. In the United States, James had hype around him since he was in high school, being the first high school athlete to ever be on the front cover of an ESPN magazine. Ronaldo was able to show the entire world has good he was dating back in the 2006 World Cup. In that World Cup, Ronaldo put Portugal on his back. In the round of 8, Ronaldo scored twice in the penalty shoot-out to win the match against a dominant England team. That year, Portugal went on to finish 4th in the tournament.

STYLES OF PLAY:
When comparing James to Ronaldo, they have a simple style in which they affect the game. James doesn't necessarily need to score to be very effective in a game. James has the ability to setup teammates with his passes, defend the other teams best player, and rebound just as well as most big men in the NBA.

Playing LW , Ronaldo has the ability to draw defenders towards him in order to pass it to Postiga to score a goal. While Ronaldo will be looking to score his points, he isn't afraid to make the necessary pass.  Ronaldo's passing which will definitely help Portugal if they want to contend for a World Cup.

CLUTCH GENE:
Both players are one of the best players under pressure up to date. In LeBron's career, it took him a while to build a reputation as a clutch player. In fact, early in his career he was seen widely as a player that folds under pressure. The defining moment for him overcoming his bad reputation occurred in the 2012

As both James and Ronaldo partake in some of the highest level of competition in their careers , look for these qualities that make them who they are.

Should psychie be added in sports video games?

Watching this year's playoffs, I came to a realization that as good as video games are, they do not show player's emotion. There are players in the past that did perform (Ron Artest, Dennis Rodman) alot off of emotion. Tempers can flare, people can be happy, and simply feel down and not play well. While emotion is something that can't be simulated to perfection in any way, video games may want to add some type of performance rate on just a few players.

The perfect and relevant example in this year's playoffs is Indiana Pacers Center Roy Hibbert. When focused, Roy Hibbert is a double-double machine. When not mentally in the game, Hibbert can finish a game with 2 points and 1 rebound.



While writing this, I thought about one simply question: "How would this be implemented into a game?" This would have to be answered by using programming. Let's say after playing in three quarters, Roy Hibbert only has 1 rebound. With programming, an if/else statement can be made that requires Hibbert to have a certain amount of points and 1 rebound by the 4th quarter. If he doesn't meet that requirement by then, his shooting and rebounding skills should dramatically decrease. While the fourth quarter is the most important quarter in a game, if Hibbert is not producing by then, don't look for him to do much more.

This addition for a game wouldn't have to be in every aspect of a video game. For example, if you are playing with your friends or playing in franchise/dynasty mode, this doesn't have to take place since the gamer is manually controlling the player. However, if you are playing in career/myPlayer mode then I believe that this will increase the game.

Wanna discuss this article? Tweet me @SportsWatcherss and let me know what you think.

My Underrated Starting 5 :2014 Playoff Edition

During this 2014 playoffs, there are the stars that many people pay attention too: Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Paul George, and Blake Griffin. Putting together a favorite top 5 with players like these is easy. What alot of people won't mention are the underrated players. With that in mind, I have come up with my undderrated starting 5.

1) Point Guard: Jeff Teague (Atlanta Hawks)

While there may have been many options for this choice, Teague has been underrated for years. In this year's playoffs, he finally gets his chance to shine. Jeff Teague has a career average of 10 points, 4.6 assists, and 2 rebounds per game. Each and every year, Teague continues to improve. This season, Teague averaged 16 points, 6 assists, and 2.6 rebounds per game. In this year's playoffs, he is averaging 18 points per game. Standing at 6ft 2 inches tall, Teague is a very fast guard known for his good ball handling and driving. He can also be streaky, so teams must be careful of that. From a video game standpoint, he is one of my personal favorites to select in fantasy drafts. Most good point guards get selected within the first two or three rounds, but Teague manages to usually not be selected until the fourth or fifth round. Selecting him gives me the chance to get other great players without having to settle for a mediocre guard.

2) Shooting Guard: Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards)

This guy was drafted highly, but he and John Wall are really making their mark in this years's playoffs. Only 20 years old, Bradley Beal will only continue to rise to stardom. Beal's career average is 15 points per game. Just last year Beal's average was 13 points. This year, that average has gone up to 17. His playoff average for this year is 20.5 points per game. Beal is the complete guard that a team would want. He is athletic , and can shoot the three as good as anyone. The best part is that since he is so young, he will only get better. From a video game standpoint, look at him as a poor man's James Harden. He is a 2nd or 3rd tier shooting guard right now, but look for his ratings to increase in both NBA 2K 15 and NBA Live 15.

3) Small Forward: Nicholas Batum (Portland TrailBlazers)

The unsung hero for this, Nicholas Batum has come up HUGE for Portland this year. Standing at 6ft 8 inches, the 25 year old is making a name for himself in this year's playoffs. Career average is 11points, 2.7 assist, and 4.9 rebounds per game.This year , that average has increased to 13 points, 5 assist, and 7 rebounds. His playoff average is 15.6 points, 5 assist, and 6 rebounds. He has been a staple and a major 3rd option for the TrailBlazers. If they get past Houston, look for Batum to be an important factor that will help decide how far the Blazers will go. Batum is someone that you would not think to pick up in NBA 2K or Live unless you either really watch basketball , or are a TrailBlazers fan. He is a very solid pick who would bring consistency at that position.

4) Power Forward: Paul Milsap (Atlanta Hawks)

In spite of injury to frontcourt partner Al Horford, Paul Milsap has remained consistent as he wills the Hawks. Averaging 13 points per game in his career, Milsap has taken his game to another level. This year , Milsap is averaging 17 points per game to go with 8 and a half rebounds. Milsap has been the leader for this year's Atlanta playoff team. Since the playoffs have started, Milsap has averaged 21 points per game! Milsap is rated pretty high as one of the better power forwards in the league, yet he seems to always be forgotten.

5) Center: David Lee (Golden State Warriors)

One of the more forgotten players, Lee is one of the best players on this team and is showing why with the absence of Andrew Bogut. With a career average of 15 points and 9.8 rebounds, David Lee is an unsung hero with the Warriors. David Lee is solid both inside and out. He can post up, shoot the mid-range, and rebound with the best in the game. While his scoring average has dropped to 14 points, he is still producing in spite of facing Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan for an entire series. David Lee is a very solid piece to have especially around other all-star players.

I am up for debate about these 5. If you would like to discuss with me, follow me on twitter @SportsWatcherss.

Character Devlopment

During every NBA off-season, each player on the 2K game gets re-evaluated before they are officially given a new rating for the upcoming year. These ratings are  generally based on a number of questions: Has the player improved from the previous year? If so, how much?  How will age affect the player this upcoming year? With this in mind, developers separate into three major categories: Offense, defense, and rebounding.
 In this example, we will use current power forward  for the New Orleans Pelicans, Ryan Anderson.

  From the 10-11 to the 11-12 season, Ryan's point per game average skyrocketed from 10.6 to 16.1. Ryan's improvement was able to earn him the NBA most improved player award for the 2011-2012 season.
 Improvements such as these are just one of the many aspects that game developers must look at each year for every player. What type of improvements did the player have? Is the player getting worse due to old age? Does the player still have the abilities to perform the same way that they do within this past season. Only going from 67 and 69, Anderson was only improved in rebounding and in athleticism. The highly underrated Anderson is a sure fire to at least reach the mid-70's in 2K 14 and NBA Live.

Don't know who Ryan is? Check out this small series of Ryan Anderson highlights.