The effectiveness of certain badges, the effectiveness of defense, how easy it is to make shots

So they fucked with the sliders? Literally everything you just said could have been addressed in 2K20 with just adjusting sliders or just a normal patch update lmao the same bullshit ass animations from 20 are still in the game. From a visual aspect it's still the same exact 1:1 game. The only thing they changed was how some badges work and how you HAVE to have badges to be effective now, like how you literally can't make a reverse layup without the Acrobat badge.

Also they somehow managed to make the game even worse than 20 since they're incompetent when it comes to balancing things: now it's no longer possible to euro or hopstep without losing the ball. I've seen 3rd string bums that only play garbage time mins euro or hop step and not lose the ball, but yet my Playmaking Shot with a 80 driving layup and 88 ball handle loses the ball anytime he goes for a euro, spin, or hopstep?