NBA 2K14 could have been the very best in the series. 2K gets the on-court action nearly right in every aspect. The graphics are the best maybe ever seen in any sports game. The flow of the game reflects a real NBA game. 2K has nearly every player's shooting form and tendencies right as well as the presentation of a real broadcast game. The new controls that center around the two analog sticks make you feel like you are in total control of every move the player makes on the court. It is not 100% perfect as the default difficulties will need to be tweaked. I've played a lot of games and simply put; shooting percentages are way too high and nearly anything in the paint is automatic. You'll need to adjust the sliders to make for the most realistic challenge against the computer.
I have to say that the good pretty much ends outside the actual gameplay. 2K has decided... "Screw our reputation with our loyal fanbase, we are going to do whatever we can possibly do to ruin the series" and that's exactly what has happened.
Okay, first off...forget online play. It will only take one online head-to-head game for you to realize that online games are completely broken. This is mainly because of the insane amount of lag you'll experience. And because this is a game that almost completely relies on timing, you're never going to have fun playing this online against friends.
Second, 2K has decided to try and implement an always-online system revolved around the virtual economy that uses currency(VC) that can be earned across all game modes. Let's just say that this has been a horrible decision by 2K. Not only is the economy incredibly unbalanced, but it has affected all the modes negatively. What used to be modes that you could play offline(like Association) now require that you check in with 2K servers before accessing. And this is the problem: the 2K servers are constantly unavailable. Every day I play, I experience an inability to connect to 2K servers and thus, cannot access a mode. For example, I started a MyGM that essentially takes the place of Association mode...and there have been times that I could not connect to 2K servers and thus could not play my MyGM..even though I just want to play offline. Also, if you think you'll be able to simulate your games and still gain Virtual Currency, think again.
The menu system itself is a major hassle to navigate through. There are plenty important features buried behind the vague menu option titled 'NBA Today'. 2K Share has been eradicated. To actually download a roster, you need to access it via 'NBA Today' and yet, even when you say, download the 'Official NBA 2K roster', it's not 100% clear if it's actually saved to your HDD or not. You cannot simply go back to the main menu and go to the settings and load the roster. Rosters can only be loaded before you start a quick game.
It seems 2K has taken the problems with Battlefield 4(bad online servers) and Forza 5(unbalanced virtual economy) and combined it in to one game with NBA 2K14. Why they decided to screw with what already was working is beyond me. The not-so-user-friendly menu system, always online game modes, horrible lag in online play, and unbalanced virtual economy overshadows anything 2K did right on the court for NBA 2K14. If you want to know more about the issues, I recommend reading this article: http://kotaku.com/if-you-combined-battlefield-and-forzas-outrages-youd-1492456387