this year, for the first time, they're actually giving you feedback on how "contested" the shot was.
before it would either generate animations, or if someone was "locked" onto you via "intense D" it would register as "contested"
i have a bad habit of not even jumping at shooters, just pushing up into their bodies, because of this. in 18, that's lightly contested which is basically NOT contested.
a general rule of thumb tho, if you taking and making moderately contested shots in REAL life, you a baller. lol
i only shoot WIDE OPEN or LIGHTLY contested in real life. layups? i'm throwing my shoulder down into traffic and letting my linebacker experience take me to the cup. lol
so i would say, make sure you're EXTRA open in 2k, which is what i do in real life, anyway.
remember, though
longer the arms, the higher the contested shot. all my guys have max arm length....their contested jumpers are 4-8 above open. LOL i have a higher percentage of hitting covered than uncovered.....makes literally no sense. (i mean, i get why long arms give you a higher contested shot attribute, it's just dumb your OPEN shot drops because of that. it should be off dribble/contested payoff.