1. A "ego" rating to match the individual players. For instance, having Powe on the bench in 2k9 killed his happiness rating and his overall rating. That's not realistic.
2. More shoe options from other brands like And1, Reebok, Weapon EVO, all the Jordans.
3. Go to moves like in Live. i.e. Garnetts turnaround with the multiple fakes, Pierce's step back (NOT the "Iggy" package), Sheed's fade away, etc. The post move packages are all too generic.
4. Playbooks that actually reflect the particular team's style. i.e curls for Rip Hamilton, screens for Ray, etc.
5. Pre-game intros, yes, even the Chosen One's powder act, fireworks etc.
6. Get rid of Clark Kellogg and Kevin Harlan, put them in a basement somewhere and never let them out. Please, they're both awful in the game and in real life too.
7. Fix the dunk animations, some don't seem natural. Vince Carter isn't going to stick his hand down the rim during a game. Fix the alley-oops, how often do you see one handed alley-oops? Almost never, make the game reflect that. Also, why are alley-oops included with replays saying "This team can't miss from three." Last I checked, alley-oops were worth 2 points.
8. Fix rebounding so that it's not a goaltend when it's out of the cylinder.
9. Practice mode in Franchise, sometimes you want to try out some of the plays and practice them like in Madden.
10. Trash-talking or player beefs. Certain players don't like one another, others do. i.e. Q and Pierce jawing back and forth, Perk and Big Al bromance etc.