NBA Jam East rosters revealed, legends included

"Mr. NBA 2K11" is still noticeably absent from NBA Jam's Eastern Conference roster, which does boast the likes of Bird, Dr. J and Jordan sidekick Scottie Pippen. Even Drazen Petrovic, who is said to haunt the original arcade game and was removed from console versions following his death in a car accident, has been resurrected as a Nets legend. Of course, the new NBA Jam will feature plenty of current players, including the Miami Thrice, when it's released next month for Wii and as a downloadable bonus with new copies of NBA Elite 11 for Xbox 360 and PS3.

Each team has 3–4 active players, as determined by fan voting (with the exception of Gilbert Arenas, who made the cut but was left out of the voting after that handgun fiasco), explains ESPN, which obtained the complete game roster -- the West's stars to be posted next week. Additionally, most teams have a "legend" or two -- or three for the Knicks: Ewing, LJ and Starks (hey, they need help!) -- on hand, with a preference for the original arcade's stars (sorry Zo!). Some teams don't have a long or storied enough history to feature a legend, in which case EA has added the team's mascot to the bench -- or in the Pacers' case (a contractual hiccup with Reggie Miller), there's simply ... Schrempf.

Some late summer trades also contribute to a few oddities in the final rosters, with Courtney Lee (now a Houston Rocket) still on the Nets and Al Harrington (now in Denver) still a Knick. It's unlikely the Wii version will be patched after release, and EA Sports community manager Alain Quinto recently confirmed (in response to the question) that it wouldn't feature online multiplayer either.