Milo, as he is affectionately known in the NBA 2K League community, is one of the best Pro-Am players in Australia/New Zealand. Don’t take it from us, take it from the NBA 2K League, which deemed Milo one of the best players in Asia with an invite to the first-ever Asia-Pacific (APAC) Invitational Tournament in Hong Kong. We sat down with Milo to talk APAC, his NBA 2K journey, and the future of the game in the ANZ community.
Player Bio
Name: Mace Camille
Age: 22
GT/PSN: xMiLo—
Current team: Team Lock Up (VictrixESC)
Former teams: EXE
Honours/Achievements: Jacko Invitational 1st place (NBA 2K17), TGR Season One 1st place (NBA 2K18), 2KDownUnder ODC One and Two 1st place (NBA 2K18), 2KDownUnder Season Three 1st place (NBA 2K19), NBA 2K League APAC Invitational player, NBA 2K League Season Two Top 200
The Interview
DIMER: Describe your 2K journey. When and why did you become interested in 2K and Pro-Am?
Milo: I’ve been playing NBA 2K for a number of years, starting with NBA 06 on GameCube. I used to play against my cousin every week offline just for fun. I bought the game every year and started to take it seriously in NBA 2K16. In 2K16, I was a park and stage guard at the time and I didn’t watch or know much about Pro-Am until halfway through the cycle. I remember telling someone ‘I will never play Pro-Am’ because of how much I loved playing stage but the first time I played a competitive match it was so addicting and I wanted to learn and play more and more.
I’m being completely serious when I say there were 3-4 comp teams in the server at the time with absolutely no competitions whatsoever. Entering NBA 2K17, the Pro-Am community grew by about 5-10 more teams. In 2K17, I was approached by ‘CavLocksUp’ (@CavLocksUp), who is the founder of ‘Team Lock Up’ (TLU), who saw I had potential to be a great Pro-Am shooter because of my ability.
Towards the end of the year, I made the transition to C because that’s what the team needed. At first, I didn’t want to play that position but I did and now I love it. The first Pro-Am Tournament in Australia was held by Jaacko (@Jaackos7th), which I ended up winning. Going into 2K18, the scene blew up and many more competitions and tournaments came about. We were introduced to 2KDownUnder, which is essentially the Australian version of MPBA or WR. Winning multiple competitions, I was loving my team and loving playing Pro-Am, and that’s when I decided I wanted to pursue this further and not just play casually.
In NBA 2K19, I travelled to Hong Kong for the APAC Invitational with the NBA 2K League and it was honestly one of the best weekends of my life. Meeting people I’ve played with and played against and playing for a spot in the NBA 2K League was a dream come true. I got through to the Top 200 from the APAC Invitational but sadly I didn’t get drafted into the league. It was disappointing because I know I can compete in the league but I know that next year I’m going harder than ever.
Milo on Twitter
LETS GO MAN 🚀🤞🗣🇦🇺
D: What makes you stand out compared to other 2K players and professional prospects?
M: Definitely my dedication to the game. I’m always playing Pro-Am regardless if it’s a competition for money or not. I’m learning new things in-game to put myself that one step ahead of everyone else. I’d also say my offensive ability. I can bring more to the court than just rebounding and setting screens, I can shoot, pass, communicate, and give/receive constructive criticism. My versatility is also something since I can play multiple positions. On previous 2K’s I’ve played SG and PF, and obviously now I play C.
Milo on Twitter
March 5th, Pure Rim 🎥🔒🇦🇺 https://t.co/JUC4nvf49K
D: What do you think is your best on-court and off-court attribute?
M: On-court would be my scoring ability, just my offensive IQ in terms of knowing when to go up and knowing how to trigger certain animations. I’m not just a screen-setter, I can do multiple things on the court to change a game. I’m very confident and consistent with shooting on a non-shooting build.
Another great thing is my confidence, both on and off-court, so I’m able to play under high pressure situations. I’m also great at making people laugh which I find makes it easy to play with a lot different people outside of my team and to build chemistry with them. As a result of that, I’m friends with a few people outside of NBA 2K just from playing Pro-Am.
Below : An example of both Milo’s shooting ability and confidence
Milo on Twitter
DIFFERENT SPECIES https://t.co/15Aq9cxcXg
D: What’s been your favourite/most memorable Pro-Am game you’ve played in so far?
M: I’ve had so many great moments in Pro-Am, but one in particular would have to have been all the way back in NBA 2K17 in the “Jacko Invitational Tournament.” In the final, it was a BO3 series. My teammate lagged out in the first quarter of Game 1 but instead of restarting and playing with a spread, the other team decided to take the win and go up 1-0 in the series. Bearing in mind this series wasn’t even for much money, I was so fired up because I knew we were twice the team they were. I played my heart out and we ended up coming back to win 2-1. That series showed me my determination and desire, and how much I want to win.
D: Who is the best Pro-Am player you’ve played with?
M: The best Pro-Am players I’ve ever played with would have to be the whole TLU team, but especially Jaacko, CavLocksUp, LockUpAD (@LockUpAD), and JimBoh (@Jim8oh). Although Cav doesn’t play 2K19, on 2K18 he was one of the best defenders and had one of the best defensive IQ’s I’ve ever seen. He was also the one who took me under his wing and taught me how to be the player I am today. LockUpAD has been my PG for years now and has been a top PG in the server. We won a championship together and no doubt he’s one of my good mates. Jaacko, who plays for Pistons GT in the 2K League, brings that vibe inside and outside of the game that hypes the team up. He’s someone I can have a laugh with outside of 2K as well.
Below : Jack ‘Jaacko’ Stevenson in action for Pistons GT
PistonsGT on Twitter
LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOO https://t.co/sTdSTyAMmb
D: What do you think makes a good teammate?
M: There are many attributes that can make a great teammate, but one thing that matters so much to me is having the same desire and motivation to win the game as me. Teammates that want to watch film afterwards to see where we went wrong and what we did well. Teammates that give me constructive criticism and that I can give the same back to. Teammates that put in the extra hours and that want to further than just playing Pro-Am. Teammates that want to go to the league.
D: Where do you see the future of 2K in AU/NZ?
M: I only see the future getting bigger and better for the ANZ Pro-Am community. Team and player numbers have increased over the past 2K’s and it’s only going to grow further. I can see a potential tournament like the APAC invitational happening in Melbourne or Sydney in the future too, and I can see multiple players from the ANZ scene making the league as we have so much talent that the world is slowly finding out about.
D: What steps do you think the ANZ community can take to grow and improve?
M: The main step we can take to grow further is to promote our Pro-Am streams. What I have started to do is, a week before, or when I find out the time and date of when we’re playing, I tweet out letting people know and converting the time to American so they can tune in also. Also, I feel we need to get more people streaming as well. We only have one per team at the moment but whenever they can’t stream, nobody does. I think having more streamers would promote us further. I also feel the more the US Pro-Am scene watches us, the more we will grow because they can promote and tweet out our streams because they have a much bigger community.
D: What are your hopes for Pro-Am in NBA 2K20? Anything in particular for the ANZ community?
M: My hope for 2K20 is to 100% make the NBA 2K League. I missed out in season 1, I got so close in season 2, I am not missing out again. I know I can compete there, I just want a team to believe in me, it’s only a matter of time before it happens. I feel with Jaacko being over there representing New Zealand, it can help not only me but the rest of the ANZ community.
