It's not that I think better rivals make better ratings. It's that I think that skills, enthusiasm, and GS are far more important than opponent in determining the player rating. Because I have generally poor competition I can plan ahead for tough games and get optimal enthusiasm and GS for those games, which is what the Dutch guy was saying. In those games I showed I played TIE, N, CT and then arcade mode. My player ratings went up, up, up, then down. the competition went from good to very good then very good again then okay. My worst player ratings were in the last game against the worst competition with the lowest enthusiasm. I understand that this example represents a very small sample size but it does seem to point out that the opponent's effect is minimal compared to the other factors.
Once I scored a basket that still makes me laugh.