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Good evening everyone

It's time! We almost didn't manage to not qualify for the worlds repechage, after a last minute victory against Mexico, but our young guns were there in the end to prevent us doing the same mistake that 2 seasons ago, in what was almost certainly the biggest lost in Canada NT history.
Now let's celebrate our direct qualification to the consolation tournament! (which incidentally is not a first in Canada NT history, but last time it was for a mere 1 point difference - see season 20!)

Well, the holidays are over, and now we must focus once again on GS. We have a great generation of very young talents, both at guards and big positions, helped by really strong 30-32 years old, so everything is in place to shine in the next 2-3 seasons, maybe more. The plan is simple, we need to be the last American team on the bracket in order to bring back the American championship in Canada, and with that in the pocket, we'll see what the next manager will be able to do, but a direct qualification to the worlds in S40 would certainly be my goal.

In previous seasons I used to keep quite a few spots open on the team, mostly because there were 10-12 players clearly above the other canadian players, but now that there are quite a few 25-28yo that are equally NT worthy, be prepared for a fierce battle, even to make it to the lineup!
Gameshape will be a key decider here, there isn't enough difference between players to have a guaranteed spot based on skills alone, so please focus on that. And as usual if you have pops during the season, don't hesitate to shoot me a bb-mail, it could make a difference.

Roster will be trimmed down back to 12 players after friday morning update, but here is a list of potential NT players for this season:

Guaranteed spot unless poor GS:

Jarvis
King
Barrero-Valverde
Rouillard
Madiar
Burimenko
Cockayne

Wil probably make it - starter spot with good GS:
Aaron
Russel Jones
Bevan
Pietschmann
Beauchemin
Sutter

Wild cards - backup plans that are NT worthy, GS checked weekly - no particular order:
Gawlas
Hansen
Almada
Falconer
Fazekas
MacHendry
Chevalier
Robinson
Lucky
Grosch
Hall
Colesby

If you have a player not on the list that you think can contribute, send me a bb-mail with his skills, we'll discuss it. Don't worry if he's too young, our starter C from last season is 25yo to give you an idea, and he will probably start quite a few games this season as well.

Go Canada!

PS: congrats on reelecting Cletus, if there is hope for the NT in the next few seasons, it's 99% thanks to his great work with the U21. I'm just here to cash in on that ;)

Last edited by Fwinns at 3/21/2017 6:46:03 PM

Oops sorry, yes he is! I skipped his line.
Russel Jones and Bevan are better SF though, he's the 4th option at the SF spot.
Gawlas is a lot better for the SG spot than any of these 3, age and potential do not tell everything

A bit of a mixed bag with this GS update...
Barrero Valverde, Sutter and Beauchemin are out for now, which means we are lacking some depth on the inside, and our main SG as well. I'll contact their owners tonight, that's something we need to address.
9 players called up for Monday, hopefully it will be enough as Romania GS is not that great in their current lineup

First game, first loss despite their starting PF getting injured after 1min.
Rouillard not that great, but he's a way better backup than starter, as been this way since I'm the NT coach. We desperately need Barrero Valverde back.
Jarvis was also dominated by their starting PG which is odd looking at the GS and DMI, I was not expecting that one.
Madiar did the job, Burimenko strong as usual, and Cockayne paid the price of his poor GS and the lack of backup (only 1 backup big).
At least we saved enth which is good for the rest of the season, but we now have only two "free" losses remaining, not that great. At least we can only improve from now on!

F***** Berrero Valverde owner went bot today, no wonder why he didn't answer his bb-mails... Is it me or there was a lot of botification occuring today?
We're in serious trouble. The only week in 3 seasons he's not on the roster...

Edit: I checked all the other players on the short list at the beginning of this thread (that's a pain in the a** to do), everyone is safe for now. I added all the ones of the "will probably make it list".
We have 6 spots left for the 12 other players. I want to keep one free just in case, so that means 5 spots available to choose between all 12.
I note the GS/minutes of these player every week, it will play a major role in the final selection in 2 weekly updates.

Last edited by Fwinns at 3/27/2017 8:31:53 PM

That new NT Scout online is great, has a botification date column.

Who thanks that's an awesome tool!

A very important win yesterday for the NT against Turkey, that could mean a qualification for the second round of the consolation tournament, unless we screw up in the last 3 games against supposedly lesser teams...

Our GS was exceptionnal this week, with 11 players at GS9, a first during my tenure as NT coach! And in the usual starters, only Jarvis was out due to his poor GS. His manager won't answer my bb-mails and have him play 3 games a week... hopefully it will get better in 2-3 weeks.

As you can see, our roster is now complete with 18 players, with the selection of Gawlas for yesterday game. This means a fierce competition even to make it on the lineup each week, and GS is an important part of the selection. Keep up the good work!


Last edited by Fwinns at 4/25/2017 12:45:01 PM

Yeah, saw the result. Good job! Important bounceback after rough start to the season. Get that HCA!

Yeah the game against Romania was weird, don't know why they normaled. Same for Slovenia who has a better team than us...
Usually it takes a 5-3 record to go to the playoffs, so we're still on track. I was theoretically possible without winning against Turkey, so now we have a slightly bigger margin of error. If GS remains the same I'm confident we can do something