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I've sent my player's stats to GM-Jason and the current u21 coach. Is it kosher to post them here, as well? I am looking for some advice on which direction to take my guy. He's on the outside looking in, that much I appreciate. He has had the benefit of single position training his entire career, thus far.

However, I think I've gotten him to the point where keeping the skills balanced will require some 2 position training. My concern is that doing 2 position training for a player who is already on the outside looking in will only increase that gap. Do I continue to focus on a skill that can be single positioned trained and hope that the other skills will come along or do I jump right on the skill that is lacking, despite wanting to create a player for the USA?

Last edited by Xarn at 4/13/2012 8:38:12 PM

In my team there is an interesting guy. I don't know, if it is allowed to post his skills here.

What I urgently need is:
1. realistic salary calculated.
2. hints for training schedule
3. remarks if it is with sense to train him nearly alone (means: if he could be a NT-player)

[USA] Mac Forte (22091705) - calculated salry approx. 16.000 $ (???)

(22091705)

this season:
Mac Forte ?popped? in Jump Shot from respectable to strong.
Mac Forte ?popped? in Inside Def. from atrocious to pitiful .
Mac Forte ?popped? in Jump Range from strong to proficient .
Mac Forte ?popped? in Outside Def. from proficient to prominent .
Mac Forte ?popped? in Handling from awful to inept .
Mac Forte ?popped? in Jump Range from proficient to prominent .
Mac Forte ?popped? in Driving from awful to inept .
Mac Forte ?popped? in Jump Shot from strong to proficient .

This week: Outside defence training

1. Without knowing his full skills, I can't confirm your $16K salary estimate. However, it could be right, but that would be inflated because of his high JR. SGs with high JR have high salaries, but that doesn't necessarily make them great. I wouldn't single-position train JR, especially since it is higher than his JS.

2. Hints for training schedule. Well again it's tough to answer this without knowing his full skills, but I would keep working on his OD/JS/PA, especially passing if his passing isn't fairly high. Looking in the database, our top SG prospects with the exception of Lyle Duncan all have at least 5 passing (and Duncan's only 13th among SG prospects, not on the team at this point). Passing is also important since at least the last season or two the U21 team seems to be running a LI, in which case the guards need to be able to move the ball and distribute. I don't know what Mac's passing is, maybe he has respectable, maybe atrocious, but in either case it's an important skill.

3. Like Coco said, potential is too low for NT, but he could be a U21 player. There are a lot of good guards out there though and he faces a steep climb, and will likely have a difficult time of it. But regardless, he's young, good skills, definitely worth training even for your own team.

Thanks for the fast replies.

The full skills:
Jump Shot: proficient ↑ Jump Range: prominent
Outside Def.: prominent Handling: inept
Driving: inept Passing: inept
Inside Shot: respectable Inside Def.: pitiful
Rebounding: respectable Shot Blocking: inept
Stamina: mediocre Free Throw: proficient
Experience: atrocious

The ID is low, but in general he has a good standing. I hope it could be an U21-NT-player for the American team.

He'll be a good player but I don't think he'll have a shot for the U21 team, and as Coco said, no chance for the NT because of the lower potential. His JS is a little lower than the leading players in his age group, the handling and driving is a bummer, and the passing is probably a deal breaker. I don't think you'll have time to make him catch up.

Not trying to spam or anything, but here's another update on Merlin Minton. I got conflicting reports on whether it was possible for players to make the U21 team with allstar potential, one person said they could and others said they couldn't because they'd cap midway through the season. Obviously I'm biased and want to see him on the team, but I honestly think Merlin may be a special case, because he has better secondaries than any of his peers and his primaries are as good as most if not all of them. if his potential were higher he'd be a virtual lock.

Despite two separate injuries lasting a total of three weeks, he still currently has 81 skill points:

Jump Shot: prolific Jump Range: strong
Outside Def.: prolific Handling: proficient
Driving: prominent ↑ Passing: proficient
Inside Shot: respectable Inside Def.: strong
Rebounding: pitiful Shot Blocking: average
Stamina: inept Free Throw: mediocre

Experience: pitiful

I'm training pressure this week and I think I may get a pop in that, and I think he's pretty close to an IS pop, so a week of 1v1 forwards should do the trick.

So according to the database, he's the best SG, second-best PG, and technically the best SF. Obviously the rebounding probably prevents him playing at SF position, but still it's a testament to his inside skills. Do you think there could be a spot for him?

If your simply looking at skills he is one of the best the U21 could get on the team right now for his age group. The only problem is that probably wont be the case next season and in the following season due to his low potential (Allstar) so he will start to slow down on training, which is why not many allstars make it on the team. Many of his rivals will pass him up next season and the follow season. The only way he would make it on the U21 team is to make him an SF i think. If you were going to do this you would have to do this:

Rebounding up to respectable/strong
Inside Shot up to proficient/prominent

Then you could work on more guard skills, but if he is an SF he also won't cap out as quickly (According to what ive heard).

What E.B.W. said is especially true in his 21 yo season. He probably won't cap until he's 21, and he might not even cap until partway through the season, but toward the end of the season when the games matter the most other players will be improving and he'll essentially be standing still. And the tough part for you is that because it costs an enthusiasm penalty to drop players from the roster during the season, they can't have him on the roster just to play the early games when he's still as good or better than everyone else, because then they'll have to keep him on the roster later in the season, when he's no longer of much value.

I agree/disagree with the idea of making him a SF. Theoretically E.B.W. is right, as an allstar potential player his best chance for U21 is as a SF, like Brendon Schulz who is currently on the roster. But in Merlin's case, I don't think you can turn him into a viable SF option in time for him to play on the U21 team (getting 4-5 pops in rebounding from a 6'2" player would be a pain and would probably take most or all of next season, at which point he's probably behind players who are already being trained for the SF role. So I don't think you could make him into a U21 SF either.

So given that, I wouldn't try to make him a SF. Forget about training rebounding, just do what you've obviously been doing pretty well at and make him a pretty killer guard for your team. You're in D.V, and you could easily make him into a star in D.V and D.IV, and probably a solid D.III player too. And not many teams at your level will have guards who can match up with him inside, so that will be a nice advantage for you. He's still a great trainee and a great young player who can be a crucial part of your team, even if unfortunately I don't think representing the United States at U21 Worlds is in his future.