BuzzerBeater Forums

Got a bit of a busy weekend, so I don't have time to respond to everyone's thoughts. However, there's a lot here that's been very interesting to read. And some mail I've received with other thoughts.

One thing I want to comment on though, since it seems to relate mostly to me. I'm deliberately vague about minimum standards for NT players when I'm asked. I'm not sure I agree with the principal, though I'm not against people making clear what they think the minimum standard is.

When I've been asked what I want from a young player, my first thought is "more than I already have." Or indeed, as much as I already have. Then I'm getting into the area of telling people what the current squad's skills are. Something which to me, involves a slight grey area of revealing skills of players that some people might want to be private.

I've tried to be slightly more clear on the NT page, though I do realise I talk mostly about defence. I think anyone who takes a glance at my team, or has seen me in chat, knows I'm defensively minded.

One other reason I don't really like to involve myself in setting standards so much, is because I tend to be slightly out of step with most people's thoughts. I want things that other people don't seem to want so much of. I'm very mindful of the fact that, unlike with my own team, England isn't mine to shape as I want. I'm a custodian if you like, so I very much think I'm here to take what I'm given.

ENGLAND FINALLY WIN A CLOSE ONE
Peace, or at least quiet has broken out. I don't mean in Israel, host of the Euros this season. I'm talking about the forums. Perhaps the weekend saw a 48 hour truce.
Meanwhile, the England squad put a fractious week back home behind them as they took on Estonia, hoping to win, and have results go our way, to enable us to finish with a winning season, and finish 3rd in the group.
In fact, this is what happened. We won a thriller that was decided very late (aren't all games?) and Armenia lost to Romania.
This is an improvement on two seasons ago, but, a failure that is slightly better than another failure is still a failure.
Today's game is going to prove fairly easy to sum up. It was close at the beginning, it was close at half time, and remained close all the way to the end.
Once we got a slight lead about half way through the 4th, we did look the stronger. Our D stiffened, stopping Estonia from drawing level, and offensively we did just enough to close out the game.
For possibly the first time Barker top scored, and also led in assists. Thanks to zander, his former coach for boosting his PA initially and to Vecx for finishing it off. MacAusland had 8 rebounds in a fairly paltry team total of 39.

Sadly, this is the end of our NT season. Its also probably the end of a few England careers. Disappointingly for some, not for me. I have a season to go. Terrell Hongs and Alan Sharpling are 34 now, and in the former's case his England days are certainly over. Sharpling has a slim chance, but thats all it is. Sad to say that about an English legend but age wearies even the biggest hero. Of the 33yos, Elopolis and Harris are on the edge. Armada at SF has possibly the best chance to stay on the team. Gascoigne is the only 32yo, and he is certain to be on next season's squad.

I'm not going to add anything for now, about my thoughts on the future of England. (And they are just my thoughts, I'm only one man, I can't decide how we proceed as a community.) Today is about winning against Estonia. We haven't won for a few weeks now, so I'm just going to savour the relief for a while.

Nice win gully and obviously next season is a big one- definitely a good thing to have a stable manager at this point.

Good job. Poland and Portugal also did not qualify, so you're in good company. In addition to that, Italy lucked out once again, but they should have been out too. Cech Reupublic eliminated Poland with R&G and nearly had marvelous outside shooting (even so they still bricked 2/3 of their three-pointers).

Also to clarify what I mean regarding unconventional builds I just stumbled on this guy while checking the German roster:
Heinrich Jägermeister (22633735)
13/10/11 14/14/12 9/17/17/17 5/9 (134TSP 6'10'')

If you think the guy will suck offensively: Germany beat Turkey finishing tied for second (well Italy was second, Turkey third and Germany fourth) in this game (30613). The guy above with 9 IS played 31 minutes and finished with 27 points on 10-11 shooting.

Now, to achieve that build you need at least an MVP potential, but you could potentially train a Superstar potential to something like 10/9/11 14/14/12 6/17/17/17 if the initial skills were right. To create a good big man from subpar potential you will need to punt one skill (in this case IS). The same goes for guards. For PGs especially a lot of people punt JS and JR and push IS. Something like this should be achievable with a superstar, but I don't know how desirable it would be for others:
11/11/19 17/17/14 15/9/3/8 (if you have 1 or 2 rebounding you could technically even push OD to 20)

Last edited by Lemonshine at 12/8/2014 3:18:24 PM

I can see why he scores so well. Very nicely rounded for Inside offence. Would like to see him play LP.. can you see any on his list?

Last edited by LA-Vecx at 12/8/2014 3:35:40 PM

nm.. found one from season 28, fascinating.

yeah this one (72459590) is the only one in 3 seasons. Obviously it's not of any use, because the guards shot more than the inside players since they were playing against lucky fans. I'll check if there is a NT game.

Edit: No NT game either: the only one they had he didn't play. He had a couple of bad games playing LI last season against strong teams but his number of shots was limited to around 7.


Last edited by Lemonshine at 12/8/2014 4:02:55 PM

I didn't see one with him in it, their second of the season was LP