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To all 5 guys still left (including the elusive jc93), a few questions:
What types of players do you not believe will have a chance in the future for making the team skill-wise?

With all the talk of niche players, how high would a certain skill have to be to be considered(and we all know OD 17+)?

How many RNG guards do you think are necessary to run an effective RnG?

Do you have any locks already on the team outside of Yi?

Lastly, what do you think is a roster minimum for the beginning of season correlating to the end of the season? Obviously you want to maximize your spots, but how many do you add at the beginning of the season?

lol 4 of my starters got injured last year

Don't know how to respond to that...? Not sure what has to do with anything

NT team not U21

This is the U21 election thread... Doesn't matter though now that the voting has been narrowed to 5 candidates.

1. Experience is one of those things that's typically gotten ignored by the u21 (and NT) squads, but there's some pretty good reasons to believe it can have a big effect. It also seems like we have a pretty good idea who a couple of our Season 19 stars (current 20yo's) will be already.

Given that there seems to only be a couple really close games during each America's run, do you think we're in a position where we can play some of these guys this season to build up some experience in order to help our season 19 efforts? Is this something you'd consider (not just carrying the guys, but playing them)?

No. Looking through the DB, there is really only one 20 year old I would consider calling up, and maybe a couple more towards the end of the season if they get the 8-10 pops they need. Experience certainly has an effect, but I won't risk ending up in repe just to have a couple players pop from 2 to 3 in experience. In the America's tournament, you gotta get 10-12 guys on the team pretty early, without knowing too much about how their owner will manage GS during the season. If we have injuries, or GS issues, I don't want to have wasted roster spots on guys that can't contribute in the second round and semis.

2. When it comes time to pick the roster, do you look at experience? For 21yo's, exp can range anywhere from 1-4... while I imagine small differences might not matter, how many skills would you be willing to compromise for 4 exp over 1-2 exp?

I honestly didn't even think about it, but I guess I should. It would depend on the skill set. I don't think I'd sacrifice an OD, PA, or JS pop for it, and wouldn't exchange a JR pop in an outside offense. Maybe I'd exchange +2,3 exp for a HN pop. I probably won't look at it too much. After narrowing call-up options down by need for the week and GS, there will probably be some differentiating skill that we'll look at over experience.

It wouldn't be hard for you to convince me there's a larger effect from 2-4 in exp. What we really need is another one of your blog posts on it...

First off, as much talk about niche players as there has been, I do not believe the roster will be comprised of all niche players if Im elected. In fact there will only be a few. I aim towards getting all the best players we can on the team and do what is best for the team to win.

As far as locks for being on the team, of course there are already locks. And also, let me assure you that just because Yi is a lock doesn't mean he will play much. It all depends on tactics and quite frankly, since im the owner of Yi, hate some things about Yi's abilities. For the other guys that I feel are already locks, ill talk to you on the chat about that because I dont feel it is appropriate to start naming players yet.

For RnG I feel we need at least 4 good shooters to run it. That means 1 for each PG and SG to start along with backups for them. However, if our team doesn't have those players then obviously we have to play towards the strengths of the team.

For the beginning of the season Im only looking at starting with 8 players this year. That will be the best 8 players that the U.S. has. From there, I will be talking with managers of potential call ups about training and GS and as the season goes on when I feel we need to make a call up then I will do that. But I will assure you I plan to use all the roster spots by the time the end of the season comes around.

Now let me ask you a question. Do Doctors know the name of every single patient admitted in the hospital without looking at their charts?

If they are on your treatment team (a someone equal analogy to being in the pipeline thread), pretty much yes.

I think you guys got Season 18 and Season 19's players mixed up when answering the question about naming the players off the top of your head. You guys all put Season 19 players haha, thinking ahead to the Worlds already?

So bringing the discussion to Season 18, how do you guys plan on approaching the Season 18 Americas tournament? Obviously winning everything and TIEing would be ideal, but do you have a specific approach to the 1st round, the 2nd round, avoiding or not avoiding specific teams or whoever has HCA, etc? What do you think of the tournament field?

Well, obviously we got a pretty good draw to start the first round with 4 games in a row where we should have no problems. My plan during that time is to TIE with 8/9 of our best players on the team and after that start thinking about call ups and such. That can all change based on GS but its the plan now. I feel we need to just play it week to week and see what is ahead of us. Everyone will be gunning for us since we just won worlds but we cant get a big head and think we can TIE all of them. I would love that, but if it comes down to it and we need to do a normal then we will need to do it. I dont plan on trying to avoid anyone. However, if we are given an opportunity where we can lose and gain enthusiasm while putting us in a better position then i will do that.

I think you guys got Season 18 and Season 19's players mixed up when answering the question about naming the players off the top of your head. You guys all put Season 19 players haha, thinking ahead to the Worlds already?

...fewmit asked specifically about season 19 not 18.

So bringing the discussion to Season 18, how do you guys plan on approaching the Season 18 Americas tournament? Obviously winning everything and TIEing would be ideal, but do you have a specific approach to the 1st round, the 2nd round, avoiding or not avoiding specific teams or whoever has HCA, etc? What do you think of the tournament field?

I think TIEing everything in the first round is an absolute must. Record doesn't carry over like Worlds. It's tough to know how each group will shape up. It looks, preliminarily, like we have the best guards in the America's, so hopefully we can use that to our advantage. Canada and Argentina can match up with us in the post, and Uruguay surpasses our talent there with a 124k 10pot big.

Injuries and GS issues can change the landscape tournament for any team, but it looks like our game against Canada might mean a little bit in the first round. I think Uruguay and Argentina have good chances to win their groups. They'll be in the same group as each other, and with the second place team in our group. Being in a second round group with Uruguay and Argentina means, best case scenario, we'll have to use some enthusiasm to get to a semi, and hope for the best. It looks right now, that winning our first round group puts us in an easier second round group, and gives us the best chance at a semi.

...but that could all change based on performance, GS, injuries, HCA.

Last edited by magiker at 11/4/2011 6:08:49 PM

I think you guys got Season 18 and Season 19's players mixed up when answering the question about naming the players off the top of your head. You guys all put Season 19 players haha, thinking ahead to the Worlds already?

So bringing the discussion to Season 18, how do you guys plan on approaching the Season 18 Americas tournament? Obviously winning everything and TIEing would be ideal, but do you have a specific approach to the 1st round, the 2nd round, avoiding or not avoiding specific teams or whoever has HCA, etc? What do you think of the tournament field?

Looking at our schedule, it looks like we have a couple games that we can TIE and win easily. In the first round I see us easily getting through to the second round. we just need to get in the right position for the second round. It all depends on where the better teams, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay line up at. I would much rather be in a pool with Colombia and Argentina than be in a pool with Brazil and Uruguay. If being in a pool with Colombia and Argentina means that I must TIE a game to build enthusiasm and lose the game, I will do it. However, if I do not have to I will not.

I think we have a great shot if we can line up in the right position. There are a lot of talented teams out there that we should not mess around with. As my mama always said, "Better safe than sorry."

Related two part question for all of you...

1. Experience is one of those things that's typically gotten ignored by the u21 (and NT) squads, but there's some pretty good reasons to believe it can have a big effect. It also seems like we have a pretty good idea who a couple of our Season 19 stars (current 20yo's) will be already.

Given that there seems to only be a couple really close games during each America's run, do you think we're in a position where we can play some of these guys this season to build up some experience in order to help our season 19 efforts? Is this something you'd consider (not just carrying the guys, but playing them)?

2. When it comes time to pick the roster, do you look at experience? For 21yo's, exp can range anywhere from 1-4... while I imagine small differences might not matter, how many skills would you be willing to compromise for 4 exp over 1-2 exp?

1. I am looking to get a small number 20 year old players involved. Of course, they would not be starting and would most likely be playing as a backup. As the season goes on, if there is a player who would better suit our team, I do not care if he is 20 years old or 21 years old. Looking at our first couple games, it seems like we could defiantly get some younger players involved to help with our season 19. That will only go so far though, because we need to make sure we get to Worlds and not get ahead of ourselves and finding that we have to play to get in Worlds or not even get in. I plan to take a look at the lineup week by week and it just all depends on the type of match ups we have.

2. 4 exp is much better than 2 exp, but I am not willing to sacrifice many skills just for someone who has more exp.

Of all the managers left, I think it comes down to magiker vs oriole, with smallfrie was a close third.