BuzzerBeater Forums

...On another exciting note, my team, the Swan River Serpents, will become 100% HG as of 5pm this Saturday!

We will be running a 7-player squad for the relegations series before picking up 3 new draftees, making it a 10-player roster for Season 68.

It is going to be a tough 1st season as a HG team and we will certainly be looking forward to adding 3 more players each season as we improve in depth and quality.

I am excited by a 5/5 draftee and hope to make him the 'center' of our core moving forward.

My new motto, and tag-line...

...Home-Grown or Go Home!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! And thank you for making the sales and sacrifices to do that! I know you had some difficult decisions to make! Thank you and congrats!! :-)

...On another exciting note, my team, the Swan River Serpents, will become 100% HG as of 5pm this Saturday!

We will be running a 7-player squad for the relegations series before picking up 3 new draftees, making it a 10-player roster for Season 68.

It is going to be a tough 1st season as a HG team and we will certainly be looking forward to adding 3 more players each season as we improve in depth and quality.

I am excited by a 5/5 draftee and hope to make him the 'center' of our core moving forward.

My new motto, and tag-line...

...Home-Grown or Go Home!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! And thank you for making the sales and sacrifices to do that! I know you had some difficult decisions to make! Thank you and congrats!! :-)

Thanks, T-Lit. Looking forward to the challenge and journey...

I'm going to get pretty badly beaten up in the first season of the HGL, but I look forward to the day when I'm in the mix.

Thanks, T-Lit. Looking forward to the challenge and journey...

I'm going to get pretty badly beaten up in the first season of the HGL, but I look forward to the day when I'm in the mix.

This is the spirit that I appreciate, and I'm really glad that you show many managers a good example by participating (especially as you are one of the most active managers of the HG community, and I believe your participation/presence will have a major impact in HGL by making this community more active) while at the same time realizing, that you're not going to be winning the title in HGL yet on this season...
Part of being homegrown, I think, is understanding that it's a process that does have different stages. You can't "buy yourself out of trouble", but you need to slowly dig yourself out of the pit, which is a lot more satisfying feeling as you eventually manage to do so.

Thanks, T-Lit. Looking forward to the challenge and journey...

I'm going to get pretty badly beaten up in the first season of the HGL, but I look forward to the day when I'm in the mix.

This is the spirit that I appreciate, and I'm really glad that you show many managers a good example by participating (especially as you are one of the most active managers of the HG community, and I believe your participation/presence will have a major impact in HGL by making this community more active) while at the same time realizing, that you're not going to be winning the title in HGL yet on this season...
Part of being homegrown, I think, is understanding that it's a process that does have different stages. You can't "buy yourself out of trouble", but you need to slowly dig yourself out of the pit, which is a lot more satisfying feeling as you eventually manage to do so.

Agreed, Wagner. Although, if I'm honest, running a scant 10-man line-up has me slightly concerned about player injuries and the impact that would have on my training and ability to get good minutes for all players. But this is the challenge, right?! I mean, like you say, I cannot buy my way out. No more fast firings and quick hirings, injuries or not.

I have had to change my thinking. I have created multiple training schedules to best utilise 10 players while training 3 or 4 of them. I won't be able to train 6 of them (2-position training) until the following season when I have 13 players.

So, yeah, a little concerned about possible roadblocks, but very excited none-the-less.

I have also had to prioritise training and won't be able to implement that fully until I know what my draftees look like. Exciting stuff.

Last edited by MrJ at 3/13/2025 8:07:53 AM

"Part of being homegrown, I think, is understanding that it's a process that does have different stages. You can't "buy yourself out of trouble", but you need to slowly dig yourself out of the pit, which is a lot more satisfying feeling as you eventually manage to do so" ~ Wagner

Thank you for the kind words, but THIS EXACTLY, it is the process and journey! There is a cycle when even the long time home growners will have ty cycle out their squad, just is the nature of the beast, and maybe they dont get great draftees. I totally agree with Wagner, that you cant buy yourway out of an issue or even worse, injury.

This process is just like how you would have to eat an elephant.... one bite at a time, one season at a time!

Excited for this new journey with you all! :-)

"Part of being homegrown, I think, is understanding that it's a process that does have different stages. You can't "buy yourself out of trouble", but you need to slowly dig yourself out of the pit, which is a lot more satisfying feeling as you eventually manage to do so" ~ Wagner

Thank you for the kind words, but THIS EXACTLY, it is the process and journey! There is a cycle when even the long time home growners will have ty cycle out their squad, just is the nature of the beast, and maybe they dont get great draftees. I totally agree with Wagner, that you cant buy yourway out of an issue or even worse, injury.

This process is just like how you would have to eat an elephant.... one bite at a time, one season at a time!

Excited for this new journey with you all! :-)

Well said.

If I recall, you are also a teacher, T-Lit. As we know, planning is crucial. I have plans for many possibilities, but it is the things that I haven't thought to think about as a HG team that will be challenging.

Drafting has taken on a whole new meaning for me. I have played for a combined 53 seasons in BB and I have never thought about the draft in terms of longevity before. Yes, I have drafted and trained U21 NT players, but I've never had to think about rotating through the seasons drafting. Ie. invest in maximum draft points and draft maybe every second season. In the meantime, thinking seriously about what to train and when while keeping in mind the type of draftees I will need next.

For example, I focused more on guard skills with my trainees this season with the focus on getting 3 bigs in the upcoming draft and training big skills next season. But it wasn't that simple. I had to start looking more closely at my current trainees and thinking about what their final builds will look like taking into account the draftees coming in next season...and then 2 seasons after that! I've been using Buzzer Manager to map out TSP caps and potential builds. It's been fun and I am engaged in BB in a way I haven't been before.

This is HG.

Last edited by MrJ at 3/13/2025 8:22:09 AM

Yes for sure it adds a whole new aspect to the longevity of the team, (and maybe even the type of staff to have??)

We may be in the same boat, for 4 seasons I've been training guard skills and I hope to got for bigs in this upcoming draft and will be training them, I "think" I will be going with 1 position training, but will see!

Congrats for training up U21 NT players! Thats really cool! That is a "soft goal", (cool if it happens, but I am not going to worry if it doesnt) of mine.

I just hope everyone participates to the best they can.

I am sure that there will be games missed and bumps in the road, but we just keep in mind, you all are starting something from scratch.... we have all burnt eggs before, it takes practice... :-)

Yes for sure it adds a whole new aspect to the longevity of the team, (and maybe even the type of staff to have??)

We may be in the same boat, for 4 seasons I've been training guard skills and I hope to got for bigs in this upcoming draft and will be training them, I "think" I will be going with 1 position training, but will see!

Congrats for training up U21 NT players! Thats really cool! That is a "soft goal", (cool if it happens, but I am not going to worry if it doesnt) of mine.

I just hope everyone participates to the best they can.

I am sure that there will be games missed and bumps in the road, but we just keep in mind, you all are starting something from scratch.... we have all burnt eggs before, it takes practice... :-)

Yep. All true. I have calculated I will have about an $80k roster! LOL Now, that's starting small.

Yep. All true. I have calculated I will have about an $80k roster! LOL Now, that's starting small.

You got this!!!

And you know, if you go intense with the training and get good prospects, that salary will balloon quickly! :-)

Will be fun to watch! :-)

Yep. All true. I have calculated I will have about an $80k roster! LOL Now, that's starting small.

You got this!!!

And you know, if you go intense with the training and get good prospects, that salary will balloon quickly! :-)

Will be fun to watch! :-)

Yeah. Salaries can jump quickly.

Thank you very much, MrJ!
And also thanks for all your contributions, which have been very helpful as I've mentioned many times.

I hope you all enjoy HGL as much as I will! I think we have something great on our hands in form of HGL that, if given the care and commitment it needs, has a great potential to make this HG community even more active (in forums) and more invested in their homegrown team projects in the long run, and could also work as a means/as a tool to bring other interested managers into the positively addictive world of homegrown teams!

I hope you are right but only time will tell.

Indeed. I'll at least give my best shot at it, and hopefully it'll be enough to get things rolling 'by their own weight' to some extent. (No, I have no plans to quit - still have inspiration left, of course). No, scores still are not hopping to the league table itself, or all messages sent automatically when needed etc., but what I meant is that if I'd be able to infect some of this excitement that I feel about HGL to other managers in our community - and perhaps to some managers already homegrown and not yet participating or future homegrown managers as well - then I think that energy and enthusiasm might/would keep things rolling almost by itself (for instance, if many managers are starting to chat on the forum, it in many cases creates 'a positive avalanche' and conversation will keep on and keep active almost effortlessly).

On the other hand, conversation on this thread between yourself and T-Lit during the last 12 or so hours, while including only 2 managers, is very inspiring read and definitely paints at the same time intriguing, realistic and yet at the end (due to your attitude and approach towards it, and deciding to make conclusion that challenge is actually one of the greatest strengths of this HG play style/philosophy) very realistically positive image of what being a homegrown manager is.

So this kind of conversation is more or less a pure joy to read, and I don't mind that not more than 2 managers exchanged all these words. If the same sort of spirit and inspiration can be read from your future messages as well, I believe we will have more and more managers seeing the value in the challenge, value of not taking the easiest route, and eventually joining the conversation as well. So please keep up the great conversation! :)