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I'll just expand a little on my position, since I already sort of answered your question. I am a strong believer in playing and adapting to form a team that can play LI and BO with very few roster changes. This would allow the U21 NT to be able to play two different tactics, that people cannot even partially guess if they are a waiting opponent looking to use the GDP. This is why:

BO has a different offensive orientation than LI and a different pace. Whereas Inside Iso and LP are both still inside oriented so other teams could still guess part of our offense. With BO that is not the case. Teams will be more willing to not make a guess, in fear of being wrong on one or both of the GDP guesses.

Smallfrie has said on the offsite that Inside Iso might be god for the U21 NT, but I don't think our bigs have good enough handling and passing to work that offense as well as needed. Still I wouldn't mind testing it if and when I am elected, but my personal focus will be on trying to get BO and LI our two main tactics.


Last edited by E.B.W. at 12/26/2013 10:26:42 PM

Im getting a feeling you believe that i think inside iso should be our change up tactic just because I mentioned it as something to try? My suggestion wasn't based on finding our change up tactic but more figurin out another tactic to cater to our strength besides LI. We dont know the real strength of the GDP feature yet, but it could be very minimal if they only guess one in which inside iso could be a good tactic to look into. I also suggested it since we have a guard with 15/12 JS/JR because he could be a focal point on kickouts. Also, an inside iso can also take advantage of our inside skills on the SFs and guards, not just from the bigs.

As for a total switch up though, we really do only see two directions with this team which E.B.W has stated. It's an inside tactic and then a base neutral offense. Outside offenses wouldn't come into play until we can get good depth.

To go back to that inside iso thought though, it could be a very dangerous tactic when you have good SFs, which we will have this season. And bigs do not need high DR or HA either to make it work as long as you have good passing from the guards, which we will have. Many times the guards themselves will iso down low and then kick out or find a guy down low for the easy basket.

Last edited by Isaiah at 12/26/2013 10:46:58 PM

No, I was just saying that you mentioned it on the offsite, and although I don't think it would work as well, it is another tactic that I would consider. Your idea was very interesting.

Inside Isolation is not an Inside focused offense: (250685.97)

Oh wow. Both iso offenses are normal huh? That changes things a bit. Thank you for pointing this out! I appreciate it. I still would like BO a bit more i think but inside iso looks a lot more appealing now.

To go back to that inside iso thought though, it could be a very dangerous tactic when you have good SFs, which we will have this season. And bigs do not need high DR or HA either to make it work as long as you have good passing from the guards, which we will have. Many times the guards themselves will iso down low and then kick out or find a guy down low for the easy basket.

I can't imagine any scenario where relying on the guards' passing to make an isolation work will be even remotely as effective as using that passing advantage in a regular LI attack. For the II to work the best inside shooter needs to be able to drive and hit jump shots, because they'll get the ball away from the basket and be expected to create their own offense. If this was going to work at the U21 level I'd imagine it'd have to be a unique build with high IS/DR/HA/PA/JS and probably diminished defense to fit all that in.

Do we have data somewhere about the shot distribution of the isolation offenses? If we don't, I think it'd be worth experimenting and seeing how they end up being distributed. Ideally with the isolation, if the individual matchup is bad then they will not be taking the shots. A specific build for a SG would be interesting though.

It really all depends on what you feel the mismatch as. I know it seems weird but inside iso works best for guards and SFs where as outside iso works best for bigs. That may sound funny but its because of the mismatch. Rarely will you find in BB that a big man has a huge
Advantage down low and same with the guards on the putside. So you run. The isos to take advantage of their secondaries, but working opposite to what you think. Yes DR is important for the bigs, but more so if you run the outside iso because then then they will need to make the dribble move to get the shot. So in today's world of guards being loaded for the inside, it can be to their advantage to get isolated down low against other guards with bad ID. Then if they can't make the play they pass it out or get it to a big man.

I do not believe not participating in scouting last season should be held against me at all. I'd still take my scouting resume over any of the other candidates. I'm an extremely experienced scout, and still check the database weekly, just to see the prospects on the horizon.

I have you last listed as scouting s19, two years ago

I was roundaboutly pointing out that, aside from lobbying for your own players, I don't recall you and Smallfrie being involved in the nuts,bolts, and discussions of U21 in my time. But you are correct that this shouldn't be held too much against you two as you were involved much more in the Rambo / magiker terms.

A couple questions for all:

1. Folks are talking a lot about needing more SGs and PFs. We don't have those for s26 as we've been doubling down on LI players the last few seasons. Yi is brought up as the prototypical ideal SG. Yi played for an outside team, the last that U21 had. Jimmie Brown was a similar SG in a LI team who shot 25% on the season and was benched by Rambo in the finals for chucking too damn much. We've played Irizzazzazzy, the one pure SG available, for two scrim in LI and 25% would be an improvement. So...do SGs have a place in LI? Or by advising managers to create more SGs do you wish to move away from LI altogether?

2. PFs...Hamel (our PF from last season for those candidates who weren't following the team) was about as good as a PF build as I can imagine being made from this level. I played him a bunch..more out of desperation from out lack of bigger bigs. How does you ideal PF combare to him skill and stat-wise?

3. The s27 contest on-site has some prizes geared to LI players...specifically PGs and mono-bigs. How do you see the contest being intigrated to your vision for s27 Worlds players and tactics?

We have it here: http://s3.zetaboards.com/BuzzerBeater_USA_NT/topic/758066... for offsite members.

Without going into detail it has a pretty even distribution of shots. That said there seems to be a large portion of 3's from the 1-3 spots and jumpers from all 5 positions.

Question to all candidates: Does II seem like a feasible alternative in the near future given that information?