Our first legit question!
Here we go, I think the other candidate oriolekid answered this very well so I will add a little bit on my end.
I agree that we should always start with potential and personally, I will always put the best prospects (10 pot with good starting TSP) on NT route since BuzzerBeater is a game of marathon, not a sprint. Especially with youth trainers nowadays, players can easily reach U21 level even if they are training for NT.
I think teaching new owners how to train is crucial as oriolekid stated, however, with the new infrastructure (gym/training court) as well as the introduction of youth trainers, I think training for U21/NT has became a premium, new owners may not be as well equipped to train financially because purchasing and maintaining the gym and/or a training court, may not be something they can afford at the very beginning.
Which in my opinion, is essential nowadays. For example, my most recent U21 player, Fred Eckert had 12FT to start with at the beginning of his U21 season (I can't check the box scores now but I think he barely miss a FT), I think that's one of the most crucial skills to have especially at the national landscape because of how competitive games can be, we have seen way too many games that we could potentially won because of FTs.
With that being said, I think it will be beneficial to bring as many of these new owners to our Discord channel, and assist them in learning about this game, and figure out the best route for their trainee moving forward. At the end, providing an option for them to sell may not be the worst idea, since they can go out with the money and start experimenting with players with lower potential, with the right training plan (+trainer and youth trainer without the infrastructure) and guidance, a player with 7 or 8 potential can easily make the U21 team as well (See Mata from previous season). This way, we can set them up well financially plus having a solid player moving forward. And it becomes a cycle as they can stop training the lower potential player who capped at a younger age and begin to train a beast with the knowledge and money they acquired along the way.
It will be a huge loss for the national team at both levels should these new owners lose interests after a while and quit or decide to train their entire team for their 1st season (which will be our responsibilities if we don't stay engaged through out their training) which makes communication super helpful at the very beginning. I believe our staff are well equipped to do so and Discord definitely help on that end.
I have reached out to new owners on Discord channel myself even before I decided to run, sharing my knowledge of the game to them and seeing the progress with their trainees on a regular basis is really rewarding, it keeps them motivated and we get great players in return.
This is probably the longest response by me in my BuzzerBeater career, so I will stop here for now.