BuzzerBeater Forums

At least you finally corrected your notes Polin.

Everyone: Can you give examples of USA U21 or NT players that you have trained in the past. If you have not trained any, what qualifies you to guide a long term training program for dozens of players.

I've trained 3 players all of them were guard for K Henry under 21 team when he turned the program around and entered top 30 in the buzzer beater world. They were mostly guard heavy but they had a weak Asian Tournament they don't need the same level of players as top countries do. They were pounded in Outside defense.

Sorry to everyone for the late replies, busy day at class today. I am going to create a separate post for each person's questions so that I don't miss something.

1. Being the head scout, you will have to work closely with me (or fire me, remove me, whatever!) as well as the rest of the staff/USA U21 community. While not being explicitly stated, many managers want to be involved in the decision making when it comes to tactics and rostering even if the Head Coach does not agree. How do you plan on dealing with these expectations?

2. There are many other duties that are involved with being a U21/NT coach outside of setting a lineup. There are database duties that only the Head Coach can do, and the job itself is a six month commitment. It does require a level of maturity and dedication that will require you to go a bit above and beyond. USA managers quite literally are putting a year of their lives in training time in your hands. Do you understand the scope/responsibilities that are required of you?

3. How do you make an omelette?

1. You and I have been working closely together with scouting, in fact when we had a scouting fallout this past season I was the one to pick up the classes despite already having one of my own. I would like to work with you to get a structured scouting roster set in stone so that does not happen in the future. Secondly, I ENCOURAGE members of the community to hop on discord and give their input on a weekly basis. That is something I have enjoyed being a part of for the past few seasons now. These last 2 seasons in particular I was heavily involved with tactic discussion for U21 and I want that to continue and even expand. I plan to weigh everyone's thoughts equally and eventually make the proper decision in the end. I personally don't think having many people giving opinions about upcoming matches is a bad thing at all, that ensures all scenarios are taken into account.

2. I fully understand the responsibilities ahead. I have seen the database work that comes with it and I am prepared for it. Ever since I became a scout I have been putting in tons of work ensuring my group of players are getting to where they need to be by the time they are 21, so I am excited to hopefully be able to transition that grind to the HC position.

3. .....I don't make/eat omelettes

@Candidates - Where would you balance your preference of lineups/tactical decisions with input from special interests like the Offsite or the Unofficial Discord (aka 'Medium Dark' Cabal)? Particularly in games of consequence.

Refer to answer #1 in the above response to Jk, but in short I encourage tactic discussion and will weigh everyone's opinion equally to ultimately make the best decision.

@Candidates - With the advent of the Youth Trainer skill point targets will increase. How do you approach standardizing the addition of the secondary staff? The cost can be signficant, especially to the lower division managers. The benefits are also not well known as the data appears to still be accumulating.

Ill answer this here as well, but that is a tough question for the sole reason that we do not have enough data to see what kind of effect the YT has yet. For the time being, yes I will encourage it. But being a scout this past season I know many managers that did not use them and their players are on track or in some cases ahead of the curve. So for the lower league managers, it is not catastrophic to not be able to purchase one.

Question to candidates:

JS/JR/OD/HA/DR/PA/IS/ID/REB/SB/ST/FT/EXP
So basically all the skills.
Point guard
Shooting guard
Small forward
Power forward
Center

Please give us your “preference” of order of importance, for the skills at each position.
Scenario 1:
PtB
Scenario 2:
LP
Scenario 3:
Motion

Wow, this really makes you think a bit. Difficult, great question.
Ptb:
PG: OD, JS, DR, JR, IS, PA, HD, ID, REB, SB
SG: OD, JS, JR, DR, PA, HD, IS, ID, REB, SB
SF: DR, JS, IS, OD, ID, JR, HD, PA, REB, SB
PF: ID, IS, DR, REB, JS, SB, HD, PA, OD, JR
C: ID, IS, REB, SB, DR, PA, JS, OD, HD, JR
LP
PG: OD, PA, JS, HD, DR, IS, JR, ID, RED, SB
SG: OD, JS, IS, JR, PA, DR, HD, ID, REB, SB
SF: IS, JS, OD, ID, DR, PA, HD, JR, REB, SB
PF: ID, IS, JS, REB, DR, SB, HD, PA, OD, JR
C: ID, IS, REB, SB, JS, PA, DR, HD, OD, JR
Motion
PG: OD, JS, PA, JR, HD, DR, IS, ID, REB, SB
SG: JS, OD, JR, PA, DR, HD, IS, ID REB SB
SF: JS, OD, DR, ID, PA, IS, JR, HD, REB, SB
PF: ID, IS, JS, REB, PA, SB, DR, OD, JR, HD
C: ID, REB, IS, SB, JS, PA, DR, HD, OD, JR

And then. Please explain any differences if any between man and zone for your positions when it comes to defense

Only thing I can point out here is defensively switching bigs if necessary(for man). For example, if the C has higher OD than the PF(both with same ID), then I would switch them defensively if the opposing teams' best scorer is the PF.

About to do the next few questions, but wanted to get these posted since I am behind!

What is your take on training U21 players that have HOF potential compared to Superstar potential? Do you have the players train the same or do you force more primary training on the superstar guy to benefit the U21 team more?

That depends on a few things. To start, for HOFer's, it depends on what the managers want to do. If the manager clearly states that they do not want to train for NT, then I would have them focus on U21. Regardless of position, it is difficult to get a player on U21 if you are strictly training for NT. For SS's it gets tricky toward the end of the season for bigs because they will begin to cap. A little bit of secondaries would be nice for them.

A lot of U21 teams have donkey bigs with high primaries and 1’s everywhere else. How do you feel about this? How might you exploit that?

Was going to mention this in the above answer, but I personally am a big fan of having versatile players(bigs especially). I think donkey bigs a very vulnerable and easy to expose, although I do not want to voice how I would do that on this thread(gotta keep some things secret ).

What is your take on outside offenses? What skills do you look at for outside offenses compared to inside offenses? What would be your ideal outside offense lineup?

Outside offenses are underrated. Everyone wants to go inside nowadays meanwhile there is an entire other set of tactics completely usable. Skills needed are obviously the shooting ones, but passing would also still remain highly important in both. The ideal lineup is hard to state from a generalist standpoint, but I would want good outside shooters at the 1-3, and an all around scorer at the 4. All of which can all ideally pass and defend well.

In your own opinion, how do you think the Game Engine works in regards to tactics? Specifically, I want to hear how you think a LI works compared to a RnG? For example, does the GE value passing as much as DR? Is JR useful in LI? Does IS matter in a RnG? What do you think?

Ahhh the GE. That thing does what it wants. From what I experienced, it definitely values some skills over others. It likes to "go by definition" if you will. I think IS is important across the board in an LI, PA important in motion, to name a few. The GE looks for these things in order to have a high offensive flow.

Pick 2 of the three guards for your team:

14/14/13/12/12/7-6/5/4/3
12/7/13/12/12/9/11/5/4/3
15/6/13/13/13/13-2/5/4/3

Players 1 and 2.

Player 1:
PA till 9
OD till 15
1v1G till 15(or 16)JS, 14 DR/HD
OD to 16
If any time left, JS for the rest

Player 2:
PA till 12
OD till 15
1v1G till 14 HD/DR
OD/PA for the rest

Everyone: Can you give examples of USA U21 or NT players that you have trained in the past. If you have not trained any, what qualifies you to guide a long term training program for dozens of players.

I trained a guard by the name of Stewart Tripp for u21 a little while back, along with a big that was on the roster 2 seasons ago by the name Val Pennington. I have experience training both guards and bigs, was a scout for guards this past season and picked up 2 bigs classes after our scouting fallout happened. I feel very confident I can guide these managers to produce great prospects.