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As posted on the U21 press blog. This got a little long and the end got cut off on the blog so you can read the full version here.


Mid-Season Report - Season 14

With the mid-season All Star break I thought this would be a good time to report back to the Nippon community on the U21 team's performance so far and what you can expect going forward.

Needless to say this season has been a dissapointment. Going into the season management had hopes of going 3-3 or 4-2 in the first round of group play and advancing to the second round. At this point that looks unlikely though there is still a very small chance we could advance. We have learned a few things though about both how to approach the games as well as where we really stand vs the other nations. I'll touch on those more later but first I'll do a quick game by game recap:

Game 1 - Kazakhstan - L 92-100
I clearly underestimated the strength of this team. Based on the teams past performance and national ranking I expected an easy game and played TIE with the hope to gain some advantage for future games. That ended up backfiring on us. Kazakhstan has proven to be stronger than expected and we ended up losing in a game that was decided in the final few minutes.

Game 2 - Prathet Thai - W 108-81
This team has proven to be the weakest team in the group and we cruised to an easy win.

Game 3 - Macua - L 79-87
This was a very frustrating loss. We held a large lead going into the 4th quarter and then completely collapsed, getting outscored by 21 in the final period. This was only Macau's 2nd U21 win ever. I can take some solice in the fact that they ended up winning another game after this as well but still..... There were probably a few contributing factors to this outcome. First, Macau had played TIE their first 3 games which would have given them a little lift, second, generally I think we have poor stamina as a team, and third I probably didn't pay enough attention to our players game shape when I set the line-up. Plus, I think they are a bit improved over prior years.

Game 4 - Taiwan - L 71-75
We'll call this a morale victory. Taiwan is clearly a stronger team. I changed the process for picking the line-up to put more consideration on player game shape. That seemed to pay off with much better performance. But still not quite enough to come away with the win.

Game 5 - New Zealand - L 91-79
Going into this game we lost Hirofumi Sonoda one of our key starters at PF. Unfortunately we don't have much depth inside and so this really hurt us. New Zealand's line-up is deeper and stronger than ours so we needed to be at full strength to beat them. Unfortunately we did not.

Game 6 - Iran - This Monday
Iran is the best team in the group so this will be very difficult to come away with a win. For us to qualify for the next round at this point we will have to beat Iran and also have Prathet Thai beat Khazkhstan. I think its a long shot but we will do everything we can to deliver a defeat to Iran and hope for the best in the other game.


So what have we learned so far. I would focus on two areas. What I can do as a manager, and the quality of our line-up.

As manger I need to do everything I can to get the best out of the players I have available to me. This means: don't underestimate my opponenets, make sure I thoroughly scout and understand our opponenets and set the game tactics appropriately to defend against their strengths and take advantage of their weakneses, and select the line-up of players each week to maximize the performance of the team based on the overall condition of players in that given weak.

As far as roster goes we are not nearly as strong as most the teams we are competing against. I can only work with what is available to me at the time. But, I can work to influence the quality of players that are available to our national teams in the future. With that said, I will begin a campaign to try t

Last edited by Taiyo at 11/25/2010 8:53:58 AM

...... continuing from where the first post got cut off



...... With that said, I will begin a campaign to try to encourage the Nippon managers to be actively training at least one player for the national teams. I understand that managers will focus on their own interests first, but I believe this can be done in the interest of both the individual team and the national teams. I hope that each manager will select at least one player from the upcoming draft or a player they drafted this past year and provide them continued focus training to develop for both their team and the national teams.

Finally, I would like to encourage my fellow managers to provide the current national team managers with you advice, learnings, and support based on your own experience and understaning of the game. I beleive that all of us collectively as a group can deliver a better result than any one of us can individually.

Thank you for your support,
Coach Taiyo

Last edited by Taiyo at 11/25/2010 8:56:49 AM

I agree that ultimately growing the league will provide the most upside. Do we know wheat Hong Kong did that drove their fast growth? Maybe by the summer my language training will get to the point that I can read a write on the Japanese forums as well to try to attract interest. But that doesn't really help in the near term.

On the trainee side, given our current state I don't think we have to be focused on just the few top draftees. Last draft I was able to get 2 reasonable trainees. I sold one and I am training the other. I think if the draftee is $4K+ and star or better you could probably turn him into a decent player, at least for U21. Even better if he is 18. Then for the NT you could get the best of the U21 players. So, I want to generate some interest among the teams of having national team players on their rosters as a goal.

The other thing I was thinking is that we should contact the new teams that signup pretty quick after they start to welcome them to the Nippon community, introduce them to the national forum, let them know about the national teams and that having national team players is an achievable goal that they should work towards. Maybe a note like this will cause a couple people to stick around that maybe wouldn't have otherwise.

Following our 93-80 loss to the powerful Iranian team we have been officially eliminated from competitive play this season. With that we will start work now on building the team for Season 15 and as a result we will be releasing the 21 year-olds from their U21 assignment and start calling up a fresh crop of players.

Anyone who wants to refer a player for consideration please BB-mail me with the players details and your plans for their development.

ありがとございました,
Coach Taiyo

Last edited by Taiyo at 11/30/2010 12:20:35 AM

Hey guys. Keen to be involved, but obviously no-one on my team's a viable candidate yet. But I'm also assuming I'll have a pretty good draft pick. And I'm scouting as best I'm able.
What are you looking for, what should I be doing to best enable my players the opportunity to make the U21 side?
Definitely not adverse to receiving advice...

For PG's start training the OD and passing early. For bigs...Rotate the IS,ID and Reb...

We're developing a number of players in the guard spots but are really thin on sf, pf, and c. If you can try to get a quality guy for one of those then let's look at his skills and put together a development plan.

Thanks,
Coach Taiyo

I am training guards too but they are all very very weak. I have single position trained them every week except ASB and now. This is my best player but his potential will probably keep him out of the team.

Jotaro Kinjo (17728125) Shooting Guard
Weekly salary: $ 3 480
Role: backup
(BuzzerBeta)
DMI: 43700
Age: 18
Height: 6'5" / 196 cm
Potential: starter
Game Shape: strong
Jump Shot: mediocre Jump Range: mediocre
Outside Def.: strong Handling: strong ↑
Driving: mediocre Passing: inept
Inside Shot: pitiful Inside Def.: respectable
Rebounding: average Shot Blocking: inept
Stamina: respectable Free Throw: strong
Experience: atrocious

We did passing last week but he popped in handling. :(

This week and next it will probably be rebounding while the games don't catch. So I was wondering if he could ever play SF or is the IS too low?

This is my other trainee, better potential.

Daisaku Kawaida (16975170) Shooting Guard
Weekly salary: $ 4 241
Role: backup
(BuzzerBeta)
DMI: 18900
Age: 18
Height: 6'3" / 190 cm
Potential: allstar
Game Shape: strong
Jump Shot: respectable Jump Range: average
Outside Def.: strong Handling: mediocre
Driving: awful Passing: average ↑
Inside Shot: respectable Inside Def.: pitiful
Rebounding: mediocre Shot Blocking: respectable
Stamina: pitiful Free Throw: atrocious
Experience: atrocious

The best thing about him is his illustrious background, he comes from Kuzu High School!

Last edited by Lord Toranaga at 12/31/2010 6:17:12 PM

I had a number of thoughts in response to your post so let me bullet them out.

- The way things stand right now, We don't have alot of players recieveing the focused training to become quality National team players, so if you are dedicated and put in the time your players can get there. These guys are only 18 and still have alot of time to improve. Most starters are 21 and most players on the roster during the competitive season will be at least 20.

- With that said, There are a couple factors that will contribute to their training success: Potential, Age, Single vs Double position training, and the quality of your trainer. You should have at minimum an advanced trainer and if you can afford it and want to make the investment get a better one.

- Here is the Potentials of the current U21 roster to compare to:

announcer 0
bench warmer 0
role player 0
6th man 0
starter 0
star 3
allstar 6
perennial allstar 2
superstar 3
MVP 0
hall of famer 1
all-time great 0

- If you haven't already done so, you should read the training speed analysis (78242.1). You'll see from there that each training you do has a number of different skills that will benefit. That is why you got a pop in a different skillt than where you are focussing.

- Potential as a SF: Almost always you will have a skill or two that are week that will require extra attention. You could probably get Kinjo's IS to Strong in 6-8 weeks of constant training. SF is a spot that I struggle to fill each game, very few people have players they want to train early on as a SF because the player has to be so versitile. So, If you want to build him into a SF I would be thrilled.

You will probably get a number of different opinions on what makes a good SF, but here is how I build the position. I think a SF should primarily be a strong scorer from anywher eon the court. and be adequent defensively. So, focus areas are JS, DR, IS and they need to have decent skills at OD, ID, and JR. Bonus if they are good at RB and HD.

I have a player I've been working on as a SF. He is currently my top scorer but still a work in progress. Here's what he looks like:


Age: 20
Height: 6'4" / 193 cm
Potential: allstar
Game Shape: strong
Jump Shot: proficient Jump Range: average
Outside Def.: average Handling: inept
Driving: proficient Passing: mediocre
Inside Shot: prominent Inside Def.: strong
Rebounding: average ↑ Shot Blocking: respectable
Stamina: respectable Free Throw: respectable

Experience: pitiful

You will want to reconsider all your plans once you see what you draft. You may find that you get a new player that is a better option than either of these guys. You also can focus on up to 3 players at once and still maintain the one position training.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions that I or someone else can address.

Coach Taiyo

A lot depends on the 22-24year olds.

With all the original legends (Kaneko/Tanazaki etc) their potential made them cap early. So now we have some great players that have higher potential if they are trained up to 26/27yo (I'm not saying thats the best thing for the teams but it would be for the NT) then the current 18-20yo might never get into the NT with lower level potentials.

Ideally we need to find 6-8 MVP's and ensure they get the training required til 27yo. Then this gives us the ability to look for the next generation and then work on 10-12 MVP's to replace them...