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i do have a spreadsheet (a bit messy but with everything needed), I'll send it to the new manager.
I'd like to have a response from Fury about the scouting as well. Do you plan on scouting the ~600 players 18-21yo with allstar+ potential by yourself?
You can't really count on scouts, response rate are way too low for that, so you'll need to do the work if you intend to have a player database. The trouble with young players is that you can't really count on the salary to make a selection for you so there's no way around it.
It took me a good week to scout all players (starting from scratch). Is any of the candidates willing to do that or do you count on other means to select the ~15 best players?

1) i figured you had a spreadsheet somewhere, kinda hard to keep track on anything else :D

2) All of the preseason scouting is done by the u21 manager in every country. I did it for 4 seasons in a country with more active divisions and more active current players that sell their talent, it was about ~70 bigs, ~125 guards, ~100 SF's, and about ~60 19 year olds POST-scouting, each class was roughly double that to start but had players with 2 or more critical deficiencies or were on bot/afk managers.

3) Scouts that are there to get skill updates midseason aren't being utilized effectively. Scouts should instead be focusing on helping the more active and responsive managers that ask for help, and focus on responding to PM's within 24-48 hours so that any questions that occur are brought up quickly. Additionally, it is their job to monitor a playerbase and make sure the trainees are getting minutes, and at worst trying to get the manager who doesn't see the value in training the player to see the value in 150-200k cash to go buy a better bench player or starter for themselves.

4) If you utilize the scouting tool that was made, it takes about 3 days total from scratch to do the 18 and fresh 19's. it takes another day or 2 to update the former class of 18 that turned 19, and the 20-21 class for each build.

I find it exciting to press the "add to team button" and get the reveal of how skilled the players actually are. It's kind of like buying a pack of baseball cards.

Will you rely on other users to be your staff or are you prepared to do all the work yourself?
Unfortunately there's a difference between NTs of big nations with 1000s of managers, and those like canada with ~100 managers. You can't really count on anybody but yourself and you shouldn't expect to be able to delegate part of your work. If someone steps up great for you but it most likely won't happen.
If you're not prepared to put the hours required to scout all the players (although I already did most of the 20yo), you're going to run into a wall after enthusiasm reset

Edit: nothing negative here, I'm still undecided, I know sparky can do the job and gets his hands dirty, albeit with some errors, but I'm also curious as to what a next level manager can do. We tried that with falke a few seasons back, still have mixed feelings about it

Last edited by Fwinns at 10/27/2018 2:56:42 PM

Sorry to see you go
I will say that this is nothing compared to the discussions that used to be
Not to mention the one that drummed Sparky out of the NT job in the first place

You wrote:

Sparky has had his chances in the past

So did you
And you were deservingly asking to show everyone that you had learned, gained experience, and were now ready to show everyone that you were capable of improving on your past through your experiences.
Doesn't Sparky deserve the same
I say keep in Country!

And besides he's a fine son

1) I am willing to spend all the time in the world to help complete the whole database within a week. I believe that it might take 5 - 15 hours to complete it. With some music, it should be a swift task.

2) I believe that it'll take about 2-4 hours a week to message managers/set lineups. I am 100% ready for the task.

3) I prioritize Defense & Offense over Flow. I think that flow needs to be at a necessary size, yet, I believe that the least important skills are within the "Flow Category". Exe: Handling/Drive. I'm not saying that these skills aren't necessary, I just believe that 1 on 1 monsters are not what our U21 team will succeed with. A little 1 on 1 can be good though. Offense and Defense are close in importance, but I prioritize Defensive players over Offensive ones.

4) I believe that for a u21 player, you should have the primaries at a large size, unless you have skills under "mediocre". It really depends on the position, since Centers need less secondaries than PFs. I prioritize 18 year olds in communication over those who will be weak in the secondary skills. In most cases, most players should train primary skills for the majority of the time.

5) Jump Shot & Outside Defense. Jump Shot is necessary for players around the court and increases effectiveness of their shots, no matter where you are. Outside Defense is a perfect way to be able to mix around your defense types, have your Big Men be able to face opposing Jump Shooters, and make it possible for you to play a big man at small forward. Since they will be able to stop small forwards who could be guards.

5b) Passing would be my next choice. Passing gives you the opportunity to play princeton effectively and makes motion a lot stronger. It also affects your offensive flow more than any other skill IMO.

I did not have a "real chance". I came into the job, midway through the season, after Kumiko had passed. Afterwards, I had to scout the whole database for myself with a lineup that I did not agree with and improper enthusiasm. Just because somebody has had a chance in the past, it does not mean they wouldn't deserve a second one. Since people change. For the same reason, as I'd vote for you if I wasn't running.

I will repeat what i said earlier. The u21 manager is responsible for the scouting season to season of the skillsets of the players, and the scouts (whether it be 1 or 7) are more or less the people that help those who want the help with their players. If nobody wants to participate at all in any of the mentoring of canadian owners and their talent, then the program will go as far as that lack of help goes.

The comparison to the US was not in terms of manager, it was more in terms of the pool of talent being 3-4 times what it is in canada, and i solo'd the initial scouting of 95% of the talent there. So if that is of significant concern to you, i would say that you should consider that as a testament to my ability to process talent.

I was quite young on my last U21 stint, so those errors will not occur again.

Thank you both for your answers.
I don't think we talked about goals for your term(s)
Do you have a 2-seasons or 4-seasons plan?
Every season we're almost always on the verge of making the semis of the America's championship, and if we do it's a really tall order to make it to the finals afterwards, especially because somehow we always end up against the home team.
What would be the goal of the first season?

Also both of you should know that I prefer an offensive team, so for the past 2 seasons the training plans I sent managers asking for it was to train secondaries in the first year (18yo), then switch to primaries. That means I asked for passing/JS for bigs, and rebounding/IS for guards. Somehow next season we lack real inside monsters...
I also put a great emphasis on Pa for guards, more than OD. That's something to bear in mind for the current 19 and 20yo as well...
How will you cope with a team like that for the next 2 seasons?

Now taking a u21 team from a previous manager, and raise it to the spot you want to be in 2 seasons is a tall order. Therefore, my plan is more of a 3 season plan, hoping I can get re-elected after this term. First of all, this season, we will try to win our way to the Americas final. Yet, we know that it will be very tough, and without the players, I want to have on the team, it will not be easy.

My plan is to make the semi-finals and perhaps the finals of the Americas tournament within the next two terms. I believe we will have a strong chance under my management to make the semi-finals this time around. If I do get elected, I think I'd re-open up a message board for Canada, perhaps over discord. I also would like to get the next group of Canadians trained in the direction I want them through vigorous conversations.

To cope with that situation, I would get Canadian managers who have guards on the current team, to train OD for a while. This will make our team much stronger in the second half of the season.

Players are moldable, a season at PA/JS is not a waste, just in a different direction.