One thing that is becoming increasingly obvious as I've looked around at the other NT seasons, is that a lot of national teams, even in countries with a quarter of the user base like Indonesia and Iran, appear to have gone past us in terms of talent. With the larger user base, and hence amount of players, we have, we really should be doing much better in this regard. While we have a lot of high salary players, we can't match quite a few of the teams in terms of ratings we pull.
I think one of the reasons for this is that out players aren't specialised enough - for example we have a lot of combo guards, but noone I think that really excels in inside or outside tactics.
Obviously I can't tell each person individually how to train their players, but I though I would create a thread with a few NT player templates that people could work toward if they have a suitable trainee. These are just my thoughts, and I would appreciate any thoughts on these. And if anyone has any questions over how they should be training their player, please contact me!
INSIDE GUARD (This is the type of player I would really love to have)
Most important skills - Passing, OD, driving, IS.
Can be neglected to some extent: JS, JR.
Possible six season training plan:
2 seasons of pressure training, followed by 2 seasons of passing training then 2 seasons of inside scoring training. One on one for forwards training in 2 game weeks.
This will result in a player with around 19 OD, 15-16 passing, high driving and handling, around 15-16 IS and around 150K salary (depending on starting skills and height, and trainer).
OUTSIDE GUARD (Less needed than the inside guard, but it would be nice to have a couple of these to mix things up, since one can't play LI all the time...)
Most important skills - JS, JR, OD. ID is also a bonus.
Can be neglected to some extent: Passing (still needs to be at a reasonable level, but not a high priority), Driving
Possible six season training plan:
2 seasons of pressure training, followed by a season of outside shooting training. jump shot for guards on 2 game weeks. Then a season of jump shot for guards, then a season of passing, with one on one in two game weeks to round him out. Then a season of ID to get that up.
This will result in a player with around 20 JS, 19 OD, 16 JR, and around 10-12 in the other guard skills, plus a bit of ID as well. Around 200K salary. Can nudge his passing a bit in the following seasons or his ID, without too much of a salary hit.
INSIDE SF
Most important skills - OD, ID, IS, driving, passing
Can be neglected to some extent: JS, JR
Possible six season training plan
Pressure the first two seasons, followed by a season and a half of ID training and a season of IS training (one on one for forwards on two game weeks). Then a season of rebounding training and half a season of passing training.
That would get the player to around 16 ID and OD, around 14 IS and 15 driving, plus around 10 in passing and rebounding. Would need a bit more work after this to make the NT, but would be very close at this point.
OUTSIDE SF
Most important skills - OD, ID, JS
Can be neglected to some extent: IS, driving
Possible six season training plan:
Pretty much follow the plan for the inside SF, but switch the two game week training to jump shot for guards, and replace the IS training with outside shooting training. The player would be around 16 ID and OD, 15 JS, 12 JR, and 10 rebounding and passing.