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Welcome to the first ever debate hosted by FML Radio! This episode will be a bit longer than normal but it’s a good one. With the National Team elections coming up khenry (23572) had the idea to give a bit more structure to the candidates back and forth. Khenry and I have co-moderated a small debate on discordapp for as close to live back and forth discussion as we could. We are pleased to play it here for you!

Let's welcome khenry, the moderator

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khenry: Hi! Chek has been gracious enough to let me join him this week and co-moderate the debate.

Chek: Welcome to the first NT Debate sponsored by FML Radio, A big welcome to our two candidates Dwight Coward and Isaiah! We'd would like to lay some ground rules for tonight's debate. First off, all general forum rules must be observed as well as the rules laid forth for NT debate threads. In addition we would like to remind the candidates to stay away from personal attacks, and to please keep your responses relatively short. Good luck!

Would the both of you start by introducing yourself?

Dwight Coward: I am a mechanical engineering student at UCF graduating in December of this year. Currently interning at a company that supports space flight and planning to work there when I graduate. I made a BB team a while back but never really got the chance to play seriously until a few seasons ago where I quickly found success through the strategic aspect of the game.

Isaiah: I am a credit analyst at a bank and a Purdue University graduate where I majored in Financial advising. I began my BB journey back in season 12 and have been known for constantly buying and selling players ( to the tune of over $100million is sales). Began working with the NT in season 16 and have been addicted to it since.

khen: Welcome to you both! Let’s jump into your specific platforms. Could you both explain why you are running, and what your top 3 strengths for the position would be?

DC: I am running because all I want is for USA to win and I know I can provide that at the helm. If I win the election I am going to sell players on my team disregarding it totally and focus exclusively on the national team for the next two seasons. I am willing to put the success of the nation over my own team. My top three strengths for the position are strategy/tactics not only in assessing my team but the opponent, total dedication to the NT if I win for the next two seasons (and hopefully beyond also) by disregarding my team, and the ability to manage and utilize others (in this case, all the NT staff) who will be an important part to the future of this team.

Isa: I'm running because I want the USA to win multiple Worlds Gold trophies and in order to do that we need to develop our scouting procedures. "Strengths" isn't necessarily that word I would say because most people can do the basics of what it takes to be a NT manager. But what I can bring is the dedication to the program and my own personal addictive behavior to the program and use that to develop our pipeline and prepare us for continued success. I have been around the program for over 20 seasons now and know what it takes to be successful.

Chek: The next question comes from a concern brought up by adchester. Tactical skills and decisions aside, what can you do as a leader to engage the community as a whole and to get more people involved with and willing to help the NT in a manner similar to how jfarb or magiker have in the past?

Isa: Honestly, this is something I have thought about for awhile. Its very noticeable in game discussions that the interest in the NT is not there. We had maybe 5 people discuss tactics all season compared to double or triple that for the U21. Its something I'm definitely going to look at moving forward. One option might be a little more PR in terms of on-site posts and little games. Another thing might be giving personalities and nicknames to players so that there is more of an attachment to players. Its all about forming the connection between managers and the team even for those that don't have a player on the team.

DC: I think we have to start with the new players (obviously a long term plan). Get them truly invested into the game by giving them a lot of advice/pointers early on so that they can find success and stick with BB. Once that's established, they will be intrinsically motivated to help out the NT when they see that the NT is invested in their success. We need to reach out to all US managers so we can build that support system but I believe we need to start with the new ones. To get the more experienced managers engaged we can set up elections for "unofficial" (not directly through BB) positions such as Assistant NT manager who will have responsibilities and make them feel valued

Isa: I like what you say, but the majority of those will become more involved with the U21 as it is more in reach for the majority of managers in the game. Once you have a player on the team you automatically become more interested. As for the NT, very few will get their guys on the team so it makes it difficult for them to really contribute and have a passion for the team. We need to do something in those bridge years (between 22-25) to really keep people motivated and interested.

DC: Yes but what I'm saying is that we have to show interest in their team even if they don't have an NT caliber player. If we show interest in helping and advising them not just for our own benefit, they will want to be more involved with us because we opened that door.

Chek: Alright, khenry will have the next question

khen: DC you have had a meteoric rise to the NBBA, and Isaiah you have just over 2 seasons of USA NT manager experience. For both of you, what do you see as the biggest issues and challenges facing the NT these next 2 seasons and how do you plan to take on those challenges?

DC: One challenge is the community involvement which we discussed before. Another challenge is getting a roster in shape to win the world gold. Like I said before, we need to shift the emphasis a little on stamina. If managers of NT players are willing to sacrifice a couple of weeks of training for stamina, which will also benefit their own team actually, we will see an all-around increase in the NT's level of play. I think some managers neglect stamina because they don't think it's important but it can work wonders if you do it right and I will do what I can to make sure he managers see its importance. I generally also look to be unpredictable when setting up lineups/tactics. By continuing the training of up and coming NT caliber guards we will be put in a great position to do this. I want to make sure these managers stay motivated in this process, again promoting community involvement, and see their hard work come to fruition when we win the gold. A long term goal of getting everyone involved will tremendously set us up for success as we continue to churn out top quality players for the NT

Isa: Our main concern over the next two seasons is going to be our aging roster and our ability to replace those players with guys who can contribute similarly or better. In particular, we are going to be seeing a shortage in bigs with all of our best bigs being 33+ starting this season. These next two seasons will be a transitional year where experimenting and trying new things will be needed because our guard depth will be better than our bigs for the first time in a long while. If you have been keeping up with the NT you'll know that I have been experimenting with Princeton and now looking at small lineups. It'll be these types of lineups that will help us overcome this issue. As for the community , which has recently been brought up, I do agree that we need to have more involvement but this is something we can continue discussing with other questions or on the off-site. I once ran my campaigns revolving around community involvement and apparently I got away from that at some point.

Chek: User Tha Yimmy stated that "competing in D.IV, D.III, D.II, and... D.I... is not a fair comparison to the NT" how does your strategy for the NT differ from your strategy for your own club team?

Isa: My own club team I am more worried about testing and trying new things. That's one of the primary reasons I have always been buying and selling players. I enjoy testing different combinations of players and skills. As far as the NT I'm focused on playing what is best for the team and what gives us the best opportunity at winning Gold. If that means throwing a game, like I did in the Americas tournament, to put the team in an easier bracket then I will. As for tactics, well I'm not discussing but we can on the off-site.

DC: Well for your own team you are in control of what you are training, GS, etc. The biggest difference is that for the NT you are using a collection of players trained/managed by others and you have to be able to work with what you got. That's where the strategy differs. What I bring to the table is versatility in style of play. I can work around what we have and make sure we field a team with a strategy that would enable us to win.

khen: Just a few more questions left. Thanks again candidates for taking some time to debate today. For both candidates and starting with DC on this one, how do you see your candidacy differing from your opponent, and what one advantage or skill do you believe your opponent has an edge over you on?

DC: Well this has been the whole basis of my campaign: tactics and strategy. I know I can out coach the opponent. I saw someone say it's not rocket science but if you do it right you can beat teams better than you as I have done in the past. Not only do you have to take time looking at your own roster versus theirs but also have to research the manager and his tendencies while making sure you switch up your own. It's not just "LI at the NT level" as that same person suggested. The one advantage Isaiah has obviously is NT manager experience but I know I can get the gold for our country.

Chek: User Coach_Nuggets asks "How do you plan to improve our advance scouting? I know it's a huge task but I think it could be a huge advantage to us if we had someone who was passionate about tracking stats over time and seeing what offenses and defenses do what against certain teams."

DC: This would go great with what I said earlier. If we hold elections for other positions like NT Advanced Scout, we can ensure we will get someone who actually wants to do that and would have to prove they can by getting the approval of others through the election process. Getting people into positions through elections will let them realize their value to the NT with what they bring to the table through clearly defined job responsibilities. I don't want to get too ahead of ourselves but maybe we could extend that to electing a Board of members who can help oversee these more specific tasks

Isa: RIP advanced stats :(.

I will actually agree with Dwight in terms of gaining the contribution of others to do something like this. I would love to do something like this, but as the NT coach you can sometimes be consumed with other things. Would love to start an advanced stats team where it's not too much for one person,but more of each person being in charge of tracking certain stats. Let's talk on the off site in terms of what we want to track and I can organize and start it.

But...then again it comes down to gaining the interest from others. So we need to work on growing interests in the team most likely before others may offer to help in such a task.

khen: I really like the idea of the cabinet so to say from DC, and truly those Advanced Stats are being missed right now Isaiah. Final question from me for the both of you, and thank you both for taking part in this first of hopefully annual debates. Beginning with Isaiah, how many seasons do you see it taking before the USA NT is "World's Gold worthy", and how do you propose to keep the community and naysayers on the positive side with success not visible for a couple seasons?

Isa: Well first off, this team could even win a World's Gold now as long as we have great GS and no injuries. That will be the key. In terms of future success, I think in 2 more seasons we will begin to see a new crop of top players around 27-32 yo that will give us a great chance at 2 world's gold trophies and maybe more. I'm putting together a group of top managers to help with mentoring of fellow managers who want to train NT players which will be 26yo at that time, so we can begin to have a consistent flow of NT worth players. As far as the community, it's all about keeping them in the loop and getting them involved. We discussed how that is something that needs to happen, so my first job once re elected will be focusing on the community to create a better relationship between the team and managers. Maybe some competitions like we used to do for best players in each class.

DC: We can definitely win now. But the goal is not just one and done. We want to create a dynasty. One where we can win multiple championships in a row and that starts with the support of all the US managers. We have to keep the community positive by clearly outlining a plan for the future where they can see the end result but also keeping them motivated along the way. But the NT has to earn their trust now for that to happen and that's why it's important I win this election. We need a world's gold now to rekindle that trust with the community. Only then can we truly start a dynasty by getting managers to buy into our vision and developing top NT players.
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That concludes our debate! Thanks for listening and we wish both managers luck. Make sure you vote using the NT Election tab on the menu. Whoever wins I am sure will do a great job leading the NT.

Me and khenry have been working on something super special that we are excited to release. Look for another special edition of FML Radio coming your way on Sunday!


Last edited by Chekreyes at 5/27/2016 6:32:31 PM