It's time for a wrap up of season 35 & 36 for the NT.
I think s35 went pretty well, we were just a bit short on talent in the end and me fighting to get to the world repechage cost us dearly this season, as we couldn't even make it to the playoffs of the consolation tournament.
Overall GameShape was pretty good in S35, slightly less good in S36, but without the automatic 0-2 start from the repechage we could have made something. That's just something we need to keep in mind, sometimes it's better to take a step back in order to go higher.
These seasons also marks the end of a great generation of NT players:
- Ulysses Hudgins
(23547800) | One of the best SF NT has ever had. If his GS was high I knew we were going to win.
- Rober Nixon
(26111353) | I was once on the chat speking with south america coaches, and they were impressed with his talent and combined rebounds/points. He almost gave us the victory in a thrilling game against the US that would have given a somewhat easier semi against Peru
- Aiden Kearin
(26110831) | His potential is all-time great. I think that sums up everything. I think he was the player with the most consisten GS in S35.
With these three players I knew I had the inside and SF position covered. And I should not forget Olexiy Burimenko
(29629206) and Léo-Paul Vallière
(28129458). Vallière was a very consistent backup, occasionally starting when Kearin or Nixon were in a bad week, and Burimenko will be in the team at least for the next 2-3 seasons. He's simply the best big we have right now. And to top it off, he's in the great Saskatoon Storm squad. Let's say I was never worried about minutes with him.
These two seasons also marked the beginning of a new generation of guards. I was counting a lot on Jarvis
(30771661) that has the best skills of any canadian guards, but his owners never seemed to get a grip on his minutes. It's a shame because Barrero-Valverde
(30719182) has been such a strong player at the SG spot. Almost as consistent as Kearin in terms of GS, a beast of a player that will remain on the team for the next 3-4 seasons for sure.
Jarvis' problems were not the end of the world though, because it helped fuel the emergence of a player I thought was a bit short on talent at first, and I'm glad his owner proved me wrong because in the end he hold the PG starting spot for the 2 seasons and kept improving: Logan King
(31706671). All of these players are the foundation of the new guard squad and I believe with a bit of luck they can bring back the America's championship to Canada in S38 and maybe win it in S39.
Which brings me to the future. For the next 2-3 seasons, I'd say things are great with guards, good-ish at the SF spot and average with the bigs. There is kind of a lack of good players around 27-28yo, but the good thing is there is a very promising generation of players under 27yo starting to emerge, thanks to the great work of Cletus, the U21 coach. The NT will be monstruous in 5-6 seasons, and that's in a big way thanks to him. I cannot say enough good things about what he did, and managers contacting me with training questions all think the same as well.
Of course I only named the main players of the team, but there were also all the backups, the ones that were just not strong enough to start, but who consistently brought good bench minutes: Lenny Rouillard
(30718780), Aaron Madiar
(29629315), Julius Bevan
(31706818) and Michael Jolly
(24807183).
Finally a big thank to all the managers who answered my multiple bb-mails or contacted me directly to update me on training, and even those who kept silent but did a great job nonetheless. There are not that many Canadian players, but I can really say there's a very solid core of managers, and I'm really proud to be one of them. Especially when I read what's going on in other countries! (french U21 NT last season?!)
Last edited by Fwinns at 11/23/2016 12:22:34 PM