BuzzerBeater Forums

Attack their weakness with a better plan of attack than they have. In some cases, it'll be best to save enthusiasm and accept the losses. In others maybe we commit more guesses or effort. I'd like to think that it's situational as to what we do in cases where we expect a patient

Here's a question for whoever- the NT had some relatively good success with a small ball lineup stacking up the Pf position with scoring and OD. Do you believe this could be something used at the U21 level?

I think what the NT does is mirrored mostly with the patient strategy that became more popular in the last two seasons in the u21. The patient strategy lately has been to play PG/SF/PF/SG/C, and typically if the SG is good enough he'll take the majority of the perimeter shots even if he plays PF offensively. You then defensive switch the setup back into a traditional format to cover up the defensive issues.

I think for now it's more of a fad that is relevant only due to the potential for low guard skilled bigs to make the team (as many of the best bigs are on teams that do not understand how to effectively train their player, and they waste their talent). If we can commit more managers to learning the game, and can get more veterans to take on people willing to learn, then we'll have a more competitive club competition and a better u21/nt team.

I'd like to work on the smaller lineup in the worlds in season 37 given that we already are so short on bigs that we can't feasibly compete in a Look Inside arms race.

I would disagree with the patient comment. Such tactics have been used for several seasons now, it's just that U21 managers have grown a pair and a willing to try it out now.

What I'm specifically talking about is future use of the U21, not current team or next year's team, but maybe 4 seasons down the line, do you see the possibility of running a lineup that has a great scorer at PF (including OD and ID) but just lacks in REB. This would be a highly specialized player or even a SF. Do you see these types of specialized players who are a jack of many trades being of potential use even if they might lack in certain categories that once were coveted?

Patient: I think that patient has been used some in the past, but it's most recent version is a direct result of GDP and 1 manager's decision to go with it. Just because it is the in-thing right now does not mean that another manager won't come along, discover another flaw in the design of his opposition, and exploit it, causing another round of managers flocking to a new idea once they understand the necessary player design to make it work.

Specialty players: I'd love to have at least a few specialized builds to call up for specific games. Trading of skills at some point goes against the elastic effect and begins to hurt, but it can create great shock value. I'd rather not label exactly what i'd want to see here, but I do in general think REB is a bit overrated and wouldn't be opposed to seeing some diversity in big's that goes away from that.

I am more into the training aspect of the game now compared to trying to buy a good team to compete like I did my first go around.

@SwaggyP3, if the above is true then I'm curious who on your team you're training? And if you're targeting any USA trainees to train for this term or into a term that this manager isn't guaranteed?

targeting a trainee on the U21 takes some $$$$ i dont look for the HOF potential players im trying to add to my stadium right now i enjoy the process i put some cash into scouting as well

Correctly trained PAS and even All-Star players can make the team and are affordable on nearly any budget. Just saying.

To everyone running the election. What will you do to get more owners to join the offsite and get involved with u21?

1) There are a small group of people in the US with the feeling that the offsite doesn't do much for them, and that they don't want to have anything to do with the national teams. For those few, i'm not going to change their minds, although i may eventually stop doing u21 training and beat them handily at the club level by doing things that i have learned from veterans of the game.

2) I think everyone should learn the game by learning what it takes for them to develop u21 level talent. It isn't particularly about pounding 1v1 training on guards and small forwards first and x second and y third, it's about learning how to set them up in the lineup to gain 48+ minutes on three guys in single position training. It's about finding out how to manage the players gameshape on a week to week basis (Some of our scouts/trainers still don't do this very well though). It's about finding out what banking enthusiasm does at the u21 level so they can apply similar concepts to their club level. If every new owner made an effort to train a 6 potential or 7 potential player into a G/SF or Big respectively, then they could immediately learn so much about the game.

3) Some owners on the onsite simply do not play the game much outside of their set amount of free time. Getting people to want to join another offsite that isn't mandatory wont work for them.

4) In a few cases, you might find people who do not know about it, but by referring them to information gained from being on the offsite you might be able to convince them that there is a great source of information that they can get by taking 8-10 minutes to join.

How do we get people to train unique builds needed to play non-LI tactics? Are any of you training players for USA U21? If not, why? If the potential U21 manager, is not training how can they expect others to train for them?