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At the end of the season, you're not looking to save a player for the U21 because the odds are low that he's going to make the U21 team. So then you're looking at a guy who is hopefully an NT prospect then a perennial allstar may have a shot based on his current skill set. But the lower the salary, the higher the potential the player needs.

I'd also be interested in keeping a list of Canadian managers who would be looking for a specific player type. Maybe someone's looking for a PG and one is about to go bot. Then when that guy goes on the market, the manager knows and could hopefully buy him. I'd love for Canadian managers to pick these guys up and keep them in the country and hopefully they get the right training to perhaps become an NT player.

Don't know if something like that is doable, but would give it a try.

Last time I wade into the debate, I promise.

I know some (maybe all, I have not been keeping track) of the candidates have helped with the draft scouting. However, The Mogul really distiguished himself in this category. He went through all the divisions and found all of the players that would require saving this weekend. He also narrowed it down to a short list of players for me to add to the team to be saved.

I added all of his recommendations to the team. There are also some 19 year olds left over and he is going to check with RIP to see if he can save those.

So, if you have any question as to who will work the hardest for our U21, you have the answer. Well, at least you have my answer. ;-)

Last edited by HeadPaperPusher at 3/25/2010 1:36:21 PM

By the way, the schedule for the 1st round is up. Feel free to comment.

Once again we get the weird pool A, where finishing 1st puts you in a precarious situation.

Last edited by HeadPaperPusher at 3/25/2010 3:22:43 PM

It looks like a great opportunity to build some enthusiasm at least. The two hardest teams are our two last games. I would just be worried about teams from other pools doing the same thing, trying to land in the easier pool.

You make 2 good points there. Yes our schedule is nicely back loaded so we can build up enthusiasm but what happens if the teams from the other pools have also figured this out? Is it just going to be best for us to simply play to win every time we send our boys out on the floor?

Hi HPP, thanks for the question.

It is difficult for me to really say that Ali would be the clear cut starter at SF all season. He will be trained fully this season and will continue to improve but I am sure that there will be times when there might be another player with more of an inside focus who might fit the tactics for that match better. There is also the possibility that that somebody overtakes Ali with a better skillset, but right now I really don't know exactly who that would be. Whoever is manager will also have the option to start Ali at SG and have him defend the SF position because of his ability to defend well inside.

That's a pretty solid answer, actually. In spite of what The Mogul said, I think we have 3 good options at SF going into next season, that can be used in different situations. But the nice thing about Ali is that he is versatile and can play just about all 3 small positions. So I guess it is true that, provided he has good game shape, it would be hard not to find him a starting spot.

Which players to save, at certain points in the season, is an interesting question. If it is possible to save players at no cost to the national teams (in terms of competitiveness in non-scrimmages), then I think it makes sense to save the best young players possible for those weeks (including longshot types). If a valuable season-long roster spot is to be tied up on a prospect, then who to save becomes a tougher question.

Potential is a limiting factor on development, and looking at the current NT scene (including developing players in the pipeline), I think that Superstar+ potential will be needed everywhere in the future. I could even see MVP+ potential being needed almost everywhere in the near-ish future, depending on how some key players develop.

For the U21 team, though, you can get very effective players with allstar or perennial allstar potential, especially at the guard spots. For big men, I think that U21 quality big men really should have perennial allstar+ potential, although allstars can contribute to the Canadian team (and have in the past).

Overall, I would say that I would want Superstar+ potential for NT track guys, and P.Allstar+ potential for most U21 players, although a very high quality allstar could also be worth saving (for U21 purposes). I can't really say what salary cutoffs I would rely on, as it really depends on the particular player. If it turns out that there are very high potential players, that also have good skills, then I would prefer to use spots to save those players. However, if a really good U21 only type player is retiring, then I think it makes sense to consider a player like that as well. I wouldn't rule them out, at least.

Wading into the saving players debate I'd have to say that I would probably be inclined to save allstar players and above during the early part of the season, but as the season progressed only concern myself with the players with higher potential. Its my belief that allstar players would probably only make the U21 team if they were single position trained right from the beginning of their rookie season.

In terms of a salary cutoff I'd probably only be interested in the higher end of the scale with a cutoff of around $4.5k maybe. I think that we'd really want to be saving the very best players to be developed for the U21 and NT. Saving slightly better than average players probably doesn't really do a lot for the Canadian national team setup.