So we are destined for the consolation tournament. Not that i am entirely surprised, outside of probably not making the best call in our match versus Chile (we could've and should've won that had i used enthusiasm there in my estimation, but gameshape on our secondary Patient options left me feeling like it wouldn't work), but it is disappointing that we could not turn the talent corner quick enough this season. We did CT this last game (so did argentina). we likely had a 1 enthusiasm advantage, but talent gap did not do us much of any favors.
So now that we're in the consolation, nothing much changes for me, it is still all about pushing the development of Canadian players for both my own (u21 run) personal gain and for your (team development) personal gain. I'll again kinda outline what we are looking at in terms of development.
u21 USA a season or two ago
5th best big at the end of americas: 52 BSP, 26 GSP
Canada's total number of 50+ BSP bigs this season: 0
Talent wise, we should be able to produce 1 or 2 50 BSP bigs for every 5 the USA produces, so the big thing that needs to be fixed here is how do we develop such talent? The answer is not as difficult as it might sound
1) Invest in bigs with 7+ potential
2) Invest in either a level 4 trainer and a youth development specialist, OR invest in a level 5 trainer
3) Utilize Elastic Growth to improve the overall time it takes for you to get skill pops early on in a players growth cycle.
Example growth paths:
5/5/5/5/5/5 4/4/5/4 (47 skill points total)
1v1 @ FW until DR/HA is substantially above OD (3-4 levels). Typically it's 3 pops in those skills per 6-7 weeks, in which you will net a JS and OD as well as maybe a cross pop aided pop at random.
6/5/5/8/9/5 5/4/5/4 (56 TSP)
From here, 1v1 will still train without falling off too awful much (takes 5 levels roughly from my own persective for it to do so), so you can either divert to OD now and train 1v1 @ FW in short weeks, or train 1v1 in full blast until the end of 18. Elastics on Od are best at this point, but sometimes it is easier to pick up secondary trainees for 1v1 training and get it done early, and it only costs
Path A: 6/5/7/9/9/5 5/4/5/4 into 6/5/7/10/10/5 5/4/5/4 into 6/5/8/10/9/5 5/5/5/4 (62 TSP)
Path B: 7/5/5/10/11/5 6/4/5/4 (62 TSP)
Thomas Blum on my team was 47 TSP to start, and has exceeded the 62 TSP on a path B route.
8/7/5/9/11/6 4/7/3/3 with 1 week left in this development cycle.
From either path, you can go a variety of routes. Passing trains last in most cases as it is elastic off of almost every skill in the game, you can get it to pop somewhere between 1.3 and 1.6 points per week if you get a build in either pay to say 11/6/12/14/14/5 8/6/5/4 (85) trained 4 weeks in PA would pop 3. if you train it early (say right off the bat) it trains regularly and would take 6-7 weeks to get those 3 pops. So there is always a reason to develop the ball movement skills (HA/DR) prior to PA in case you needed any motivation.
Secondaries are nice on guards and bigs alike, but that has to be the initial investment to some degree. Trying to get a player from 6/6/6/6/6/6 3/3/3/3 to the same secondaries as a 4/4/4/4/4/4 6/6/6/6 player with 6'4" or smaller height takes too long. The JR is the only aspect of the guard that will take some time to train. So you are much better off sacrificing a handful of primary skill points early.
The key rating for the bigs is IS, which elastically improves ID/REB/SB the higher it is. So taking a player to 10/6/6/6, and improving that player in ID, REB, SB, and IS in rotation will improve the rate of return by 2-3 pops.
Hopefully this insight improves your overall training plan for your players. Like i said, this isn't just for the u21, it's for the player, the club team, and the u21 all at once.
Will start evaluating talent shortly, see you next season!