I've heard (and seen) enough. The team order is set and VFTD will begin offering individual team breakdowns when I, you know, get around to it. Okay fine, it will be soon. Ish. Say Sunday at the latest. (Probably unless something comes up. Hey, you get what you pay for.)
One other thing before I get to the list. I can--and will--offer a projection as to how things will turn out for teams with radical roster changes but necessarily the foundation of each team analysis is how the team played before. Will the new pieces fit the old formulas? Will changes be made? Or needed? That sort of thing.
Alright. Here goes. The Countdown, from last to first and every place in between.
Texas Storm, CEP, Aftershock, Dynasty, Russian Legion, Upton 187 Crew, X-Factor, Ironmen, Vicious, Impact, Art Chaos, Damage, Heat, Infamous & XSV.
Up first is XSV. Followed by Infamous and so on. Serves me right for letting you slackers choose the order but what's done is done.
Before each analysis I'll give you hint about the next one. Since XSV will be the first one you get their hint now. Identity Crisis.
Friday, January 24, 2014
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6 comments:
The problem with XSV is they always were a group of stable, old pros who knew how to play the game, had a good head on their shoulders in high pressure situations, and could just play decent paintball. In a way of team of Mike Paxtons.
Now, they are face with being a small ground of old school leadership, with a lot of raw talent that will take years to train. So they're basically CEP with a better core.
I'd also point out that, I'm not even sure the whole "train young talent" concept works. At least I'm skeptical. I think you can certainly make decent players better and bad players decent.
But let's not kid ourselves. The Dynasty kids were awesome and winning tournaments or ranking at the top pretty much from day 1.
I'm not saying XSV can't craft a decent team that will be in the top of Challengers or the bottom of Champions after a few years of training.
But I am saying that you'll never bridge the gap with that same group to top tier talent.
The Russians haven't been able to replace Fedorov, etc. Not because they didn't have the training routine down. They did it more and harder than anyone.
But because there are some truly special talented players out there and you have to find them, not gradually chip away at the rough edges like a piece of stone over the years that turns into a fine sculpture.
Again, not saying the Dynasty guys haven't improved, but they started out on a different level to begin with. I wonder if no amount of training can get someone to that level. Paintball is so much more than just executing some techniques. But awesome technique can get you to the top of the lower divisions and the middle of the pro pack.
So, if XSV has found some hidden CA talent, maybe they have a shot at it. Otherwise, I stand by the assessment that they're CEP with better leadership. (no insult to either of those crews as they are certainly better than me!)
My opinion!
Dammit, man, you were supposed to send that to me so I could post it--not put it up in comments. Now I'm gonna have to do my own.
PS--in broad strokes I don't disagree
The conclusion then would be that if you don't have someone you see really becoming the next greenspan, fedorov, etc, then cut them rather than try to invest a couple years into "growing" them -- if you want to have a top 5 team. If you're content with living near the bottom 8, then you can invest the years into training and improving.
If that theory is correct that is...
In an ideal situation maybe yes. In the real world it's a bit more complicated. If Greenspans came around often enough then they wouldn't be Greenspans and a team still needs to be fielded whether or not you have the perfect guy ready to go. And assessing the ceiling of developing talent is always a crapshoot. Even in sports that spend enormous amounts of money evaluating talent mistakes are made all the time.
1. Find kids with athletic potential, money backing, and no aspirations for college/career/family/etc.
2. Train them like they are super monkeys
3. profit
Oh, I guess #1 doesn't exist.
you'll have a hard time finding #3 too, and that's if you actually follow through and do #2, which I'm guessing you won't....
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