Zink

His take on Austin McBroom’s most recent fall from grace...

Yeah, I’ll say I use mobile 90% of the time, and that keeps me inside the forum the entire time. I go weeks/months without seeing the front page even though I check just about every day.

Regardless of whether or not the tweet was an accurate portrayal, you’re dead on. It also gives the new guys, especially Yuri and Hargrove, the opportunity to come in and play hard for 3-4min at a time and then go get some feedback from the coaches on the bench. Would like to see a relatively flat minutes distribution across guys 3-10 this year unless someone makes a big leap. And giving everyone chances early on will also let the cream rise to the top if someone does separate himself from the pack.

Really appreciate this breakdown, and hope to see some of the in-towners contribute more post-practice! On your last point - if we truly are this deep, will Thatch really play 30mpg? If he does, that must mean his offensive game has taken a dramatic leap. I feel it's more likely he's a sort of "first among equals" in the category of players behind our two all-conference studs (French and Goodwin) and gets 20-24mpg while we have a relatively large group of others in the 12-18mpg zone.

Great get by the staff. Solid player already with tremendous upside. Can’t wait to see him on the floor at Chaifetz! Welcome, Markhi!!

This whole dunk contest has been pretty underwhelming...

Idk why we're assuming mechanics are the things that they'll be fixing with this tool. Maybe that's a component, but I'd guess a lot of the output would be "Gibson shoots 50% from the wings but 40% from the baseline: spend more time practicing corner 3's" or "Thatch tends to release the ball lower and more quickly in games than in practice: tell him to relax, he elevates enough to not worry too much about close-outs."

Just from watching the highlights (I know), it seemed like most of his 3PAs came from a few feet behind the line. Now, the question is, did he have to do that to get extra separation from defenders because of his short stature? And then, how do defenses compensate for the deeper line? If defenses stay more or less the same, or even help off of shooters more, his %age from deep might not drop that much. I'm happy we're adding Weaver at this stage, as he seems like a guy you are happy to have around regardless of how much he moves the needle. I think he's a solid backup guard, but if anyone is hoping for the second coming of Isabell you'll probably be disappointed. That said, I'd love to be wrong!

Looked pretty solid tonight! Big Sunday for US Soccer

The seats at the Etihad were made for standing lol

Yeah, I really think the right move for modern MLS stadiums is to go for intimate and loud vs expansive and comfortable. Having been fortunate enough to attend matches and visit stadiums across Europe, the coolest places to watch games are the ones that have a built-in atmosphere due to an emphasis on sight-lines and with getting as many spectators close to the action as possible. Craven Cottage is an example of an old stadium that does this really well, but there are actually quite a lot of modern lower tier teams with stadiums featuring similar designs (e.g., The DW in Wigan). Relatedly, if you haven't been to a European stadium, it might surprise you somewhat how cheap, small, and close together the seats are compared to a place like the new Busch. Only a small portion of the seats are actually at all not-uncomfortable to sit in, those at midfield and the ones for people with luxury boxes. The rest are made of flimsy plastic, which is great because it makes you more inclined to stand all game and allows you to get a lot of fans down close to the field. Another big difference is how limited the concourses are, with much more sparse concessions (even in very new stadiums like the Etihad and Gazprom Arena) and nothing else besides bathrooms. Fans congregate outside the stadium pre-match and then go in to watch the game at their seats, really emphasizing the game itself as the primary source of entertainment, which I appreciate.

The reason we've never had a team has almost everything to do with stadium plans falling through/not having a big name or super rich primary owner to headline a bid. MLS has been trying to get a team in STL since its inception due to the perceived amount of local support and extraordinary attendance for one-off matches with the USNTs and club friendlies, providing a direct counter to your hypothesis on this particular issue. The fans have never been the problem, it has been down to unfunded stadium proposals and ownership groups that weren't quite rich enough to satisfy the league's cabal of owners. Both of those problems seem to have been solved with the Taylor group, which is why we have jumped to the front of the list for expansion!

I love how he always either has his feet set for a shot after the catch, or if he the defender is right on top of him, he’s ready to do some sort of shimmy/fake in order to free himself up. He definitely has the potential to be more than a catch and shoot guy based on this video.

Super impressive highlights... I really hope he's good enough defensively to play right away, god knows we can use a shooter like this^

As much as I want to disagree with you (I’m generally team “always recruit over everyone”), another component of the Hauser fiasco beyond the Sam/Markus feud apparently had to do with the recruitment of Tyler Hierro. He de-committed from Wisconsin and Wojo recruited him hard, much to the chagrin of the Hauser clan. Wound up at UK obviously, but that was the beginning of the end for the Hausers, if you will. That said, I think these kinds of problems can be ameliorated through honest discussions with your players. Communication is arguably the most important part of any relationship, and it seems like Wojo failed to communicate effectively with two of his most important players. Can’t lose the locker room like he did, ultimately it falls on him for not smoothing over the Sam/Markus issue and compounding that problem by recruiting a player (Hierro) that 1/6 of his locker room wanted nothing to do with.