New Scrambled Eggs podcast on Cracked Sidewalks

[mu03eng]

Autofeed seems to not be working, so I'll do the old fashioned way.

We got a new pod up covering the offseason to date, everything except the fact that Buzz joined twitter.

Give it a listen

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2013/06/its-been-six-weeks-were-getting-band.html

[THRILLHO]

Thanks guys, really enjoyed the discussion.

A question popped into my head with your discussion of the starting PG question. I think you covered the possibility that one guy may start while another guy may play the majority of the minutes. Buzz has done that enough now that at this point asking "Who's going to start?" is not that meaningful. But at the same time Buzz is still occasionally using it for motivation, either positive or negative reinforcement (e.g., when he suggested that D. Wilson should've been starting over Cadougan this year). So is there a point at which players realize that the starters are somewhat arbitrary and stop allowing it to motivate them? Or will it always be special just because you get to hear your name announced?

[mu03eng]

Thanks guys, really enjoyed the discussion.

A question popped into my head with your discussion of the starting PG question. I think you covered the possibility that one guy may start while another guy may play the majority of the minutes. Buzz has done that enough now that at this point asking "Who's going to start?" is not that meaningful. But at the same time Buzz is still occasionally using it for motivation, either positive or negative reinforcement (e.g., when he suggested that D. Wilson should've been starting over Cadougan this year). So is there a point at which players realize that the starters are somewhat arbitrary and stop allowing it to motivate them? Or will it always be special just because you get to hear your name announced?

Personally, I think it'll keep working.  There is something to getting your name announced in front of 16,000 and performing complicated, space station repair like handshakes with your teammates with Drake playing in the background.

Having said that, clearly it didn't work for Eric Williams and almost didn't work for Juan Anderson the two most common ghost starters.  This season will tell the tale because with the depth and mix of talented youth and veterans has the chance to see the most ghost starts.

[rocky_warrior]

Autofeed seems to not be working, so I'll do the old fashioned way.

Sorry, it broke right after the season ended, and I couldn't fix it with a few evenings of tinkering.  I'll get back to it before the end of the summer.

[mu03eng]

Sorry, it broke right after the season ended, and I couldn't fix it with a few evenings of tinkering.  I'll get back to it before the end of the summer.

No worries, I can type just fine.  Forming coherent sentences however may be something that continues to elude me.

[GGGG]

Having said that, clearly it didn't work for Eric Williams and almost didn't work for Juan Anderson the two most common ghost starters.  This season will tell the tale because with the depth and mix of talented youth and veterans has the chance to see the most ghost starts.

Just naming someone a starter isn't going to make them a better basketball player so I am not sure what you mean by "it didn't work for Eric (sic) Williams."

[mu03eng]

Just naming someone a starter isn't going to make them a better basketball player so I am not sure what you mean by "it didn't work for Eric (sic) Williams."

I meant that it didn't work in terms of keeping them on the team and/or motivated.  Thrillho was asking in reference to using starting positions as a motivator for players, and I think it is a good motivator, but the two players who have the most ghost starts, Williams and Anderson either left or almost left.  Might contradict my belief.

[GGGG]

But I don't think Erik Williams' failures and transfer were due to a motivation issue.  He just wasn't very good.  And Juan's potential transfer was more of a personal thing than a basketball thing.  So I don't think you can say for sure that it didn't work as a motivational tactic.

[mu03eng]

But I don't think Erik Williams' failures and transfer were due to a motivation issue.  He just wasn't very good.  And Juan's potential transfer was more of a personal thing than a basketball thing.  So I don't think you can say for sure that it didn't work as a motivational tactic.

Fair point, could be a coincidence.  I may not have been paying enough attention, but do we know for sure Juan was a personal thing?

[MUfan12]

Fair point, could be a coincidence.  I may not have been paying enough attention, but do we know for sure Juan was a personal thing?

Yes, we do.