aphilso1

Roby was one of only two Thunder players with a positive +/- rating.

Yvan is the perfect example when looking at our roster transformation. Two seasons ago he was a starter with no one else really challenging for minutes at the 5. Last year we assumed he'd be the starter again (at least until DW finished his suspension), but Hoiberg felt more comfortable playing small with Lat at the 5 and Andre ate into Yvan's minutes too. Then when DW was eligible, Yvan fell out of the rotation. Now the guy who beat out Yvan for backup minutes last year, Andre, may not make the rotation because we again have upgraded talent. If that doesn't tell us a little something about the depth on this team versus the previous two years, then I don't know what will.

Probably. I'd guess Trey will try to cut his teeth in the G League. Lat probably back to Australia. Webster and Walker could likely make a roster in a lower Euro League if they aren't ready to hang up their sneakers yet. Lakes might have a hard time landing somewhere. Not because his skillset doesn't work in Europe, but because it's hard to imagine him getting a lot of looks when there's really no tape on him (assuming he doesn't crack our rotation this year).

Call me crazy, but I'm starting to believe in Gregg. A few examples: 1. How he handled Weston's off-field issues was perfect. Sent him home for a window to send a message. But then when he brought him back to the team there was no residual punishment. No sitting the bench in the doghouse for an indefinite period of time. Weston received his punishment, and now is forgiven. We move on. 2. Playing Musah through the middle is a bold move that makes Gregg look like a genius. Musah is one of the speedy up-and-comers in La Liga playing out wide. Logic would say that he and Arriola are the same type of player in our 4-3-3, and they should share playing time at the right winger position. Gregg playing Musah where he has is really a pretty bold move, because if it didn't work out he'd look like an idiot. But Musah has been great every time he's played, and kudos to GB for trusting him as a #10. 3. Riding the hot hand in goal with Turner. It would be easy to roll out Steffen whenever he's available. Turner has played perfectly as our keeper, and was rewarded with the #1 jersey last night. 4. A well-thought out strategy to get 3 points against an inferior foe, while playing without our two best creators. No Pulisic, no Reyna, no problem. Dest and Robinson were given the green light to get forward and attack. Aaronson was given a heavier workload out wide. We switched the field with long, aggressive passes the whole night. Quality in the final third could have been better, but not for lack of game plan. And don't forget the two "yellow" cards that resulted from the team constantly looking for the aggressive through ball. That was a really well designed match last night by Gregg and his staff. 5. Buy-in from the young players. Gregg and these kids are growing up together. Obviously winning helps a lot, but this looks like a TEAM. That isn't always the case. 6. Identifying young talent and getting it. This was the main argument for keeping Klinsmann around despite continued disappointing results. He expanded the talent pool by going out and getting commitments from dual-nationals. That wasn't supposed to be Berhalter's strength. And yet, the two 18 year old wunderkinds on the pitch had the option to play for Mexico (Pepi) and England/Ghana/Italy (Musah), but committed to the USA instead.

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Standings & Results Team PTS GP W L D GF GA GD 1. USA 8 4 2 0 2 7 2 +5 2. Mexico 8 4 2 0 2 5 3 +2 3. Canada 6 4 1 0 3 6 3 +3 4. Panama 5 4 1 1 2 4 2 +2 5. El Salvador 5 4 1 1 2 1 3 -2 6. Costa Rica 3 4 0 1 3 1 2 -1 7. Honduras 3 4 0 1 3 2 5 -3 8. Jamaica 1 4 0 3 1 2 8 -6 This is beautiful.

Favorite moment for me was was Pepi's first goal, and to celebrate he kisses the crest on his jersey. I'm probably reading too much into that simple gesture, but originally I had assumed that he decided to play for the US instead of Mexico because we are thin at the #9 and they aren't. Simply a better opportunity. But that moment made me think that maybe it really was a love for this country that made him choose his nation over his heritage. And maybe we will see the tides turn and be able to start keeping more of the elite Mexican-American soccer players representing the USA in the future. Oh, and how cool was it to finally have home field advantage in the state of Texas?!? Austin's crowd was FANTASTIC. Looking at the bigger picture, we are now top of the table thanks to Canada getting a draw in Estadio Azteca. Panama losing helps too. And Costa Rica must be in a complete panic as they are sitting on 3 points through 4 matches. It's still early, but 29% of the way through WCQ and things are going about as perfectly for us as we could have realistically hoped. We will be in a commanding qualifying position if we can snag a point at Panama and a win at home against a frazzled Costa Rica team.

Probably similar to this: https://www.nbascoutinglive.com/alonzo-verge-jr-scouting-report/

I'm glad I'm not a Raptors fan, because there's no way I could listen to 82 games of that gravely play-by-play voice. He makes Matt Davison sound angelic by comparison.

If Fred wants a kid enough to give him a committable offer in the early signing period, then the kid is good enough to play for us. Not saying Dawson's tape or offer list jumps out as elite, but HCFH doesn't throw those early offers out like candy. I think anytime we land a kid in the early signing period that means he's a Plan A or Plan B kind of dude.

I'm assuming Verge and Bryce

Wait. He's trying to reclassify to 2022? Is that confirmed or is this just conjecture?

"Two and through" has a nice rhyme going for it. Let's make that a thing.

And another left-footed goal for Salloi today. The kid is becoming ambidextrous before our eyes.

This is a good take. Although given the league we play in, I could see Eduardo still getting decent minutes on a lot of nights even if he doesn't crack the 8 or 9 man rotation. You gotta have a platoon of big bodies to throw at teams like Illinois and Purdue and Ohio State. It's not a matter of "if" your bigs get in foul trouble, but "when."

What a game by Daniel Salloi. Scores a brace on two absolute rockets. The commentators didn’t notice, but that second one was with his left (weaker) foot. Super impressive.