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+---- Thread: *Interview With The Palm Beach GMs (/showthread.php?tid=13178)
*Interview With The Palm Beach GMs - MaxGnarland - 04-28-2019
Ready to be graded (1975 words)
Many players, like me, who haven’t played in a simulation league before wonder what the GMs of teams actually do. Some players are intimidated by the title of GM and the work that is required to be a successful one. I interviewed both of the Palm Beach GMs: @dizzyDC and @PDXBaller and condensed their answers to see how their season went and what they did during the season as well as the unique challenges building a team from scratch presents. Hopefully these interviews make the prospect of becoming a GM less intimidating and inspire more people to apply for GM jobs in the future as I will. Huge thanks to both PDX and Dizzy for all of their hard work this season and for answering these questions!
What made you want to become a gm?
Dizzy: I wanted to become a GM because it helps me become more involved in the league. Sure, it’s fun to just have a player and track their success over a career, but it’s even more fun when you can have your hand in the overall success of an entire team. Especially as a new player in this sim league, getting involved helps you learn the ropes a little bit faster than the average player and it helps to get your name out there in terms of the NSFL draft and whatnot. I think it is a really special opportunity to be given right out of the gates and it helps get your foot in the door if you ever decide to make the jump up to GMing in the NSFL. Overall, it just seemed like a win win situation for me to put my name out there and get involved in the league.
PDX: I’ve had experiencing taking over failing franchises and making them competitive so I thought I’d be a good candidate to help Palm Beach start off on a good foot.
This draft class was a historically big one, how did the pre draft scouting go and was it any different from previous smaller drafts?
Dizzy: Well… I’ve never had a “smaller” draft since this was my first draft here in the NSFL, but I have been a GM in SHL for smaller drafts and honestly there isn’t a ton of difference except for volume. We’re still going to be making scouting sheets, we’re still going to be contacting all of the players that were created, we’re still going to be looking at our own positional needs that have to be addressed. It’s just a matter if we have a lot of people to go through or not as many. I will say it is far less time consuming to have smaller drafts, but getting to look at a huge amount of talent in a large class is also pretty entertaining.
PDX: Nothing can ever prepare you for a big draft like this. The amount of scouting and time that DizzyDC and myself put in was insane and we had to make pretty quick judgment calls just due to the sheer number of prospects.
What was this year’s draft strategy like since you had to build a team from scratch?
Dizzy: We really were just trying to key in on players that we thought were going to remain active for us. Obviously we had to draft a little bit of everything just to ensure that we had players at every position, but we also looked at activity. That last part was pretty dang important to us. We definitely hit the nail on the head with some players, while others didn’t quite turn out as we hoped, but you live and you learn and just try to better yourself with every draft. It’s tough to have a “perfect” draft, but we are always striving to be the best that we can be throughout the process which is why it’s so crushing to have a season like Palm Beach did. We knew we would face adversity, but we thought we would be more competitive than we were.
PDX: For me, it’s to develop an identity that the team can rally behind and something that we could brand ourselves with. We wanted to have an exciting run based offense and a strong linebacker corps with speedy defensive backs. We were able to achieve both and our record isn’t indicative of what our potential was supposed to be since our quarterback, Apollo Lange, wasn’t set up correctly in the sim.
What does a (real life) week look like for a gm preparation wise?
Dizzy: During the regular season, the life of a GM isn’t too bad. We tweak the line up a little bit and run some simulations to see how our changes worked out. We chat in the discord and try to keep activity up. We also just try to make life easy on our players by posting TPE opportunities. During the offseason and nearing the draft we are a little bit more busy making draft sheets and profiles, contacting players, etc. I think being a GM is one of those situations where just being a GM isn’t necessarily that hard, but it takes a lot of practice and dedication to do it well.
PDX: Scouting throughout the week and updating your big board. There are tons of conversations to be had and not enough time between 2 people.
Are the GMs in contact with the simmer/front office/other NSFL or DSFL GMs (if so how)?
Dizzy: Yes, we have a discord channel with all of the GMs, HO, and simmer. We discuss various topics and situations that occur within the league, but there’s quite a bit of tomfoolery as well. That’s also where we draft. It’s pretty nice to have an open line of communication between all of the higher ups within the league, so if there are situations that need to be addressed it can be done so quickly.
PDX: They aren’t in contact constantly, but definitely there to talk if there are any issues with players, sims, etc. Other than that, DSFL GMs and NSFL GMs don’t interact too much during the regular season.
Did you two split responsibilities or do them together?
Dizzy: I think that PDX and I work very well together. We’re always bouncing ideas off of each other. We very rarely make decisions without consulting the other. I think that open communication between the GMs is important for the success of a team.
PDX: We split responsibilities pretty well. I’ve set the depth chart and strategies this season, but Dizzy has the sim now and is experimenting with strategies now.
What was the biggest disadvantage to building a team from scratch?
Dizzy: I think the biggest disadvantage is just not having the send down depth that the other teams had. Other teams have depth of players that went inactive with 100-200 TPE and they get to keep those players for their entire careers. It’s just tough to play against that kind of depth when you have players that are building up from the bottom. That being said, it should start to even out eventually.
PDX: Not having send downs is a glaring disadvantage. You need every roster spot to be filled and having an expansion team not receiving extra picks or to get another player from an existing team makes it all the more difficult. The established teams had the advantage because they could skip over certain positions if they already had high TPE players there. It’s no surprise that Portland won over Norfolk…they simply had the send down advantage.
Were there any advantages to building a team from scratch?
Dizzy: I think one of the advantages is that you really aren’t forced into building the team in any specific way. We were able to go out and get players at any position because we needed all of them and then build a game plan that tailors to the players that we got. It was definitely a fun process to get to build the team from the ground up.
PDX: I think the idea of an expansion team is appealing to new players, especially when you can sell them on starting at their ideal position. An established team may be crowded at certain positions and I’m sure some new players would not want to play back up or start part time in specific formations.
Could the NSFL expansion spread the current talent too thin?
Dizzy: I don’t think that the expansion will cause that many problems if we can keep on bringing in decent sized classes from reddit or other sources. If drafts drastically dip in players than it could start to cause things to thin out, but as for now I am not overly concerned with the direction that the league is taking in terms of the expansion.
PDX: I think it will considering that how many roster spots those teams have to fulfill and the number of active people we have now. I also expect about ¼ of the ‘active’ players drafted into the NSFL to go inactive so there’s going to be a big disadvantage for those NSFL expansion teams.
What is your favorite and least favorite part about being a gm?
Dizzy: I think my favorite part is just getting to interact with the team on a daily basis. It’s fun to see guys succeed or have a really good game and to see how excited they get. It’s just a lot of fun in that sense. I think my least favorite part is just how the simulation is sometimes. Sometimes it just does random stuff that frustrates the hell out of you. For instance there was one game where we were in field goal range and all we needed was that field goal to either tie or win the game, I honestly can’t remember. Anyway, the sim didn’t have us kick the field goal and instead ran the ball up the gut for a couple yards and the game ended. Pretty frustrating for sure, but no simulation is ever perfect and there is a degree of unpredictability in real life too so it makes sense I suppose.
PDX: Favorite part is player development. I love working with people on their position, helping them get acquainted with the league, and setting them up for success as they transition to the NSFL (my scouting reports, constant communication with NSFL GMs, etc.) I try to talk up all the guys I think will be successful at the next level like an Athletic Director/Coach at a University would. Least favorite part is the DSFL system itself. I was never a fan of it and tried to push through a collegiate concept, but many people were against the idea. I don’t like how the DSFL is structured and having a ‘minor league’ football system doesn’t exist in real life. This concept is just a holdover from when the league began as a football themed ‘SHL’.
Is there any rule that the head office can remove/add that would make GMing easier?
Dizzy: Give PB all of the active players. Honestly, I don’t know. Things seem to run pretty smoothly at our level. I don’t really have any major complaints.
PDX: I would like to see rules added around expansion teams so that if we do expand the DSFL (or contract and then expand again) to give the new teams a chance to draft more players to start off.
Tips/advice for new/aspiring GMs?
Dizzy: Don’t be afraid to just jump right into it. Apply for GM positions when they become available even if you don’t think that you have the experience quite yet to be one. It gets your name out there and it shows GMs that you want to be involved. In my personal opinion activity on site is the most important thing that you can have. Yeah being in discord is really important, but if you are killing it on site everyone will take notice of that.
PDX: Consistent activity is king...both in GMing, sim leagues, and life.
*Interview With The Palm Beach GMs - dizzyDC - 04-28-2019
Happy to have been involved in this interview and am super proud of you as a GM.