Posted by nickguy08 on 5/7/2014 8:17:00 PM (view original):
I think FSS is to much of a shotgun approach. Going out and scouting players is more rifle approach. I think tiering the FSS service would be ideal. Full cost reveals everything. 2nd grade reveals a little less, 3rd tier just enough to get a good read. There are certain ratings I could care less about.
An example:
You're graduating 2 starters, plus your top sub. In your next class, you need a PG/SG with the potential to start in a couple years, a SF that's versatile enough to back up at the PF right away, and a true C to be your main big sub. You identify 9 players that fit those criteria during the regular season, before recruiting begins. Let's say all are within the 360 mile window that makes scouting trips a lot less expensive, just to make your (in my opinion, very odd) strategy at least a bit more plausible.
If you send out even ONE scouting trip for each of the 9 players, you'll have spent, at minimum, around $1,500. If you follow up with another scouting trip on even 4 or 5 of them, that's probably another $1,000. When you narrow it down to the 3 you're going to offer on, you'll probably send at least one more scouting trip, for just under $1,000 total. And even then, you're not guaranteed that your "scout" will provide you info on the categories you're interested in. Meanwhile, you could have simply scouted Texas and whichever surrounding state you're closest to, and had MUCH more accurate information on all 9 prospects, plus perhaps many that you overlook by focusing TOO much on starting values.
As I mentioned before, you're cutting off your nose to spite your face on this issue. You're gaining absolutely nothing by not using FSS, and you're losing a LOT. And I still can't figure out why.