"We draft mostly high school kids and we have one of the finest, if not the finest, player development programs and coaching staffs and we teach our players the right way to play. We also have a game plan in scouting, and there are certain types of players that we look for"
About this Quote
There is a quiet brag hiding inside the language of process. Roy Clark frames success not as a lucky run of talent, but as an ecosystem: draft young, teach hard, scout with intention, repeat. The phrasing does what good front-office rhetoric always does: it turns an uncertain, high-variance enterprise into something that sounds engineered. “Mostly high school kids” isn’t just a demographic detail; it’s a claim of confidence. You take teenagers when you believe your infrastructure can finish the job better than anyone else can.
The line “the right way to play” carries the familiar moral varnish of sports culture. It implies more than fundamentals. It signals discipline, buy-in, and a preference for players who will accept a system rather than demand one. That’s why the quote pivots quickly to “certain types of players that we look for.” On the surface it’s scouting. Underneath it’s social selection: temperament, coachability, risk tolerance, even class-coded assumptions about which kids will “develop” cleanly.
The intent is twofold. Internally, it reassures fans and ownership that the organization isn’t gambling; it’s cultivating. Externally, it sends a message to agents and rival clubs: we may not win every bidding war, but we can manufacture value. That’s also the soft power of player development talk in the draft era. If you can credibly claim you’re the place that turns raw into ready, you don’t just evaluate talent - you shape the market around your own strengths.
The line “the right way to play” carries the familiar moral varnish of sports culture. It implies more than fundamentals. It signals discipline, buy-in, and a preference for players who will accept a system rather than demand one. That’s why the quote pivots quickly to “certain types of players that we look for.” On the surface it’s scouting. Underneath it’s social selection: temperament, coachability, risk tolerance, even class-coded assumptions about which kids will “develop” cleanly.
The intent is twofold. Internally, it reassures fans and ownership that the organization isn’t gambling; it’s cultivating. Externally, it sends a message to agents and rival clubs: we may not win every bidding war, but we can manufacture value. That’s also the soft power of player development talk in the draft era. If you can credibly claim you’re the place that turns raw into ready, you don’t just evaluate talent - you shape the market around your own strengths.
Quote Details
| Topic | Coaching |
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