I don’t see how people could see them thrive but then fanbases don’t want a team to take a shot on someone because there 26 year old favorite player shits the bed but they don’t want a change to make the team better
The only excuse that seems real tbh is unproven. There is always a chance of a player struggling with an audience when they're used to just being in a room with their team and coach. But 1 or 2 experienced players should be enough to curb that, you don't need to have 5 veterans, you can have 3 youngsters and 2 vets which balances out nicely and can feed off of each others morale.
Basically unproven players are more susceptible to have a weak mentality on stage because you don't know if they can handle it, older players you already know if they can or can't depending on their historic performance.
The issue with younger players, is essentially the same issue with GC players and why they will essentially never get picked up, because they dont really have T1 experience. This mentality is not wrong, in any sport a veteran is favored over a youngster, but the issue is val's season is too limited to test a youngster and take a gamble on them/gc player. This means, majority of the times, orgs have to play safe and try to not be too experimental.
The teams that break that mold like TH can succeed, or like KC they will falter at the final steps. Orgs can pick up questionable players, like Geng and do well, or pick up good players and do bad, sen 23.
Its all shit because there is no direct comparison for a player not playing in T1, and taking a gamble is too big of a risk when esports is already such a shitty business. Yes the 26 year old is falling in terms of aim, but the things he brings outside of it is what is valued when we do risk assessments. All in all, I blame Riot for not having a season where teams can play and test, I mean at one point Sen had like 3-4 different teams in 22, nowadays just one switch and everyone thinks its a little too late.