Was curious about this to I did some amateur digging. I set the minimum number of games played to 10 and the minimum number of minutes on the floor to 30. Using Net Rtg to decide what is "good". I'm also excluding line ups featuring players no longer on the team. Some interesting things I found (showing best and second best line ups): OVERALL #1: Nene ,Tucker, Harden, Green, Rivers (+14.6 Net RTG) #2: Capela, Tucker, Harden, House, Gordon (+11.2 Net RTG) DEFENSE #1: Nene ,Tucker, Harden, Green, Rivers (+14.6 Net RTG) #2: Capela, Tucker, Harden, House, Gordon (+11.2 Net RTG) REBOUNDING #1: Capela, Tucker, Harden, House, Gordon (+11.2 Net RTG) #2: Nene ,Tucker, Harden, Green, Rivers (+5.3 Net RTG) OFFENSE: #1: Faried, Tucker, Harden, Gordon, Paul (+2.9 Net RTG) #2: Capela, Tucker, Harden, House, Rivers (-2.9 Net RTG) THOUGHTS: 1) I really like the Capela, Tucker, Harden, House, Gordon line up. You have good size at the 2/3 and your smallest guy is 6'4. I think there's some benefits there in terms of more even height resulting in better rebounding. Obviously we have to start Paul though. 2) Paul doesn't feature heavily in our best line ups but I suspect that's because of injuries and the roster was different before and after his injury. I think Capela, Tucker, Harden, House, Paul will end up being a really, really incredible line up. That line up currently with 8 Games Played and 28 minutes on the floor has a +38.6 Net RTG, Offensive Rating 128.6 and Defensive Rating of 90. I would bet good money this line up will end up starting before the playoffs are over. 3) Rebounding is linked to winning. Defense is more linked to winning. Offense does not seem to matter, we have tons of great offensive line ups. 4) Obviously shocking seeing that #1 line up there. Those guys play hard and when Harden was on his streak, that line up was facing some 2nd units and burying them. There must be some chemistry miracle going on there. They played incredible defense. Where do you think we're headed in terms of starters and bench line ups?
With EG shooting better, and the need to have PJ on the floor for defense, I think the starting lineup will remain the same. The bench is tricky. House looks like he may be 6, but depending on matchups 7,8 and possibly 9 could be any combination of Faried, Nene, Shumpert, Green, or Rivers. I don’t consider any of this group to be lock for guaranteed playoff rotation minutes yet. I know how the OP feels about Rivers, but I sort of trust him more than Shump or Green as of right now. He will not blow defensive assignments, and he plays well above average man to man defense. Faried vs non offensive minded back up 5’s would be my 8th man, swapping with Nene of course if needed. The question comes down to Green vs Shump to me for the 9th spot if there is one this year. It looks like D’Antoni is really trying to get Shump going. Right now Green has the edge to me. Shump may surpass Green and Rivers eventually in the rotation but he is not playing to that level yet. My bench as of now is House, Faried, Rivers and Green. Nene and Shump for spot minutes.
The best line-up Capela, Tucker, Harden, House, Gordon First round playoffs If I were the coach, I'd line up Faried, Capela, Harden, House, Gordon Faried is a garbage if you bench him and play him 16 minutes or less.
https://stats.nba.com/team/1610612745/onoffcourt-summary/?sort=DIFF_NET_RATING&dir=1 One thing for sure is anything that doesn't include Iman Shumpert won't be the worst.
I keep trying to focus on Shump's defense, and it did look like he had a decent number of good defensive possessions against the Grizzlies. I was glad to see that. He simply is not an offensive factor at all, though. He's part of what I'll call the "Don't Pass To Me" club that also includes Rivers, Tucker, and a little bit of House at times, although House can have a mulligan because of the newness factor. Not for long, though. Playoffs are coming up. I want to want Faried out there. The team needs rebounding, and he's got enough unchained energy to do exactly that. And he has done that. But, as others have pointed out, his defense is pretty full of holes. Faried is such a conundrum, because he was kicking some major ass when he was the starting 5, even though he's clearly small for that role in the playoffs. Not that Capela's making a good show of anything if he's not fed a lob by Harden. Putting Faried at the 4 means by the declaration of our system, he has to camp in the corner and shoot threes. The current 4 is Gordon, who is, energetic and defensive, but also not a confident and willing 3 shooter. Let's say you put Tucker at the 3 and put Gordon in the bench being fed a lot by Paul (a very good combo.) I don't know how PJ Tucker scores outside of shooting threes. We don't have the legendary stretch 4, but the team will always play as if it does. Rivers has taken his "drive-instead-of-shoot" tactic over the hump into negative returns. Gordon shoots really well with Paul getting him open shots. Green shoots...I don't even know. It depends on the minute of the game. He's definitely more adept at shooting with traffic around him, which makes him more suitable to be on the Harden team when he gets assisted. But again, a lot of these guys do not want to shoot, and so they're really confused what to do with the ball when they get it, and that's going to lead to misses and poor choices and fast breaks by the other team. I dunno. If I was defending the Rockets, I'd just pack the lane until they prove they're a threat from the arc. Capela's not getting any offensive rebounds in that situation.
At this point I would rather put the ball in PJ Tucker's hands rather than Shumpert, who literally can't do a single thing on offense (yes, including sinking wide open 3s). He also looks lost in our system, often ends up in those deadlock midrange situation. I have no idea he ends up there in the first place.
