Now that we have everybody back and healthy (hopefully we stay this way). The question is, will MDA decide to go 10 deep? He normally goes 8 to 9 deep, so who will be left out? But since this team has so much talent, I foresee the 2019 Playoff Lineup as; Starting Five Harden Paul Tucker Faried Capella Bench Gordon House Green Shumpert (maybe 10 to 15 min) Rivers (maybe 10 to 15 min) Nene (if we play bigger teams)
Faried and Rivers are more effective as starters. They are not motivated if they don't play 30 minutes +. The key to defeat Golden States: Faried and Rivers are very effective.
Faried will be our of the rotation would be my guess. It’s all very matchup depend it. All the Shumpert hate is being proven wrong as he continues to play a lot of minutes.
To me, Rivers, House, and Faried are shoe-ins off the bench in some capacity. I am wondering which of Nene, Green, and Shumpert (if any) crack the rotation in the playoffs. I would vote Green getting 10-15 minutes as ninth on the depth chart, with Nene and Faried trading off back-up center minutes, depending on the match-up.
A 9 man rotation of Paul / Harden / Gordon / Tucker / Capela Rivers / Green / House / Faried That gradually fades Green out as the stakes get higher would be my preference. Nene can slide in there for spot minutes against Cousins or Adams as needed. If Shumpert's in there, so be it. I kind of expect him to be. But I wouldn't have him. I don't care if Gordon starts or comes off the bench, as long as he plays heavy minutes.
Zero. And I mean zero chance we run a 10 man rotation in the playoffs. Paul/Harden/Gordon/Tucker/CC Faried OR Nene as our main backup big depending on matchup. Gonna guess Rivers is cut out and Paul,Harden and Gordon eat up almost all the 1-2 minutes. 2 of House, Green and Shump get the back up 2-4 minutes.
We essentially: Lost Ariza Added House, Rivers, Faried, Shumpert Darnell Morley deserves some credit for basically sewing the Titanic back together after the iceberg. (Melo, Ennis)
Kenneth Faried is certainly not gonna be starting, and is unlikely to get any more than Capela's backup minutes. He won't get those if Nene plays Green and Shumpert are likely competing for the last rotation spot. No chance we play 10 guys, none.
I bet this will be the playoff rotation: Capela Tucker House Harden Paul Gordon Nene Shumpert and sometimes Faried
It's pretty hard for me to see Green getting minutes over Rivers. Although Gordon is a far superior overall player, because Rivers is the far superior secondary ballhandler, it's really important to have Rivers on the floor also when either Paul/Harden is sitting. Lack of a secondary ballhandler was actually one of our major problems last year, and is one of the biggest contributors to Harden wearing out in playoff games. I would also imagine that the vast majority of backup C minutes go to Faried, because we don't have to change our style to play with him and his major liabilities as a defender (size related) are pretty minimized when he's matching up against backup centers.
The guy hasn't had much time to gel with the team. Older players take more time to get out of their habbits... i.e. shooting long 2's. Take it from a Chef. I get a better response from younger cooks who follow the game plan than journeymen who do their own thing most of the time.
