How exactly would YOU distribute our PG minutes anyways??

There's been a lot of brouhaha over McHale's substitution patterns in regards to Lin lately. How and when he should be rested, who should be our backup pg, etc. I believe that as a philosophy, our PG minutes should be optimized to have either Lin or Beverley in there at all times. Yes, I know Beverley is an unknown, but to the contrary, although TD has shown to be an effective spark off the bench providing energy and better 3 point shooting, over the course of the game, his inability to lead the team as a pg is damningly detrimental to the movement and flow of our team, resulting in many a loss, at least in my opinion. TD's provided good minutes for us this year, but I feel that it's "fool's gold" as even if makes a shot here or there, the overall flow of the game is hectic and he doesn't create enough of a penetration threat, offensive pressure, or transition game (when is the last time you've seen him with a good outlet pass or running the break well, other than his admittedly awesome one man breaks). Once again just my opinion.


Currently, Mac distributes our PG minutes as follows:

1st quarter: Lin typically plays 6 1/2 minutes to start the quarter then TD comes in until the end of the first.

2nd quarter: TD typically starts us off and Lin comes in at the 10 minute mark until either the 2 minute mark or till the end of the quarter depending on how Mac feels about Lin's play. (He used to start Lin in the 2nd some games similar to the 1st)

3rd quarter: Lin starts us off for 7 minutes while TD comes in at the end.

4th quarter: TD starts us off for the final quarter and when he comes out is evaluated depending on how the team is playing.. In this instance, the starter's minutes are contingent upon the play of the backup, rather than for resting purposes in the most crucial period of the game!

I do like the distribution in general, but I hate the last part (hence, the bold print). I absolutely hate it! Whether or not the team is doing well (some of you might disagree), we need our best players out on the court. Yes, TD can have some great runs, same goes for Beverley, but over the course of the year, the better player will provide more great plays and thus the backups play should not dictate the starter's minutes. It should be more of a "great job guys, now we'll take it over from here and extend the run" kind of thing. I don't know how many times I've seen Mac overuse TD and fall for the "fool's gold" of decent production from TD without creating a true flow and rhythm, thereby leading to losses or putting in a deflated, "lost" Lin a tad bit too late, who constantly wonders when and if he'll play in the most important quarter of the game. It's all about controlling the pace and rhythm of the game and Lin is more apt to do that than TD.

My distribution would be:

1st quarter: Lin should come in attacking for 8 minutes, a solid chunk of time, then rest with Beverley given the rest of the minutes. Of course, if he doesn't pan out, we could go back to TD or find another decent backup PG if possible, but I'd give him a shot as he seems to be a better "penetrate and distribute"-type pg than TD. I'd rather use TD as a backup SG or in limited spurts with Harden controlling the ball.

2nd quarter: Beverley should keep the pace high and run the floor for a solid 4 minutes (unless he proves not to be proficient as previously shown) and have Lin come in to finish the quarter.

3rd quarter: Lin should come in attacking for 8 minutes, with Beverley playing the quarter out.

4th quarter: Lin should either start and play out till victory is secured or should be brought back at the 10 minute mark, no matter what the backups do (of course if TD/Beverley is going ham that would be a different story, but if it's just cuz the team is doing well, they should be able to do even better with Lin over the course of the season).

Lin's total minutes: 34 minutes on average. A tad much but it can be adjusted depending on the game.

There are myriads of other factors, of course, but this would be the distribution I would use. The key changes as it pertains to the PG spot are:
a) I would give Lin a chunk of time to work with (8 minutes), not 5 or 6 minutes where you can't create a true sustained momentum as a pg.
b) I would try out Beverley over TD for a while, as good as TD's been, we need someone who could play the pg position better.
c) If Lin's hot, I'd ride him longer in that quarter and not bring him out just cuz the clock reads 5:00 in the first or third quarters. I hate when Mac does that.
d) I'll let the starters play over the backup, whenever possible, unless there was a real run being made with said player providing crucial plays during that stretch.
e) You'll never see me not have Lin in at the end of games, except when he goes into that lazy turnover mode as he does every so often. Even then, however, I'd call timeout, slap him in the face, throw some water in his face, and get him back in there rather than sub him, if possible.

What do you guys think? Any other interesting ideas? What am I missing (as I'm liable to much of the time as I usually post on my iPhone..)?


Also, the PF/C position substitution is a mess as well in my opinion, but that's a much harder issue and I'll add that thread later. All I want to say is D-Mo and TJones are promising but what we need is a tough defensive minded, rebounding thug out there, not a soft stretch 4, so I'd go with developing TJones as some of those blocks early in the pre-season were impressive. But, the backup C position, as good as Smith is, is horrible defensively. However, this is a separate issue and so I'll put that up another time after seeing how this discussion turns out.

Please guys, not too much Lin fans vs Lin haters in this thread. Thanks.

 

Royce White could've made our options very interesting as a back up to Chandler and PPat, but that's neither here nor there as he's not dependable enough in an already inconsistent young team.
Omer, on the other hand, may be the most important piece of the puzzle. How do we keep in him in here without his stone hands, and TO inducing klutziness? Who can play backup for him well on the defensive end? But, as I've said, that's for a another thread.

 

I dispute that. But, the bigger issue I have is that McHale and by extension your line of thinking is not taking into account the need for pg play which TD does not provide.

 

Don't be facetious.

 

I do understand you point, but that's what Harden's there for, to be the main offensive weapon. Lin does need to cut those lazy turnovers out but once again, what's the alternative? TD in extended minutes? Harden being forced to play inefficient minutes as pg getting even more turnovers?

 

Lin's minutes distribution scale:

All 48 minutes --> supreme LOF
40-47 minutes --> LOF
32-39 minutes --> Fan of Lin
25-31 minutes --> Still not sure of Lin
15-24 minutes --> Lin hater
01-14 minutes --> LOH
0 minutes --> Dei

 

Agreed. Not only Lin but Harden becomes more efficient when playing their proper roles with someone to take the burden of play-making off him. With all the talk of Lin's ridiculous turnovers last game, Harden has done that nearly every game. I blame it on this specific point. Harden's playing too much pg and not enough sg.

However, my point is, Harden and especially Asik can't play the entire game. What then? We need to have a better offensive plan when that happens.
The problem I see when it comes to our pg position is that our starting pg is not being given enough of a chunk of time to build rhythm in certain games, and that when he's out, we still need pg play.

 

No doubt. Everyone's mentioned recently that we are now playing the guard positions correctly. I just wanted to discuss this point theoretically as a basketball fan, not only as a criticism of McHale. No coach gets the substitutions correctly all the time.