http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterockets/2012/10/after-opening-practices-rockets-coaches-must-figure-out-rotation/ Like we all figured the starting lineup is very likely to be: Lin, Martin, Parsons, Pat & Asik. The rest is up for grabs but what I could gather from the article is: - PG: Douglas is now primary back up with Machado having to show he can do - SG: Douglas playing some minutes, Delfino too with Lamb having to show he's committed to defense. They don't mention him in the article which is kind of odd since they mentioned everybody else worthy of mentioning. - SF: Delfino primary back up and splitting minutes with Forbes, Morris might have to prove he can hold his own defensively - PF: Jones primary back up, Morris probably gets some minutes, D-Mo still too early but might get minutes - C: Smith will get some minutes but also Patterson and eventually D-Mo. I don't Smith is going to make it, especially since he mentioned he also sees himself as a power forward.. White sure has made it hard for himself, my prediction of him cracking the rotation in January might hold true.
My prediction is that we will be seeing alot more of livingston both at PG and at SG. Machado will never see the court (cant defend and cant shoot). Same goes for Morris and Forbes will be cut. Pf is for pat to lose and Jones will be getting lots of minutes. And Johnson will be getting back up minutes instead of Smith. Hence my lineup prediction for the start of the season, PG - Lin, Douglas, Livingston, Machado SG- KMart, Lamb SF- Parsons, Delfino, White PF- Pat, Jones, DMo C - Asik, JJ, Smith. With Douglas and Livingston playing minutes at the 2 spot and Dmo spelling some minutes at the C as well. Morris will be cut.
Lin / Machado / Douglas ( because he isnt a PG ) Martin / Delfino / Lamb Parsons / Forbes / T.Jones PPat / T.Jones / White Asik / Dmo / Smith
I was expecting Livingston be the main backup, I wonder why he's not mentioned. If he's not doing well, I expect PG Lin, Douglas, Machado SG Martin, Delfino (few minutes), Lamb SF Parsons, Delfino (most of his minutes), Martin, Morris PF Patterson, Jones, Donatas, Morris C Asik, Patterson, Smith
I respect that the organization is shooting for the playoffs but... I would rather see the players with no potential losing minutes. Less minutes to Delfino.. more PT for Morris. No PT for Livingston.. more for Machado/Douglas.
Trust me, you would want Delfino to get PT when you see Lamb chucking it up and Forbes struggling against good defense.
It's too early to predict the rotation as we haven't seen many of these guys played in the NBA. Easpecially for guys like Machado and Forbes, they are getting raves from the coaching staffs and how could you possibly tell they can't survive in such an early stage? And no way Morris gets waive. I know he had terrible year but it's just silly to give him up this soon. My prediction is Lin, Parsons, Martin, Patterson, Asik, Delfino, Lamb, White, Jones, Douglas, Morris, Motiejunas are safe. Forbes and Machado are impressive so far so they would probably make the team. Livingston, Smith and JuJuan Johnson will compete for the last spot. Livingston has the edge on the other two because of his valuable contract.
Trust me, after 3 yrs of mediocrity, I would much rather see "Lamb chucking it up", then have players with no upside try to get us meaningless wins and hurt our draft stock.
This team is nothing like the 3 years prior, why can't people accept that?! It's not like playing Delfino rather than Lamb is going to get us a win, rather it keeps the game somewhat close and a competition. Trust me, there's not going to be many games against good teams where we go head to head. There's not going to be a lot of winning this year so it's good for morale and competitiveness to play veterans when young dudes are failing. Throwing Lamb to the wolves is not going to do anything good though I would love to see him play 20-30 minutes, it's not realistic. Delfino will start playing big minutes but when young bucks like Lamb, Douglas or Forbes show that they can handle the position, I am sure McHale will use him less.
Im not sure why everyone is so concerned about Delfino getting minutes over the rookies. Throughout the season, there will be injuries... lots of them. The two most injury proned players on the roster are the only two players who can be considered veterans. Delfino will get some minutes here and there because he's a nice stabilizing force to have on the court, but if someone like Lamb isn't good enough to clearly beat out Carlos Delfino by the mid-way point of the season then he might not be that good to begin with. Sorry to break the news if that does become news in a few months. -Make a note of this- During the first few months in the season you will hear heavy praise and alot of plays run with Kevin Martin in mind. Dont freak out. This doesn't mean they are planning on extending him for the next decade and building around him. This is what happens a few months before a team wants to trade a certain player. Most likely Kevin Martin is totally on board with this as well. He knows the better he plays, and the more he plays along, the better the team he can get on in February to compete for a title, and the better the contract he will get offered next Summer. -As for the center position uncertainty- whatever. We have how many young power forwards on this roster that need playing time? Just plan on seeing two power forwards on the court at the same time, and see what happens. Worse comes to worst and the team loses a couple more games due to the lack of interior defense. Those undersized post players will still be able to showcase their talent on the offensive end in a free flowing flex offensive system and put up stats. Also, dont tell me about Greg Smith's potential. This guy isn't going to make or break the Rockets future. We saw alot of him in SL, and he will get his shot in pre-season. With all the one on one work he's had, and in all this time he still cant make an impact in the paint, then Im ok with the Rockets cutting him to hold onto someone like JuJuan Johnson instead if he's looking more improved. Stats, showcasing, and in the end losing alot of games.... Seems like this is exactly what Cluchfans want out of this season, or am I wrong???
I think the 'rotation' will be different every night until after the trade deadline. We are not expecting a lot of wins and the final squad will feature 13 guys we need to see play for a year to evaluate. If a bench player gets hot, you would have to let him play to build his confidence. And, the staff has no idea what the the synergies of the possible permutations will be; you have to try all of them and try them all against different match-ups.
Based on what Ive seen/heard, their contract status, etc. here is what Im expecting them to roll out with on November 1st barring injuries- Starters- PG: Lin SG: Martin SF: Parsons PF: Patterson C: Asik Backups- PG: Douglas SG: Lamb, Forbes SF: Delfino PF/C: Jones, D-Mo Bench Warmers- Morris(with injuries expect to get in rotation sooner than later) D-Leaguers or IR- Johnson, White, Machado Buyouts or trades before reg. season - Brockman, Livingston Preseason Cuts- Smith, Fogg, McCarney(non-guaranteed contracts)-Try to move them to RGV. -This would make the most sense if I was the GM right now. An 11 man rotation seems pretty deep right now. In a perfect world you would want no more than 9, but on this team it might be necessary. One things for sure, White, Johnson, and Machado are the 3 players who clearly fit the mold of D-Leaguers in their first season, but none of them I would waive at this point. All of them have really nice potential and upside at this point. A couple of injuries here and there, and they will get the call up to the big league. -I also fully expect this to be a rough year for Royce White as he transitions to the NBA. Im not expecting to see much of him in the big league, but still think he's well worth the gamble over the long haul if he can get used to the NBA lifestyle, stay healthy(mentally) and not be a distraction going forward.
I don't understand where everyone has gotten this idea that White will be in the D-Leauge. Actually I do understand it but I think it is foolish.
Based on the fact that he missed the entire training camp, and he's even placing a huge question mark on himself its safe to assume that this rookie season is a transitional year for him. Nobody is saying that he's a bad player or whatever. Nothing wrong with that assumption based on what we've already seen. Does he have the talent to be in the rotaion??? Of course, but you would be foolish to think that its just going to be that easy for him to earn minutes this season when the team is already going to have a less than favorable deep rotation of 10 or 11 players. Im totally comfortable assuming that Royce White will spend significant time this season either on the IR or in the D-League, and your setting yourself up for dissapointment if you think otherwise. If he somehow shows up this week and explodes onto the scene overnight then great..., but based on what we've seen its safe to assume the NBA transition will not be so easy for him.
More minutes for younger players with potential to grow and with the veterans to help guide them. But the rotation is for Mchale to deal with. Its really up to him and how he feel the rotation should be. We should pretty much know the rotation sometimes in mid November because right now this team is too young and so many new faces.
From what I've seen of scrimmage videos, they REALLY should have Morris play PF and Jones SF. Jones usually appeared to be lined up against Parson in a few vids and did fairly well, granted I don't view Parsons as the great offensive talent some do but that seemed better defensively then what I saw from Morris. Morris for his credit when paired against PFs did much better although given none of our big men are what you could call strong big bodies outside of Asik and maybe Smith, who knows how he will hold up there. Either way, given all the talent we seem to have on this team, I say it is a cluster f---. We have way too many potential SGs, SFs and PFs.
If he gets shipped to the d-league it should be because of his basketball abilities and only that. If he isn't cutting it on the court so be it. But I think a lot of people are letting the issues about his anxiety (and the bus fiasco) cloud there judgement. All I care about is what he produces on the court and I think he has a ton of talent. My thinking is that the Rockets will do whatever it takes to make his transition successful so that they can use him (there investment) as a back up in actual NBA games. If his talent isn't up to par then sure send him there. But I want to see his talent first through a few scrimmage videos before I start making assumptions.
