Who do you think should play, and how much, by the time the playoffs kick in? Let's all assume, for our own psychological health, that Dwight Howard comes back and maintains some semblance of his old form in good health. For me, I probably bring DMo off the bench once again, just because Jones seems to fit in so well with Dwight and does not need the ball in his hands to produce. Beverley (25) / Prigioni (8) Harden (38) / Brewer (25) - assuming Harden plays a good chunk of time at point Ariza (36) Jones (25) / Smith (25) Dwight (30) / DMo (16) Side note: Man it feels good to have a bench! And frontcourt depth! When was the last time you saw a Rockets team with those kinds of strengths? In spite of a low seed, the Phoenix Suns rode a strong bench to the conference finals a few years back (the one with Dragic and Channing Frye).
Harden 38 Howard 30 Ariza 30 Bev 23 D-Mo 22 Smith 22 Jones 22 Brewer 20 Prigioni 18 Terry 15 I really don't care who starts at the 4, but I think Smith/Jones/D-Mo should all be used about the same. Whoever is playing better stays in. 10 man rotations aren't ideal, but I like the idea of using 4 big men to keep them all fresh. Also Terry and Prigioni are geriatric, so limited minutes are probably best.
Keep Bev down to 15, and increase Brewer to 25. Smith should get more minutes than Jones and D-Mo in the playoffs, but 18-20 mins for Jones and D-Mo should be an achievable target provided if they are playing well. Dorsey should be retained for spot minutes too.
There is a huge problem for this team in the playoff in close game as the Nets tried yesterday to take advantage. Late game, in a close game, if the other team will get FT, they will just hit the first and try to miss the second and then grab Dwight and josh and play the FT game. Having 2of the worst FT shooters as your defensive stoppers is a real concern.
Beverley (20) / Terry (10) / Prigioni (16) Harden (38) / Terry (4) / Brewer (6) Ariza (32) / Brewer (16) Jones (28) / Smith (16) / D-Mo (4) Dwight (28) D-Mo (20) Harden 38 Ariza 32 Dwight 28 Jones 28 D-Mo 24 Brewer 22 Beverley 20 Smith 16 Prigioni 16 Terry 14 Not going to happen though, McHale will probably screw it up and run everybody into the ground while not playing Prigioni, going back to D-Mo starting and risk Dwight's health.
There is only one person on this team that should have so called set numbers and that's Harden. This team has a lot of players that can have a hot night and you have to go with the hot hand. Analytic's are great with shooting and free throw percentage, but it should stop there. You should not use it to say this player plays this many minutes and that player plays that many minutes. This team has too many interchangeable parts to hard code some numbers, especially during play-off time. T_Man
The last seasons we always had a playof rotatio of 7 players. Maybe we go to 8 this year, but certainly no more than that. Harden will easily play close to 40 minutes - it's the playoffs. It is very possible, that either Jones, DMo or Smith don't play regular minutes in the playoffs. In the playoffs coaches usually don't want to play guys for just 10 minutes. They want the best combination of guys out there at all time, not someone who doesn't play enough to get a feel for the game. So don't expect 9 or ten men rotations in the playoffs. I wouldn't be shocked if Brewer and Smith were our only bench...
Are you crazy? You play the people that can play. San Antonio played 10. You play whoever you think can play. All of the bigs are playing. Period. Dwight and D Mo are always in foul trouble. Dwight has missed half the season. Plus Smoove and Dwight are terrible FT shooters. D Mo and T Jones might have to play to prevent Hack a Rocket. Playoff rotations shorten when you have players you don't trust. We have 4 starting bigs. They will all play.
Beverley (26) / Pablo (15) / Terry (3) Harden (38) / Brewer (8) / Terry (2) Ariza (35) / Brewer (13) DMo (12) / Smith (20) / Jones (16) Howard (36) / DMo (12) Notes: - I feel/hope Bev gets his act together by the playoffs. I think he plays better when Howard is on the court too because he can be more aggressive on the floor as he knows Howard will erase his mistakes. Shooting wise, I'm hoping for the best. - Prigs should get the majority back up point guard minutes. I put Terry getting minutes as a situational guy (When we need a three or our best free throw shooters on the court), but I can see McHale giving minutes to Terry because of his playoff experience. - Harden is going to have to play a lot. 38 minutes might be an underestimate. I can see him easily get 42 mpg since we are going to need his offense so much. - Smith is going to get the majority of the minutes at the PF. Hope this improved Jones will show up in the playoffs but Smith will be the failsafe. DMo will start and get the first 6 minutes of each half then he will play center the rest of the way, like he has been doing. - All these rotations depend on Howard. If he can come back and play well, minutes become a lot more spread out but if he can't, I can see McHale playing guys like Harden, Ariza and Smith a lot more minutes.
I am not saying I am in favor of a 7-men rotation. In my mind you need at least an 8-men-rotation (with someone who can play PG, a wing man and a big man off the bench). And I wouldn't be against a 9-men-rotation (with Prigoni, Brewer, DMo and Smith off the bench). All I am saying - that's not what McHale is doing. And that is not what a lot of coaches are doing. Most just play their 7 best players and give the rest the garbage minutes.
I would like having brewer, harden, and ariza play a lot as the guards in the playoffs. Brewer or arizas length would really bother the opposing teams pg, and that is a much better lineup offensively.
Harden, Ariza, Brewer, Smith, Dwight lineup against teams with elite point gaurds would be ideal. It's amazing how Ariza and Smith suffocated Chris Paul down the stretch. And if we, God forbid, get OKC in the 1st round i'd like to see Ariza on Westbrook and Smith on Durant.
Im guessing a short rotation of Bev, Harden, Ariza, Brever, Smith and Dwight. Couple with Prigoni/Terry and Dmo/Tjones for spot minutes and matchup.
NJohnson, McDaniels, Dorsey, Capela and KPap all getting 12+ minutes a night! ...cause we're up by 30 going into the 4th and McHale clears the bench... that would be optimal.... lol
Beverley (30)/Prigioni (18) Harden (38)/Terry (5)/Brewer (5) Ariza (28)/Brewer (20) Jones (20)/Smith (24)/Motiejunas (4) Howard (30)/Motiejunas (18) Would be a pretty good starting point. But honestly, knowing McHale, it'll probably look more like this if Howard is healthy: Beverley (35)/Terry (13) Harden (42)/Brewer (6) Ariza (38)/Brewer (10) Jones (20)/Smith (28) Howard (38)/DMo (10)
