Brewer with 6? You do realize that even though Brew has been vital now, the playoffs will be his calling time. Dude is our best off the ball player.
16, I'm not saying it's optimal but it seems like McHale will play Harden HUGE minutes and Ariza huge minutes as well, doesn't leave that much for Brewer.
Sorry, not happening. Someone will most likely get squeezed out with Howard returning. These 10 man lineups with everyone playing a lot of minutes are pure fantasy.
We have a squad It's crazy that I wish we had more minutes to give to guys cause I want to see everyone play Bev/terry/harden/brewer/ariza/smith/howard sounds like a championship team if someone told me that We also have jones and DMo as wild cards who could give a 20 point game a couple games throught the playoffs
I think DMo is going to get cut in the playoffs. I feel smith and jones will play better then him DMo is most likely getting traded if he wants to get paid high
This is going to be a stupid question, but can someone explain the logic behind using a 8 man rotation? If you have 10 good players that can contribute and you know they can impact the game, you're telling me you just don't play them because it's not ideal? I understand why it's done, I just don't get why everyone feels the need to follow it. If you played 82 games counting on a certain player And then decide not to play him when payoffs come, won't that mess up the chemistry? Wouldn't be good to not always follow the book sometimes?
Stating a number doesn't do this exercise justice because the distribution can change based on situation and opponent. Beverly and Terry split the PG minutes with Beverly playing close to 30 minutes a game. Harden dominated the 2 spot Brewer and Ariza have minutes at the 3 with Brewer playing the 2 at times. Now the big man rotation is our strength. It allows us to play Howard less and have him focus on being effective. Jones, Dmo and Smith, the guy who gets the most playing time is the guy playing the best during that particular game. If Dmo is dominating in the low block, weight the minutes towards him.
I REALLY want to see a lineup of Harden, Brewer, Ariza, Smith, Howard when we need a stop. Brewer/Ariza on the PG. The length across the court is insane. People for the passing lanes. AND two of the best shot blockers anchoring behind.
By the way, the trade deadline has come and gone, guys. It's time to focus on off-season roster moves. What is this meaningless playoff talk about?
One of the things we've seemed to enjoy trying out this year is switching on every pick on the perimeter. Occasionally this has led to stupid mismatches i.e. Beverley on their PF or DMo on their PG. But with Harden at PG and Jones/Smith at PF this has been a moot point. It was really fun to watch TJones defend Deron Williams or Jarrett Jack last night when I was at the game. When Dwight gets back I really hope we explore the idea of playing James at the 1 more often. Not defensively I mean; James will still start off guarding the weaker of the two positions, usually the off-guard, while Brewer or Ariza take on their main backcourt threat. But as a defensive unit, we are scary good when we have the ability to switch at will without regard to the matchup. And if Dwight is in the middle, then say good night. We should be the best defensive team in the NBA when he returns.
I think it's about maximizing your best players and your best combination of players. A championship-caliber team needs to have a five-man unit that is the core of the team, a combination that can go up against any team's best five. This five-man unit could be the starting lineup - or not, as the championship Spurs teams have proven. Coaches would actually love to ride these best five players for all 48 minutes, but since that's not physically possible, they probably choose two or three reliable bench players to give them some rest and maybe give the opponents a different look once in a while. Weaker teams can't even safely go eight-deep in this way, so they're constantly scrambling to cover their weak spots or overworking their stars. Theoretically, our current Rockets team can go 10 deep. With Howard back in the lineup, we'd have Terry/Prigs, Brewer, Smith, and DMo coming off the bench. A solid bench, and in theory, it could be a great advantage because it gives McHale options in terms of matchups. However, going 10 deep could also be evidence that the team doesn't have a truly potent combination of five players (plus three complementary players) that the coach can count on. In other words, hoping for an effective 10-man rotation could mean the team lacks confidence in a core 8-man rotation. So, is there an eight-man rotation that the Rockets can say is their core, and has that unit had enough time on the court to develop chemistry? I'd say no at this point. But they still have some time to figure one out.
+1 The playing time will be situational. What if Harden gets in foul trouble early? They're a lot of game time factors to be considered.
I would like to see something like this... Harden 38 Howard 30 Ariza 30 Beverley 25 Jones 25 Brewer 25 Motiejunas 20 Smith 20 Prigioni 15 Terry 12 Positions will not be that important because at times we will go small, and at times we might even go big. Do not generally like 10 man rotations in the playoffs, but all of these guys can play. In the 2nd half of each game I would probably settle on an 8 man rotation, but the 8 players would change game to game.
