I'm interested in everybody else's take on what the rotation and minutes distribution looks like. I am making the following assumptions: 1 James Harden, Jeremy Lin, and Patrick Beverly form a three-man guard rotation, and two of the three will be on the floor at all times, unless one (or more) of them is injured, in serious foul trouble, or the game is a blowout. 2 We'll see a twin towers Dwight Howard-Omer Asik lineup 12 minutes/game. 3 Terrence Jones wins the starting PF job. 4 We'll see a smallball lineup with Chandler Parsons at "power forward" 12 minutes/game. 5 Daryl Morey does not make a big quantity-for-quality trade before the season starts (although I think we may see such a trade in January or February). Starting lineup PG Jeremy Lin 32 minutes/game SG James Harden 36 minutes/game SF Chandler Parsons 36 minutes/game PF Terrence Jones 24 minutes/game C Dwight Howard 32 minutes/game Off the bench Omer Asik 28 minutes/game Patrick Beverly 28 minutes/game Francisco Garcia 12 minutes/game Ronnie Brewer 12 minutes/game I may as well flesh out my anticipated fifteen man roster. Stashed in the d-league Isaiah Canaan Robert Covington Waived, for sure: Jordan Henriquez That leaves four roster spots up for grabs for the following seven players: Sonatas Motiejunas Greg Smith Marcus Camby Aaron Brooks Omri Casspi Reggie Williams B.J. Young Only Motiejunas and Smith are eligible to be traded prior to final roster deadline day in late October, which is why I project both players to be traded for draft pick. Obviously neither player would be cut if they are not traded for picks. If both players are traded for picks then it appears to me that Williams and Young are competing for the final roster spot. If More is only able to trade one of Motiejunas and Smith (one but not both) then I think Williams and Young both get cut. If he isn't able to trade either one of them then I think Williams , Young, and Casspi all get cut.
It's probably way too early for this. It's going to change again right before camp, then during camp, in pre season, etc..
Agree with OP mostly except swap out Bev for Lin as a starter. Bev brings the D and plays better with Harden.
Too many assumptions at this point to be able to accurately say what is even truly "likely." Lots of things will change durning training camp & preseason. There are so many possibilities with this roster, I can't begin to explain them all. If I had to guess though, I would assume like past years, this Rockets team would carry on the tradition of going small more often than not. They certainly have the ability to go big, and bigger with the amount of bigs they have, but I have a feeling their most productive lineups will see Parsons at the 4 with Garcia or Casspi at the 3/4.
Casspi and Camby are the two on that list that are all but guaranteed a roster spot. Smith and Brooks are much more likely to be cut.
I think it'll be around this, but this will be the go-to end of game lineup. Dwight, Parsons, Someone as in Garcia or Brewer, Harden, and Lin. I think Brewer is a very, very good pick up. He immeaditly becomes our best perimeter defender, but Garcia did his thing in the playoffs and is an excellent shooter, so it's difficult to see who gets it. I think it'll be Lin/Bev/Harden in the backcourt. And Parsons, Garcia or Brewer or Casspi playing the 3. And Dmo, Parsons, TJones, Asik sharing the four, and then finally Dwight and Omer at the 5. McHale has a lot at his disposal. The variables are DMo and TJones, how well they perform. That's what makes everything else fall in line.
I'd say there is close to a 0% chance that Greg Smith gets cut. He was pretty good last year, he's young, he's a big man. He has trade value. Why in the world would you cut a guy when you can trade him for a draft pick instead? Re: Terrence Jones vs. Donatas Motiejunas: I agree that Motiejunas may wind up winning the starting PF spot, but I believe Jones is the more polished player, so I'm predicting that he's the starter. Also, if the Rockets don't trade one of these two guys prior to final roster deadline day, I can see the team experimenting with each player as the starter for the first 3+ months of the season and finally trading one of them prior to the February trade deadline, either straight up for a draft pick (more likely) or packaged with Jeremy Lin or Omer Asik (less likely) for a big upgrade at PF.
Well, I have to as usual disagree. But I do agree that the perfect PF for the Rockets would be Parsons at 245 pounds. He fits like a glove with the DDMO and Howard. Howard and Asik will be on the floor together much less than 12 minutes together. They would be a sure fire way of stifling the offense, while providing a minimal boost to the defense. There are few driving lanes available when Howard's defender or Asik's defender or both are camped out around the paint. We will have to see about TJ. His big news over the summer was stamping some homeless guy. D-Mo is spending his summer with his national team and earning more minutes and looking more impressive with each game. D-Mo has much more trade value than Jones, but I cannot see Morey dealing his most promising PF. The guy has true skills.
i think beverly should start over lin and d-mo should start over t-jones. with howard getting a lot of attention at the rim that will leave players like parsons,hardeen,beverly and d-mo open for three point shooting...lin is good, but beverly can defend and shoot way better then lin. t-jones is good ,but a 257 pound d-mo is ok playing under the basket ,but really good three point shooter.b
Lin(30),Beverley(18),Brooks(0) Harden(36),Garcia(12) Parsons(34),Brewer(10),Garcia(4),Casspi(0) Jones(18),Smith(12),Motiejunas(10),Howard(8) Howard(24),Asik(24) Canaan, Camby on reserves.
I think this thread should have been titled, "As currently assembled. . . " There could be 3+ new players on the roster before the season even begins. Morey will more than likely pull some sort of trade out of his hat prior to regular season. I doubt he is snoozing right now. Until his roster looks like. . . . P.G. - Paul S.G. - Harden S.F. - Anthony P.F. - LeBron ..C. - Howard . . . . Morey will not sleep.
