Over the long haul, you want tour big money guys to build chemistry, especially the backcourt. Gordon/ Bev Harden/ KJ Ariza/ Corey/ Decker Anderson/ Beasley Capella/ Nene Rockets need to make their mind up on DMO..Anderson and Beasley will dip into his minutes Unless he will play Center.
Gordon should come off the bench as should Nene. We need some scoring coming off the bench. Bev in my opinion can still play and be effective alongside Harden.
I'm almost positive 90% of this board couldn't tell you capela, nene's listed height and weight, nor any other player. Shaq was one of a kind. One. He was it. Seriously though, man weight, man strength are real things if you don't know. It hits around 23-25 years old. Why mitigate a phenomenal set of athletic gifts by forcing a young man to overeat? Will that make him a better ball player?
If you had to set one for opening night under D'Antonio's system, who would you give it to? Who gives us the best chance get off to a great start against most teams?
I still THINK D-Mo is retained.... hopefully. If so, and assuming PERFECT Health (big stretch to assume with this group), you will likely have a 9 to 10 man rotation of - Starters- PG: Beverley SG: Harden SF: Ariza PF: Anderson C: Capela Bench- PG: (run Harden or Gordon at spot minutes without Bev) MAYBE Goudelock or GP II for 5 to 10 min a night SG/SF- Gordon, Brewer PF/C- Nene, D-Mo .... Once Injuries happen this roster will look much much less deep, and would be surprise if at least one big is injured and Harrell & Beasley have to step in for big minutes. I think Beasley will sit for the first few weeks of the season, and its probably best for the team if they let Nene work his way into the season to prevent an early injury. You'll need him more in the 2nd half of the season. Once Gordon gets injured its up to KJ and Dekker to get those minutes. Hopefully KJ improves enough to plant Brewer on the bench for the start of the season, or hopefully Brewer gets traded beforehand so we don't have to watch that abomination play basketball ever again in a Rockets uniform.
Guys even thought Harden sets up the plays and you are calling him the "PG", you still need a traditional PG who has the dribbling ability to bring the ball up the court and and who has the speed to defend opposing PGS. If Gordon ever plays alongside Harden it is in a small ball lineup with the Center or PF off the court, not the PG.
Harden/Goudelock/GP2 Gordon/Bev/KJ Ariza/Brewer/Dekker Anderson/Beasley/Harrell Capela/Nene/Nanu D-mo is on outside looking in right now unless some trades are made.
Beverley Harden / Gordon / KJ Ariza / Brewer / Dekker Anderson / Beasley / Harrell Capela / Nene / Onuaku Neeeed a PG.
No way can you start Nene, the guy is fine to round out the bench but he couldn't even do more than that for a terrible Wiz team last season Beverly Harden Ariza Anderson Capela/Dmo
Starting lineup isn't as important to me as the depth. Using their minutes per game from last year: Harden 38 Ariza 35 Gordon 33 Anderson 30 Beverly 29 Brewer 20 Capella 19 Nene 19 Beasley 18 D-Mo 15 Capella's minutes should go up to about 25 minutes. Nene might not be used as extensively if D-mo is available. Brewer's minutes should come down. Either way, there are a lot of options for different lineups with this group.
Yeah it could be an interesting and entertaining mix, as long as expectations for the team are kept low. But in the regular season, it could be fun.
Harden, Gordon, and Anderson will not start together I don't think. That's really bad defense with no traditional PG. They might not even get many minutes together, given the defensive issues. Gordon will be the guard off the bench in the Jeremy Lin or Jason Terry role. I think he will be the scorer/creator when Harden is not. He can be a combo type guard. If we go small with Bev, Harden and Gordon I don't know that Anderson will be in. That would be very small in terms of rebounding and defense.
We type all day about starting line ups ,but the real conversation is who plays crunch time 4th quarter, forget about traditional positions. You want the most talented ball players on your roster to be on the court. Every once in a while a coach will ride the hot hand, but you need your best. It will be interesting to see who that five will be....
