One of the supposed benefits of the Lou Williams trade was that he would help us get some of our key players minutes down. This would help us be fresher for the playoffs . Many elite teams have used his strategy of managing minutes for years now and it seems to be a real boon . However , if you looks at the minutes distribution pre and post all star break; this is not happening . Harden pre 36.5 min , post 35.5 Trevor pre 34.5 min , post 32.5 min Patrick pre 30.5 min , post 30.5 min Gordon pre 30.5 min , post 30.5 min I rounded a bit , but in essence what I posted is what they play . So Lou Williams valuable added rest has turned out to be 1 minute for James and 2 minutes for Trevor . Does this actually make a difference ? Furthermore , pat and Eric have basically not gotten any of their minutes cut . When you look at the game by game basis it's actually even worse ( in my opinion ) . The only reason the averages have been that low is because we've blown out a couple of teams and some guys got to rest the entire 4th. In close games , the minutes our key players play has been even higher . Of course this makes sense . But it means that Lou is really not providing any extra rest . Where are Lou's minutes coming from ? Dekker and Ryan . Both of those guys have seen their average minutes cut by about 5-6 . But Ryan has had injury issues so some of that has been independent of Lou . It is Dekker that is falling out of the rotation . Is Lou better than Dekker ? Yes Playing your best players makes sense and helps you win more games . But the notion that having Lou allows us to rest James , Trevor, pat , and Eric more is just false . The reason I bring this up is that Eric has been in a slump since January . Isn't it time for some rest ? Trevor is looking a bit worn down again , don't you want him fresh for the playoffs ? There are still 12 games left so there is still time to give these guys a day off or reduce their minutes significantly a few games in a row . I would do it . Our seed is almost locked up and while winning now is important , I'd sacrifice a game to be in a better health situation in April .
They'll rest when they're dead! Seriously, The Rockets are 5 games up with 12 to play for the 3rd seed. If the Rockets and Jazz both win the same amount of games in the next 7 (for instance 5-2) then Houston would pretty much secure that seed and could rest players then. I have a feeling though Harden wants to play.
Part of it is because "scrubby" Dekker has become unplayable and Brewer-esque. In the last 10 games he is averaging 13 MPG compared to about 20 MPG before that
Players go through streaks . Gordon has been equally awful considering he jacks up shots at a much higher rate . You have to let your young players play through it and maintain their confidence . In my opinion Dekkers season is pretty much over . Being benched is gonna kill a young guys confidence and it becomes a compounding factor to poor play . Brewer was a 10 year vet , there was no upside to letting him play . i just hope our focus on winning now doesn't wear us out for the playoffs is all .
Not sure why Harden was playing 40 minutes against NOP recently in a blowout. I hope it wasn't to pad stats.
I think it was because we didn't want to throw in the towel. However, given that we were never really in the game it was pretty stupid considering we played at Denver the next night.
Spoiler Anderson: -5.5 55 G; 30.8 11 G; 25.3 Ariza: -2.1 58 G; 34.6 12 G; 32.5 Beverley: +0.3 44 G; 30.5 12 G; 30.8 Brown: - 17 G; 3.0 5 G; 3.0 Capela: +0.9 43 G; 23.3 12 G; 24.2 Dekker: -5.8 58 G; 19.7 12 G; 13.9 Gordon: +0.4 52 G; 30.5 12 G; 30.9 Harden: -0.8 58 G; 36.6 12 G; 35.8 Harrell: -8 46 G; 19.1 7 G; 11.1 Hilario: +2.1 48 G; 17.1 10 G; 19.2 LouWill: +0.1 58 G; 24.2(LAL) 12 G; 24.3(HOU) Brewer: -3.5 58 G; 15.9(HOU) 11 G; 12.4(LAL) Wiltjer: -0.2 9 G; 3.2 3 G; 3.0 Ennis: +5.0 31 G; 6.3(HOU) 9 G; 11.3(LAL) McDaniels: +0.8 29 G; 7.3(HOU) 9 G; 8.1(BRK) Mike doesn't believe in rest or "minute concerns". Mike has his 8 man rotation: James, Pat, Trevor, Ryan, Clint, Eric, Louis, Nene. _________________________________________________________________ "Most of this (decisions about resting healthy players) would have to come from the medical staff and the trainers)," Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said. "I don't know enough to rest a guy. We have guys who want to play all 82. They're really good at it. We talk about it. If they need a rest or whatever we'd do it. "Everybody has to coach their own team, coach their own guys. Every team is different. Right now, we don't have any plans – it doesn't mean we won't – to do it." D'Antoni has said throughout the season that he prefers to rest players between games if necessary, believing that customers deserve to see the players they expect and that the trainers will let him know if a healthy player needs a night off. The exceptions have been with Nene, who has been held out of 12 games. The Rockets plan for him to miss one of the two games when the team plays on consecutive nights. Eric Gordon also missed time when his back tightened in late January and early February. "I hate that," D'Antoni said this week, with a laugh, of the entire topic. "I really just rely on the doctors and the trainers if they say a guy needs a rest. We do rest Nene and we do Eric Gordon every once and a while and we do make sure minutes aren't up too high. "James is 27 years old and he's playing 36 minutes, and that's kind of like where we like to have him. Now if the trainers deem he needs to take a day off later on, maybe. But I think he prides himself on playing all 82 games. He has a goal." http://www.chron.com/sports/rockets...ets-players-available-vs-Nuggets-11012006.php
Besides the article, I don't really think that was the plan. We replaced Corey Brewer, who was apart of our rotation, with Lou Will. Those minutes had to go somewhere.
I wish we would let Lou handle the ball more. Bench Harden, bench Pat, Let Lou and Gordon run the show.
Because the game was going to be decided at the beginning of the 4th and Dantoni needed him out there to see if there was any chance the Rockets could come back. They did cut the lead in half but ultimately wasn't enough.
i think MDA's minute management sucks... unless Harden is insisting on staying in some of these games to work his stats for the mvp run... then idk MDA is thinking half of the time... there can be 20 point margin with 3 minutes left and all the starters are still out there... He's actually cleared the bench a few times recently which I was thankful to see... but he keeps starters in unnecessarily quite often... I don't like the Pops move of resting multiple players for entire games at the same time (not fair to ticket buyers) but there is obviously a logical middle ground...
The reason is because he brings in Lou and Gordon when Harden and or Beverley are still on the court. He doesn't simply rotate them in for Harden and Beverley, which makes more sense. He wants a bunch of 3 pt shooters in at once, and it hasn't always worked out to our advantage. I don't like 6'1 players subbing for forwards, but I say this all the time. With all those guards in there nobody rests their legs, defense slows down eventually, and rebounding and rim protection isn't as good. We need a morph of Harrell and Anderson to bring both the height, defense, and the offense as a forward to come in for substitutions. I don't see that happening yet, unless they are bringing up Troy Williams or Onuaku to fill that spot.
What an idiot . He can take this stance . But premier coaches like Pop and Kerr and others in the past have been able to sack up and not let "pride" be a sticking point . The idea is to win the chip . An 8 man rotation in a fast paced system is just asking to be worn down by the playoffs . I know we haven't been playing 8 man all year , but why the change now ? Why not wait until the playoffs ? Like another poster said , our smaller guys having to continually battle bigger players is gonna wear out the legs . All the shooting we do DEPENEDS on our ****ing legs . You think you would want fresh legs going in . The line about paying customers.. What BS ! You think SA or GS fans give a **** about a regular season game if resting guys improves their chances in the playoffs? Not calling you out , but Mike needs to get with the times . When we lock up seeding we better ****ing rest guys . We should have been doing a better job of it already . How is James supposed to fair against a rested kawhi or a rested GS . If you believe in your team , then give them a ****ing chance to be at 100 percent for the playoffs .
When a team wins a ring with the same core group of players then they can juggle their lineup anyway they want. You don't see the Clippers, Jazz, Celtics even the Thunder giving players the day off for rest. Those teams are chasing rings and need to work as hard as they can to get that extra edge.
Has SA won a ring with Kawhi and LA ? GS won a ring with KD ? You're basically saying a coach has to win the ring to gain the respect and manipulate minutes . Which is BS , a coach should be able to manage minutes however he sees fit and then be judged on the results . A lot of those teams have had injuries . Maybe they should have rested players . Frankly d'antoni doesn't have to give a whole game off. But from this article it sounds like he's giving off practice time . How's that helping us gain an edge ? I'd like to see him reduce minutes significantly . Bev and Gordon above 30 a game has bad historical implications . They are playing more than 30 unless the game is a blowout. Ariza was playing 33.5 min in Nov and Dec , why now with Lou will in the fold is he only down to 32.5 ? I get what you're saying about needing currency . But there has to be a way to protect the players from themselves and at the same time communicate that we want to be at full strength for the playoffs . James may not be "tired" . But there's a difference between not "being tired" and having extra juice . It's that juice and fresh legs that give us the edge . Not extra minutes played with low intensity vs a scrub ass team .
Pop has 5 rings with Parker/Ginoboli. Kerr has a ring with Curry/Green/Thompson and 2 consecutive trips to the finals. Once a team reaches that pinnacle then it is easier to coast in the regular season knowing you have been there before. With other teams, they have to fight and claw to make it to where those teams already are. That means EVERY game counts in the standings and like 2015 showed could mean the difference between a 2 seed and not getting home court in the first round. Harden wants the best record he can get to have a chance. He also wants his whole team playing well enough entering the playoffs. His mindset appears to not be on rest but on winning games and I like that about him.
But here's the crux. Would pop have had 5 trips to the finals without managing Parker and Gino's minutes ? Would GS have made it to the finals had Kerr not rested Curry ? The first year that GS went to the finals , Curry played 32.5 MPG over the season. In April that year, he played 30.5. He missed 2 game that year, I don't know if for injury or rest. If you remember in that playoffs, every opponent they faced had injured players ( specifically at point) GS was healthy. Health is luck to a certain extent. But minutes played is certainly a factor. Furthermore we are talking about more than health in terms of played or not played. There is no stat to measure how fresh you are. Every game counts, Home court counts, what players want counts.... but if you aren't playing your best when the playoffs come then its all for naught.
I believe if the Rocks win couple rounds, he won't change his philosophy. If the Rocks does the unimaginable, next year D'Antoni will rest Harden in winnable games, or tough back-to back games.
we just need to win 8 more games to clinch the 3rd seed, after that we can start resting all the starters
