No, a two-way player cannot appear on the NBA team’s playoff roster or play in a playoff game, but he can be on the inactive list during playoffs to travel and practice with the team.
I see from a guaranteed contract standpoint that Black is the odd man out. Nene and Wright do have an injury history where they have missed a lot games in previous seasons. Let us hope for the best and that they stay healthy.
We gotta give Gerald at least 12 or so minutes. He's still averaging 40% from 3 and been our best shooter since the beginning of the year.
If Wright doesn't supercede Nene in the rotation and push Nene down to third string then we probably aren't winning a championship. More simply stated, we're not going to win a championship if Nene is playing rotation minutes in the playoffs. Love the guy. He's a gamer. Yes. Great attitude, yes. But for this season he's diminished. He deserves to enjoy the ride and I hope he gets a ring. But we have to hope that Wright, PJ, and LMM, and even possibly Zhou are taking the rotation minutes from Nene because paint defense is critical to our championship hopes.
Here’s my ideal rotation: Paul (30)/Gordon (20-25) Harden (35)/Green (13-15) Ariza (30)/LRMM (18) PJ (25)/Anderson (15)& JJ (8) Capela (28)/Nene (10)& Wright (10) (if healthy) Tarik Black will be inactive for the PO if Wright can show something and stay healthy. The other inactive will be Zho Qi. All this of course is if JJ can show something in the reg season along with Wright. I do, however, based on Ryno’s PO history see him loosing significant playing time for lack of contribution unless he can impact the game in a different way such as rebounding and playing good sound defense. But if he looses minutes I do feel like he will loose minutes to LRMM before he looses minutes to JJ, again this is all based on what JJ can do in the reg season and the same goes for Wright. I’m sure DM is giving MDA all these vets so that he can run a deeper rotation in the PO and not that BS 7-8 man rotation he pulled last season becaus if he does that again our players will be worn out by the end of the first series.
First, forget Zhou this season. Second, we're not going to win a championship if CAPELA isn't playing at a high level. Forget his backups for a moment. This is the key. Wright is not going to be better than Capela. (More than anything Wright is a hedge in case Capela is in foul trouble or hurt and the team needs that rim runner to keep the offense humming). Agree that paint defense is key. Absolutely. But of the guys on the roster at the C spot, the one with the high ceiling is Capela. Will he reach it? I don't know. But from his play on the floor it is clear he has a high ceiling. Easily higher, by a wide margin, than any of the other Cs on the roster. We know what Harden can do. We know what Paul can do. And we know the record so far with the triad of Harden/Paul/Capela playing. Not to be cliche....but CAPELA is the "X-factor."
The rotation is for the regular season. Come playoffs James Harden is playing 40+ minutes and Chris Paul will be close to that. So the rotation is going to substantially shrink. Trevor Ariza will likely get close to 40 minutes and Eric Gordon will get all the left over time at the 1-2. The real question is who gets the minutes at the 4 and back up 5.
Yup, pretty much. And dependins on matchups on if Tucker is getting backup 5 minutes. Luc will get time at both SF & PF. I just feel JJ will get the other PF minutes and Anderson will be squeezed out.
Very possible. It really all comes down to Ryan. If he improves his play, he will get minutes. Having said that, I do believe that Morey is to the point where he is trying to prevent huge swings in outcome. Someone like Luc provides consistency with his defense and passing. It is the same reason the Rockets have valued Ariza. You know what you get even if shots are not falling.
Yeah, and I think this team is at its best when the defense is "live" and "scrambling." That scrap and fight to get 50/50 balls etc. When the team is engaged. You see that a lot when PJ and Luc are at the 4. Depends on matchups of course, but I have really been warming to Luc at the 4 in key moments. He is a nice mix of defense and speed. He runs the break, he can guard all of the positions and has a passable 3pt shot.
No question Capela is the x-factor. He has to perform at a high level defensively.....or we have no chance. UNLESS we catch lightning in a bottle with Wright (not likely) and he comes on like gangbusters if Capela falters against the great bigs. But regardless of Capela we've still got to get a better defensive performance from Wright than what Nene has been able to muster. Or we've got to get PJ, LMM, or Zhou taking Nene's rotation minutes in a positive fashion. Agreed, at this point it looks pretty difficult for Zhou to rise up into the rotation. He simply hasn't gotten enough minutes to develop. All I'm saying is we've got to supplant Nene with a better defensive player to have any chance to win a championship.
