Kevin McHale: I'd like to get a rotation of 9, maybe 10 guys

I think your right. It looks like Caspi will get time at the four, and the Asik/Howard combo will also take time at the four. DMo should get the playing time over Jones if things stay the way there are. I guess they may look to move Jones if he is the odd man out.

 

I definitely could see a 10-man or 9-man rotation that looks something like this:

JL/PB ------- JL/PB
JH ---------- FG (RB, JL)
CP ---------- OC (RB/FG, JH)
TJ ---------- DM (OC)
DH ---------- OA

I definitely can see at least a 9-man rotation, and I think it is definitely conceivable that it is a 10-man rotation. And a very good 10-man rotation with a bench that can punish most other teams' benches.

Lin at shooting guard and Harden at small forward is for Small Ball.

 

Actually one of Dmo and Tjones is on the cusp if Casspi is in. I suspect he will get alot of stretch 4 minutes. That's how you get it down to 9. Plus if the Asik Dho project works that even cuts more into the backup pf minutes.

 

I agree and my PF rotation should have looked like this:

TJ ---------- DM (OC/DH)

I forgot about Howard at the PF.

 

Omri is actually good rebounder and is 6'9. He can play the stretch 4 in spurts just fine. Jones has played himself out of the rotation thus far and if he dosent improve pronto, Omri will eat more and more into his future playing time. I think the Rockets want to use Garcia as the primary backup to Harden at the 2 and Omri as the primary backup 3 whom can in stretches play the stretch 4 to open the floor for Dwight and Asik..

 

Methinks Beverley is the 6, Casspi is the 7, Asik is the 8, and Jones is the 9. To start the year at least. Garcia will be relegated to old man territory, kept behind a glass panel not to be cracked until emergency/midseason.

If we struggle at all you might see the Bev/Lin swap happen some time, or you might not. Casspi I think is unquestionably in this rotation. The way McHale talks about him in the Delfino role is telling, given how important Delfino was for us last year. Unbeknownst to the public, Morey and co might be thinking that they got their new Delfino and then some. We know he's been coveting Casspi for some time.

 

OUR BENCH IS EFFING UNBEATABLE

 

Brewer won't be a regular part of the rotation unless there is an injury. He might get situational minutes on occasion for defensive purposes.

Frankly, Brewer is an EXTREMELY one-dimensional player. Pretty much all our guys have at least the potential to be two-way players, if they aren't already.

He's a guy we picked up just so that we can throw a different defensive look at wings who are torching us.

 

That is what I feel McHale will go with, but if I were the coach, I'd actually do this instead:

Lin/Bev
Harden/Lin
Parsons/Brewer
Casspi/Dmo/Howard
Howard/Asik

Difference between 'Delfino role' last year and this year is that it was a luxury playing a stretch 4 next to Asik, while it is a necessity to play a stretch 4 next to Howard. This is because a stretch 4's effectiveness is amplified when you have a dominant post presence that you are running your offense through. Something we obviously did not do with Asik. I'd like to start Casspi so that he gets as many minutes as possible next to Howard, who would also cover for him defensively.

This also puts Dmo to the bench where he can be utilized more as a scoring option in the post, his strength, as opposed to camping him out at the 3pt line, his weakness.

I'd also start Lin since there will be a premium for his penetration with a true 3pt threat at PF.

 

Minutes-wise, here is how I see things panning out right now if everybody was healthy throughout the season and there were no blowouts (which of course won't happen):

Lin 30 / Bev 22 (occasional 2 PG sets)
Harden 34 / Garcia 18
Parsons 32 / Casspi 18 (with Garcia playing some minutes at the 3)
Dmo 18 / Jones 14 (with Casspi and Dwight playing some minutes at the 4)
Howard 30 / Asik 24

 

I feel every coach begins the year by saying he'll have a deep rotation... and then the game begin, results starting to matter, and they shorten the bench. It's very difficult to stick to your guns and rest your starters while giving everyone a shot at rotation minutes.

Personally I think 3 bench players are set: Garcia, Beverley(or Lin), Asik with one of DMo/Jones starting. If the games get rough McHale will go into crunch time with Garcia or Asik at PF, depending on the situation.

There could be a potential 4th bench guy to round out the rotation to 9. Currently that seems to be Casspi. If not him, then one of our other PFs among DMo/Jones/Smith. But Casspi makes more sense because he shoot 3s. And we all know the Rockets love to shoot the 3s. Dark horse candidate being AB or Cannan in some dual-PG sets.

I honestly do not believe the Rockets will have a 10-man rotation for more than 10 games into the season. 9 IMO is max once McHale has a good grasp of the roster.

 

You may be right, but I hope you are wrong. One of the marks of a great coach (e.g. Popovich) is the strength to stick to your guns and make hard choices with the entire season in mind instead of just winning one game.

Last season, McHale did not really have the depth to make those hard choices... the roster was so young and inexperienced. This season there is no excuse. If he wants to be a great coach he needs to learn to think big picture.

 

You may be right about Jones,but he may be given a chance to get back into the rotation too.

 

Lin / PB
Harden / Garcia
Parsons / Casspi
Jones / Dmo
Dwight / Asik

are the obvious 8 , the other 1-2 would be Brewer / Smith, with whichever one of Camby / Williams / Brooks that remain being the last guys on the bench.

 

It's kinda laughable that after a cpl games where Jones was up against a bruiser like West that somehow Dmo on a cpl of ok games against backups is now better than him.

He's a much better defender than Dmo (Dmos pnr defense is a cringe worthy level of terrible), he wasn't rotating much by design because West is their best offensive player, who ended up putting up a stellar 6 points in 24 minutes.

 

brain fart never mind, that's already 10

 

Actually, for the entire history of the NBA, EXCEPT for Popovich following Duncan's mid-career injury issues, had coaches run their stars among the league leaders in mpg. And Popovich is a special case. His superstar Duncan broke down, and his two other stars generally had some international commitments and/or injury issues.

Phil Jackson? Kobe, MJ, Pippen among the highest MPG logged. Shaq probably would have too if didn't keep having surgeries right before the season.
Larry Brown? Infamous for sticking to his big guns
Rudy T? Hakeem was basically played entire games at times
Doc Rivers? Many Celtics fans thought KG and Pierce broke down towards the end of last season
Thibs? Infamous for insane minutes and having guys play hurt

Give me any successful coach and I will give you players that played tons of minutes. And this even includes Popovich, as Duncan was among leaders in MPG for early part of his career.

 

West is and has always been soft on defense.

 

I like your thinking except for the "blowout" comment. I think we'll blowout several teams this season, especially at home. :grin:

 

Just as I thought he would
there is no chance otherwise to squeeze in key guys like:

Bev-Garcia-Casspi
Bigs: Asik, Donatas
and Smith