I am not close to the team as you are so my question for you guys is why do you believe Casspi doesn't get and play minutes like before? Until 2 weeks ago he played a lot, scored nicely and other stats. Now, he plays 10 minutes at the top. I am looking for the pro analytic answers and not something else like "Casspi sucks" or "Harden Beard is awesome" thx guys
DMo seems to have taken his minutes because of his improved defense and offensive fit. I imagine his size and rebounding advantage over Casspi makes up for his less reliable three point shot. Casspi seems to be playing with less confidence as the year progresses.
The backup 4 minutes have been taken by Dmo, whose been playing a fair bit better for the most part. Defensively, Dmo's rotations have greatly improved and his size allows him to effect shots at the rim as a helper. His offense has also been pretty consistent for a bench player (generally shoots 50% every game, which i think they value more than an on/off switch). Teams were also exploiting our defensive rebounding weaknesses which Dmo has shored up a bit.
Casspi hasn't gotten worse if that's what you're asking. But someone else is simply playing better. Casspi doesn't suck so much as he has a limit that basically as a bit role player. Motiejunas though is younger, bigger, has more upside, and currently is playing at a level at least equal to Casspi. So he's getting time. McHale hands out minutes based on meritocracy. One may not agree with his assessments of course. But if Casspi is not playing, it's because McHale believes others are playing better than him.
It's because of Omer Asik, really. When Omer was out, the team mostly went with a bigs rotation of Dwight, Jones, DMo and Casspi. Omer's return bumps Casspi out of the regular bigs rotation and Casspi began playing as a backup SF. But Garcia returned from injury and Jordan Hamilton was acquired, and the team has played each of them there. Garcia got the minutes in GS, Casspi in PHX and Hamilton tonight. We'll see what happens. The team has been open to changing up the minutes and the rotation depending on who is playing better and matchups.
Actually Garica didnt get any mins in GS. Anyways, just think Casspi has regressed as the year as gone on. Dmo has played a better level off the bench as the back up at the 4 position behind tjones as well. Also Asik coming back is another reason that Casspi has been seeing less time on the floor. I just wish he and garica could shore up their shooting with the limited time they are getting now, which will help the team and also help them get more mins on the floor. In my opinion, i believe that Casspi will now only be playing garage mins or very very little due to the fact that Hamilton looks like he will stick. (Even if its just after one game).
DMo has gotten better, Casspi hasn't improved (but hasn't gotten worse, either). When Omer Asik out and with Greg Smith still injured, out we were giving DMo a bunch of minutes as the center. Now that Asik is back, DMo slides down to take all of the backup PF minutes. Those were Casspi's minutes. Now there are maybe 10 minutes of backup minutes at the SG and SF spots to be divided by Garcia, Casspi and now Hamilton.
Maybe Hamilton's presence spooks Casspi and his game rises up for the challenge. Competition between players for minutes seems to be working well.
Didn't Casspi try to take Hamilton's defensive rebound with no Kings player around and it ended up flinging out of bounds?
Dmo is really, really solid. Like it's only really his 2nd year and his defence has progressed so much from even the start of the season. That and the emergence of potentially Hamilton means there just isn't enough minutes, esp with Asik back.
Combination of Dmo and Asik playing. If you notice Garcia and Casspi now both play less than before. not a big fan of casspi's game though
Here's what has happened with Casspi. We had no backup 3 until we got Hamilton. We also got Asik back in the rotation and on top of that McHale faced a decision to either play DMo or send him to dleague. So he started giving DMo minutes also. So basically Casspi has been stuck playing the 3 (which he is not) and he sucks at it. He's too slow to defend 3's. So McHale kept taking his minutes down in favor of Lin playing alongside Bev and moving Harden up front. So, now that we've got Hamilton, as long as Hamilton plays well, he's gonna get the backup 2-3 minutes. We won't need Casspi there stinking it up as long as Hamilton plays just half decent. So Casspi will most likely go back to competing with Jones and DMo for those last minutes left in the rotation at the 4. Bev Harden Parsons Dwight ?????? Lin Hamilton Asik ??????? There's basically a total of around 30 minutes of rotation time that are undetermined as long as Hamilton plays well in his role. Once again....we're coming down to the wire in the season and the 4-spot is where we are trying to get sorted out. Jones/DMo/Casspi/Smith.........those last 30 minutes will be divided up among somehow.
Casspi has regressed IMO. He used to make hustle plays, hit threes...get out on the break. Now it's almost like he's invisible out there except for when he jacks up a wayward three pointer. I think his competition for minutes is with Hamilton because I don't see him taking dmo's minutes.
He regressed badly when they switched him over to the 3. He's not a 3. If Hamilton is just average, Hamilton will win the backup 2-3 minutes. And if Hamilton is really good this will allow Parsons to play even more 4 minutes....which means Casspi likely goes to the bench unless he gets hot and starts knocking the fire out of the 3-ball.
He has really struggled lately, when he was hitting his 3pt shos at a very high percentage it was easy to overlook the fact that he doesn't pass the ball much. He is a gunner - and as long as you are hitting your target you get to play, but when you start missing - your shooting is pretty much a turnover - so you go to the bench. He is a nice end of the rotation player - but not much more than that. DD