You'd be surprised if Lawson play for the second unit?

Solid post and I do agree. Keeping a guy like Lawson happy in a 6th man role could be problematic though

 

Play Lawson, Dwight for 6 minutes in the 1st, sub them out for Bev and Capella.

Once the 2nd quarter starts, put in Lawson + Dwight and let them go off.

End the 2nd quarter with the same unit that ending the 1st quarter.

At the start of the second quarter, play the starters until 3-4 minutes left in the game and rest them until the closing stretch of the 4th quarter.

To close out games, use a Lawson/Harden/Ariza/Dmo/Dwight lineup to close out the games.


This gives Harden a decent reprieve from having to carry a large part of the offense with Lawson setting him a decent chunk of the game. When Lawson is out, Harden can step it up and play like regular dominating Harden.

Our biggest issue last year was our lack of scoring in the 4th quarter. That closing lineup gives us a very potent scoring team with good defenders at SF,P and Center. Lawson + Harden's defensive liabilities will be minimized by the rotations that those 3 can provide.

 

We should be able to have 48 minutes of elite passing/play-making on the floor.

 

I agree. I could also see it the other way. Lawson starts But gets pulled early for Beverly. Dmo gets subbed for jones. That way Dmo can get more post ups with second unit when he comes back in. So we always have some half court and fast break offense.

 

Bev should start and lawson will close out games

 

Lawson should 100% come off the bench . Beverley's elite defense is wasted against second stringers . Lawson can shred tired starters and backups. Obviously who is playing is situationally based and it's pure speculation right now .

 

Any talk of Lawson becoming a 6th man behind Bev is ridiculous to me. He is an All-Star caliber PG. Yes, his minutes will eventually have to be staggered with Harden to keep one of them on the floor at all times, but that probably means that Lawson comes out of the game with about 4 minutes to go in the first quarter as Harden plays the entire 1st quarter usually. Then Lawson would start the second quarter as Harden rest.

Bev is good defensively, but don't expect him to still play starters minutes as a backup with the loaded team we have now. Bev will be Lawson's backup, but Lawson will play 30 plus minutes. That means that Bev will probably average around 18 minutes a game or less for the entire season barring injuries or any other reason that Lawson is unable to play.

 

Beverley is perfect as a bench player. All day aggression brah!!

 

Why is this even up fo discussion...:/

 

I don't think it matters much as long as Ty gets the majority of the minutes and a lot of run w/ the second unit. ~20 minutes for Bev is enough.

 

We are superbly balanced right now.

With Harden, you have Beverley and Ariza to cover the defense. Howard too.

With Lawson, you have McDaniels and Brewer to cover the defense. Capela too.

 

I'm sure Lawson will start for ego reasons, but as long as they stagger it so either Harden or Lawson are on the court at all times it really doesn't matter.

 

Look, fit is real, but with a talent disparity like this it doesn't matter.

 

Before even the pre-season begins, McHale needs to gather the team and essentially asks all the players to keep their egos in check. For the first time in a long time, there are several players deserving of playing time, and in a long arse regular season, depth should be a blessing to the team and the players, as they will see their careers extended with less wear and tear.

Last year, after the acquisiton of Smith and Brew, our bench was better than most teams second unit. That premise proved to be true extending to the playoffs against the Mavs and Clippers, but not against the Warriors. This year, we are all hopefull that our bench can be as good as the defending champs, if everybody is willing to sacrifice pt.

We have the makings of a great, great season.

 

I think the important thing is just, that always at least one of Harden and/or Lawson are on the floor. That being said, of course Lawson should average starter minutes and in most cases play at the end of games.

I really like how this roster is shaping up. Now we are more than set at every position but PF - there is still a questionmark there. TJ and Moti both showed promise, but it's not like I feel real comfortable with either. With Smith, I think we would have been one of the favorites to win it all - especially with the production per capspace number. Still hate losing him - but if either TJ or Moti can step up this season, we should be fine and fight with SA and GS for the top spot in the west.

 

Lawson starts cause he avg nearly 10 assists per game last year. You want Lawson playing with Howard nearly 100% of the time. Why are we still talking about this?

 

lawson starts because he will get dwight into the game early, then goes to the bench for bev so harden can finish out the 1st Q iso's

 

just saw u already posted basically the same thing i did, good to see you back on the board again

 

Same JLin situation. Start Bev then ride the hot-hand.

 

Bev is just not NBA starter material. Who starts is not even a debatable point IMO. A good number of people here don't understand how good Ty Lawson is.

Lawson is a frustrating player, but when he's aggressive and focused, the guy is just unstoppable. A truly elite PnR player. Dwight will love him. If Harden (on occasion) returns to his early OKC form, plays off the ball and does backdoor cuts and spot-up 3s, his shooting pct will go up and his energy expended on offense will go down.