I expect a lot of dnp-cd for terry, kj and Thornton. Brewer and bev will get most of th backup minutes.
Nice problem to have but KJ looks like a star in the making. The guy is so dynamic on both ends of the court as well as the transition game. I'm really looking forward to a line-up that has KJ, Brewer, Harrell & Capela in it. Phi Slamma Jamma all over again. I guess I prefer Brewer / KJ backing up the 2 / 3 spots. I am excited about Thornton as well though. Terry needs to be relegated to spot or situational playing time. I would like to keep his old man legs fresh throughout the season. There will be times when we need his outside shot.
i could see this being very matchup dependent. Ariza does slide over to the PF spot, particularly if DMo and Tjones are limited by injury. Decker and Harrell will be in the D League. This would open up some minutes for McDaniel, who should get his mins playing off Lawson. A super athletic lineup of Lawson, Kj, brew, Ariza Capella would be interesting, or go a little smaller with Lawson bev KJ Ariza Capella. If you bring arizas mins down to around 30, that gives you five to ten mpg for KJ, which I think could happen. Mchale needs to take the pop approach to mins with our vets.
Yeah, he has very comparable physical attributes to Wiggins who went number one overall and is widely considered a future star (and not for his basketball skillset). Morey has assembled a team built for now and the future with Dmo and Capela as well, as long as he is gm this team will be good.
I think they'll give Terry and Thornton a look but I'm hoping that KJ wins out. I don't see how you can keep a spark plug like that off he court. Also really hoping Dekker can get some spot minutes at the 3/4 at some point this season. Kid is raw but he's definitely got something.
There is no back up SG set in stone. Look Harden, Bev and Lawson will share majority of the guard minutes. I'm thinking Harden - 36 Lawson - 30 Bev - 20 That leaves about 8 minutes which will be filled by Brewer and maybe Terry if a spot up shooter is needed. Thornton will only see time in blowouts and KJ only if a specific defensive assignment is required kinda like Nick Johnson last year
BTW I think what we're seeing is the development of the second wind for Harden's tenure here in Houston (The post-Dwight era). I don't think Dwight signs another contract in Houston. I think if he opts out we're out, and if he opts in we're out after that.
McHale has said he expects to play Ariza some at PF this year. My guess is around 8 minutes a game, some less, some more. That said, shave a couple minutes from Brewer and voila...10 mpg for K.J. McDaniels. Granted, I would see K.J. as not being part of rotation as his PT is really dependant on matchups.
Really hope we can get KJ some minutes alongside Brewer at the 3. The transition game would be too real
McHale needs to find minutes for KJ. Dude is a true two-way player who I would love to see harassing the hell out of the Curries and Pauls of the NBA. With his length, speed and quickness, KJ is like an attack dog.
I disagree. Mchale can play 10, 11 guys a night comfortably. Lawson/Bev Harden/Thornton Ariza/Brewer/Dekker D Mo/ T Jones Howard/Capela Jet, Dekker and CJ are the odd men out. I wanna see KJ crack the rotation. He has really improved and is athleticism his through the roof. Morey can't do wrong atm. Holy cow, what a team he has assembled.
I think Harden and Lawson both will average about 35 minutes a game while they both start and McHale also staggers them as much as possible, but still plays them together a lot. Bev will be lucky to average 10 minutes a game, and if his 3 pt shot is not 40% or better, he may find himself only getting spot minutes because his defense has not shown yet to be as good as two seasons ago. If KJ can get comfortable and hit a few shots, he could because a lock backing up Harden for about 10 to 13 minutes a game by midseason or before.
144 minutes at the 1-2-3: 32 Harden (+/- 2 min) 30 Lawson (+/- 2) 20 Beverley (+/- 2) 30 Ariza (+/- 2) 20 Brewer (+/- 2) 12 KJ McDaniels (+/- 2) 10-15 minutes (+/- 2) for Thornton on nights when Brewer or KJ are off & can't generate any offense. Terry is just a nice insurance policy, coaching & cheering off the bench. He'll ease more into a veteran role this year, I think. But really the wise thing to say, and it's not a cop out, is no one truly knows what the rotation & minutes will look like. McHale I think would say that right now, and it's not just him throwing up the veil. It's wide open.
Neither probably, but let's wait how they progress. I like Thorton's outside shooting and defense and I like KJ's playmaking and tonight his outside shot was falling, but if he cannot hit that shot, I don't see him getting a lot of playing time. Also has Thorton gained weight, he looks slower, I remember him in Sacramento a few years back and he could put up 30-40 easily. If that is the case, then KJ probably gets PT before him.
I dunno. There is no way to tell the future with this and many other topics, but I will say this. I do think KJ will spend some time at the beginning of the season in the D-League. Not cause he's bad, but the org. has such a great situation where they have him for 3 more years, and bird rights. Unlike Capela, they don't necessarily need him right now so there is time to work on expanding his game. He has holes in his game with his shooting, and play-making that they might want to explore with. I look for Thornton, Brewer, and Bev/Lawson to get the bulk of the minutes starting out with Terry shelved the first few weeks of the season. Later in the season, if KJ has improved enough, maybe he can upgrade the position, but right now the other guys probably have the trust of McHale. Of course all of this is injury pending. Unfortunately this is bound to happen where it really just depends on who is healthy.
I remember Terry having a lot of bad shooting nights during the last regular season. So much I remember asking myself and friends why he was still on the team. When the playoffs arrived, he proved me wrong. With that said, I believe he will be used more after the all-star break to get him ready for the playoff run. I would like to see KJ McDaniels somehow get his minutes.
We're probably going to see lots of mixing and matching throughout the year. We need at least 3 shooters on the court at all times to keep spacing decent, but we only have 2 shooting forwards, Ariza and DMo. If both sit, then I'd expect to see a 3 guard lineup, like Lawson/Bev/Harden or Lawson/Bev/Thornton, etc. We saw this in the Memphis game with Lawson/Bev/Harden/Capela/Howard. I view KJ more as Ariza's backup for two reasons: he will likely guard the other team's top wing/guard, and he's better suited to play with 2 guards that can shoot than he is two forwards. So if I had to guess, Terry and Thornton are Harden's primary backups. Of course the complication in this is Brewer, who deserves at least 20-25 minutes per game at SG/SF. I think Thornton has become underrated here. He's not a point guard, but he's also not a ball stopper. He knows how to move the ball. It's been said several times, but this team is just crazy stacked. Even if you take out Lawson, Harden, Ariza and Dwight, you can still have a functional bench unit running the offense through DMo: Beverley / Thornton / Brewer or McDaniels / DMo / Capela And you know, that's going to be a solid group on the defensive end as well. One very interesting lineup is Lawson / Brewer / McDaniels / TJones / DMo. DMo and Lawson both have excellent vision and can create their own offense. With cutters/runners like Brewer/McDaniels/TJones, you'd see a very fast pace offense.
