Just gave a look out of curiosity at the boxscores of yesterday games, and in the 9 games played, between 18 teams, only two played only 8 guys, one is Washington, but they were without Wall, Howard, Morris and Porter so, basically 3/4 starters...now guess which one is the other Between the other teams, every coach played at least 4 guys off the bench, and for at least 10 minutes each, but like 50% of the coaches used even 5 players, some of them even more...at least yesterday, MDA was the only one throwing out there 8 guys, and we're in December...
MDA had a deeper rotation before December and he was rewarded with a losing record. He is damned when he does and damned when he doesn't. You cannot blame him for trusting only select group of players the way the season has progressed plus the expectations. Every game is a must win now.
It's hard to believe he's hitting near 40% on 3s this season after some of those bricks he was tossing up this last game.
But you can same the say for other teams like Spurs, Warriors, Grizzlies etc...i mean, in the first part of the season there were probably a lot of problems, poor condition for different players, CP3 playing injured, players not ready to play in the NBA, but at this point the team is doing pretty well, not sure what's the reason to keep on the bench a guy like Clark, just use him and let PJ rest few minutes, other teams are throwing out there trash like Poeltl, Selden, Yabusele, McKinnie, Meyers Leonard, Tyrone Wallace...i don't see why we shouldn't play Gary Clark 6/10 minutes per game.
The dude wont endure growing pains as guys get acclimated and develop.... If you cant walk in and be a solid contributor - MDA vanquishes you to the bench... Like he did Trez... got minutes.... hit some rough patches.... glued to the bench... Neene goes down and Harden is expected to cover LMA and Pau... He's gotta coach and develop guys - which he doesnt do.... He leaves starters in when games are pretty much secured... Then an injury happens... and he goes to an even shorter rotation bc he hasnt invested any effort in bringing other guys along... Clark gets a multi-year contract - and cant make it on the court... Has he totally given up on Brandon Knight? The dude has not looked good... but you gotta keep trying to get something out of him... ow yer just doing another Ryno scenario where you are trying to move him with a rock bottom value... Hartenstein cant give us 5 mins a night? You dont have to give lesser guys heavy mins... just 5-8 minutes to give other guys a breather...
It's a balancing act, development vs. Winning. And right now winning takes precedence. Clark earned minutes early then hit a wall, he needs to push through his shooting slump to earn his time again. He keeps his nose ti grindstone and improves, MDA will give him minutes again. Same with Ennis, same with Chris's, same with MCW. Earn your dang playing time with improved performance. It's not always on the coaches. And Knight is not ready to contribute, not even 5 mins. He needs more playing time in G League, he still.does not look right.
I agree fully that it is a balancing act - and i'm not seeing any balance... As I said elsewhere... if you have to run Harden, CP3 and whoever else into the ground to make the playoffs - then yer running a fool's errand... All thats gonna get you is an injured CP3, a gassed Harden and an early exit from the post season... so why bother? We've seen how those scenarios play out... Otoh, if we can go into the post season rested and healthy - we could potentially beat anybody... Just like last year... we coulda gone in healthy... but MDA had to push for statistical glory - and we lost LMM in an irrelevant second to last game of the season... Play a longer rotation and develop guys... Either we make the post season healthy and rested - ready to kick a$$... or we miss the playoffs and get a better draft pick to barter... ...but limping into the playoffs for an early exit is just a waste... imo....
But but but w/no, or certainly little, practice time how does an end-of-bencher get a coaches attention???
We both agree that an extended rotation is better, just saying that I dont always believe its MDA's fault that Rockets cannot play more players. There is just not enough reliable talent on bench outside of Rivers and maybe Nene/Green.
How can he push through his slump if he doesn't see the floor ? Knight I agree looks like **** . But I would rather play a bad player 5-10 mpg vs let our core guys get worn down and eventually hurt. The thing about MDA's prioritization of winning now always looks OK in the short term . Especially, when our guys DO have enough juice to win the game . However , all it takes is one overuse injury , or even players just being worn down and losing a step for his decision to look bad really quickly. I disagree with your "MDA will play you eventually" line . If anything MDA has proven he will give players a chance only when he has no other choice . Dekker and Harrell totally earned a shot in 16-17 to contribute in the playoffs , but MDA went with 6 men and cost us that series. Would house have gotten a shot had Ennis not gone down ? With Ennis coming back watch green get benched .... Instead of using green as extra depth and buying pj some rest .
I hear what yer saying - i just respectfully disagree... I dont believe Clark and/or Hartenstein are so atrocious that they cant occupy 5-6 mins... to bring PJ down to a decent level... are we just gonna wait for the injury and then try to fill 35+ mins? Otherwise, when CP3 and Ennis return... we've shown that we should be utilizing at least a 10 man rotation... Rivers and House have to continue to play - even if they hits rough spots... Green is sporadic - but ya gotta love him and give him at least 5-8 mins just to keep him in the flow and hope he gets hot... Nene you have to be cautious with... but give him consistent limited minutes... We got plenty of talent... not superstars and probably not even starter quality... but we got like 12 guys (incl Clark and Hartenstein) that could be serviceable and contribute in at least a 5-6 min limited fashion... and thats not even adding Knight to the mix... which while he has not shown that he can be beneficial... ya gotta continue to try on a limited basis or just allow his contract to be an unmovable burden... Everybody wanted 'superstars'... We got the MVP, we paid handsomely for CP3 and CC got a good payday... this is the flipside to those contracts - you gotta trust and play some lower tier players to round out a full rotation... jus sayin...
some guys can - and some guys cant... some guys gotta have the ball in their hands and develop a rhythm... big shot Bob could come in ice cold and drop a 3 from the corner... it depends... in his last 2 showings... Clark had 9 mins against the Spurs went 1-1 dropping a 3, a few boards and we went +9 while he was in... 4:15 vs Wash 1-1 dropping a 3, a couple boards, an assist... although -2 for the period... Whatever u wanna run him 5, 6, 7, 8 mins... do it. or we can drive PJ into the ground sitting around waiting for a trade that may or may not happen.... or wait for an injury where we have to make a move out of necessity - rather than by design...
