I disagree -- Donatus kept missing threes, but he was hustling for loose rebounds, playing good defense and getting rebounds. He also made some good passes, and was just generally always exactly where he needed to be on the court and was giving good effort the entire time. That is pretty much the most we can find at the PF and backup center positions given this roster. And if those shots start falling we have a force at the 4.
I don't think we will have an 8 man rotation for the playoffs. I think it will be similar to as it is now. No one has established themselves as the PF. Smith is in the mix but that's short-term.
keep in mind that we are talking about playoff games. defense intensity is extremely high. i tend to believe smith will start along side asik. we've already known who other 3 in our starting rotation. bev will definitely be our backup pg. delfino has up hands over garcia as our backup sm. we definitely need at least one backup big. concerning smith committing a lot fouls, i kinda believe we will see both dmo and tjones playing a few mins. anderson is an interesting piece. when we need a better defender, mchale may suit up anderson more than delfino and garcia. t-rob will only see mins when the game becomes meaningless. here is our starting linup. Harden Asik Parsons Lin Smith then the list in the order of chance of playing more min on the top Beverley Defino or Garcia if Defino is no healthy D-Mo TJones Andersons T-Rob the rest won't see any mins.
I picked smith for sure is a lock ,and T. Jones. I like Dmo but in the playoffs D is needed T. Jones might not give u the points that Dmo can but his D is consistent specially on a team that struggles on that part of the game. Unless we play OKC then I would rather play Dmo than T. Jones
Smith is a lock. Next IMO is Garcia. Anderson is almost there. Jones and DMo are not ready but might be if they can really step up their games down the stretch. The two of them should be backup PF by committee. TRob is very doubtful.
Depends greatly on the match up, but I see Motiejunas being a lock coming off the bench, Garcia will probably get there, although I don't trust him dribbling the ball at all for all I have seen of him doing such for our team.
I doubt there will be a strict rotation. We are already close to the playoffs, and still experimenting with different lineups. I could see any of those guys getting minutes depending on how they play or if they matchup better against opposing lineup. Especially the 4 spot where they have obvious strengths and weaknesses.
Smith for sure, and Garcia's 3-pt shooting and defense will be very useful. Other than that, maybe some TJones and spot minutes from D-Mo if we can squeeze them in there.
Usually the tighter the rotation the better. But we are a running team that needs to keep are guys sharp. Asik plays better with a little rest and greg Smith is so foul prone that we will need DMo and T jones to play some. After that Bev and Delfino will get their minutes and garcia could play too. So thats 10 guys and I think that works for this team. Not so much for another team but you could see Portland run out of gas with us and we played 9 guys and if it wasn't for the Blazers going small we would have needed Delfino as well. Now the problem is who do you suit when Parsons and Delfino return. Man Brooks is still a talent who could help us with his playoff experience and it looks like he might be wearing a suit on the bench. I know it's not an easy thing to do but I think McHale should have worked him in somehow.
Many coaches will play the starters 35-42 minutes during the playoffs so a rotation can drop to 7-8 players. If McHale keeps at least Harden and or Lin on the floor at all times like he did against Portland and it's pretty much certain Harden would be on the court for 40 minutes than McHale can use one player to back up 2 positions _ Beverly. And if Parsons plays 40 minutes and if McHale decides to go small with Harden, Lin, and Beverly on the court at the same time than Beverly could essentially backup the 1-3 positions. I think Delfino would get the call depending on health over Garcia and Anderson because of his big game experience. Questioning Greg Smith in the rotation is ridiculous because not only is he looking like the best option at the starting 4 but he's the best backup for Asik as well. It's a must he plays. D-Mo, TJ, and T-Rob have until the rest of the season to show McHale who will play in the playoffs... I think TJ has enough time left in the season to show he's the best of the group. And depending on the matchup McHale could go with Delfino or Parsons at the 4 as well.
