The Greg Popovich Minutes Plan vs. The Tom Thibodeau Minutes Plan

Keep Howard 32 and Harden at 34 for the first part of the year. That allows Asik to play an average of 20 while taking on a bigger role during back to back situations or in the even of a Howard injury.

I agree wholeheartedly that Harden looked worn down after 3-4 months of a heavy burden last year.

 

Lord, that would be a dream scenario, and not impossible, depending on how quickly the team jells. Unlikely to be that good during this pivotal season, but yeah, not impossible. And the players appear to be doing what they can to jump start that this summer. Personally, I'm expecting a record in the upper 50's. We just need luck with both young players developing and, most of all, luck with the "i" word.

 

Yep. And honestly I give much of the credit to the king of "bro-ness", Mr. Chandler Parsons. IMHO he is becoming the most valuable off the court player in the NBA. I foresee many a toast, much horsing around, a boatload of smiles and a few hundred thousand dollars spent in strip clubs. And a ton of hard work by happy dedicated players. Could the future look brighter?

I doubt that will be quoted on the front page of CF. LOL.

 

if Pop was the coaching Yao and tmac during their prime years, that combo would have won at least 1 championship

anyways, i dont think any player on a championship contending team should play more than 35 mins a game during the regular season on average

theres no doubt, harden ran out of gas at the end of the regular season

its not about the regular season. its all about the playoffs

 

San Antonio didn't have a choice as they have an older team.

 

The plan should play whoever is hot. If a player is hot, then keep him in the court until he start to cool off. Don't pull out player when he is obviously hot. It doesn't matter if he is a bench warmer, if he is hot, let him play meaningful minutes for the game. If your superstar is ice cold, sit him.

 

Giving Beverley more than 20 MPG is a stretch, as is not giving Brooks any minutes whatsoever. When you have Lin on the floor, you'll probably prefer Brooks since he is a better shooter than Beverley.

 

This is one of those preseason threads where many will try to rational like saying

Limit harden to 34 minutes

But then will yell at coach if he ever does that to presumably cause us a loss

 

I think they will keep Harden to under 36 minutes a night, and Howard to the lower 30s as well.

There will be exceptions, but hopefully we blow out enough teams that we can do that.

 

I'm not worried about his minutes at all. At his age, he should be playing atleast 35 minutes per game. You guys talk about the Popovich plan but when Duncan was Harden's age, he played 38-40 minutes per game.

The important thing is just weaning it off the right way when he gets older and his body starts to accumulate more injuries.

His body will get used to it and be more conditioned. He'll know what to expect next season. This time he didn't spend his summer traveling around the world for the Olympics.

 

I think we should limit Howard to 30 as long as we have Asik. I think we also need to bring Harden down to 32.

Those are the only two players who's minutes we need to watch. Everyone else needs to bust their tail for as many minutes as they earn.

 

exactly...for Duncan's first 6 yrs he averaged 39 mpg.

Just because Carl Herrera says there is such a thing as Pops Plan vs Thib Plan doesn't mean it is true.

History always shows that all coaches use superstars a LOT. So, I guess Pops used Thibs Plan before Thibs was a coach and, conversely, Thibs is now using Pops Plan circa early-Duncan.

So, whose plan was Red Auerbach, Pat Riley and Phil Jackson using. I'd mention Jerry Sloan, too, but he can go screw himself for all I care.

 

But Parker never averaged more than 34 minutes per game -- not when he was young, nor when he was the first option. It's possible that Pop's thinking actually evolved over time.

 

I agree, Pops handling of Parker and Ginobody was always to play them less minutes than most would. But I always attributed that to he knew (probably backed up by stats) the those two are most efficient and productive at 30-34 mpg, and less about keeping them rested over the long haul.

Plus the two both require the ball in their hands. It might be a fact that had Pops only had one between Parker and Ginobody, then each without the other would have gotten 36+ mpg. We don't really know.

 

We have two pairs of "redundant" players, Howard-Asik and Harden-Lin. Maybe McHale can try something similar.

Howard 32, Asik 30, (together 14, alone 34)
Harden 36, Lin 32, (together 20, alone 28)

You keep them fresh and you keep a good PnR ballhandler and a good screening big man on the floor at all time.

 

There is no Spurs plan for us, since we cannot cruise the regular season and still get a top seeding like the Spurs.

 

I think our run, run & run some more offense last year was a factor in Harden's fatigue at the end of the season. We should have more half court sets this year, which will slow the pace down a bit for him. I still wouldn't have any one average more than 35 mpg.

 

There is no one in the game smarter than Pop. Not even Morey. The man may be the best coach the game has ever seen. And yes, I am considering the zen master. OK maybe not Red.

 

Then he pushed Deng under the bus when Deng was in the hospital.