Most teams run a tight 8-man rotation in the playoffs. McHale's been experimenting of late, particularly with the PF spot. Locks: SG Harden C Asik SF Parsons PG Lin SF Delfino (bench) PG Beverley (bench) So that leaves 2-3 spots (depending on whether you're running an 8 or 9 man rotation), one starter, 1-2 bench players. Who deserves the minutes?
Smith at Starting PF, Dmo at backup C-PF, and either Garcia or Anderson depending who looks better down the stretch
TRob seems out of rotation, played last 2mins in a blow out game. He could be a bust. GSmith is a lock, he is the only bulky man behind Asik, Dmo has been given a lots of playing time, so...
Donuts looked terrible yesterday. Everyone is still inconsistent right now. Jones looked good against Sacramento, then terrible yesterday against Portland. So hard to pick.
Smith is a lock, Robinson is out. From what I can tell Garcia is a comparable defender with Anderson, and a better shooter, so he gets the nod. Between DMo and TJones, I have no idea. Both show flashes, but can also be super frustrating. I guess TJone's skill set lends itself to less disastrous plays though.
Don't think anyone knows the exact answer to this not even the coaches. DMo played well last night. Not worried about his shooting. He is at least a little better than last night. My concern has always been can he play any D and rebound and he did both better last night. If he does that consistently he will have a spot in the rotation no question. But Greg Smith is so foul prone that just having DMo will not be enough which is why I was so excited to see T Jones have a good game. Jones may not have the offensive skills that DMo has but he is an all around better player. He slowed Aldridge down while he was in there last night and even though he didn't score and didn't play much, he didn't hurt the team either. We haven't been able to say that consistently with DMo and TRob up till now. So I am excited about the big rotation and I like Garcia backing up parsons and Delfino coming in and doing what ever is asked and Beverly and Lin are set so I think we have a great rotation and are primed for a playoff run. If we run and hit our 3's we can beat anyone.
I'm going to roll with TJones over Dmo. In terms of athleticism, it's no contest. And, you don't know what you're going to get with Jones from night to night. He can be that x-factor that comes off of the bench with a scoring/intensity punch. Unfortunately, with Dmo, you know what you're getting. He just seems lost out there and his effort is debatable. I think he actually has an issue with taking suggestions from our starters. It always looks like he's talking back when Jlin/Chandler tell him where to go during a set. I hope he doesn't have the "V-Span Complex" DD was sick with that, too.
It appears that Mchale was referring to TRob when he stated he was playing players that did not earn time (captain obvious). Maybe a mandate from morey? Regardless I don't believe he will be in the playoff rotation. DMo will play sparingly(10-15 mins). Garcia will play close to 20 mins. I think Mchale will use a tight rotation and only utilize 8 players similar to what he rolled out immediately post 2pat trade.
I'm guessing it will be Power Forward by committee with Greg Smith starting. I'm guessing as much as McHale would like to have it the rotation locked down, he is going to have to play... 1. Whoever is not in foul trouble 2. Whoever is effective that night. Last night he started with Smith and then Jones off of the bench but Smith got into foul trouble and Jones was not very effective so DMo got a lion share of the minutes. The game before it was just the opposite where Jones was the most effective coming off of the bench. That is just the life of having 4 players at the players at the Power Forward position that are all essentially rookies. DMo - rookie TJones - rookie TRob - rookie Smith - not technically a rookie but was only in the NBA the last half of last season and was only in 8 games.
c: Asik/demo/smith PF: paper-rocks-scissors on night before the game. SF : Parsons/delfino/garcia SG: Harden/Delfino PG : Lin/Beverely/parsons
I think anderson needs more love, he's been pretty consistently solid from the games I'm able to catch every now and then. I'd say more consistent than Dmo.
I'd say play them all except Olbrecht. Brooks might prove useful if the guards hit a slump. T-Rob can bring the energy level up when the 4's are looking lethargic, or if we're guarding a small lineuip and he can pretty much switch on everyone. Players are going to be exposed for their weaknesses more so in the playoffs, so we should be as unpredictable as possible and play the bench according to matchups.
Smith IMO should be part of it. He's 10x better than any of our rookies PFs, and is at least effective when he's on the court.
