It's a long time till opening night, so post your starting lineup and rotations. I think that Van Grumpy will, quite properly, continue to experiment, but we can't let that stop us. Starters (minutes): 5 - Yao (34) 4 - Howard (28) 3 - TMac (38) 2 - DA (20) 1 - Skip (34) Bench (minutes) 5 - Deke (10)/Stro (4) 4- Stro (20) 3 - Flyin Ryan (5)/DA (5) 2 - DW (13)/JB (15) 1 - DW (4)/Luther (5)/Mooch (5) Total Minutes Tmac (38) Yao (34) Skip (34) JH (28) DA (25) Stro (24) DW (17) JB (15) Deke (10) Flyin Ryan (5) Mooch (5) Head (5) At center, Yao improve to 34 minutes a game. With those increased minutes and using Stro when we go small, Deke's minutes will be reduced. At PF Howard remains the starter. He is more consistent, and a better mid-range shooter to pair up with Yao. I would love to give Baxter some minutes, but they will be sporadic at best. At the 3, I hope JVG will hold TMac to 38 minutes, with the backup being split between Flyin Ryan and DA depending on matchups. The 2/1 designation is pretty meaningless when it comes to backup minutes and ballhandling responsibilities. TMac may be orchestrating the offense most of the time when Skip isn't in, at least until Luther is ready to take that job or Sura returns. As you will see when you split up your rotations, there really aren't enough minutes to go around in the backcourt, and if Sura returns with confidence expect a mid-season trade to even out the roster. If DA continues to play well on both ends, DW could be the odd man out.
[REPOST] So who's going to start? Jho or Stro DA or DW It's been an interesting preseason, and with the season-opener less than 5 days away, I still don't know who will be starting. What this preseason has shown me, is that we are lucky to have depth in a position that was our achilles heel(s) during last year's playoffs. SG and PF. I trust JVG and his decision-making. He has to take into account how each compliments the 2 stars. We also have Deke and Barry to mix things up. My projected starters: Rafer Anderson Tmac Howard Yao Second unit: Wesley Barry Bowen Swift Mutombo There's a thread about Yao and DA, and watching this game has reaffirmed that idea. Their pick and roll looks fluid, and DA's athleticism works well with Yao's point-center skills. Besides, DA's defense is better than Wesley's so he should get the start. As a starter, Howard's responsibility is to knock down mid-range jumpers. He played this role to perfection last year, so no big difference here. Swift in the second unit presents a defensive clamp next to Yao or Mutombo. He also adds freak athleticism in the front court. Wesley's shooting will come in handy off the bench. He and Barry are the two key components to this team's chemistry, so having them on the court together seems like a good idea. If and when injury occurs, we have Head and Baxter to fill in. I really like the make-up of this team, and their performance showed marked improvement in the past two games (vs. Memphis, OC). Wait until T-Mac is inserted back into the lineup. SCARY!
I hope Stro gets more than 24 min per game. Whether he starts or not, I don't care, but give him every opportunity to be our main PF.
Starters (minutes): 5 - Yao (35) 4 - Howard (30) 3 - TMac (38) 2 - Anderson (20) 1 - Skip (36) Bench (minutes) 5 - Deke (13) 4- Stro (18) 3 - Anderson (10) 2 - Wesley (20) / Barry (8) 1 - Moochie (6) / Luther (6) (until one or the other earns the minutes, or until Sura takes minutes from both of them) Total Minutes Tmac (38) Yao (35) Skip (36) Howard (30) Anderson (30) Swift (18) Wesley (20) Barry (8) Deke (13) Mooch (6) Head (6) Bowen (0) Baxter (0 - IL) Sura (0 - IL) Glover (0 - IL)
starting line: for next 10 games YAO JH TMAC DA WES AFTER THAT: YAO SS TMAC DA ALS will give WES 10 games start and see what happen. JH--D is bad bad and may get YAO in foul trouble. YAO/JH are not good pair. YAO need someone help him on D, not O
Since JVG uses 10 man rotation, my guess would be: Yao (35) / Deke (10) / Swift (3) Howard (20) / Swift (28) TMac (35) / DA (10) / JB (3) Wesley (20) / DA (15) / JB (10) / Head (3) Skip (30) / Head (10) / DA (5)
5 - Yao (36) 4 - Howard (26) 3 - TMac (36) 2 - DA (20) 1 - Skip (30) Bench (minutes) 5 - Deke (10)/Stro (2) 4- Stro (22) 3 - Flyin Ryan (5)/DA (5) 2 - DW (18)/JB (10) 1 - DW (6)/Luther (6)/Mooch (6)
5 - Yao (35) 4 - Stro (32) 3 - TMac (38) 2 - Head (30) 1 - Skip (32) I think this is a championship lineup, but JVG is not smart enough to see it.
Starters: Yao Howard T-Mac Wesley Alston Bench: Deke / Swift Swift / Baxter Bowen / Barry Anderson / Barry Head / Moochie With Barry, Baxter and Moochie getting minutes depending on match ups with Barry getting the lions share of those minutes. Problem now is we are too deep, who would have thunk that last year at this time...LOL
Come December the rotation will look like this: Starters: Yao Swift McGrady Anderson Alston Bench: Mutumbo Howard Bowen Wesley Sura Notable Minutes will come from Jon Barry and Luther Head
Starters Yao Stro TMac DA Skip others in rotation Deke JHo DW Barry Situational Players Bowen Head Everyone else will ride the pine IMO unless there is a blow out or injury or serious foul trouble. Luther Head is the real wild card IMO. He showed enough during the exhibition season to warrent some real minutes plus he has the type of speed and defense that JVG loves. I think he could spend a substantial amount of time in the rotation but he could also spend a substantial amount of time watching from the bench. I think a lot of Heads playing time is going to depend on how DA, DW and Barry hold up physically.
This is the lineup I expect in December. Starters Yao 34 Stro 36 TMac 42 DA 28 Skip 42 Bench Deke 8 JHo 18 DW 13 Barry 13 Head 6 Out of Rotation Baxter Bowen JVG will start out with Howard and Wesley starting, but quickly giving way to Stro and DA. Wesley and Barry's minutes will fluccuate based on opponents. JVG does not want Head to play PG, but is backed into making it work. JVG will most likely try to keep Yao on bench when Howard is in the game later in season.
i think he should. him and yao make a real nice front-court tandem on offense and defense. i think howards game is similar to yao's in terms of stepping out and shooting. stro brings a more dominating inside presence that howard doesnt really have. and i think luther has definately earned a spot in the roation. you cant NOT play him. yao(35)/who wants to sex mutumbo(13) stro(26)/j-howard(22) t-mac(38)/da, berry or bowen(12) da(24)/wesley or berry(24) skip(36)/head(10)/moochie(2)
C Yao(35) Deke(13) PF Howard(20) Swift(28) Baxter(0) SF TMAC (35) Bowen (10) Glover (3) SG Anderson (25) Wesley (15) Barry (8) PG Alston (30) Head (18) Moochie (0) Sura (IR)
Rafer (29) / Luther (8) / Tracy (6) / Jon (5) David (23) / Derek (17) / Jon (8) / Tracy (5) Tracy (29) / Derek (6) / Jon (5) / Ryan (3) Juwan (22) / Stro (23) / Ryan (3) Yao (33) / Deke (10) / Stro (5) Player Totals: Rafer (29) Luther (8) Tracy (40) Jon (18) David (23) Derek (23) Ryan (6) Juwan (22) Stro (28) Yao (33) Deke (10) This was harder than I thought...can someone tell me if my breakdown looks about right?
I know that JVG likes to play 7-8 in his rotation. so... Yao 30 / Deke 15 / Stro 3 Juwon 25 / Stro 23 T-Mac 38 / DA 10 DA 16 / DW 16 / Barry 16 (depends on who's hitting their shots) Rafer 30 / Sura 18 then: Head ( he'll get Sura's 18 while he's recovering, and will play great, he'll be in the rotation forcing less minutes for someone0 Baxter (insurance) Bowen (defensive annoyance speacialist) Moochie (finally EXPIRING contract) Glover (insurace) Either way you look at it, we're deep. we're good at all positions. Sure I'd like to trade the gluts of the guards for a Dwayne Wade or Ray Allen ; but for the time being, we have 3 good shooters at that spot. Rafer is the key here. I think he's got so much talent around him, he is capable of getting 10+ assists.
