For now, Synder is the choice by default, but I hope by midseason Novak will play his way into the starting lineup, since I think he’s a better fit with the starters than Snyder. The starting lineup needs a little more scoring punch. A Snyder/Alston backcourt doesn’t really do much for me offensively. Alston has been great in the preseason, but until he can do it consistently when the games mean something, I still view him as a liability from the perimeter. And Snyder hasn’t really shown me that he’s much more than a slight upgrade over Bogans. He seems to be the shooting guard version of Battier, only without the outside shot.
I, too, was hoping that Novak would sneak into the starting five... and am still hoping he does it by midseason. Rafer/T-Mac's chemistry with Novak looks impeccable.
He very well might. I was pretty impressed with his post defense in the last few preseason games, it was much better than I'd anticipated. If he can continue to improve his defense and rebounding, he definately could find himself a starter.
Cool. I'm sure Jeff's not done experimenting with lineups, but this starting 5 isn't too surprising. It was obvious Bonzi wouldn't start. Van Gundy made it clear he wouldn't play him until he had practiced with the team. He could still start eventually, but I agree he'd be better coming off the bench anyway. In some ways, I wish he'd gone with Luther at the 2, though. He hits the open 3s and, along with Battier and Rafer, would punish defenses for the double team better than Snyder, IMO. But, his size on defense is a liability. If Snyder can hit the open jumpers consistently, he'll be fine. His slashing ability and overall agressiveness and size is a great compliment to the other starters. So far, I've been pretty impressed with this guy. Nice to have all these options for a change. Oh, and I don't think Novak's ready to start yet, but his rebounding and defense have been pretty good. So, he could make coach's job really hard in the future.
Snyder earned the start, IMO. He worked his tail off all presason & supprised lots of people w/ his D and athletic ability.
The nice thing about starting Snyder is that he's physically tougher than a lot of the other options. He's scrappy and goes for whatever he can get. The beginning of games are always ugly and scrappy. Snyder being a guy that thrives in that style of play, should be there until things settle down. Once they settle down, coach will sub him out and put in a unit that suits the 2nd section of the game. I hope the starting lineup will be Alston, Snyder, McGrady, Battier and Yao all season. That just makes our bench look that much better.
I got most of it. KNWS blacked out during pregame, adn didnt come back up till around 9:30 in the first. Been super busy since then, so wasnt able to finish everything till today. included with the clips video just posted.
calm down guys.. the guy was obviously pulling a PR stunt for his new columbian cocaine smuggling scheme.
The news that Juwan won't be starting anymore is probably the best I've heard since we learned that Matt Maloney had been released from the team.
I think he is the right choice for the 5 starter. 1) We have the best defense with a big guard starter (Wells/Snyder). We are long, athletic, quick and interchangable around Yao with this lineup up. If you put JH or Novak out there I think you weaken rotations and team speed. 2) Snyder is more of an off the ball player than Wells. And Wells can carry the scoring in a 2nd unit where Snyder can't. 3) Wells is recovering, work him in slow. I think it is a GREAT move for now. If it turns out we need more scoring punch we can work in Wells or Novak. But I like the idea of softening the opponents with a relentless defense and running things through Yao and then bring in the shooting squad (Novak and Head, others) to demoralized them nothing but net bombs.
I keep seeing the Bonzi leading the second unit stuff, but how often do you run a full second unit out there? You almost never run a second unit out there. You sub out players to keep a strong mix on the floor and get everyone some rest. Yes he can provide some scoring when McGrady and/or Yao are out, but he is probably going to be on the floor with one or both of them good parts of the time. It isn't like hockey where we are running different lines out there five at a time. Same for Novak. He doesn't need to be starting, and he is going to be in with a bunch of different combinations of the big three scorers because that is how he will get his buckets. That said, I definitely like Snyder in the starting 5 and Bonzi coming off the bench.
I like the starting lineup and we should stay with it as long as it works. If things are stale offensively, we can bring Novak in. I prefer that Novak not play huge minutes at the beginning of the season. If his play is stellar enough he will force the issue later on. For now, 15-20 mins/game should do it. But it's up to Snyder to play well enough to earn starters minutes. He needs to continue the "take no prisoners" approach on defense and attacking the basket. I like his nasty, testy attitude with opposing players. Hopefully his outside shot will keep defenders honest.
I just finished watching the Magic game, and Bullard says that JVG said Novak will not be part of the rotation unless we have stretches where we can't score. I don't think Novak will average 20 minutes a game especially at the beginning of the season. I think there might be some games where he plays 20 minutes if the matchup warrants it, but there will also be games where he might not play at all.
So, who's going to be the backup PF? If that's true, it would have to be Howard or Padgett. I think JVG plans on using Hayes exclusively at center.
