Francis won't be in the rotation. Rocket should just waive him so he doesn't affect the chemistry of the team.
francis will get a look, but if he aint ready we will move on. hayes will get spot mins as a defensive player. harris will be cut head will ride the bench until he is traded ( I think this is a mistake) Novak will ride the bench and get spot mins as a shooter rotation rafer/AB/barry tmac/barry Artest/battier scola/landry/artest Yao/doresy or deke adelman needs to have a 9-10 rotation this year. I understand that he prefers smaller rotations but he needs to keep this team healty until the playoffs, then he can trim the rotation down to 8. This team is too deep not to play 9-10 guys everygame.
Most teams don't play more than an 8-9 man rotation in the regular season. The 10th through 12th guys play in rare situations (blowouts, massive foul trouble, injuries, etc...). Assuming Landry and Deke sign and there are no more significant trades, it's going to be hard for anybody beyond this group to get playing time: Starters: PG: Alston SG: McGrady SF: Artest PF: Scola C: Yao Reserves: PG: Brooks or Francis SG: Barry SF: Battier PF: Landry C: Deke or Dorsey That's 10 spots right there. I can't figure out how to reduce it to 8 or 9 without leaving out a signficant player. You also need to have a backup PG and a backup C. I don't believe they will end up playing T-Mac or Barry at PG. Maybe Adelman will use a 10-man rotation, but that's unlikely. Regardless, the following group will rarely see the court if they are still on the team next season: Head Hayes Novak (sounds like he'll be gone) Francis or Brooks (whoever isn't in the rotation) Dorsey or Deke (whoever isn't in the rotation) In my opinion, there is another signficant trade in the works. We are already facing a problem trying to figure out who to leave out in a typical 8-9 man regular season rotation. I think they should keep Harris over Head but there really isn't room for him either. I also think we need another 6'10+ guy that can play alongside Yao against some of the bigger frontcourts (Amare/Shaq, Gasol/Bynum, Camby/Kaman, etc...). I don't think Scola can handle that kind of defensive role nor can Landry or Hayes. Yes, Hayes is a terrific defender but at 6'5, he too has defensive limitations. Dorsey may be our best bet if he can get it going quickly but that is yet to be determined.
I agree with everything but I really hope adelman extends his rotation this year to atleast 9-10 per game. We are too deep not too, and this will help us in staying healthy and fresh for the postseason... I also see a minor trade coming before the season.
Yea, you created a post at the same time as me with almost the exact same thoughts. I agree that a 9-10 man rotation makes sense to preserve health and utilize the plentiful talent on our roster. I also agree that some kind of trade is going to take place that will make next year's rotation more transparent.
Why don't we just field 2 different teams and play them alternatively every other game.....save everyone's legs for the playoffs..... Yao, Tmac, Artest, Scola, Landry, Battier, Rafer.......everyone plays only 41 games this season!
That's almost feasible. You could create two pretty competitive rotations out of this roster. Rotation 1: Alston McGrady Battier Scola Yao Head Hayes Novak In this rotation, Mac can take some minutes at point when Rafer is resting. Scola can play some backup C. Rotation 2: Brooks Barry Artest Landry Deke Francis Dorsey In this rotation, Barry can play some PG if Francis or Brooks suck it up. Dorsey is your backup C.
Our team is so good, let's just play novak, head, brooks, dorsey and deke all season and save everyone else for the playoffs.
I'll help you. First of all, to guess the rotation of any team, you start by listing two-deep at every position, just like you did above. From there you figure out which starting positions will get the least bench help. For the Rockets, that means C because Yao will play big minutes and Scola (who starts at another spot) will slide over. So you can chop Deke and Dorsey out of your top 10. Next, at SG & SF, we will have ONE primary player coming off the bench (not two) by the name of Shane Battier. If Shane starts, then Artest will be that guy. At PF, it's logical to assume the backup spot is Landry's to lose. Finally at PG, it's either Barry or AB. Perhaps those two split a rotation spot and we end up with 7 rotation players + two 1/2 rotation players. I think you are pipe-dreaming about SF but that is your right and privilege. Some of the threads in the GARM are fun right now. What a nice change.
I don't see Barry getting much time at backup PG despite some of the rumors. I also don't seeing him rotting on the bench. Battier won't rot either. That was the dilemma I was seeing. I also don't like Scola at C. I know we did it at times last season for one reason or another but I don't think he can handle that role. I think the best thing to do is get another backup C in addition to resigning Deke and moving Head, Hayes, Novak, etc...
Battier definitely won't rot if he backs up both Tracy and Ron Ron but playing 35+ mins/game is over and done. Barry won't rot either. I see him getting minutes 10-20 minutes every game. It just depends. At backup C, Scola is just fine against other backup Cs, not starters. But we do need a legit backup C who can defend.
I personally feel its a shame we are getting rid of Novak now. Maybe Adelman does too thus the hold up on the "minor" move. We have alot of players on this team that are same. With the additon of Artest I feel that Novak is now a better fit than he was earlier. Hayes is now expendable because of the addition of Artest. So is Harris. Head is expendable becuase of Barry. Francis "if healthy" I would love to keep but if he's not then he needs to be traded or released. Novak adds something almost no one on the team does. This guy is lights out. Is he a 10-20 min rotation player? No! But 10-12 mins against certain teams with a lineup of: Yao Novak Artest Battier/Tracy Tracy/Barry could be VERY effective on the court together. With Battier and Artest on the court at the same time this would help lessen the blow the team takes defensively when Novak is on the floor. Just my two cents but I really hate to see him go even more now "if" that is indeed who we are moving.
The way I read it you had Barry or AB getting minutes at backup PG. I didn't see any other mention of Barry's name in your modifications. I still don't think Barry or Mac will be playing significant time at PG. That means you need a backup PG. Secondly, I don't have any faith in Francis. I've been one of the people downplaying his chances of doing anything next season. See the Francis Update thread. No pipe-dreaming here. I just listed him along with Brooks as possible backups so that people wouldn't think I'm a Brooks lover. Finally, I still don't like Scola at C. He is a true PF at best and nothing more. I don't think Adelman wanted to play Scola at C last season but did it because he didn't have confidence in Deke early on then because he had to at times when Yao went down. So, assuming the starting 5 are: Rafer Mac Artest Scola Yao and you have to play both Battier and Barry, you now have 7 spots taken. I believe you need a backup PG other than McGrady or Barry so now you have 8 spots. I also think you need somebody other than Scola to spell Yao (Deke, Dorsey, a future trade). Now you have 9 spots. If we sign Landry, I don't see him not playing so that's 10. This is actually the spot that I think may be the least needed off the bench. You can let Artest back up Scola but then you are looking at not using Landry. I still don't see any easy way to make this less than a 10 man rotation if Landry and Deke sign. If Deke doesn't sign, we will need to replace him and that replacement will need to play.
I think that's a very good point about how you could maybe compensate for Novak's defense with both Battier and Artest on the floor. I'd love to be able to keep Novak's lights out shooting.
Im going to say this: Starting 5 Yao Scola Artest T-Mac Alston Key Bench Battier Landry (If he re-signs, Please re-sign Landry) Barry Francis Spot Mins/ Foul trouble Mins Deke Brooks Dorsey IR List Hayes Harris (I think we keep him) Gone from trade or waived Head (Don't care) Novac (Wish we could find a spot for him)
If Deke and Landry re-sign we have 15 players including Novak.Maybe he won't go anywhere at all. However,I still feel that management is still trying to trade him.
Not being in the rotation doesn't mean not playing. It means playing <10 mins/game. It means not playing in every single game. Usually it means not playing in the 1st half at all. With Adelman next season, you're going to have 6 guys average 25-35 mins/game: Yao, Scola, Artest, Tracy, Rafer, Shane. Assuming nobody is hurt, you can guaranteed write that in stone. If Landry is healthy, he will get 20 mins/game, maybe more. These 7 are locked in. I honestly don't think any of this is really debatable. Where it gets fun is figuring out backup minutes at PG. My guess right now is Barry and AB will either split 20 mins/game, one guy will beat out the other or another PG from a trade will come into the picture. This 8th rotation spot behind Rafer could be manned by one or two players. I don't agree that Barry definitely gets regular minutes. I do think it's likely. So maybe we end up with 9 guys. Dorsey, Deke, Chuck and the "loser" in the backup PG battle will get very small playing time. Deke got over 40 DNPs last year when Yao was healthy. Agree or not, no bench player will get more than piddly minutes at C. durvasa, with all due respect to Chuck, his minutes plummeted when Scola started and didn't go back up until Yao got hurt. Next season, only an injury will get him significant playing time.
Lots of good points in here. It'll be interesting to see any additional moves made before training camp and how things shake out with the rotation.
chuck will and can handle himself just fine, he's not going to get pushed out of the rotation, he's ahead of dorsey, and landry hasn't even signed. artest at the 4... i like the idea, but mac, battier, and artest will all split time at the 2,3 and scola, landry, and hayes will play the 4. dorsey will get more pt at the 5 imo, we won't play deke if signs as much as we have in the past. barry will get majority of his minutes at the 1,2,3. we're covered on all basis. i just don't see how a top notch defensive 4 will get pushed out, unless like durvasa states, artest takes his spot.
