I think the worrying over minutes is a bit overblown. Also, the talent gap between the Rockets rotation players and non-rotation garbage time players is probably one of the widest in the league. They cant hold leads and it evaporates very quickly. I dont blame MDA for not chancing things.
As much as d'Antoni looks to be relying on his starters, it's actually not that much compared to previous eras. A seven to eight man rotation seemed standard to me in the 90's. JVG, George Karl, Jerry Sloan, those guys were all really good coaches that rode on the backs of their superstars. It's just that in the past five to ten years or so, the league really has taken strides towards prioritizing health for the long run. It sort of mirrors how baseball treats their pitchers over the same time frame. 2017 Popovich is much more liberal about rest than 2007 Popovich was. The d'Antoni SSOL Suns trotted out a 7.5 man rotation, comparable to our 8.5 now with Gordon Tucker Nene and LMM. No on in the NBA plays a ton of minutes per game anymore save Lebron, and even he at 37mpg the past two years is down from his peak of 42mpg 2004-2006, followed by 40mpg 2006-2008. So I think a durable guy like Harden can certainly take it. Chris Paul is at 30mpg so far and you'd be ok with him settling out at around 31-32 for the season. These guys are FINE as long as you don't make them play through injuries that have the potential for becoming chronic nagging ones over the course of the whole year. James kinda did that last May with his ankle just because he wanted MVP and we saw what happened in the playoffs.
For people who really care about health, I think we can get a better sense once the schedule starts tightening. Until now the Rockets have had so many days rest there has never really been much of a point to rest. But I think it would be a good idea to take out some rotation guys for certain games on a road trip. However, that still runs into the trouble that our current garbage time players are terrible. As in they're so bad they'd improve simply by holding on to the ball for 24 seconds and get a shot clock violation than to actually try to run plays. I hope Morey once the trade season starts being in some at least semi-capable guys to fill the roster. Equivalent of baseball's "innings eaters" that don't have to be good but at least not Bobby Brown level.
omg...that's so the other way around You know this isn't true. It's works both ways. When the team is on a bad stretch literally nothing positive can be said without getting attacked, or threads entirely ignored. Hell, I can't even post a vid of a new play without "what does that matter, we aren't a contender" crap. That is far more true than the other way around like you are saying. The board rolls with negativity. Negative commentary rulz the Internet, and most all sports fan sites. Don't pretend it doesn't. besides, there is like a dozen threads on this topic about MDA, and last night's game was not one to use as an example. I'm still confused why this thread was started right after that game. OP was so irked he wasn't going to take it anymore, and wanted everyone to know that, I guess. Literally, a dozen threads about MDAs rotation exists on this.
I'm just calling it like I see it... If you wanna rip on Ryan Anderson... complain about Ariza's diminishing skillset... or go after "scrubs" on the bench that are "so horrible that they cant even get on the floor for garbage time..." ... feel free - negativity can be espoused.... but (as this thread shows)...if you mention something like minute dispursement... some are just gonna quote the record and dismiss... some will offer stats to show how unfounded these concerns are (even though most data can be very misleading depending on different situations)... and others will just call you a whiner... Happened all last season... well until after game 6 when even MDA, who had been so pompously dismissive of such concerns just a few hours earlier, started talking about resting guys in the future to be in better shape for the post season... We're having a great season thus far! Guys are playing great! Harden continues to take his game to new heights... we got a real shot here - imo... hopefully we maximize the opportunity and dont let anything stupid bite us on the ass... lol and I agree that minutes for Harden and CP3 were very reasonable this particular game.... but running a 32 yr old Ariza for 42 minutes on the 1st night of a b2b when you were up by 20 after 3 - thats just unnecessary imo..
To be honest, I think because CP3 & Harden hasn't played together that much and there are still much chemistry to be developed between them due to Paul's missing a month. As much as I want the starters to be rested, I also want them to develop their chemistry together now and work out the kinks so they will be well oiled machine by March.
Dude, MDAs small lineups is one of the biggest, most agreed upon, criticisms of his on the BBS since we signed him. I'm legitimately confused why you think otherwise. Do you only see critques of your takes, and not the agreements? I guarenntee you there are at least 6 threads on this subject this season alone, and 10 more since we signed him. And then you have the complementary threads of Do Something Morey ... sign a 3rd PG. The agreement is overwhelming, which is why this thread is getting bashed by some for picking a game that wasn't even a good example. And even you agree with this quote that this game was a minor offense
Fair enough... It was a hot issue as our season came to an end last year... but it seemed to have diminished in light of our recent prosperity... maybe i have to dig deeper than the first page of threads i guess... Glad we're all in agreement then - MDA's short lineups suck and he needs to further limit guys minutes (not just Harden) when a game is pretty much locked up... cool... let's get his Pringles butt onboard and be ready for the post season!
The only player's minutes I'm concerned with is Ariza's and that's due to his age. At 32 I don't want to see him play 35 minutes every night when Moute is here and can help pick up the slack. Harden can handle 35mpg especially since he's gunning for MVP. Everyone else is around 30mpg or below so I'm not seeing a problem. Once the streak is over I'd also like to see some rest games when the schedule gets heavy like four games in five nights or something.
There are times where we are up big and harden cp3 still in. Injury is the concern. -another concern is our reliance on capela - -please dont get rid of ryno
Ariza at 41 minutes is way too much. He's going to break down with those kinds of numbers. I think MDmA needs to be a little more careful just for longevity.
HIS BENCH PLAYERS HURT US IN THE END??? With tonight's game against The Jazz, the Rockets will be coming off 5 games in 7 Days. We have 7 players who are approaching 30yrs old or older in our top 8 rotation and James Harden, our top player, has consistently been one of the top players in average minutes played per games over the years. In addition, MDA constantly plays his top rotation players in the 4th Qtr, when the games are out of reach. I, like the Rocket's announcers during the San Antonio game, thought MDA should have extended his bench sooner, when the game was out of reach. With Luc Mbah a Moute and Capela out, why not give Zhou Qi 5 to 10 minutes. The same thing happen last year! We had a very good start in Oct, Nov and Dec but begin to slip in each of the following months; Jan, Feb, March and April. He wear his players down. Harden was playing on fumes in the San Antonio series. In order to win at this style of play, YOU HAVE TO PLAY A 10-MAN ROTATION AND IMPLEMENT OTHERS, WHEN THE GAMES ARE OUT OF REACH. I'm still baffled why Bobby Brown is on the team (OUTSIDE OF BEING FRIENDS WITH HARDEN, ARIZA, ETC.) and why Troy Williams is not getting a chance every now and then. We need a fourth guard! But if MDA is not going to expand his rotation.....why bring in another player???
Someone was saying the man, the myth, the legend @Codman hinself was possibly alluding to that boy Afflalo heading to the city of the syrup? I'm dine.
I've heard he and Daryl's Egghead crew are working on a 4-man rotation to minimize variance. It's a dire threat, perhaps even more than ignoring the midrange.
With Mbah a Moute out I was hoping that Troy Williams would get some minutes so that MDA does not burn his regular players using a much shorter rotation.
Zhou Qi still trash... he shows potential of being good but still trash... He needs to live in the G-League and feed him some dino meat to gain some meat. And i believe Troy has been hurt and the rest of the bench are ****... If it wasn't because of the bench... we'll be blowing teams out 20+ points... Once the bench checks in... our lead dwindles away. And yes, i get the point of garbage minutes.. but those last few guys on the bench couldn't even hold their own against opposing teams bench... and im sure the coaching staff sees what we dont see during training therefore they dont even deserver garbage time?
OP, you mentioned "YOU HAVE TO PLAY A 10-MAN ROTATION AND IMPLEMENT OTHERS, WHEN THE GAMES ARE OUT OF REACH." How is this decided? Please remember that 13 pts in 35 secs by Tracy. It is perfectly reasonable for any NBA team to make 3 3ptrs in one minute.
