Rotations

by California Al on Feb 28, 2009 1:48 PM CST

Haven't been able to catch this debacle of disappointment, so I'm wondering if:

A: VDN has shown any recognition of what I'm proposing, and

B: What everyone here thinks about it.

It seems to me that we a very nice symmetry of talents here, and balancing the strengths of the younger and veteran talent would provide instant offsets for the "deficiencies" of each. This is strictly generalized, of course, but not too offbase.

Weaker o, stronger d: Kirk, Lu, Joakim, Tyrus.

Weaker d, stronger o: Ben, Derrick, Brad, Tim

I'm thinking in stereotypical NBA rythm of starting more conservatively, and using the veteran rotation of Kirk, Salmons, Lu, Brad and one of the Thomas's (Tim for the sake of what I want the second unit to look like). Then bring in the energy unit of Rose, Gordon, Salmons, Noah and Ty.

The first unit would bring better perimeter d and be a little softer in the frontcourt, but would also provide more post play and ball movement on offense. It would help Kirk and Lu use the talents they do have, slow the tempo a little and hopefully prevent the opponents from a quick breakout. Then, depending on performance, start rotating in the second unit in pairs, one backcourt and one frontcourt to keep the balance. The hot hands stay on the floor an extra couple of minutes; if the starters are playing well, give them up to 10 minutes and if not, start the rotations at the 6 minute mark. Salmons would be the first out, as I have him playing with both units, and Tim right with him for Gordon and Ty. Rose and Noah come in with Salmons at the 3. Then let this unit run no less than 8 minutes, and up to all the way through the second quarter, depending on gameflow.

Gordon and Rose are and should be high usage players and only benefit from playing with Noah and Ty. They get the help d they need, etc.

The main benefit I see is giving the players consistent roles, and hopefully take the emotion out of the current choices Vinnie is making. It seems like every substitution seems to imply "you sucked, I want you out of there!" Secondary, or maybe primary, is playing combinations together enough to develop some synergy. If we're going to rotate nine players, two platoons makes more sense to me than a random number generator making the choices.

Fire away.

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Comments

That energy unit better be on every tonight,

because a starting lineup of Kirk, Luol, Salmons, Miller and Tim Thomas will leave the team down double digits. On that unit, only Salmons can get his own shot consistently, with Thomas a bit of a mismatch as well. The other team doesn’t have to really respect Lu, Miller or Kirk, and it’s not as if any of those five are first team defensive players. They can play some D, but they’ll get killed on the boards and will get penetrated on with great consistency.
I’m all for a starting lineup of Rose, Gordon, Salmons, Ty Thomas and Joakim Noah. I know Rose and Gordon stink defensively, but how else will Rose learn? He and Ty need to start playing some pick and roll/pop style ball with Noah, Gordon and Salmons all benefiting by the defense having to rotate. Thomas isn’t a great passer, but again, he needs to run the pick in roll in actual games.

by dakoose on Feb 28, 2009 2:56 PM CST reply actions

I'm not favoring this 9 mine rotation

I wouldn’t have changed a thing the way we were playing. The bunch that beat Orlando had earned the starting jobs, and those jobs were their to lose. Instead, Vinnie seems to have upset the apple cart by giving the new guys major minutes. So, this is my idea of how to get the most benefit IF he’s going to play all 9 of them 20+ minutes.

by California Al on Mar 1, 2009 1:14 AM CST up reply actions