I thought now that we've completely revamped the roster it might be worth discussing (again) what our starting line-up / rotation looks like now. Please take this as an opportunity to share your own thoughts and not just blast my crappy post which was half made for the sake of discussion. Ford / Calderon / Jones Mopete / Jones Parker / Mopete / Graham or Tucker Bosh / / Bargnani / Garbajosa Rasho / Garbajosa / Slokar Won't play enough to be worth mentioning: Humphries, Martin. I'll just briefly put justification for each breakdown. PG: Ford gets majority of the minutes as the starter, Calderon gets enough minutes to try and develop / prove himself and Jones fills in when necessary but not for very long. Martin doesn't get any real burn because we have better options this season than we did last. SG: I'd think the minutes here are going to be evenly split between Jones and Mopete ? not really any other candidates here for the job ?. maybe Parker (not sure whether to label him as a 2 or 3) but I'd think that wherever he plays Mopete just counters at the other position and gets the same amount of minutes. SF: Parker starts and then beyond that Mopete fills in for the other part of his minutes. With Mo being so solid he'll probably get more burn than anyone on the team. I think one of Graham or Tucker will have to go to D-league. The 3 spot looks really crowded this year. Bargnani is probably in there somewhere too. PF / C: Bosh will (hopefully) play a majority of his minutes at the PF spot and maybe slide over to C for a few minutes a game if we are really out and running. I think the garbage man should be able to take up some of the gaping hole in the middle if he's anything close to as advertised (not afraid to play dirty, will rebound). Rasho should be good for about 20 minutes a game. Call me crazy but I think that Slokar will get some burn in there too considering Mitchell rode him like Matt Bonner in summer league last year. Humphries doesn't get any minutes worth mentioning because of his talent level, Mitchell hates guys who are lazy and his minutes come at the expense of someone we'd rather have on the floor. Now if you're wondering why I didn't discuss Bargnani a whole lot that's because I have no clue what's going to happen there. He could play anywhere from 3-5 spot for all I know and could be doing anything from getting 20 minutes a game to D-league. There definitely aren't enough minutes to go around when you consider these 4 guys: Graham, Tucker, Bargnani and Slokar. So something's gotta give in that department because we can't expect to develop all of them if they are getting 7-10 minutes a piece. It will be interesting to see what happens 1/2 way through the season when Mitchell tightens the rotation.
Many people think that Bargnani will be the starting small foward, but I agree with your lineup. If Bargnani proves to be an effective 6 or 7th man off the bench, then I say he should get the starting nod over Parker, but I doubt that'll happen because if you're a Euroleague MVP then you must be doing something right. I think Tucker is the odd man out since he's essentially a 4 in a 2-guard/small foward body and he'll need to hone his dribbling and shooting skills if he is to compete with Graham. Joey G isn't a fantastic dribbler himself, but he basically can do everything that Tucker does almost as well as he can or even better.
that line-up looks good for opening night, but i wouldnt be surprised if we see bargnani slide into the starting position at center sooner or later. colangelo has stated that he wants to run...rash isnt exactly a runner. we may play small ball, and bring in rasho as matchups dictate
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Premium:</div><div class="quote_post">that line-up looks good for opening night, but i wouldnt be surprised if we see bargnani slide into the starting position at center sooner or later. colangelo has stated that he wants to run...rash isnt exactly a runner. we may play small ball, and bring in rasho as matchups dictate</div> bargnani is a work in progress, i'll be suprised if he gets over 10 mpg.
I wouldn't think so. If you're drafted first overall, you're going to at least provide some contribution to the team. Bargnani has shown a lot of versatility on offence, and with Charlie V gone I can see him getting a lot of minutes as a sixth or seventh man. The fact that he's being experimented to play the centre and small foward positions should open up more time for him as well.
I think the starting line up will be: C: Nesterovic/Bargnani/Garbajosa/Slokar PF: Bosh/Bargnani/Garbajosa/Slokar SF: Peterson/Graham/Parker/Tucker/Bargnani/Garbajosa SG: Jones/Parker/Graham/Tucker PG: Ford/Calderon/Martin I think it is a toss up between Jones and Parker as to who will start at SG. I think Mo will be moved to the starting 3 either way.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> C: Nesterovic/Bargnani/Garbajosa/Slokar PF: Bosh/Bargnani/Garbajosa/Slokar SF: Peterson/Graham/Parker/Tucker/Bargnani/Garbajosa SG: Jones/Parker/Graham/Tucker PG: Ford/Calderon/Martin </div> That lineup is actually not that bad in my opinion...as for Andrea, I think they should just play him as a C for a while to see how he pans out and if it's not working, test it out with the SF. It'll be more of a trial-and-error process with him.
