With Batum & Outlaw out - is there a better rotation?

[Public Defender]

I'm just wondering if y'all think that Nate is making the best use of his personnel, given that two of the integral pieces from last season (Nicolas Batum and Travis Outlaw) aren't available for at least a few months.

Here's the current rotation:

starters: Blake/Miller/Roy/Aldridge/Oden

reserves: Bayless/Fernandez/Webster/Howard/Przybilla

I wonder if a better lineup might be...

starters: Miller/Roy/Fernandez/Aldridge/Oden

reserves: Blake/Bayless/Webster/Cunningham/Przybilla

Stop the two-PG madness and get Rudy out there. Sure, neither Rudy nor Roy is a small forward, but I think it makes more sense to have two "swing players" than two "point guards," so that Roy isn't constantly playing out of position. Rudy can also stretch the defense better than Blake, since he's a more consistent three-point shooter this season.

Then, for the reserves, you put Bayless into a position where he's playing off the ball, rather than handling it (which is a better use of him, if you ask me), and you more consistently use Webster as your three-point threat off the bench (rather than splitting that between Webster and Fernandez, which has probably contributed to Webster not finding a shooting rhythm). And Cunningham? As others have said, Howard is going nowhere fast. At least with Cunningham, you've got a guy with something to prove. If he can't hack it, fine - put Howard back in. But give the kid a chance.

In the end, no one is going to replace the defense of Batum or the athleticism of Outlaw. But I don't think the rotation that McMillan is using is working.

 

[drexlersdad]

i think the best lineup is one where martell is not the suck

 

[Ed O]

I'd go:

PG: Miller
SG: Roy
SF: Webster
PF: Aldridge
C: Oden

Bring Blake in relatively early for Miller. Then bring Rudy in for Webster and Pryzbilla in for Oden. Then Miller in for Roy. Bayless in for Blake, perhaps, at some points.

We get some three guard rotation but not a ton of it. Blake still gets minutes but he's not starting and, hopefully, is playing less.

Webster can be rotated out after four or five minutes if he's not playing defense well and/or hitting his shot.

Ed O.

 

[drexlersdad]

yeah pretty much, we have a sf in webster, so not playing him is fairly ridiculous.

 

[Nikolokolus]

yeah pretty much, we have a sf in webster, so not playing him is fairly ridiculous.

I sort of question this logic. Do we really have a small forward in Webster? I can't really tell lately.

 

[Blazer4ever]

I actualy like the original post's suggestion better, I don't like that Miller can't shoot and that he's dominating the offense (without being able to shoot) but realisticaly, they signed him and they're stuck with him and he has more of an ego. other than that I like the Rudy/Roy lineup but I would put Martell behind Rudy and Bayless behind Roy.

 

[drexlersdad]

I sort of question this logic. Do we really have a small forward in Webster? I can't really tell lately.

its more of a defense thing. can blake guard 2s better than roy? can roy guard 3s better than martell? who knows. but playing 2 undersized guys can hurt you sometimes.

 

[B-Roy]

its more of a defense thing. can blake guard 2s better than roy? can roy guard 3s better than martell? who knows. but playing 2 undersized guys can hurt you sometimes.

It hurts you in the long run.

 

[andalusian]

its more of a defense thing. can blake guard 2s better than roy? can roy guard 3s better than martell? who knows. but playing 2 undersized guys can hurt you sometimes.

Our defense started improving big-time once the rotation was changed - Webster's issue is team defense, I think.

As for Blake, it does not matter, he guards the point-guards, Miller guards the small-guards, mostly.

 

[Ed O]

Our defense started improving big-time once the rotation was changed - Webster's issue is team defense, I think.

I think it might have more to do with the quality of opponents we've faced. In the five games Webster started, OKC is the only non-likely playoff team, and we played them on the road.

Memphis and MN and Charlotte can make just about anyone's defense look better...

Ed O.