08-04-2024, 09:06 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-04-2024, 09:06 AM by DanSchwartzgan.)
I wonder if we are all trying too hard to replicate last season in the way we think of lineups/rotations. To me, one of the main things Dallas tried to do this summer was create positional flexibility and redundancy (I think they also tried to get additional ball handling and more movement shooting, but that is a topic for another day).
Flexibility/Redundancy is just a way of getting through the regular season. It helps with deciding what lineups work when the rotation narrows, but for the first 82 games you need to eat some innings. Outside of Gafford, our main veteran bench is multi-positional. Maxi is a 4/5, Naji is a 3/4, Grimes is a 2/3 and Dinwiddie/Exum are a 1/2's. I'm not sure it matters that much what Hardy/OMax are as they may still be in spare developmental minutes mode with all the veterans we have. If a center is out, you have Maxi/Powell. If PJ is out, you have Maxi/Naji. If Maxi is out and a C/PF starter also goes down, Powell/OMax might come into play.
Moving to the wings, if Thompson is out, you have Naji/Grimes and if one of the star guards is out, you have the veteran threesome of Grimes, Dinwiddie and Exum to cover two positions. Similar to Maxi, Exum seems to get hurt a lot. So, similar to OMax, Hardy's opportunity for real minutes probably comes when Exum is out and one of the star guards is also sitting for some reason.
We tend to have this same rotation/minutes conversation every summer (what else are we supposed to talk about), but when the season arrives Kidd spends 20 games experimenting. Then, someone misses time and then someone else and we never really get to see what the rotation is. Even all of this Maxi talk is tainted by injury. First, Maxi was out. When he came back, he got way more minutes alongside a center than without one. Then Lively missed time toward the end of the season and Maxi was the small-ball five some. Our memory says that was a thing, but if you go back and look at the regular season box scores there were very few times Maxi spent more than few minutes at center when Lively/Gafford were healthy.
We have very good redundancy. It looks like overcrowding if you are dead set that Hardy/OMax will get minutes. If you let go of that, it is 11 players with Gafford, Maxi, Naji, Grimes, Exum and Dinwiddie off the bench. Kidd often played 11, but he used DJJ as kind of a feaux starter to create extra minutes for the bench. He doesn't have that luxury with Thompson. So, playing all six bench vets will be tough when we are healthy. But, when are we ever fully healthy? Almost never which is why a team with top 2-3 seed aspirations needs this kind of redundancy. We are at the point where home court might be the edge we need to win a championship. For the first time in a long time, we have the kind of depth needed to sustain us when a couple of guys go down at the same time.
Flexibility/Redundancy is just a way of getting through the regular season. It helps with deciding what lineups work when the rotation narrows, but for the first 82 games you need to eat some innings. Outside of Gafford, our main veteran bench is multi-positional. Maxi is a 4/5, Naji is a 3/4, Grimes is a 2/3 and Dinwiddie/Exum are a 1/2's. I'm not sure it matters that much what Hardy/OMax are as they may still be in spare developmental minutes mode with all the veterans we have. If a center is out, you have Maxi/Powell. If PJ is out, you have Maxi/Naji. If Maxi is out and a C/PF starter also goes down, Powell/OMax might come into play.
Moving to the wings, if Thompson is out, you have Naji/Grimes and if one of the star guards is out, you have the veteran threesome of Grimes, Dinwiddie and Exum to cover two positions. Similar to Maxi, Exum seems to get hurt a lot. So, similar to OMax, Hardy's opportunity for real minutes probably comes when Exum is out and one of the star guards is also sitting for some reason.
We tend to have this same rotation/minutes conversation every summer (what else are we supposed to talk about), but when the season arrives Kidd spends 20 games experimenting. Then, someone misses time and then someone else and we never really get to see what the rotation is. Even all of this Maxi talk is tainted by injury. First, Maxi was out. When he came back, he got way more minutes alongside a center than without one. Then Lively missed time toward the end of the season and Maxi was the small-ball five some. Our memory says that was a thing, but if you go back and look at the regular season box scores there were very few times Maxi spent more than few minutes at center when Lively/Gafford were healthy.
We have very good redundancy. It looks like overcrowding if you are dead set that Hardy/OMax will get minutes. If you let go of that, it is 11 players with Gafford, Maxi, Naji, Grimes, Exum and Dinwiddie off the bench. Kidd often played 11, but he used DJJ as kind of a feaux starter to create extra minutes for the bench. He doesn't have that luxury with Thompson. So, playing all six bench vets will be tough when we are healthy. But, when are we ever fully healthy? Almost never which is why a team with top 2-3 seed aspirations needs this kind of redundancy. We are at the point where home court might be the edge we need to win a championship. For the first time in a long time, we have the kind of depth needed to sustain us when a couple of guys go down at the same time.
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