Darkwaters
03-17-2012, 01:59 PM
I know this has been discussed in various other threads on the side, but I wanted to discuss two specific topics: the starting lineup going forward and the playoff rotation.
Starting Lineup
Tim Duncan and Tony Parker are obviously in the lineup. The real discussion centers around the two swingman slots and the other post slot. We'll discuss the two swingman slots first:
In discussing the swingman slots there are five players that may deserve consideration there: Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard, Stephen Jackson, Gary Neal and Danny Green. My assessment is that this list really needs to center only on Ginobili, Leonard and Jackson. Neal will likely be retained as a bench player since his first responsibility is as backup PG and Danny Green will probably be the odd man looking in at the rotation (discussed later). So of those three remaining players I see three combinations:
Manu Ginobili/Stephen Jackson
Pros:
Tons of offensive firepower
Best players starting
Jackson's game is better suited to starting
Cons
Lack of defensive stopper
Enough shots for Ginobili/Jackson/Parker/Duncan?
Harder to allign Ginobili's minutes with Neal's (to help with PG duties)
Conclusions:
While this lineup features the biggest names at their positions, this might not be the best choice. By frontloading all their offensive might into the starting lineup it might be hard for players to find a rhythm early on. Also, without the stopper in the game, it might allow other teams to find that same rhythm.
Manu Ginobili/Kawhi Leonard
Pros:
Defensive stopper on the floor
Ginobili/Leonard combo maximizes Leonard's offense
Cons:
Jackson's game is better suited to starting
Harder to allign Ginobili's minutes with Neal's (to help with PG duties)
Conclusions:
This may be my favorite version, but I'm willing to listen to other options. Leonard really needs to be a starter because of the things he brings to the defense. Just ask Kevin Durant after last night's game. But his lack of offense can seriously bog the whole thing down. This tandem really maximizes his overall game. Gary Neal may just need to rule the backup PG without Gino more than we'd like. But Jackson has some nice playmaking and passing skills. While hes more tailored to starting, he and Neal can really carve out a nice crew with the second unit.
Kawhi Leonard/Stephen Jackson
Pros:
Defensive Stopper on the floor
Jackson's game is better suited to starting
Ginobili can allign minutes with Neal (to help with PG duties)
Cons:
Can Jackson guard 2's if Leonard is on a 3?
Ginobili/Leonard offensive tandem negated
Conclusions:
The main downside of this version is that we don't pair Gino with Leonard. But that may be an overstatement because we don't know how effective a Jackson/Leonard pairing is. While it's doubtful that Jackson will make Leonard as good as Gino does, he could raise his level sufficiently to make this make sense. The other thing is that Jackson will struggle guarding 2's because of his declining footspeed. Not a problem if Leonard is guarding the 2, but when playing teams that feature a premiere SF scorer, Jack will be asked to taker the quicker and smaller off guard. I like this less than Gino/Leonard, but it could work.
At this point I don't think we can really talk too much about who starts in the post next to Timmy. Not knowing who the Spurs will sign after being waived, it's hard to make a claim. If the Spurs get Diaw, I think they should seriously consider starting Duncan/Diaw. Now, in order to be successful in the playoffs, the Splitter/Duncan tandem needs to be refined. But I'm not sure how effective that will be since they're the only two players really capable of playing center (Diaw included in that thought).
All and all, assuming the Spurs sign Diaw, I'd like to see a starting lineup like this:
Tony Parker
Manu Ginobili
Kawhi Leonard
Boris Diaw
Tim Duncan
I'm willing to discuss and reconsider my views. And obviously this depends on Diaw being signed and being succesful. But I think this lineup would be very strong. Especially with a second unit featuring Stephen Jackson, Gary Neal and Tiago Splitter.
Of course, when the playoffs start, I assume this will be blown up and the starting lineup will change sometimes every game based on the chess game Pop plays.
Speaking of the playoffs...
Playoff Rotation
The Spurs have featured a fairly large rotation to date. All of the following players have received consistent minutes when healthy:
Tony Parker
TJ Ford
Manu Ginobili
Kawhi Leonard
Richard Jefferson
Danny Green
Gary Neal
Tim Duncan
Tiago Splitter
Dejuan Blair
Matt Bonner
Now obviously some players have gotten more minutes because of long-term injuries to Ginobili and Ford. But the reality is that the Spurs have consistently sought minutes for these 11 players. Factoring that Jefferson effectively is replaced by Jackson in the rotation, and a Diaw signing would consititute a 12th player....it's just not realistic to think that we'd be able to play nearly that many guys. In the playoffs a team will typically slash its rotation to 8 or 9 guys. Sometimes even as small as 7 - but thats an extreme I'd think. So how do we cut the fat, so to speak?
Point Guard
Tony Parker
Gary Neal
Parker will get the lion's share of the minutes, but Neal will continue as his backup. Unless the Spurs sign an amazing backup off the waiver wire, I don't foresee this changing once the playoffs start. Neal might be able to steal some minutes at the off guard also, but by playing him at the point it allows the team the opportunity to get him on the court.
Swingmen
Manu Ginobili
Stephen Jackson
Kawhi Leonard
That's it. Those three plus some spot minutes from Neal. The big loser here is Danny Green who is likely the odd man out. He just isn't as good as any of those 3 nor does he have Neal's PG "skills". It's always possible that Green could be played situationally because of his ability to be downright disruptive to other team's offenses...but I don't know that he'll be a rotation guy.
Posts
Tim Duncan
Tiago Splitter
Boris Diaw
Firstly, this obviously depends on the Spurs actually signing and playing Diaw. Secondly, the biggest surprise here is Matt Bonner being excluded. And honestly, that might be a bridge too far for Pop and his man-love with Bon Bon. My hope is that Diaw comes in and plays well and alleviates the need for the stretch four by himself. But it's very possible that Bonner will be used situationally and perhaps even as a 9th rotation guy. But, based on past performance in the playoffs, I'd feel better with Bonner glued to the bench. Blair has no business being on the court.
With that, my ideal playoff rotation is these 8 players.
Tony Parker
Gary Neal
Manu Ginobili
Stephen Jackson
Kawhi Leonard
Tim Duncan
Boris Diaw
Tiago Splitter
Thoughts? Recommendations?
Starting Lineup
Tim Duncan and Tony Parker are obviously in the lineup. The real discussion centers around the two swingman slots and the other post slot. We'll discuss the two swingman slots first:
In discussing the swingman slots there are five players that may deserve consideration there: Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard, Stephen Jackson, Gary Neal and Danny Green. My assessment is that this list really needs to center only on Ginobili, Leonard and Jackson. Neal will likely be retained as a bench player since his first responsibility is as backup PG and Danny Green will probably be the odd man looking in at the rotation (discussed later). So of those three remaining players I see three combinations:
Manu Ginobili/Stephen Jackson
Pros:
Tons of offensive firepower
Best players starting
Jackson's game is better suited to starting
Cons
Lack of defensive stopper
Enough shots for Ginobili/Jackson/Parker/Duncan?
Harder to allign Ginobili's minutes with Neal's (to help with PG duties)
Conclusions:
While this lineup features the biggest names at their positions, this might not be the best choice. By frontloading all their offensive might into the starting lineup it might be hard for players to find a rhythm early on. Also, without the stopper in the game, it might allow other teams to find that same rhythm.
Manu Ginobili/Kawhi Leonard
Pros:
Defensive stopper on the floor
Ginobili/Leonard combo maximizes Leonard's offense
Cons:
Jackson's game is better suited to starting
Harder to allign Ginobili's minutes with Neal's (to help with PG duties)
Conclusions:
This may be my favorite version, but I'm willing to listen to other options. Leonard really needs to be a starter because of the things he brings to the defense. Just ask Kevin Durant after last night's game. But his lack of offense can seriously bog the whole thing down. This tandem really maximizes his overall game. Gary Neal may just need to rule the backup PG without Gino more than we'd like. But Jackson has some nice playmaking and passing skills. While hes more tailored to starting, he and Neal can really carve out a nice crew with the second unit.
Kawhi Leonard/Stephen Jackson
Pros:
Defensive Stopper on the floor
Jackson's game is better suited to starting
Ginobili can allign minutes with Neal (to help with PG duties)
Cons:
Can Jackson guard 2's if Leonard is on a 3?
Ginobili/Leonard offensive tandem negated
Conclusions:
The main downside of this version is that we don't pair Gino with Leonard. But that may be an overstatement because we don't know how effective a Jackson/Leonard pairing is. While it's doubtful that Jackson will make Leonard as good as Gino does, he could raise his level sufficiently to make this make sense. The other thing is that Jackson will struggle guarding 2's because of his declining footspeed. Not a problem if Leonard is guarding the 2, but when playing teams that feature a premiere SF scorer, Jack will be asked to taker the quicker and smaller off guard. I like this less than Gino/Leonard, but it could work.
At this point I don't think we can really talk too much about who starts in the post next to Timmy. Not knowing who the Spurs will sign after being waived, it's hard to make a claim. If the Spurs get Diaw, I think they should seriously consider starting Duncan/Diaw. Now, in order to be successful in the playoffs, the Splitter/Duncan tandem needs to be refined. But I'm not sure how effective that will be since they're the only two players really capable of playing center (Diaw included in that thought).
All and all, assuming the Spurs sign Diaw, I'd like to see a starting lineup like this:
Tony Parker
Manu Ginobili
Kawhi Leonard
Boris Diaw
Tim Duncan
I'm willing to discuss and reconsider my views. And obviously this depends on Diaw being signed and being succesful. But I think this lineup would be very strong. Especially with a second unit featuring Stephen Jackson, Gary Neal and Tiago Splitter.
Of course, when the playoffs start, I assume this will be blown up and the starting lineup will change sometimes every game based on the chess game Pop plays.
Speaking of the playoffs...
Playoff Rotation
The Spurs have featured a fairly large rotation to date. All of the following players have received consistent minutes when healthy:
Tony Parker
TJ Ford
Manu Ginobili
Kawhi Leonard
Richard Jefferson
Danny Green
Gary Neal
Tim Duncan
Tiago Splitter
Dejuan Blair
Matt Bonner
Now obviously some players have gotten more minutes because of long-term injuries to Ginobili and Ford. But the reality is that the Spurs have consistently sought minutes for these 11 players. Factoring that Jefferson effectively is replaced by Jackson in the rotation, and a Diaw signing would consititute a 12th player....it's just not realistic to think that we'd be able to play nearly that many guys. In the playoffs a team will typically slash its rotation to 8 or 9 guys. Sometimes even as small as 7 - but thats an extreme I'd think. So how do we cut the fat, so to speak?
Point Guard
Tony Parker
Gary Neal
Parker will get the lion's share of the minutes, but Neal will continue as his backup. Unless the Spurs sign an amazing backup off the waiver wire, I don't foresee this changing once the playoffs start. Neal might be able to steal some minutes at the off guard also, but by playing him at the point it allows the team the opportunity to get him on the court.
Swingmen
Manu Ginobili
Stephen Jackson
Kawhi Leonard
That's it. Those three plus some spot minutes from Neal. The big loser here is Danny Green who is likely the odd man out. He just isn't as good as any of those 3 nor does he have Neal's PG "skills". It's always possible that Green could be played situationally because of his ability to be downright disruptive to other team's offenses...but I don't know that he'll be a rotation guy.
Posts
Tim Duncan
Tiago Splitter
Boris Diaw
Firstly, this obviously depends on the Spurs actually signing and playing Diaw. Secondly, the biggest surprise here is Matt Bonner being excluded. And honestly, that might be a bridge too far for Pop and his man-love with Bon Bon. My hope is that Diaw comes in and plays well and alleviates the need for the stretch four by himself. But it's very possible that Bonner will be used situationally and perhaps even as a 9th rotation guy. But, based on past performance in the playoffs, I'd feel better with Bonner glued to the bench. Blair has no business being on the court.
With that, my ideal playoff rotation is these 8 players.
Tony Parker
Gary Neal
Manu Ginobili
Stephen Jackson
Kawhi Leonard
Tim Duncan
Boris Diaw
Tiago Splitter
Thoughts? Recommendations?