The idea has been floated before. I like it, tbh.
I would love to see Pop make a major change in the starting line up that i think would help both the first unit and the second unit.
New Starting Line Up Suggestion:
Mills
Green
Leonard
Diaw
Aldridge
BENCH:
Parker for Mills
Duncan for Aldridge
West for Diaw
Manu for Green/Leonard
This does 3 things that I think would be huge to our long term success
1) It keeps West and Diaw away from each other. Unless we are playing small ball, a lineup of west and diaw makes us grossly undersized in the middle. Boris is great playing off of a 7fter, and i feel that same goes for West.
2) The Big 3 play together. Yes This now creates the unimaginable scenario of the big 3 coming off the bench. But Parker knows how to play with Manu and Duncan. Their chemistry will obviously be there. Also a Duncan/Manu/Parker lineup should have success against the opponents second unit.
3) The starting lineup will see its assist increase. Ball movement is contagious and there is none better than Boris and Patty. With these 2 in the starting lineup, expect to see more 3's for danny green or leonard. Might see more stretch 4 plays with Diaw at the 3point line and letting Aldridge work the paint 1 on 1. Leonard is now good enough that we shouldn't worry how he gets his points. He will still get his.
As far as defense goes, Patty is scrappy enough that he makes up for his lack of size with pure hustle and is no worse than Parker.
We would still have our best wing defenders in Green and Leonard.
Boris is a big body that plays smart defense and I think would do fine.
LMA is the only one I would worry about. I feel it helps him a lot on defense having Duncan next to him so he would need to step up in this case to be able to defend well without Timmy.
With all that said, if this starting line up never happens (which it probably wont) i at least truly hope we see this lineup a lot more on the floor in every game.
And i really don't want to see Diaw and West in the game together anymore.
The idea has been floated before. I like it, tbh.
It's a good idea, imho. Biggest beneficiaries would be Danny, West, and Parker, but
1. Bad against teams with big guys as their best players, that's TD's assignment
2. Slows down our 2nd unit, which is usually the unit that wins the game for us.
3. As generous as Timmy has been so far in his career, does he accept a bench role?
TD played well tonight 11 pts 14 rbds..He needs to start.. when KL cannot dominate the boards
TD needs to start.
My biggest concern would be #1
And Tim might actually thrive with 2nd unit
POP knows this.
He is gonna implement from GAME 3 in NBA FINALS if we are up by 2-0 or Gonna implement from game 4 if we are up by 2-1 or down by 1-2..
TD needs to start as long as he's still playing
He doesn't have to change the starting lineup, Pop could just do what he did tonight and play the hot units + play the matchups..
TD and LMA have been awkward at times next to each other. LMA is reduced to a spectator to everything else going on. TD grabs spots on the floor that LMA could make plays on. TD as it turns out is too much of an alpha, and has too much chemistry with everyone else that the ball constantly finds him in the starting lineup even for jumpshots at the top, which is a shot he would rather avoid and on post ups on the left side, which would rather have LMA take and not TD, since his efficiency in the post up is not what it used to be.
Tony seriously can't run whatever it is they intended to do and defaults to old habits I suspect. I feel whenever LMA plays with the bench guys they get him involved and he starts making plays. Its a problem for Pop to solve.
As long as he benches Parker when he's being a cancer and stops breaking up units that generate runs too early (like he did twice tonight and numerous other times over the the past four games), the team will be fine.
Also, this.
Why break up something that's starting to click?
There's really no need to change it but if you did I think West would need to be the starter over Diaw. Diaw is the better player but his chemistry with Manu and Parker makes him a better fit with them.
Really I'd keep the SL the same and if anything just bench TP and Duncan earlier in the 1st and 3rd quarters to bring in Patty and West/Diaw and then bring in TP and Duncan early 2nd/4th to play with Manu and company until Green, Kawhi and LMA come back in.
Tim is playing against the best big the opposing teams have, every night. If Boris had to start against those guys, you'd have a ing coronary and die.
Tim STILL averages over 11 REB per 36 minutes. The very BEST Diaw has done for a season is about 7 REB per 36 minutes, and as a rule he averages about 5.5 boards per 36. Put Diaw into Tim's role, against the opponent's starting bigs, and the REB difference alone would have the Spurs in a hole to start every game.
Duncan STILL gets over 5 FTA per 36 minutes. Diaw gets about 1.7. Tim is playing a big man's game in the middle, and forcing defenders to foul him. Diaw is playing a totally different game, against much less skillful big men (on average). He's not grinding down beasts in the paint.
There's no subs ute for a legitimate big man, especially at the start of games. Later in games, when the lineups are mixed on both sides, it's a different story. But in the early going, Tim is holding down the middle, and he's still one of the best in the league at it. Boris is an incredibly skilled player, and I love watching him do his thing. But he's not going to start for Duncan, unless Duncan is injured. Period.
I agree with this. Basketball isn't hockey where we do full lineup shifts.
That said, if I REALLY wanted to change things, the best combo might just be to bring LMA in the second unit. He'd add scoring punch and has better chemistry with Manu and Boris. The first unit could then feature Kawhi, Tim, and Tony, with West playing the same role Boris did when Splitter was hurt in the starting lineup last year. Totally unrealistic as a scenario (no way Pop would bench LMA), but I'd like to see how those lineups played.
I agree with you, he seems to have better chemistry with bobo and Manu. The spacing is also a lot better allowing him to get more touches. But he probably would throw a fit if he came off the bench.
I don't even start parker on nba2k.
I dont even play parker on nba2k..hes DNP if i am coach
Apalisoc_9 - of all the numbers you could have in your username, m8
Eight of our top ten players are shooting over 50% from the field, with the exceptions being Danny and LMA (and Aldridge's % isn't that bad). Seems to me, except for the turnovers, our offence is becoming pretty efficient, even ahead of schedule. Meanwhile our defense is top 3 and our point differential is the second best in the league.
Are we really so swift to change things?
So the Spurs win the last two games by 18 and 20 points and they need to change the starting lineup?
What is wrong with you people?
Don't see any chance Pop does it.
Putting your star FA acquisition at the center position fulltime when he's declined interviews in the summer only because of this notion would be crazy. Duncan provides more rim protection in the starting unit and allows Aldridge to guard the more mobile PFs, which he's doing quite well. Playing Boris with Aldridge would force Kawhi to play even closer to the basket too. Would probably work a bit better offensively but not enough to outweigh the drop defensively.
This would also force Duncan to play on the low post much more often with the second unit, which seems something Pop is avoiding like the plague - he's been consistently put on the high post to preserve him. Parker would be even worse on the second unit where the ball would be in Manu's hands and he'd have to play off of it, which would clog the lane as the only real 3 point threat would be the primary ballhandler.
I'd say Pop should try taking Duncan off a bit earlier in games where things aren't going smoothly for the 1st unit and trying to pair him more with Boris with the second unit, e.g. inserting him back by the end of the first and early in the 2nd quarter, when there's more time to rest due to game stopages. Then taking Duncan off at the 8th or 9th minute mark of the second quarter, putting Aldridge back in and having Duncan play the final 4-5 minutes with Aldridge again.
Parker is still fast on 2k but I make sure I pad Tim and Kawhi's ppg tbh![]()
Pop will not take Timmy out of the starting lineup ... never. But I really would like to take him and Tony out after 5 minutes, then insert Diaw and Mills. Play LMA nearly the whole first quarter. Then Duncan/Parker come back to support the 2nd unit. In the first half Timmy can have a longer 2nd stint not playing the end of the half. That rotation can be tricky in the 2nd half because you want to play Tim at crunchtime.
But really playing West/Diaw together has to be minimized. More LMA + Manu + Mills should help LMA.
And Kawhi can play with everybody!!!
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