Investigating Starting Lineup Possibilities

[benefactor]

If I had my way:

Murray / White / DeRozan / Poeltl / LMA

[YGWHI]

All these different lineups make me think how versatile is this team now...Can't wait to see these guys on court.

[Uriel]

Surprised you left out the lineup you thought would be best in the immediate aftermath of the Leonard trade:

Murray / Bellinelli / DeRozan / Aldridge / Gasol

[dabom]

Best Lineup OP.

DD, LMA, MVPatty and anyone else.

[Drom John]

2018 the Spurs had 24 different starting lineups.
2017 27
2016 19
2015 23
2014 30 Beautiful
2013 19
2012 17
2011 8
2010 23
2009 13

I think timvp is correct on all starting lineups.

And welcome back timvp.

My current favorite: White/Murray/DeRozan/Aldridge/Poetl

[Seventyniner]

2018 the Spurs had 24 different starting lineups.
2017 27
2016 19
2015 23
2014 30 Beautiful
2013 19
2012 17
2011 8
2010 23
2009 13

I think timvp is correct on all starting lineups.

And welcome back timvp.

My current favorite: White/Murray/DeRozan/Aldridge/Poetl

Good stats. Note how little correlation there is to team success.

[BWS-1994]

Wow , TimVP, so good to have you back. Your write ups are why I started coming to this site 10 years ago.

I think Pop will revert back to The Centerpiece starting line up. But with Gay and LMA as bigs.

[cd021]

I think Pop will revert back to The Centerpiece starting line up. But with Gay and LMA as bigs.

I would be very surprised if Pop played Gay as the starting 4, he has a long history of starting two bigs and it may be the best chance for this team to stop teams - relying on rim protection.

[cd021]

Surprised you left out the lineup you thought would be best in the immediate aftermath of the Leonard trade:

Murray / Bellinelli / DeRozan / Aldridge / Gasol

Man, can't get mind around behind just how bad that defense could be. I would rather Mills than Beli for several reasons; mainly he has good chemistry with Aldridge, hustle plays like legging out long rebounds, better shot selection and is probably a better shooter and defender too.

[phxspurfan]

Against smaller/better/modern teams (GSW, Rockettes etc) Pop will go with LMA, Gay, DeRozan, Mills, Murray

off the bench:

Gasol
Bertans
Belinelli
Forbes
White/Walker/Metu
Cunningham/Pondexter/BGame/Poeltl


Walker/Metu may see a lot of time in the G League as well, since for some reason the team brought in randoms like Cunningham/Pondexter


Against the fewer larger teams or in random crappy regular season patsy matchups Pop will go with minutes eater lineups

Gasol
LMA (or rest him)/Bert/Poeltl (spot starts to see what he has)
Gay (or rest him)/Cunningham/Pondexter (to see if either have anything)
White/Mills/Beli
Murray

[timvp]

Pop goes with Gay Old Time for Game 1 of the preseason. Interesting.

[Raven]

Gay Old Time is the obvious choice.

[Chinook]

Pop goes with Gay Old Time for Game 1 of the preseason. Interesting.

Not that informative, though. I could totally see Pop playing bigger in exhibition games to save guys' legs. No reason to have DeRozan bag with Winslow in a meaningless game. Moreover, the GOT lineup matches up well with a Heat team that uses its own share of two-big, large-wing lineups.

[SAGirl]

Thought Gay had a chance but didn't know if his body was up to it. He looks in great shape and played very well starting.

[DAF86]

Regardless of who starts I think our best 5 men unit will be White, DeRozan, Gay, Bertans, Aldridge.

That lineup is as complete as this roster can offer:

-Playmaking
-Three pt shooting
-Size
-Versatility
-Good enough defense

I really wish Pop, at some point this season, considers those 5 men as the closing unit.

[Mugen]

@ ^ "good enough defense" tbh.... that lineup would give up 150 to a Murderball team

[DAF86]

@ ^ "good enough defense" tbh.... that lineup would give up 150 to a Murderball team

-White is a very good defender at PG.
-Bertans is an underrated defender and rim protector.
-Aldridge is our defensive anchor.
-Gay is the only guy we have with the size and physical tools to put on the elite SF's of this league.
-And well, the idea with DeRozan is that he will improve his defense under Pop.

6'4'' at PG, 6'7" at SG, 6'9" at SF, 6'10" at PF and 7 foot at center. All that size paired with the Spurs system should make for a more than decent defensive squad, tbh.

Which Spurs lineup do you think would be better than that 5 men unit I proposed?

[007nites]

I wouldn't mind

Poetl
Aldridge
Gay
Derozan
Murray

Then maybe an early sub for Gay and put Patty in the lineup at the 2 around the 6 minute mark of the 1st. I think Patty and Gay are interchangeable in the starting lineup depending on who we are facing on any given night. Murray is capable of defending any 2 in the league so you could just throw Patty on the 1.

For instance, when we face teams like GSW, Lakers, Bucks, teams with big/long SF's you would have to start Gay no matter what.

[szkorhetz]

I would like to see Murray/Demar/Gay/Bertans/LMA, TBH.

[TDomination]

I expect poetl to be starting by seasons end

[duncan2k5]

I wouldn't mind seeing Bertans at the 3 at times this season... Dude even shut down Klay Thomson while he was on him in the playoffs... Remember he was a SF internationally

[offset formation]

Over the course of the season.. Pop might try this: Murray, White, Derozan, Bertans, Aldridge. ..

This might be my favorite, on paper at least.

I've been high on White since catching several of his games in Austin. Dude will surprise Spurfan.

[SAGirl]

Regardless of who starts I think our best 5 men unit will be White, DeRozan, Gay, Bertans, Aldridge.

That lineup is as complete as this roster can offer:

-Playmaking
-Three pt shooting
-Size
-Versatility
-Good enough defense

I really wish Pop, at some point this season, considers those 5 men as the closing unit.

I am going to give you a very hot take: take Derozan out and place Murray. I am only half joking.

[ceperez]

Excellent post!

At least Spurs have a lot of flexibility in their lineup!

For many of the smaller teams in today's NBA, spurs can just beat them up with a traditional big man game. This is enough to get enough wins to make the playoffs.

The 2nd team with say Poetl, Bertans, Belinelli, White, Mills can throw in a ton of points in a very short time. You can build insurmountable leads using the 2nd team.

[YGWHI]

If Gay can hit 3's that way, I'd rather see Rudy starting at 3/4. I'm not big fan of Belli or Mills in SL...I would avoid every lineup with DeMar-Belli, DeMar-Forbes, Belli-Forbes on the floor.