What's Your Preferred Starting Lineup?

[King Baller]

If Seth Curry was still on the Kings I like Temple as his running mate. Sort of a poor mans version of the Bibby/Christie duo of days gone by. With Collison or Lawson I think Afflalo is the better choice.

As far as starters I see Collison, Afflalo, Gay, WCS and Boogie as the best choice on most nights. I like the Kings chances defending most others teams starting 5 with that group.

I do like a bench mob of Temple, McLemore, Barnes, Tolliver and Koufos because of their defense. I don't recall a Kings bench with that much defensive potential. Now they probably don't all play together because who is going to manufacture shots from that group? Casspi shot the ball so well last season and generally just hustles he has to have minutes. This all becomes a minutes crunch. Joerger has an interesting job ahead blending all these guys together. Lawson is a wild card. How well can he play?

 

[Bricklayer]

If Seth Curry was still on the Kings I like Temple as his running mate. Sort of a poor mans version of the Bibby/Christie duo of days gone by. With Collison or Lawson I think Afflalo is the better choice.

As far as starters I see Collison, Afflalo, Gay, WCS and Boogie as the best choice on most nights. I like the Kings chances defending most others teams starting 5 with that group.

I do like a bench mob of Temple, McLemore, Barnes, Tolliver and Koufos because of their defense. I don't recall a Kings bench with that much defensive potential. Now they probably don't all play together because who is going to manufacture shots from that group?

Collison.

Or Lawson.

But what that Lawson acquisition probably did was squish Ben out of the back of the rotation, and make Temple into more of just a spot PG you can use as a defensive cooler. The rest of the time he'll be a SG now.

So barring a trade to rebalance the SF spot, its likely an offensive starters with just enough D, and defensive bench with just enough O situation.

Cousins
WCS
Gay
Afflalo
Lawson

Koufos
Barnes
Casspi
Temple
Collison

Tolliver
McLemore
Skal

Papa
Malachi

If we get lucky/were saavy with the Afflalo/Lawson pickups and they perform back towards their old norms for Joerger, if Willie develops as he should then on an Off/Def 10 scale we could maybe say:

Cousins 10/7
WCS 3/8
Gay 8/4
Afflalo 5/5
Lawson 8/3
-----------------
34/27

Koufos 4/6
Barnes 4/7
Casspi 6/4
Temple 2/8
Collison 7/4
-----------------
23/29

Tolliver 3/6
McLemore 3/5
Skal R/R

Papa R/R
Malachi R/R


With the PG/SF positions being the defensive issues in both lineups.

 

[twslam07]

Ok man, we get it...you think Temple is better than Afflalo.
Look at your own poll, only ONE person voted to have Temple start (maybe you?)
And that's totally fine. Whether or not a player is "better" than another is entirely subjective. You can't "prove" that.
You keep asking for evidence that Afflalo is better and then when it's provided you disregard it as opinion...because it is ALWAYS opinion.
That being said, here's the most black-and-white "evidence" one can provide:

GARRETT TEMPLE AARON AFFLALO
G G
309 648
PTS PTS
4.5 11.6
TRB TRB
1.8 3.1
AST AST
1.4 2.0
FG% FG%
39.3 45.2
FG3% FG3%
33.5 38.5
FT% FT%
70.0 82.0
Effective FGP Effective FGP
46.5 51.5
Player Efficiency Player Efficiency
9.1 12.4
Win Shares Win Shares
5.7 31.9

Now that's their career averages, focus in on just last season and it's arguably more lop-sided.
We as Kings fans see Afflalo as the better player because he's been better in nearly every statistical category for his entire (longer) career.
He's been an NBA starter for multiple teams for a reason. He's also got way more playoff experience.
Your argument that his skill set best benefits the bench is at least fair in the sense that that's your opinion...
but we as Kings fans want to see actual legitimate production from our SG. Also, don't count out McLemore
who at this point is primed to get more minutes than Temple as well. Look, I applauded the Temple signing.
I like the dude's professionalism and work ethic but you're literally the only one arguing he should start and berating
people who disagree. This is what the rest of the NBA fans see, you are in the minority and that's ok cause afterall it's just opinion.
In OUR opinion (and almost every one else's) Afflalo is the better player by a long shot.

Again, providing basic statistics, PER, & win shares does little to help your case when you're talking about best player. It gives you some info but isn't even close to telling the entire story, but of course those will say I'm just tossing out stats to help favor my story, but the fact of the matter is that Temple is much better in stats that do the best job at measuring impact on wins (RAPM, RPM, & On/Off).

Also, saying that player X started in the past so player X should continue starting is a weak argument as well. Tell me why he should start. Giving basic statistics is not something that changes my stance in the slightest. It obviously seems like that's enough for you to be in favor of Afflalo (and that's fine), but I'd prefer to have more data and look at "better" stats.

Defense was one of our biggest problems last year. Starting Collison over Rondo should help, but swapping McLemore for Afflalo hinder us once again. Afflalo has not been a good defender (or even an average defender) for awhile now. We also don't need his scoring in the lineup as we now have reinserted Collison back into the starting lineup to give us 3 scorers. Considering Temple's 3pt shooting (and C&S 3s) are respectable and that his 3 pointer sweet spots complement Cousins and the rest of the lineup very well, there's little reason to start Afflalo. Temple's defense & defensive versatility are leaps and bounds better than Afflalo. Not only can he lock down his position, but he can swing over and guard PGs & SFs if we need it.

Again, this Afflalo is a "better player by a long shot" argument is something I believe comes from Afflalo's reputation when he played in Denver a long time ago. Stats that do the best job at measuring impact on winning favor Temple "by a long shot," but everybody remembers Denver Afflalo and immediately think he is the better player. Stats that show how many rebounds or his FT% are really just inputs. What matters is the end product which is wins. Temple "wins" that category.

 

[206Fan]

At this point, I think we have too many wings on the roster: Gay, Afflalo, Casspi, McLemore, Barnes, and Temple. You could play some of these guys at the 4, but I don't think we payed Tolliver $8million to be a bench warmer.

Who gets singled out?
I feel like Barnes, Temple, or McLemore are the likelier candidates. Barnes is on a decline and his only value at this point is probably effort and grit. Maybe 3pt shooting? Temple is another guy who's been a role player his entire career and isn't anything more than a fringe 3&D player. He's already 30 and last year was his only year getting major minutes...looked decent for the most part. McLemore is the youngest out of these guys, and he's the most inexperienced. Lots of learning to do on his end. Joerger may favor playing vets over younger guys, and I could easily see Ben being out of the rotation.

 

[biltalent]

At this point, I think we have too many wings on the roster: Gay, Afflalo, Casspi, McLemore, Barnes, and Temple. You could play some of these guys at the 4, but I don't think we payed Tolliver $8million to be a bench warmer.

Who gets singled out?
I feel like Barnes, Temple, or McLemore are the likelier candidates. Barnes is on a decline and his only value at this point is probably effort and grit. Maybe 3pt shooting? Temple is another guy who's been a role player his entire career and isn't anything more than a fringe 3&D player. He's already 30 and last year was his only year getting major minutes...looked decent for the most part. McLemore is the youngest out of these guys, and he's the most inexperienced. Lots of learning to do on his end. Joerger may favor playing vets over younger guys, and I could easily see Ben being out of the rotation.

Yeah it's pretty crowded. Based on reports my guess is that we went into the offseason expecting to trade Rudy for a PG (Rubio or Knight?) but didn't find a deal we liked. Therefore I expect we will again look for a trade aduring the season, depending on how well we play.

 

[SacTownKid]

I can't see Barnes signing with the Kings unless the intent was to play him. That or he was looking for a place to wind down, but he hasn't played less than 25 mpg in the last 4 seasons so I would think he's not quite ready to ride off into the sunset quite yet. When watching him last year it certainly looked like he has plenty of gas left in the tank to me.

 

[206Fan]

I can't see Barnes signing with the Kings unless the intent was to play him. That or he was looking for a place to wind down, but he hasn't played less than 25 mpg in the last 4 seasons so I would think he's not quite ready to ride off into the sunset quite yet. When watching him last year it certainly looked like he has plenty of gas left in the tank to me.

I don't know where Barnes gets PT though. In the 2nd unit, we'll have Lawson, Temple/McLemore, Casspi, Tolliver, and Koufos. I don't think Barnes plays over Temple...especially at that price Vlade paid for him(Temple). Tolliver also got paid 8million, and I think it's because Vlade expects him to be a big contributor off the bench.

Maybe we go small with certain lineups?

There's no way Barnes should be playing more than 15mpg imo. We have way too much depth at SG, SF, and PF for Barnes to be getting a lot of minutes. I don't think Barnes is done, but I just don't think he's better than the guys we already have.
When he was on the Clippers, they constantly tried to upgrade their SF position. Memphis didn't have much depth at SG-PF like we do.

He's 36 and this is his hometown. Caron Butler played heavy minutes before Sacramento too. Barnes was pretty bad offensively on the Grizz last year. His defense was alright. It's his grit and hustle that's been consistent throughout his career though.

 

[Noble]

I'd go DC/Afflalo/Barnes/Gay/Cuz

We still get our "Big 3" as our main scorers, with some hustle and grit and defense with Barnes and Afflalo to round it out. Gay can space the floor for Cuz in the post, and still do some pick and pops or drive to the basket, yes rebounding would be an issue but we do have Cuz who is a monster so whatever.

My bench would then be Lawson/Bmac/Casspi/WCS/Kosta with Temple and Tolliver as situational pieces. Ben needs to be schemed to be a legitimate scoring option for us immediately so we can see where his game is at. In that lineup, he will be a main shooter and won't have to worry about not giving the ball up to Cuz and hopefully carves out a role for himself. Yes we wouldn't really be getting scoring from down low, but we also won't be giving up baskets down low either to bench bigs.

 

[lankfactor]

https://sports.yahoo.com/video/ranking-nba-rosters-sacramento-kings-054918199.html
Not that Yahoo has a crack-team of sports journalists but...
P.S. Check where Temple is

 

[twslam07]

https://sports.yahoo.com/video/ranking-nba-rosters-sacramento-kings-054918199.html
Not that Yahoo has a crack-team of sports journalists but...
P.S. Check where Temple is

Collison is our 8th best player? And you want to use this to prove your point?

See the points I made actually had backing. The arguments I have received for starting Afflalo have been met with very strong counters by myself. There must be a couple strong points out there considering how many people would like to start Afflalo, but I guess a 5-7 year old reputation is enough to persuade people these days...

 

[lankfactor]

Collison is our 8th best player? And you want to use this to prove your point?

See the points I made actually had backing. The arguments I have received for starting Afflalo have been met with very strong counters by myself. There must be a couple strong points out there considering how many people would like to start Afflalo, but I guess a 5-7 year old reputation is enough to persuade people these days...

Scroll up and look at his stats from last year, I already provided them for you =)
Afflalo was better in nearly every statistical category but you choose to disregard that
"evidence." It's subjective but at some point you start seeing trends. As in, nearly everyone on here thinks Afflalo is better than Temple.

 

[twslam07]

Scroll up and look at his stats from last year, I already provided them for you =)
Afflalo was better in nearly every statistical category but you choose to disregard that
"evidence." It's subjective but at some point you start seeing trends. As in, nearly everyone on here thinks Afflalo is better than Temple.

And you are choosing to disregard the most important statistical categories. Again, you're choosing to look at inputs and trying to make a determination who is a better player rather than looking at stats that provide end results. The stats show that Temple is much better at helping his team win. The stats also show that Temple's game would complement the starting unit very well.

Seeing if Afflalo has more rebounds, assists, or points is a pretty weak argument in today's basketball. You could have a player who is excellent at boxing out & preventing offensive rebounds for the opposing team, but he may not be the one actually grabbing the rebound (thus helping the team but not having flashy stats). Even the way a player misses a shot can factor into how his team does. Are his shots in such a way that they typically result in long rebounds when he misses? There are an infinite amount of ways a player can impact a game that don't show up on a box score. Choosing to look at select inputs without looking at stats that help measure end results is a pretty weak argument in my book.

I don't care if everyone on here THINKS Afflalo is better. I care about knowing WHY they think Afflalo is better, and if the reasons are simple stats like PPG, RPG, APG, PER or name recognition/the player he was 5-7 year ago, so be it. People can choose the evidence they want to look at and ignore everything else. That's their right. But from my perspective, it makes little sense. Typically in a court case, you examine all of the evidence and make a ruling. You don't choose to disregard a witness who saw the defendant murder someone just because there wasn't a clear motive.

 

[pshn80]

Coming back to this thread week after week I've come to the conclusion that no one is going to change your mind about Aflalo starting. And by the way I gave yo sufficient justification for Aflalo starting weeks ago. I can't remember what it was I said but it was good and should have done the trick. But worry not Joerger wilt ll us the answer in pretty short order.

 

[twslam07]

Coming back to this thread week after week I've come to the conclusion that no one is going to change your mind about Aflalo starting. And by the way I gave yo sufficient justification for Aflalo starting weeks ago. I can't remember what it was I said but it was good and should have done the trick. But worry not Joerger wilt ll us the answer in pretty short order.

You didn't give me sufficient justification. You're focusing on the offense when our team has been in the bottom 10 in defense for the last decade.

We already have 3 scorers in our lineup. We are not desperate to add another. If we had Beverley, M. Barnes, Cauley-Stein starting next to Cousins, then I would be on board with starting Afflalo over Temple considering we have other good defenders and virtually no other scorers beside Cousins, but that is not the state of our team. We have a C who average 28 PPG per36 on 54% TS%, we have a SF who averages 20 PPG per36 on 55% TS%, and a PG who averages 17 PPG per36 on 58% TS%. Scoring is not the issue. On defense, we have a good defensive C, a PF who projects to be good at defense but struggled last year, a below average to average defender at SF, & an average defender at PG. Not one player on the perimeter is a good to great defender. Considering how important it is to shut down all of these star perimeter players, inserting not a below average but a poor defender at SG is not going to help us contain these types of players in the slightest. Temple on the other hand can help slow these guys down.

You're point about us over relying on Cousins has more to do with coaching scheme rather than roster. Cousins was fine the year before with Collison, McLemore, Gay, & Thompson next to him (just 3 scorers), and he was also battling injuries that made him even more ground-bound.

You're sacrificing some spacing by going with Temple instead of Afflalo, but as I have already pointed out, Spacing shouldn't be bad considering the sweet spots of Collison, Temple, & Gay complement each other extremely well on the perimeter.What you are losing in spacing, you're gaining in defense, chemistry (don't have to worry about too many cooks in the kitchen on offense), & more bench scoring.

So considering Afflalo's scoring is not necessary nor will it make much of a difference in the starting lineup, considering the loss in spacing is not as bad as one might think with each having a different sweet spot, considering you're replacing a poor defender with a great defender, considering teams that neglect defense are rarely if not ever successful, considering we'll have 3 scorers in our 2nd unit (like our starting unit) in Lawson, Afflalo, & Casspi, considering performance statistics favor Temple, why does Afflalo deserve to start?

EDIT: And I'm not sure how Joerger's decision factors into this discussion. I would suggest you read the title of the thread again. It says "your preferred starting lineup" not "what will the starting lineup be?" If Joerger starts Afflalo, that's not going to convince me that I'm wrong. I'm going to disagree with his decision just like I disagree with many of the posters opinions here. It wouldn't be the first time a coach has made a mistake. I only need to look back 1 year ago to prove that point...

 

[King Baller]

Starting would be Cousins, Webber, Artest, Mitch and Theus with Peja, Marciulionis and Bobby J as first guards and wing off the bench. Back up Bigs Vlade, Brad, Grant and Tisdale. It is hard not to mention Bibby with ice in his veins.

 

[King Baller]

I loved to watch this guy:

 

[Simon CW]

Hello, I'm new here, but reading you for months, if not years. Just decided to finally register, since my english might now be good enough to write, answer or express myself appropriately enough to contribute.About that line-up thing, I'm tend to think that Matt Barnes, strangely, is the key. As Joerger stressed in his podcast with Zach Lowe, Barnes can be a terrific power forward. That good and efficient in this smaller-every-day NBA that he might actually start. I always thought WCS was a sure starter, but in the same time, I was having the feeling that the rotation wasn't perfect. So if you look at the accurate rotation Bricklayer posted on this page and simply insert Barnes into the starting five (even without changing the assumed playing time), suddenly things might make even more sense.

Cousins
Barnes
Gay
Afflalo
Lawson

Barnes is able to defend the vast majority of today's four. The spacing around Boogie might be better with this five. And Gay more free to play inside/outside, as a kind of tweener he is now (a bit like he played two summers ago with team USA).

Koufos
WCS
Casspi
Temple / McLemore
Collison

Willy will boost the bench, and in charge of defending the best frontline man of opposites bench. The spacing issue will be less important against second unit, and this bench might be a good defensive/physical unit. Which seems to be the coach priority's.

 

[206Fan]

Hello, I'm new here, but reading you for months, if not years. Just decided to finally register, since my english might now be good enough to write, answer or express myself appropriately enough to contribute.About that line-up thing, I'm tend to think that Matt Barnes, strangely, is the key. As Joerger stressed in his podcast with Zach Lowe, Barnes can be a terrific power forward. That good and efficient in this smaller-every-day NBA that he might actually start. I always thought WCS was a sure starter, but in the same time, I was having the feeling that the rotation wasn't perfect. So if you look at the accurate rotation Bricklayer posted on this page and simply insert Barnes into the starting five (even without changing the assumed playing time), suddenly things might make even more sense.
Cousins
Barnes
Gay
Afflalo
Lawson

Barnes is able to defend the vast majority of today's four. The spacing around Boogie might be better with this five. And Gay more free to play inside/outside, as a kind of tweener he is now (a bit like he played two summers ago with team USA).

Koufos
WCS
Casspi
Temple / McLemore
Collison

Willy will boost the bench, and in charge of defending the best frontline man of opposites bench. The spacing issue will be less important against second unit, and this bench might be a good defensive/physical unit. Which seems to be the coach priority's.

Very interesting lineup and idea, but I feel like our starters would be huge liabilities on defense. Lawson is really undersized, and he has never been a good defensive player. Afflalo has declined on defense the last few years, to the point where he's below average. I don't see Lawson and Afflalo being able to contain their players from driving at them to the rim.

That's where I think Barnes at the 4 will be a problem.

I wouldn't be mad if Barnes started at the 4, but I think our PG would have to be Darren Collison, and our SG would have to be Temple for this to happen.

 

[Simon CW]

That totally makes sense. But I guess Afflalo was signed to be a starter, and I put Ty in the line-up since suspension is coming for DC.

 

[jcassio]

My starters:
Collison
Afflalo
Casspi
Cauley-Stein
Cousins

First guy off the bench is Rudy Gay. This doesn't mean that Casspi is better than Rudy, but I do think we need Casspi's 3's with the starters.
First defender off the bench is Matt Barnes.
After that, back-ups in this order:
Lawson or Farmar (PG)
McLemore or Temple (SG)
Tolliver or Labissiere (PF)
Koufos (I would avoid playing Koufos and Cousins at the same time, so Koufos' minutes should be limited to backing-up Cousins.)

15th guy: Lamar Patterson (not sure his role, if he makes it out of training camp).

Reno:
ICousins
MRichardson
GPapagiannis

 

[sono]

Collison
.... - new addition
.... - new addition
WCS
Cousins

 

[Jimbob]

I hope Lawson surprises the hell out of us and makes a compelling argument for starting PG.
Then except for Cuz I cant forsee the best starting combo yet, should take awhile to get the best mix of O and D.
Perhaps some of rooks will see lots of Reno but Im excited about them. Except for Big George all were projected to go higher in the draft than they did.
Skal is getting lots of good feedback but I think Malichi will be a real good player, not sure but the guy has a 7 ft wingspan could be a bit of a 3 as well down the road.

 

[The_Jamal]

Changing my vote to this:

Lawson-Temple-Casspi-WCS-Cousins

We need to give Lawson every opportunity to become Denver Lawson again. That's really the only chance we have at making a playoff run. If you got him to rebound, we'd all of a sudden have the ability to create a really quality all-around lineup with spacing, defensive potential and a legit playmaker around Cousins.

Collison just doesn't have the talent ceiling as a starting PG or a lead option that Lawson does. He's a good player absolutely, but he's someone who should be the first guy off the bench and getting 25 MPG.

 

[The_Jamal]

Ultimately though, other than Cousins and Gay, everyone on this team is going to be in a time-share for minutes. I imagine a lot of who the hot hands are in a particular game will determine the end of game lineups.

 

[ppine]

An amazing amount of agreement.

 

[ESP47]

An amazing amount of agreement.

Yep it mainly comes down to who starts at the PF position. WCS seemed to work well with Cousins last year on the floor and some of our best lineups last year had those two guys in them at the same time. Besides, Collison, Afflalo, Gay and Cousins is a lot of offense so I'd rather have WCS out there with them so we can have some offense coming off the bench. That leaves Kofous to fill the position he's most valuable at (backup C) and a whole list of different rotations you could use off the bench with Casspi, Barnes and Tolliver being somewhat interchangeable. Just seems like the team is more balanced offensively and defensively that way.

Doubt it'll happen the way we want since Joerger never even ran that lineup out there during preseason.

 

[Chupacabra]

Dont know how we're going to give minutes to Afflalo/Temple/Barnes/Gay/Casspi/Mclemore. My Initial thought is that Gay, Casspi and Barnes absolutely must get their minutes. Afflalo should also get minutes. If Temple is the best perimeter defender on the team then he definitely WILL get minutes. Mclemore is done. This still leaves 5 perimeter non-point guards which could only mean we loaded up to make a trade.

 

[lawlman91]

Collison / Casspi / Gay / Barnes / Cousins is an interesting lineup in general.

I will have to go with one of

Collison / Afflalo / Gay / Cousins / Koufos

or

Collison / Afflalo / Gay / Cauley-Stein / Cousins

Depending on the matchup at PF. Ideally we would take one of Afflalo or Gay out pretty early, so that we would have two of Afflalo / Gay / Cousins on the floor at all times to run the offense through the elbow or in the post. If I recall correctly from preseason, one of either Tolliver or Temple (forget who) can run from the post, too. Don't quite remember if any of our other guys can run an offense through the elbow.

Perhaps rather than taking out one of Afflalo / Gay / Cousins out early (we will likely not take out Cousins early, because of convention) in order to run with the 2nd squad, we can instead put one of Afflalo / (probably not, because the media will feed on it) Gay / (probably not, because convention) Cousins, on the bench.

With Afflalo as the benched one, we will see

Collison / McLemore / Gay / [Cauley-Stein/Koufos] / Cousins

With Gay as the benched one,

Collison / Afflalo / Casspi / [Cauley-Stein/Koufos] / Cousins

 

[twslam07]

I'd really like to see this starting lineup going forward:

Collison
Temple
Gay
Tolliver
Cousins

Why Collison over Lawson?
I'd rather utilize Lawson's superior playmaking in the 2nd unit when Cousins is off the floor. His playmaking is not as much of a necessity when playing through Cousins at the high post. Also, with guys like Collison, Temple, & Gay who are at least adequate at making plays, it makes that skill less valuable in that unit.

From a scoring standpoint, Temple & Tolliver aren't going to provide much, so Collison's ability to be that 3rd scorer would be useful whereas Lawson is more of a distributor.

Lastly, with guys like Cousins and Gay in your lineup, you're going to need spacing. Collison is considerably better at spacing the floor which should allow both of those guys more room to operate. In the 2nd unit, Lawson should have the ball in his hands more which should negate his lack of shooting more than when he'd be playing off the ball more frequently in the starting lineup.

Why Temple over Afflalo & McLemore?
He's easily the best defender of the bunch and can switch on to PGs, SFs, & some stretch PFs. But not only is he our best defender at SG but he's just our best perimeter defender in general. We should absolutely be utilizing that defense against the opposing team's best offensive wings. Using him against 2nd units is sort of "wasting" that skill.

His 3pt shooting has also been better than Afflalo and McLemore which makes him a very easy 3&D choice for us.

His ballhandling, playmaking, and work ethic are also better than Afflalo and McLemore which puts the nail in the coffin.

Afflalo does have some useful skills. He's historically been a good 3pt shooter and he has some ability to score out of the post. With Cousins & Gay liking to get there's in the paint/midrange, it doesn't make a lot of sense to add another player who likes to do the same thing. Bringing Afflalo off the bench allows us to utilize his scoring skill set more so than if he was having to share the ball with Cousins, Gay, and Collison in the starting lineup. Afflalo could potentially be a guy who could average 10-14 off the bench for us each night which would be very helpful.

Why Tolliver over Barnes, Casspi, Koufos, & Cauley-Stein?
Barnes has horrible length (8'0" standing reach) for a PG let alone a starting PF. His shooting is also dreadful so you're not getting any advantage in spacing, rebounding, scoring, or defending with Barnes as a starting PF.

Cauley-Stein has been a mess this year who has looked lost on he court. He can't space the floor, he can't rebound, he can't pass, and he can't score. His defense has been suspect this year as well. Does he do anything positive on the court right now?

Koufos is great in his role (low level starting C/backup C), but our best player is best at C. Although rebounding is best when he is starting next to Cousins, it decreases our spacing for Cousins & Gay. It also makes it more difficult to rotate out on the perimeter when helping on defense. If Koufos could at least take advantage of smaller players in the post, this wouldn't be much of an issue but he's just adequate in that area.

Casspi would probably be my 2nd choice to start at PF due to his ability to spread the floor, defend the perimeter, and rebound, but his size & strength are concerning to me against opposing team's starting PFs. Also, with Cousins, Gay, & Collison already in the starting lineup, I'd rather have his scoring punch off the bench when we can utilize it more. Lawson, Afflalo, & Casspi as our primary bench could give us 30-36 points a game.

Tolliver, although a subpar rebounder for a PF, clears the defensive glass better than Cauley-Stein.

He's an average to above average defender who can match up better against bigger PFs but he's also athletic enough to guard out on the perimeter.

He provides better spacing than Barnes, Koufos, & Cauley-Stein at a position that brings the 2nd biggest player away from the hoop when Cousins & Gay are making their move.

Lastly, he's a low usage, unselfish player who makes the smart play which is a nice complement with guys like Cousins and Gay.

Minute Rotation
PG - Collison (26 min) / Lawson (22 min)
SG - Temple (30 min) / Afflalo (10 min) / Collison (8 min)
SF - Gay (34 min) / Afflalo (14 min)
PF - Tolliver (22 min) / Casspi (26 min)
C - Cousins (36 min) / Koufos (12 min)

Cousins - 36 min
Gay - 34 min
Collison - 32 min
Temple - 30 min
Casspi - 26 min
Afflalo - 24 min
Lawson - 22 min
Tolliver - 22 min
Koufos - 12 min