I envision a 9-man rotation as well (same 9 that you are using) out of the gate but I’d probably change up the minute distribution and spread it out a bit more to help save/rest our main horses a bit more. Something like…
PG - Fox (34) / Monk (14)
SG - Ellis (26) / Monk (14) / Huerter (8)
SF - DeRozan (30) / Huerter (18)
PF - Murray (32) / DeRozan (4) / Lyles (12)
C - Sabonis (34) / Len (10) / Lyles (4)
Fox = 34 min
DeRozan = 34 min
Sabonis = 34 min
Murray = 32 min
Monk = 28 min
Ellis = 26 min
Huerter = 26 min
Lyles = 16 min
Len = 10 min
The only real difference is that I’m reducing a couple minutes for guys like Sabonis, Murray, Monk, Ellis, etc. and I’m bumping up Huerter’s minutes quite a bit. This does 2 things…
- Reduces the wear & tear a bit more on our main core to help save them come playoff time
- Showcases Huerter in a larger role in an effort to raise his value back up to flip him at the deadline or the following offseason.
By the time we flip Huerter, Carter should be back healthy and acclimated with the team allowing us to maintain our good guard depth while hopefully strengthening our forward rotation via a Huerter trade.
This could very well be Monte’s plan if he’s finding that other teams aren’t valuing Huerter in trade talks this offseason.