You don't trade Collison because you might need him in the playoffs. Also, if Rondo gets injured then you need a backup capable of taking over without hurting the team. That's (probably) not going to be Seth Curry. Assuming Rondo doesn't get injured though, Collison should be coming into the game when Rondo needs rest and that's it. As the season goes on maybe play Collison a little more if he's playing particularly well that night or it's the second night of a back to back. That's the sensible approach. Stick to your primary lineup as much as possible, sub guys in to keep them fresh, and occasionally surprise people with a 20 point explosion from one of your backups. Our bench is great but we don't need them all getting 30 minutes a night. I know George Karl is only doing what he thinks he needs to do to win -- and if we were winning it wouldn't be a problem. But the defense has been a disaster and the lack of continuity is a big part of that. Team defense requires a lot of trust and communication. Having a different lineup in the game in each quarter seeds confusion and that's when the other team goes on a run.
It's pretty obvious to me what's going on though. It's not just a matter of finding more minutes for guys who are playing well. Veteran coaches are predictable. George Karl likes Collison, Belinelli, and Casspi because they are professional basketball players who are skilled in a lot of ways and play hard. Also they can all shoot. He doesn't trust Cauley-Stein at all because he's a rookie and makes situational mistakes. He doesn't trust McLemore much either because he plays timid at times and out of control at other times, and he probably hasn't looked at Eric Moreland in a month. But we need those three young guys contributing to help our defense. If you can't go to Cauley-Stein for a stop at the end of the game why is he even on the bench? The reason why Cauley-Stein and Ben work in the starting lineup (a balance of scoring and defense) is the exact reason why we should have them both in there to finish games as well. Rondo, Ben, Rudy, and DeMarcus can all shot threes right now anyway. There's no reason to put Casspi, Belinelli, or Collison in there to get an extra shooter on the floor. It's almost as if we're openly conceding easy baskets because we think we can outscore you anyway.
And what's most frustrating to me is that Vlade has put together the best roster we've had here in 10 years-- 2 quality PGs, 2 competent SGs, 2 competent SFs, a veteran backup C, a mix of capable athletes and role-players at PF -- and our coach insists on playing all of them out of position because he loves loading up the floor with ball handlers and shooters, defense be damned. It's not working! And while it may seem like mad genius if it were working, when it's not working it seems like stubborn adherence to a flawed philosophy in the face of overwhelming evidence. I know Coach Karl has had a lot of success elsewhere with a loose rotation and little regard for traditional court positions. I was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt with the 2 PG thing and the Rudy at PF thing but the results so far have more than justified the skepticism.
