The starters and rotation
Brown isn’t ready to name a firm starting lineup. He expects a fierce camp battle at several rotation spots. These are the near guarantees: Fox will be his starting point guard, Sabonis his starting center and Barnes his starting small forward. It seems likely that Huerter starts at shooting guard and Mitchell is the high-usage third guard off the bench.
The power forward might be most up for grabs. Murray is the future at the position, but he has competition in the immediate that includes Chimezie Metu, Trey Lyles and — a name to watch — camp invite Moneke. There is a chance that Brown utilizes Sabonis and Richaun Holmes in occasional lineup combinations together, but Holmes profiles more as Sabonis’ backup.
“(Steelers coach) Mike Tomlin, one of his sayings is: ‘We got a lot of dogs and one bone,'” Brown said. “He likes who he has on his team, they’re deep and there’s competition. That’s us. Everything is yet to be seen. I’ve only had a chance to be around these guys in the summer. But I give Monte McNair, Wes Wilcox and their team a lot of credit because I’m excited about all the different lineups we can put on the floor.”
Those combinations will include Barnes and Murray together.
“I don’t know if Keegan will start,” Brown said. “But I know those players are both better than I thought after I’ve been around them. Part of that is the versatility. It hasn’t shocked me, but it’s made me sit back and believe we’ve got something here. We’re going to play position-less basketball to a certain degree, especially with our one through four. So it’s not necessarily about those guys fitting in offensively, which I think they can, but it’s about matchups. We had a small dose of it at summer league. Keegan chased some of the top two guards drafted and then we saw him switch and check the kid down in Orlando. We switched at times in the pick-and-roll at times and Keegan showed an ability to sit down and guard. That versatility gives us a lot of flexibility in terms of combinations we can put on the floor.”