New starting lineup ideas

[Bricklayer]

Nice spin, he should be working in the PR field. In another word, he is full of it.

I swung around on Smart pretty quickly after he took over. He speaks well, sounded intelligent, man with a plan and all that. So for a couple of weeks I too was drinking the kool aid. But call it an occupational hazard, not to mention watching his actions not match his words, but my b.s. detector started sounding off and the more I listened to him contradict himself, blabber and blabber, make contradictory answers, coddle and schmooze with certain guys, the more I began to worry that along with the man with a plan, there were elements of a fast talking brownnosing name dropping manipulator who had taken advantage of the low double digit IQs of our owners by schmoozing up to them and telling them exactly what they wanted to hear. I would LOVE to drink the Kool Aid again, but the more he talks the less I trust his honesty.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

I swung around on Smart pretty quickly after he took over. He speaks well, sounded intelligent, man with a plan and all that. So for a couple of weeks I too was drinking the kool aid. But call it an occupational hazard, not to mention watching his actions not match his words, but my b.s. detector started sounding off and the more I listened to him contradict himself, blabber and blabber, make contradictory answers, coddle and schmooze with certain guys, the more I began to worry that along with the man with a plan, there were elements of a fast talking brownnosing name dropping manipulator who had taken advantage of the low double digit IQs of our owners by schmoozing up to them and telling them exactly what they wanted to hear. I would LOVE to drink the Kool Aid again, but the more he talks the less I trust his honesty.

I don't always agree with Brick, but I wouldn't change a word of this.

 

[Hadlowe]

I swung around on Smart pretty quickly after he took over. He speaks well, sounded intelligent, man with a plan and all that. So for a couple of weeks I too was drinking the kool aid. But call it an occupational hazard, not to mention watching his actions not match his words, but my b.s. detector started sounding off and the more I listened to him contradict himself, blabber and blabber, make contradictory answers, coddle and schmooze with certain guys, the more I began to worry that along with the man with a plan, there were elements of a fast talking brownnosing name dropping manipulator who had taken advantage of the low double digit IQs of our owners by schmoozing up to them and telling them exactly what they wanted to hear. I would LOVE to drink the Kool Aid again, but the more he talks the less I trust his honesty.

I wonder if it is even possible to unseat him at this point. The Maloofs would be on the hook for almost two years of paying two coaches.

But, if Smart goes, then Petrie needs to go with him. A seven year rebuild with no playoffs in sight is an organizational failure and that falls on Petrie.

 

[Rookie]

Start - players strength with respect to the team NOT THE LEAGUE:
Thomas - Off/Facilitator
MT - Off
JJ -Def
Thompson -Def/Off
Cuz - Off/Def

Second:
Evans - Def/Offesive (I would give him the ball on every fast break IMO)
Jimmer/Brooks - Off (whoever is hot on that day)
Salmons - Off/Def/facilitator
TRob - Def (not enought data )
Hayes - Def/facilitator/Off

I don't think Evans/JJ work well together and I don't think you can run plays with both on the floor at the same time. Defensively, they're our best option but offensive not so much. Weighing the lost in defensive/offensive, I find both units to be balance (3/2 or 2/3 ratio). I think line up places players playing to their talent and not require them to do more than what they are capable of.

 

[Arkitect]

I wonder if it is even possible to unseat him at this point. The Maloofs would be on the hook for almost two years of paying two coaches.

But, if Smart goes, then Petrie needs to go with him. A seven year rebuild with no playoffs in sight is an organizational failure and that falls on Petrie.

I have my doubts that the Maloofs are willing to make the investments required to win in the modern NBA. It is not just the GM here. They have to be willing to invest in the international scouts, the stats guys, the tech guys, the psychologists, etc. that all other teams seem to have. Our problems are largely because we have poor owners. No one has the resources to properly do anything so it is death by a thousand cuts.

 

[Castasic]

I think we are almost at the point where we have to start Jimmer. He seems to be the only one on the team who can provide consistent offense. His D is still sub par but I think we will just have to deal with it.

 

[The_Jamal]

I agree with you for the most part, I just differ in that I don't give Smart AS MUCH of the blame as you do for the terrible start. I certainly blame him for some, but I also lay a lot of this at the feet of the players.

One thing I will say is that our best players are still getting the most minutes. Out top 4 players (Evans/MT/Cousins/JT) are all at or over 30mpg. Tyreke leads the team in MPG. This isn't a huge deal, but the game threads are covered in 'get Evans back in' or 'the coach never plays Evans' when, in fact, he has had the most playing time on the team. I'm fine with Evans leading the team in minutes, by the way. I'm not fine with the fact that he's shooting a career low in FG%, and it's by a lot. We just cannot have that.

There are things that I blame Smart for. I think the rotation is a ****ing mess. But there are basketball things that are not his fault that have also totally sunk us.

-Evans career low FG%
-Cousins foul trouble and suspension
-Robinson suspension
-Marcus Thornton shooting a career low, and totally awful .238 3P%
-Isaiah Thomas and Aaron Brooks playing like the worst PG tandem in the entire league
-James Johnson's incredibly poor offense, while taking way to many WTF shot's per game.


Now, as for a starting lineup ... I think I would keep it as is. But I would shorten the damn rotation by about 3 players. Give me

Thomas / Jimmer
Evans / Thornton
Johnson / Salmons*
Thompson / Robinson
Cousins / Hayes

*Salmons only plays under certain circumstances. Slide Evans to the 3 most of the time when JJ comes out. I don't need to see Brooks, Garcia, or Outlaw any more.

couldn't have said it any better myself

 

[Gary]

I can't believe I'm agreeing with you. That hasn't happened in a while...

Smart has a dream job to be honest. His job description basically consists of one line: Baby and coddle Cousins. Him doing that has earned him a good 3 years pay while the team is still in shambles and still has no hope of reaching the playoffs under him. Not a bad job is it? Get paid millions of dollars just to be a guy's friend.

Yah totally...

I really don't think it matters what lineup is out there because I don't think Smart uses players property.
--So toss Evans back at PG and make IT play SG .
--Bring MT off the bench as a SF.
--Have no outside shooting in your starting lineup.
--Tell players that can't shoot that they have a green light to shoot whenever they want.
--Tell the WHOLE starting lineup they have a green light to shoot which kind of goes against the whole teamwork thing.
--Be buddy-buddy with most of the players so it's like they don't even have a coach.
--Play 12 men nightly.
--Weird sub patterns that don't make a lick of sense.
--Inconsistent minutes for players. Even when Smart says that it depends on the matchup he still plays the wrong players and all of them inconsistently.

I could go on, but I don't feel I have to.

 

[Chupacabra]

Id like to see us explore a Jimmer/Evans backcourt a little more. Jimmer isnt a ball handler or defender but can shoot the lights out. Tyreke is the opposite. Id like to see Jimmer be given Brooks's minutes. So far im not a Brooks fan at all. Brooks cant wait to dribble into a hoard of defenders. He shoots the ball well but so does Jimmer. When Jimmer is out there, for the most part, he plays under control. I dont think Evans and Brooks should ever be on the court at the same time.

 

[flipray]

A Reke/Jimmer would be something to experiment on. I know they played with each other last season for a couple of games while MT was injured, but this season Jimmer looks like a more confident player. Plus Reke can rack up another 3-4 assists just on kickouts alone to Jimmer besides kicking it out to JJ. I swear I cringe more when JJ tries to attempt a 3 than Reke. Smart really has to keep Reke at starter because he's been most consistent defender this season.

 

[sqwalk]

Yes, I would like to see a Reke/Jimmer backcourt as well. I think it would not only help Rekes game, but certainly clear some space for Cuz as well - Especially if there's another forward on the floor who could shoot, like perhaps Salmons.

I'm not advocating this should be the starting lineup right now, but I would like to see these players on the floor at the sane time with extended minutes: Jimmer, Reke, Salmons, JT, and Cuz. I really believe this group would be competitive to most teams.

I'm still little dumbfounded why smart didn't play jimmer very much last game after stating himself that jimmer needs more minutes. I guess he meant less, huh. Heh.

 

[pshn80]

In my book only one player has qualified himself by his play for a starting position this season, that's Jason Thompson.

We have a replacement for everyone. Play the existing starters. Play them as many minutes as they can handle. Do this for 3 games. Pick the one who gives the least good effort and start his replacement next game. Continue the same rating process for the other 3 starters. Winning games are timeouts unless a player is particular horrid. If we have winning streak of 3 games then start over in the next losing streak.

Lay all this in more detail and in writing and read slowly to the players before each game. I guarantee it will improve the starting lineup.

 

[flipray]

Jimmer can be our new Beno but with extended range, plus hes more younger.

 

[bajaden]

I swung around on Smart pretty quickly after he took over. He speaks well, sounded intelligent, man with a plan and all that. So for a couple of weeks I too was drinking the kool aid. But call it an occupational hazard, not to mention watching his actions not match his words, but my b.s. detector started sounding off and the more I listened to him contradict himself, blabber and blabber, make contradictory answers, coddle and schmooze with certain guys, the more I began to worry that along with the man with a plan, there were elements of a fast talking brownnosing name dropping manipulator who had taken advantage of the low double digit IQs of our owners by schmoozing up to them and telling them exactly what they wanted to hear. I would LOVE to drink the Kool Aid again, but the more he talks the less I trust his honesty.

Wow, thats never happened before! Wait, wasn't there some guy named Musclehead or something? The Maloofs are all about imagery, and little about substance. Probably comes from being salesmen all their lives. Nothing wrong with being good salesmen, just let someone else choose the product.

 

[xxsean4xx]

It's hard to pick a starting 5 because everyone has been so inconsistent, i feel coach smarts pain...kinda. He has terrible rotations as it is, but i guess my starting 5 would be:

aaron brooks (houston rockets aaron brooks please)
thornton (20 shot attempts a game please)
tyreke (no tyreke, do not worry about scoring. Leave the scoring to Thornton. Play Defense!)
robinson (im not going to waste the talent of a rookie by not playing him. He needs playing time to become better in the league, just like Drummond)
cousins (please no more pouting)