I think that any line-up/minutes allocation is going to be dictated by what you believe Tyreke's role should be. Once that is determined I think the minutes work themselves out by and large.
So for your line-up you have Tyreke with 17 minutes at SG & 20 at SF, with Thornton getting the rest of the SG minutes and JJ getting the rest of the SF minutes.
I personally think that you're swinging Tyreke the wrong way and that his other set of minutes should be swung to PG rather than SG.
Here is why.
First, Tyreke at SF makes him a liability on defense, where defense should be one of his strengths.
Second, Tyreke at SF only works if he's handling the ball a good deal of the time down the floor. I think it's pretty well documented that an IT/MT guard pairing with Tyreke doesn't work because he just ends up sitting in the corner waiting to get the ball, and the worst thing you can ask of him is to be a catch-and-shoot player.
You could put out guard pairings of AB/MT or Jimmer/MT or Jimmer/AB but all those pairings along-side Tyreke at SF are going to get killed defensively.
Regardless of how good Tyreke might be as an individual player, I think he's proved to be quite useless while playing the SF position, and therefore I believe that you'd get more productivity if you just took him off the floor and played Outlaw/T-Rob/Garcia at the 3 instead of him.
So for those reasons, as well as being high on Thornton and recognizing that Thornton can only play the SG position, in my ideal line-up I'll be swinging Tyreke over to the PG position where he can have an impact on defense/rebounding, while being able to utilize his greatest offensive strength which is his ball-handling. (Both to create for himself and for others)
So here is how I'd allocate the minutes:
IT/AB (30), Tyreke (18)
Tyreke (18), Thornton (30)
JJ (35), Outlaw/Garcia/Salmons(13)
JT (17), T-Rob(20), Hayes(11)
Cousins (35), JT(13)
I think that IT/AB are interchangable and who-ever isn't starting should play 3rd string minutes based on fouls/injuries, with Fredette being the 4th guard getting minutes again based on fouls/injuries.
Tyreke & Thornton should get all of the SG minutes, and JJ should get as many minutes as he can handle at the SF position, and then any left-over SF minutes would go to Garcia/Outlaw/Salmons/T-Rob based on individual match-ups.
JT should start at PF for the moment and get the rest of his minutes as the back-up Center. Hayes should come in for defensive purposes.
I am so thrilled somebody posted a lineup I can finally agree with. I have posted similar lineups with similar minute crunches in the past, but after the few preseason games we have played, I would have updated my rotation to the one you posted.
It has become quite clear that when Evans is forced to play SF he transforms into a below average player. His abilities do not fit what we need at the SF position in any shape or form. He should get the majority of his minutes at SG while getting some time at PG. Since we have Thornton, Evans cannot really play the majority of his minutes at SG. He would have to play half at SG and half at another position.
Some people have posted here that they would prefer that half to be at SF. I, like Unica, would much rather prefer Evans at PG for the other half of his minutes. His size and defense would be an advantage for us at PG, and like Unica mentioned, he would get to handle the ball which is what he needs to make him successful.
For the posts sake, this would be my rotation:
Thomas (20)/Evans (18)/Brooks (10)/Fredette (0)
Evans (18)/Thornton (30)/Garcia (0)
Johnson (35)/Outlaw (13)/Salmons (0)/Honeycutt (0)
Thompson (17)/Robinson (24)/Hayes (7)
Cousins (35)/Thompson (13)
This is pretty much the exact same rotation as Unica's with the exception of me declaring who I would want to start at PG and increasing Robinson's minutes while decreasing Hayes' minutes.
In my eyes, we have two elite players (Evans and Cousins). The goal is to build a team around them. We don't adjust them to the team. If we play Evans at SF for half of his total minutes, then we are only using him as an elite player for the other half where he is playing SG. I would much rather him be at an elite level the entire time he is on the court. By playing him at his two best positions, you are setting him up for success, but it's up to him to become successful.
I'll give you a few more reasons why I think this is the best rotation we could use:
1. The starting lineup would be the best possible defensive lineup we could trot out.
Thomas is an underrated defender. He does his job and puts in the effort on the defensive side of the ball. He is extremely quick and does a good job of staying in front of his man. His size can be a disadvantage as bigger PGs can shoot over him, but his size can also be seen as an advantage on the defensive end because it makes it easier for him to slip through screens and stay with his man. All I would ask out of Thomas is to deny penetration and I think he is more than capable of doing that.
Evans is a great defender. That goes without saying. We have all seen an improvement from him on the defensive side of the ball this year. He has the size, strength, length, athleticism, and now mentality to be a lockdown defender in this league.
Johnson is studly on defense. The guy is an animal. You really can't ask for a better defender at SF. He has all the tools, like Evans, to be a lockdown defender (size, strength, length, athleticism, and mentality). I think he has a leg up on Evans in this category though. He brings more energy and toughness than Evans does and he also blocks many shots. I'm not bashing on Evans, but Johnson certainly outshines him in this area thus far. With Thomas, Evans, and Johnson defending on the perimeter, I think it will make it very challenging for our opponents to penetrate the lane.
I see Thompson as an average/solid defender. He doesn't do much wrong while playing defense. He knows his role of being a big body who focuses on rebounding and defense, and he executes it very well.
Cousins has caught my eye on the defense so far. He is blocking a lot more shots compared to last year. He has 7 blocks in 4 games and he hasn't even eclipsed 30 min in any of those games. This might have something to do with his new found athleticism which allows him to move quicker and jump higher. He is also very strong which should make it difficult for players to back him down.
2. Evans would be a great backup PG.
I think the first sub has to be our sixth man coming into the game (Thornton) for Thomas. This would then swing Evans over to PG. There is two scenarios. The opposing team's PG is a roleplayer who gets subbed out for a backup PG or the opposing team's PG is a star player (Westbrook, Paul, Rose, etc...). In the first scenario, Evans gets to be matched up against bench players which should allow him to penetrate and find players more easily. In scenario two, Evans will be matched up defensively on the team's star player. When Thomas is in, we can't really tell Evans and Thomas to switch men because Thomas would give up around 6-8" depending on how big their SG is. If Thomas seems to be struggling to contain these players, then we can go ahead and make this sub and place Evans on this star player to try and slow him down.
3. Thornton will get a lot of action against second unit players.
Thornton is one of the best scorers on this team. He lives to score and be "the man." By putting him in the second unit, he gets to be
the man and be featured as the go-to guy. Also Thornton is pretty good at driving and penetrating, but he is no Evans. If he is put in the second unit, it should make it easier for him to penetrate and create for others.
4. Johnson and Outlaw will be defensive roleplaying SFs.
The reason I didn't give any time to Salmons here is because he does not have a roleplayers mentality. It might be true that he is a more skilled player than Outlaw, but his mentality would actually hurt this team. By having Johnson and Outlaw man all of the SF minutes, we assure ourselves that we won't have anyone taking shots away from our main guys or holding on to the ball and stalling the offense. They will essentially be the glue guys that keep everyone on the team happy. And they are both big SFs!!!
Overall, I think this is the best possible rotation the Kings can have. Brooks and Thomas are limited minutes wise, but Evans is an elite talent and we need to give him minutes in the right positions for him to exploit that talent.
