Who Will Start on Opening Day? Casspi, Cauley-Stein, or Koufos
- Thread starter twslam07
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Sorry Kingsgurl but i vehemently disagree. Doesn't work at this level. There is no track record in the NBA where altering your starting 5 constantly depending upon the opponent has worked.
It's something which sounds ok in theory but in practice doesn't work. If you consider changing lineups nightly, you've put together a poor roster and are searching to cover weaknesses or have a coach whose afraid to commit. A coach confident in his roster forces opponents to bend to his team, not the other way around.
It's something which sounds ok in theory but in practice doesn't work. If you consider changing lineups nightly, you've put together a poor roster and are searching to cover weaknesses or have a coach whose afraid to commit. A coach confident in his roster forces opponents to bend to his team, not the other way around.
Yeah, but that was out of desperation. Good teams rarely flop their lineups nightly. In fact I can't think of one that does. Obviously you see teams change guys occasionally when the original starter isn't getting it done. But not nightly flip flops as some sort of strategy.
Might even be more important for us as a new team. A giant x-factor that always holds back young teams is that the old ones just flat know how to play together. No hesitation, they know where everybody is going to go, who wants what shot, who can handle or not, who needs help guarding this or that. Who's got a left hand, the rhythm on guys shots etc. You only get that by just playing together and paying together. And for a team like ours more than most we will need just that completely settled consistency to ward off the potential chaos. We've got some lineup flexibility for matchups, but that's not the same thing as flipping starters around.
last year the Warriors starting 5 with games started of games available (i.e. not injured):
Curry: 80 of 80
Green: 79 of 79
Klay: 77 of 77
Barnes: 82 of 82
Bogut: 65 of 67
the Clippers:
Paul: 82 of 82
Jordan: 82 of 82
Redick: 78 of 78
Griffin: 67 of 67
Barnes: 74 of 76
Portland:
Lillard: 82 of 82
Aldridge: 71 of 71
Batum: 71 of 71
Matthews: 60 of 60
Lopez: 59 of 59
Atlanta:
Korver: 75 of 75
Millsap: 73 of 73
Horford: 76 of 76
Teague: 72 of 73
Carroll: 69 of 70
Memphis:
Gasol: 81 of 91
Lee: 74 of 77
Randolph: 71 of 71
Conley: 70 of 70
then the wobble would be Tony Allen and Jeff Green after they traded for him, along wiht a lot of injury related shuffles.
It was such a bad injury year that its hard to find other top teams with lineups not slushing around due to injuries and trades, but in general, if you are good, you don't muck your lineup for anyone. You make them muck up theirs to match you.
Might even be more important for us as a new team. A giant x-factor that always holds back young teams is that the old ones just flat know how to play together. No hesitation, they know where everybody is going to go, who wants what shot, who can handle or not, who needs help guarding this or that. Who's got a left hand, the rhythm on guys shots etc. You only get that by just playing together and paying together. And for a team like ours more than most we will need just that completely settled consistency to ward off the potential chaos. We've got some lineup flexibility for matchups, but that's not the same thing as flipping starters around.
last year the Warriors starting 5 with games started of games available (i.e. not injured):
Curry: 80 of 80
Green: 79 of 79
Klay: 77 of 77
Barnes: 82 of 82
Bogut: 65 of 67
the Clippers:
Paul: 82 of 82
Jordan: 82 of 82
Redick: 78 of 78
Griffin: 67 of 67
Barnes: 74 of 76
Portland:
Lillard: 82 of 82
Aldridge: 71 of 71
Batum: 71 of 71
Matthews: 60 of 60
Lopez: 59 of 59
Atlanta:
Korver: 75 of 75
Millsap: 73 of 73
Horford: 76 of 76
Teague: 72 of 73
Carroll: 69 of 70
Memphis:
Gasol: 81 of 91
Lee: 74 of 77
Randolph: 71 of 71
Conley: 70 of 70
then the wobble would be Tony Allen and Jeff Green after they traded for him, along wiht a lot of injury related shuffles.
It was such a bad injury year that its hard to find other top teams with lineups not slushing around due to injuries and trades, but in general, if you are good, you don't muck your lineup for anyone. You make them muck up theirs to match you.
It worked against a depleted lineup lacking depth. Mosgov and Thompson hurt that Warriors small lineup while they were fresh. The Cavs had nobody off the bench that could sustain the advantage and level of play. Imagine of they had Love and Varejao to rotate on the front line with Mosgov and Thompson. I don't think that adjustment would have worked out so well. But it did given the circumstances.
I never said we were going to flip line-ups nightly. I said I was unsure which line-up would prove most effective (thus be the classic 'starters') until training camp. I do think we will settle on a 'starting 5' but that match-ups will dictate that rotations will vary according to what our strengths and advantages are against the opponent. Truly, that sounds like an 'of course they will' statement, but we haven't had that type of flexibility in forever and have had a lot of coaches whose rotations seemed rooted merely in whose time it was to come in. Thus, I expect that the team on the floor for the majority of each game will vary depending on opponent. Is that clearer?
I don't disagree that rotations will change based on matchups. That makes sense. Some nights we'll alter our rotations to go big, other nights we'll match pace, others to match a team going small and spreading the floor with shooters at each position. We can match, or we can counter. Play bully ball against a small ball lineup and force them to deal with us, or go up tempo for stretches when a team puts a slow and unathletic lineup out there.
Those however are in-game adjustments. That's normal and we do have more flexibility there than before. That's different than altering ghe starting 5 before the ball even tips though. We vitally need to build chemistry, cohesion and consistency. Can't do that by changing your starting unit based on matchups and sometimes starting two PGs and sometimes starting Rudy at the 4. Karl btw has never really alterred lineups as is being mentioned. I fully take his comments as a reference to in game adjustments.
Those however are in-game adjustments. That's normal and we do have more flexibility there than before. That's different than altering ghe starting 5 before the ball even tips though. We vitally need to build chemistry, cohesion and consistency. Can't do that by changing your starting unit based on matchups and sometimes starting two PGs and sometimes starting Rudy at the 4. Karl btw has never really alterred lineups as is being mentioned. I fully take his comments as a reference to in game adjustments.