I think Odom is going to have a shot if he stays on the bench, I also think Jordan Farmar could have a shot as well....assuming they don't take too much from eachother. However, clear-cut favorite has to be Barbosa. With Manu missing the first half of the season...unless someone else emerges, he shouldn't have too much competition.
Moo has picked all of my candidates....also to throw out there, Rodney Stuckey and Louis Williams, but both are long shots.
I think you can scratch Stuckey off now. With Iverson in there, I foresee Stuckey's minutes getting slashed a bit, unless they cut in on Rips.
i wouldn't expect stuckey to lose any minutes really. i'd say it's more likely that iverson doesn't play 40+ minutes per game in detroit. and if he does, i'd expect to see more 3 guard lineups with iverson/rip/stuckey all playing together.
i would expect the leading candidates to be barbosa, odom, artest/battier, nate robinson, posey, and rudy fernandez.
In that case, shouldn't Barbosa be DQed too? He plays starter-type minutes (33mpg and 30mpg the last two seasons), much like Manu. Another guy we could look at is Grant Hill. No one has mentioned him yet, but he's coming off the bench this year and could be very effective with that 2nd unit.
It'll probably be Ben Gordon since Del Negro is a raging moron and seems to be content with bringing him off the bench. Other than that, Ginobili if he comes off the bench will be fighting with Gordon. Lamar Odom and Leandro Barbosa seem like 2nd tier candidates based on their early season roles. If Gordon/Ginobili find their ways into the starting lineup, Rudy Fernandez might be able to pull a Ben Gordon and win the 6th man of the year as a rookie.
