Mo Must Manage Minutes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Roland Laird for HOOPSWORLD.com Jun 25, 2005, 23:14 We all know there are only 48 minutes in a basketball game. Unlike the other major team sports where, for the most part starters play the entire game, distributing minutes in an NBA game is one of the toughest coaching tasks the game has to offer. One of the reasons Jim O?Brien lost his job was his refusal to give consistently good minutes to players like Willie Green, John Salmons, and Matt Barnes. I agree that O?Brien did a bad job at managing their minutes, but on one level, if you subscribe to the Bill Cosby quote, ?I don?t know what the key to success is, but I know that the key to failure is trying to please everybody?, then O?Brien had to be given credit. He didn?t care about confusing or hurting the feelings of his bench players. As long as Allen Iverson was happy, O?Brien was confident his team would be ok. That actually proved a good enough strategy to get the Sixers into the playoffs. Even if it meant that the team?s talent wasn?t maximized. Assuming we have the same basic personnel as last season, then the question is, can Maurice Cheeks do a better job maximizing that talent? On the surface we?d all probably say yes, but dig a little deeper and the question becomes more difficult. At the four and five, Cheeks? job is relatively easy. Chris Webber and Samuel Dalembert will play the major minutes and Marc Jackson will get 15-20 minutes each night subbing at both positions. But what about the one, two and three? That is where the situation will get dicey? If Cheeks goes the ?please AI at all costs route? then there won?t be a major difference between his rotations and O?Brien?s. If he decides to limit AI?s minutes to 37 or 38 a game then there?s no telling what trouble will be brewing. But that?s the point, in order for players like Green, Salmons and Barnes (assuming he?s still here) to get at least 15 minutes per game, Iverson has to play less than 40 minutes per game. If I?m Maurice Cheeks, I?m spending the entire summer convincing Allen Iverson that he has to play less in order for the TEAM to get better. Good luck Maurice. link: http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_13179.shtml AI playing less is better for the team? hmmmm...... mo has a lot of thinking to do. hopefully he'll be better than obie.
It may not sound good but play AI less minutes each game could turn out to be a good idea. AI is getting up there in years and playing him less minutes would maybe keep him from a few injuries during the season.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting miamiballa12:</div><div class="quote_post">It may not sound good but play AI less minutes each game could turn out to be a good idea. AI is getting up there in years and playing him less minutes would maybe keep him from a few injuries during the season.</div> exactly what i thought. AI needs to rest at times, and playing him 48 minutes a game isnt going to help him rest. especially since midway through the season, he's going to have tons of minor injureys.
Allen will not mind, but the bench has to prove itself before he will be satisfied in taking lesser minutes. AI wants to win now, he will do anything Mo tells him to do even run threw a brick wall if he has to, I think he trusts Coach Cheeks to make the proper adjustments.
I think we def need AI to play less minutes. He can't play 48 minutes every single game, his body isnt the same as it used to be. He is still a great defender but will be even better rested. Its time for our bench to prove the things we all think they can do (Green, Salmons, etc). The best teams in the league manage their players minutes and maxamize the talent they have. Kobe and LeBron play every mintue, but with no depth and bench, they can't do it by theirselves. Tim Duncan is probably the best player in the game, and you will see him on the sideline getting a rest. AI needs to do that.
I agree. The person I want to see getting more minutes is Willie Green. He's a fairly good scorer who can shoot the ball decently, but he's strong for his size and can slash and take it to the hole.
Allen Iverson wants to win. He has a great respect and admiration for Mo Cheeks so I think they will gel well together. If Iverson just plays 37 - 40 mins a night and is still as effective and the team gets better, then I think AI will do it in a heartbeat. But everyone else has to step up and keep the hustle and heart on the floor while the Answer is on the bench or he will not like it at all.
the only problem i have with getting AI to rest is, whenever he does go to the bench, the team has a long period of drought. without AI on the floor, usually nobody is scoring. if willie and korver can pick it up, then that'll be great. i have a question though, lets say we sign donyell marshall. has anyone thought of letting donyell start in place of webber instead of korver? than we would be getting webber off the bench. which means that whenever AI goes to the bench, webber comes out and picks up the slack. i dont know, but its something the sixers can try in the preseason.
I think that this is a good strategy by Mo Cheeks. Iverson isn't getting any younger so bringing down his minutes a little bit would help ihm. I think that Cheeks realizes that he has a playoff team and that resting The Answer would be better to give him more minutes in the Playoff's.
