I think Nellie is going to have Dunleavy come off the bench and play 1-5 and play point forward often while Monta is also in to play defense on other PGs. He'll give Pietrus a specific role, probably to play defense, get rebounds, and run like hell so that Baron can set him up on the break. Murphy will start at center and Ike or Dun will start at PF depending on how well Ike does. Depth chart: PG: Baron/Dunleavy/Monta/McLeod SG: J-Rich/Monta/Brown SF: Pietrus/Dunleavy/J-Rich/Zarko PF: Ike/Dunleavy/Zarko C: Murphy/Ike/Bierdins/Zarko/Dunleavy/Taft Although Zarko is deep on the bench I tihnk he'll get alot of time, as will Biedrins. I can't see McLeod, Foyle, or POB getting much playing time, I think Nellie has the balls to trade POB and/or Pietrus with Foyle for a peice he likes for our team.
I'm not sure if it will be a starting lineup but I think we will see a lot of Monta/Baron/J-Rich/Dunleavy/Murphy. As much as I don't like Murphy at 5 and Dun at 4, at least Nelson will try to run other teams out of the gym with this lineup whereas Monty would go small and still try to play a half court set, giving away any quickness advantage we had.
Eventually it could be: Baron Jrich Dunleavy Ike Taft/Biedrins I might be totally wrong, but I think Murphy might be out kind of like how Raef La Frentz was during the Dallas days. A guy like Taft could be a cross between Dampier and Fortson and he shoots free throws supposedly well (although numbers don't reflect this in the nba). Ike and Taft could probably set some good screens. Ike isn't athletic, but he hustles and hardly got winded at the collegiate level. Taft is athletic, but I don't know how good his stamina is, especially coming off back surgery. I'd like to phase out Dunleavy from the starting lineup, but there's no real legit small forward on this team and he doesn't really need to shoot that much, except make the wide open shot and drive to the hoop occasionally. His defense is acceptable. I feel like the moment Pietrus went away from guarding point guards and shooting guards, he lost his edge. He just can't hang at small forward.
Nellie's going with Baron, Monta, JRich, Murphy and AB. Dun, Ike, Zarko and POB (surprise!) off the bench while Foyle goes back to reading his poetry. Taft will get some run if he's healthy again. MP gets traded unless he picks up his defense again. If any of the guys falter, then the Utah guys will be given a chance.
Nellie will want to employ Ike's power offense,Murphy's rebounds and Biedren's D. They will get the bulk of minutes at 4/5 but The faster we play the bigger share goes to the rest of the available options. Both Pietrus + Dunleavy had dissapointing seasons,but it's a new coach,a new style and either can have important improvements. Nellie,however,is not gonna have a problem using J Rich at SF. Then he has Monta + MP at SG with whoever's got it going playing more. Dunleavy can suck or shine-and what he does will decide his role. Starting the first few games is no big thing,what's more relevant here is who's playing most of the time-and who is not. The main asset Dunleavy has is probably versatility-though if that means mediocre at 3-4 different positions-it's not gonna get him a big role. Zarko and Taft are sleepers. If we are running,we need to keep fresh legs in the game-especially the big men. With Nellie,making a bad early impression can park a guy quite a while-but being new he likely will want to get a good look at everyone. It will be interesting to see how much Nellie can alter our perceptions of what various players are able to do.
How about: PG: Baron Davis SG: Monta Ellis SF: Jason Richardson PF: Ike Diogu C: Zarko Cabarkapa We'd probably get killed defensively at almost every position except point guard with the smaller size and not as much toughness at center. I think this lineup would only work if every one of our guards could hit free throws at a high rate. Otherwise, I could see lots of missed opportunities, everyone getting scored upon down low, and Jrich getting shutdown by one of the swingman/forward defensive stoppers the other team might have (Bowen, Artest, Battier, Marion, Eddie Jones). The only positive is that Ellis plays more like a true shooting guard than Jrich does. Jrich plays small forward which was what he played in college after switching from high school power forward to small forward. The backcourt would get steals galore and get lots of double teams off isolations. Almost all these players have excellent stamina (maybe not Baron or Zarko that much but Jrich, Ellis and Diogu are motors that keep on going. All five guys are above average to excellent passers with great vision of the floor and the backcourt can handle the ball well and so can our "center". Our forwards are adequate in taking guys off the dribble and getting shots off. If we are worried about rebounding, sub in Biedrins. We get similar fundamentals in passing but limited range, bad foul trouble, and even worse free throw shooting. Biedrins is an all-right passer, but since he's so close to the basket and with weak post moves to ask for a re-post, he's looking to score all the time quickly unless he gets a double team. I think Taft would work better as the enforcer in the middle. Very similar to Dampier but with better hands and better shooting. Of course all of our centers from Taft, Zarko, and Biedrins are very big question marks. It's why teams without true centers tend to get slaughtered unless we have somebody that can emulate center from a smaller position.
