It's pretty much NBA dogma that coaches shorten their rotations in the playoffs, generally going with 7 and almost never exceeding 8 players. As we know, Thibs has used a 10-man rotation during the regular season. In addition, Kurt Thomas who is not part of the regular rotation, is thought of as the kind of player you "save" for the playoffs. What do you guys think Thibs is going to do in the playoffs?
Will go ten deep. He has to considering the minutes Deng and Rose have played. Also, remember how important the second tier of players are to the overall outcome of the game? Their defense and depth is one of the reasons why are where we are. There are teams with a better starting five than ours, but our second 5, is good! Also Thomas will play ahead of Asik IMO during the playoffs.
The advantage the second unit has it because it plays against other teams' back ups. Not as much of an advantage in the playoffs. But I agree that there's no reason to shorten our rotation. At least, our starters will be fresher and hopefully the energy of the second unit will wear down the other teams' starters more.
Good hope, true, but that same second unit play against teams that go just 8 or 9 deep now. We may shorten the rotation, but who would it be? Watson out? We play Brewer and korver, no doubt. Thomas and Gibson too. Play Rose 45 minutes and let Brewer handle the ball for 3?
This is why I raised the question. I agree with Good Hope's observation that part of the reason our 2nd unit is so awesome defensively is that they're matched against other 2nd units (usually 2 starters and 3 subs). Still, as trueblue points out, you have to play Watson 'cause he's the only other PG and it's hard to imagine Korver, Brewer or Gibson not playing regular minutes. That's 9. I suppose it's possible against some teams that you would just rotate Noah, Boozer and Gibson, but I can't get below 9.
Right, and given the "three-headed monster" at 2 guard, 10 men for us is 8 for others. We have a "normal" 5 man rotation at guard, where many teams might have only 3.
