Hickson starts over Meyers; Everyone else is obvious. based off http://www.blazersedge.com/2012/9/10/3313887/transcript-coach-terry-stotts-interviewed-on-blazers-courtside and
I agree Hickson starts over Meyers to start the season. Leonard will start at some point, after the AS break but hopefully he's ready sooner, like after 20 games. The rest are as was said obvious.
The only real debate is at C. I too think Hickson will start at first but get relegated to the bench after Leonard comes on late.
Who are our rotation players is also an interesting question... Starters: Hickson LA Batum Wesley Lillard Other Rotation Players: Leonard Freeland (may get bumped out of rotation if Hickson plays the 5 well). Barton Nolan Injury Insurance: Claver Babbitt Practice Player Only: Price (because he sucks) Jeffries (because he's old) Injured: Pavlovic (isn't he injured?) Williams
Rotation might deserve it's own thread. I'll get right on that......Things Mrs HCP says for $100, Alex Oops
I think I'd start Leonard over Hickson, so that hickson can provide a scoring punch off the bench. Lillard/Matthews/Batum/Aldridge/Hickson leaves Nolan/Barton/Babbitt/Freeland/Leonard. versus Lillard/Matthews/Batum/Aldridge/Leonard Nolan/Barton/Babbitt/Freeland/Hickson. IU'm not necessarily trying to look at the whole team as a matter of units, and know that it is generally unlikely that all 5 bench players will be in at the same time. But I would think there is a good chance that the two bench bigs, whoever they may be, will likely see minutes together often, and I think Hickson and Freeland will pair better than leonard and Freeland, in getting SOME offense out of someone. With Leonard to the bench, I think it makes Nolan Smith as your primary source of offense there. Can't remember if it was Stotts or Olshey who commented on not necessarily having your best 5 starting?
I agree. That's why I said I see Hickson finishing games but not necessarily starting them. He is a good option to provide a spark off the bench.
I also think Hickson will start, but remember that Leonard's only really bad game in Summer League was the night he was chucking his lunch and dinner during time outs. They guy was not feeling well.
I totally forgot that Hickson was still on the roster. After L.A. landed D12 and Nash everything became fuzzy.
The obvious starters are Aldridge, Batum and Lillard. I guess you add Wes to that, although Batum did best at 2G last season (that was Nate's Big Plan for the season that was derailed by injuries). So who's the fifth? It will be one of: Leonard Freeland Hickson Jeffries From what Stotts has said, he sees Aldridge as playing Nowitzki's role in Dallace, which was always at PF, paired with a bigger center. He's even said that that plan means minutes for Leonard. My guess is that he'll actually start Leonard, but won't necessarily play him too many minutes. However, he could decide that it would be an insult to older, better players to do that. Stotts has also said that he likes to start a role player (something that happened with him in his playing days). Trouble is, basically our entire roster is role players, so that doesn't help. But if I had to guess a surprise fave player he'll have, it would be Jeffries, because he's a very solid defender and plus/minus guy even if he has no offense whatsoever. However, Jeffries isn't a C - he's way too skinny. He's sort of Kirilenko-esque in build: tall but twig-like. So basically he can play SF or PF, which puts him in competition with our two best players. Unless Aldridge guards the centers, but that wouldn't fit with the Nowitzki narrative. I think it's genuinely up in the air, and it will be decided in training camp. If Freeland or Hickson shows that they can even slow down opposing centers then the fifth starter spot is probably theirs for the taking. But Hickson's severe lack of D is likely to bump him to the role of bench spark. Actually, now I look at Jeffries' stats, he weighs 240 and is 6'11". I can see him being the fifth starter. And he's a career 20mpg player, which is actually more than I thought... [video=youtube;pV1vcckscGg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV1vcckscGg[/video]
IMO Jefferies will get hardly any time at all. He will be fighting for minutes with Hickson, Freeland, and Leonard. I don't see many being left for him.
Might as well. He gets blamed for everything else he inherited. Our mediocre team might as well be his fault too.
Why do you think Batum's best position last year was SG? Statistically, it wasn't. He shot and rebounded better at SF. He averaged 2.0 turnovers per 48 minutes at SF, and 4.8 turnovers per 48 minutes at SG. I think that's pretty glaring evidence that he is not better at SG, where he is expected to create more for himself and others. He's just not good at it.
