As much as the coaches and players commit to improving our defense, we many not have the personnel to be a top defensive team. I wonder how often the team would rest all 5 starters at the same time? Normally I think of the rotation in terms of maintaining offense -- in this case maybe the team should focus the rotation on maintaining some semblance of defense and let the offense take care of itself. I am also anxious to see how Thomas Robinson plays big man defense and rebounds. I suspect he will be driven to do so, and he certainly has the physical tools. Fingers crossed.
I think the related but more interesting question is "Who will be on the court at the end of games?" The Mo vs. CJ vs. Wes question will be very interesting. As for starting I think it will be Wes, probably for the whole season.
There are only so many minutes to go around. We need an 8 or 9 man rotation. Lillard Wes Batum Aldridge Lopez Mo Wright Robinson CJ That's your 9 guys that get significant minutes. You rotate the frontcourt between Lopez, Aldridge and Robinson. You rotate your backcourt between Lillard, Mo, and Wes or CJ.
You're right - somebody is going to get the short straw. Probably CJ this season. But Wes and Mo might not get the minutes they want either. I think something like this would be ideal for this season, +/- a couple minutes: Lillard - 33m Wes - 30m Mo - 18m CJ - 15m
Yeah that looks to me. Lillard, Wes and Mo are likely to get the minutes in crunch time. Nice 3 man rotation. They can all shoot.
I think it's a misconception to think that your starters are your best five players. Certainly your best two or three players should start (so long as they're at different positions) but then you want players that complement them, so that the unit makes sense. That's why Matthews should start over CJ even if CJ is better, because CJ is not better than Lillard, and Matthews complements Lillard better than CJ (plays defense, doesn't need the ball).
Word, well said. If CJ could become our reliable Jason Terry first off the bench spark I would be ecstatic
Yup - that seems to be his ideal role. At least in the short-term. If he proves to be better than a 6th Man, then he'll get a more appropriate role.
I think you're right, C.J will START OUT with the short straw. It'll be interesting to see if he can pass it off.
I actually think Lillard and CJ compliment each other very well on offense, they're not that similar offensively, Lillard is an amazing shooter while CJ is better from mid-range, maybe penetrating to that area than dishing out to Dame for 3. In summer league CJ had to face double teams while also not having another ball handler, you can't double him if u leave a guy like Lillard open. I think Wes starts at the beginning of the season but the Dame-CJ combo soon becomes too good to ignore. Also, with Batum and Lopez their defense isn't as big a liability. I agree with MM on Wes coming of the bench and I think at some point either him or Mo are traded.
It sure would Having a better starting 2 and a better 2 off the bench has been a need for quite awhile.
I really think of this as the no lose scenario. I like the following combinations of players out on the court at the same time: lillard williams - very good lillard wes - very good lillard cj - very good williams wes - good williams cj - good wes cj - good
Wes-CJ seems iffy to me right now, hopefully CJ can show some PG skills. Lillard-Williams also seems sub-optimal, unless it's in the Maynor-esque 6-10 mpg where Lillard plays off the ball. I think that would only be effective against reserves, when Lillard probably will be sitting. Frankly, I like the option of Lillard-Batum-Wright at the 1-2-3 with Mo and Wes (CJ?) coming off the bench a lot better.
