Everybody else is resting players - shouldn't we?

It used to just be the Spurs who rested their players for no other reason than to keep them fresh longer. Now all the top teams are doing it. Except us. And, if anything, we need to do it more than them, because Aldridge and Batum are showing signs of wear and tear and Lillard certainly is playing like he's gassed. But I guess Stotts is of the Tom Thibodeau "run 'em into the ground" school of thought.

 

Do you think the players want to rest? I doubt it. If anything he could reduce their minutes. But people don't want to see losses, and our bench is not going to win us games. Could you imagine if we started dropping games resting our starters? Yikes.

 

Sure why not, especially if we're going to lose games anyway. Nothing makes me more annoyed than wasting a 30 point effort on a close loss.

 

Been saying this for a while that Stotts needs to rest some of these guys.

But as mentioned above, the players have to be supportive of the idea as well. And knowing our guys, they would not particularly like missing games.

 

As it gets closer to the playoffs, maybe. Right now, the Blazers are still adjusting to the loss of Wes. Getting a playing groove establisted is more important, IMO.

 

Yes,if they are going to lose anyway, or let the ref steal the game from them, may as well rest em.

 

Which other top teams are resting their players?

 

Golden State rested their team the other night. Not sure who else.

 

Based on that then I would say no you don't rest our players. Golden State has a 8 game lead in the loss column over the # 2 seed in the west. They can afford to rest their players for a few games.

We on the other hand are in a battle with 5 other teams for home court advantage. We are within 3 games of all of them. There is no way in hell that we should rest our players at this point unless they are hurt.

 

You know Cleveland is doing it. I'm pretty sure Memphis did it. The longer Howard sits out, the more it looks like Houston is doing it. Dallas doesn't need to do it because they're so deep anyway. OKC can't afford to do it right now.

 

Everything you say about us is more true of San Antonio, yet Pop still does it.

 

We really need to gain HCA, but I'm all for reducing the amount of minutes. Maybe if this team showed a killer instinct once in a while, we could rest a couple of players against teams like Orlando and Minnesota, but alas, we consistently play to the level of our competition.

 

Pop has older players with championship experience. He believes resting his players is more important than HC advantage. Do you believe that is true for us as well? I don't.

However.......if you want to rest a few of the starters, don't send them to Brooklyn for the make up game. Let them stay home and rest instead of flying cross country for 1 game. ( Assuming we don't need the win)

You also have 3 of the last 4 games of the year on the road that again if we don't need to win, rest them. But I think we will need to win them, so I am not sure it will be an option. Right now we can't afford to lose ground. We need to make up ground.

 

I see what you did there...

 

4 of our last 8 wins are by 15, or more points. In the DET game, all starters played less than 30 minutes.

For the season, Aldridge's MPG is the lowest since his second year. He plays less minutes under Stotts than he did under McMillan. Damian's minutes are up slightly compared to last year, but down substantially from his rookie year. Lopez is only averaging 28.4 MPG, down from 31.7 MPG last year. I suppose that's the luxury have having a productive back up at his position. Nic is averaging 34.2 MPG this year compared to 36.0 MPG last year and 38.5MPG two years ago.

In the brief stretch between acquiring Afflalo and Wesley's injury, all our starters minutes were down. Having a 6th starting caliber player meant Terry could experiment more with various combinations, including more 3 guard line ups. Unfortunately, after Wesley's injury, we once again have a thin bench, which makes it harder to reduce the starters minutes and maintain a high enough level of play to win on most nights.

BNM

 

We're a lot like Cleveland in that we depend heavily on our two stars to win. Even so, Kyrie and LeBron are averaging slightly more MPG than Dame and LaMarcus.

They are also in the enviable position of playing in the East. They aren't catching ATL for the 1st seed, and while a 2 game lead over TOR for the 2nd seed may not seem all that secure, I honestly don't think CLE cares which of the bottom four seeds they face in the first round. Heck, I don't even think they'd care if they fell all the way to the 6th seed and lost HCA (not going to happen, but I don't think it would matter). Other than possibly ATL, I don't think they really care who they play or where they play them. They're that much better than everyone else in the East outside of ATL.

Playing in the much more competitive Western Conference, we don't have that same luxury to rest our two best players and give away wins.

BNM

 

Teams used to play all the games and they were just fine. Jordan played 82 games a year and he won championships. These players are paid a hell of a lot of money to play 82 games.

 

That's not even true. Last year, they had the best record in the league. HCA was crucial to them winning the championship.

 

When have the Spurs won a title without HCA?