I'm going to assume we re-sign Harkless and Crabbe. same starters as last year 9-man rotation Lillard/McCollum (32,16) McCollum/Crabbe/Turner (16,28, 4) Harkless/Turner (28, 20) Aminu/Davis (30, 18) Plumlee/Biebs (26,22) So, Turner plays 24 mpg.
I'd let Turner and Harkless motivate each other in camp to determine who gets to start, but yeah that's a decent lineup. CJ has Turner to help with ball handling and Beibs to offset Turner's lack of shooting. Aminu and Crabbe are interchangable in their respective roles in the lineup. It's solid.
Dame (34) / CJ (14) CJ (20) / Crabbe (14) / Turner (10) ET (24) / Crabbe (16) / Aminu (8) Aminu (20) / Hark (20) / Davis (8) Plumlee (22) / Leonard (18) / Davis (8) This is the rotation I'd go with if we don't sign anyone else.
Guards: Dame 33 CJ 33 Turner 30 SF: Harkless 20 Crabbe 28 PF: Aminu 26, Davis 22 C: Plumlee 26 Leonard 22 Vonleh I need to see how much he has improved first. Plus I think we make a trade with our bigs.
updated: 9-man rotation Lillard/McCollum (32,16) McCollum/Crabbe/Turner (16,28, 4) Turner/Harkless (28, 20) Aminu/Davis (30, 18) FE/Plumlee (26,22) No PT for Vonleh We catapult to 10th in Defense this year!
I think Turner starts at SF. Rotation isn't so meaningful. I foresee Stotts using 4 guards some of the time and 4 forwards at others.
Dame CJ Turner Aminu Ezeli 2nd unit CJ Connaughton (call it a feeling.) Crabbe Harkless Plumlee/Davis
I'm actually not convinced that Ezeli will start. I could see Plumlee starting game 1 and Ezeli potentially working his way into the starting spot. Ultimately it's going to be more about lineups, and with a lineup of Dame, CJ, Turner, Aminu, I think Plumlee will fit with that small ball setup. I could see Ezeli playing a lot of minutes alongside Ed....Boi-oi-oi-oi-oing Dame, CJ, Turner, Aminu, Plumlee Dame, CJ, Turner, Davis, Ezeli Dame, Turner, Aminu, Plumlee, Ezeli Dame, Turner, Aminu, Harkless, Ezeli ETC ETC ... Tons of versatility next season FAMS.
Dame, CJ, Turner, Aminu, Ezeli start Crabbe, Mo, Vonleh, Davis/Plumlee....bench mob..speckle in Montero, Connaughton and Layman early in the season
For the first part of the season it's this: Dame CJ Turner Aminu Plumlee ----------- Napier Harkless Davis Ezeli/Meyers And mid-season we trade at least two of Aminu/Davis/Plumlee (and another player and/or pick) and our rotation changes to something like this, depending on the trade details: Dame CJ Turner Griffin/Love/Harkless/Aminu DMC/Meyers/Plumlee ---------- Napier Harkless Vonleh/Meyers/Aminu/Davis/Plumlee
Until we know what's happening with Crabbe/Harkless/Leonard, it's really difficult to put together a rotation.
right now if we lose Crabbe and we keep Harkless and if Leonard starts out on the IR...... My 9 man rotation is this: (A lot of interchangeable parts) Dame, CJ, CJ, ET ET, Harkless, Aminu Aminu, Plumlee, Vonleh Ezeli, Davis, Plumlee If Leonard is healthy to go I am not sure what to do with him. His outside shooting is needed, but he can't play against stretch 4's. So it will depend on the match ups. Also some games I would start Aminu at the 4, other bigger match ups (i.e OKC) I would start Plumlee or Davis along side Ezeli.
Probably swap Plumlee and Davis as the backup power forward, but overall that looks like what the rotation would be if Crabbe isn't retained.
I went back and fourth on that several times, but in the end I think Plumlee can jump out better on the perimeter, if needed. Interesting that Plumlee, Davis, Leonard, Aminu and Ezeli all have a 9' standing reach. With Ezeli having a much wider wing span than most. (7'6")
Isn't Meyers out till January? If anyone is let go it's him...but I think we retain all three since we cut Alexander with Meyers taking the qualifying offer... Lillard/CJ/Turner CJ/Crabbe/ Turner/Harkless/Crabbe Aminu/Davis/Vonleh Plumlee/Ezeli/Davis When Leonard returns he will probably take Vonlehs place Connaughton, Napier, Montero, and Layman will see garbage time