Okay, post-trade with everyone back healthy (except Collins) what is your current rotation and minutes distribution? Dame - 36 minutes CJ - 36 minutes (24 SG / 12 PG) Powell - 34 (24 sg / 10 SF) RoCo - 34 (26 PF / 8 SF) Nurk - 30 DJJ - 30 (SF) Melo - 22 (PF) Kanter - 18 Little - Simons That's my 8 man rotation. Little and Simons can fill in more on back to backs. I'd like to cut back Melo but I doubt it happens. This is also pending any free agent signings.
Lillard/CJ/Jones/Covington/Nurkic - 6 Lillard/Powell/Covington/Little/Kanter - 6 CJ/Powell/Jones/Melo/Nurkic - 6 Lillard/Powell/Little/Melo/Kanter - 6 Lillard/CJ/Jones/Covington/Nurkic - 6 Lillard/Powell/Covington/Little/Kanter - 6 CJ/Powell/Jones/Melo/Nurkic - 6 Lillard/CJ/Jones/Covington/Nurkic - 6 Lillard - 36 CJ/Covington/Nurkic/Jones/Powell - 30 Melo/Kanter/Little - 18
Keep in mind I have read a LOT of posts from TOR fans saying Powell coming off the bench does not play nearly as well as when he starts, no start him at SF and when the subs start coming he plays SG most of the time
I love this rotation, I would just make it a legit nine man rotation by taking about four minutes away from each of Powell, RoCo, DJ and Melo to give Little 15 minutes.
I'd like to see Dame drop from 36 to 34; CJ 32-33; Powell no more than 30, maybe a little less. I'm just thinking about how the Blazers, especially Dame, seem to be dragging by the time the playoffs roll around each year No way should Nurkic play 30. Not with that injury history of his, and not with Kanter's reliability backing him up. And there will be times when the Blazers will have to match small-ball lineups the opposing team uses. Hard to imagine Nurk and Kanter averaging the full 48 minutes
Nurk's injury history shouldn't limit his playing time. He had broken bones from activities that weren't affected by fatigued tissues. Bones don't get fatigued unless there are hairline fractures present. Which I guess could have been possible but not likely. I guess a player's gate could be affected by general fatigue and that could cause mechanical problems that end up in broken bones that aren't caused by blunt force (Nurk's wrist/hand) but really a fatigued gate shouldn't cause broken bones unless there are some bone density issues. Basically what I'm saying is that none of Nurk's major injuries were due to playing time but might have to do with how hard he plays on every play... so they're either going to stop or they're unpreventable.
You’d love to have Nurk for 30 min but it’s too much. I’d go for 26 and either up Kanter or play some small ball with RoCo at center. Play Little not Melo. If we have any hope of contending for a title before Dame’s prime runs out, it will be because Little and/or Ant busts out. You roll the dice on them. Melo is an inefficient offensive player with little discipline in his shot selection, mediocre defense at best, and poor rebounding, making him a below average NBA player. He plays way too many minutes.
I don't believe what you're saying fits reality. You don't just run on the bones of your legs and feet. The load is distributed on the bones, the muscles, the cartilage, the tendons, the ligaments. It's a total structure and if those other parts are fatigued...and those other parts can undeniably get fatigued...then that load falls more heavily on the bones. The bones are the center of structure, but they are not the only structural component, and all of those other components are susceptible to fatigue. Google fatigue injuries in athletes and you'll get 33 million hits Nurkic has averaged 23 minutes over his career. In the two seasons he was healthy for the Blazers (until his broken leg) he averaged under 27 minutes. I don't see any legitimate reason to increase his normal load by 10% in the remaining games this season. Not when a healthy Kanter is backing him up Look at Zach Collins. He averaged 17 minutes in 39 games at Gonzaga. In his first two seasons of healthy BB in Portland he averaged 16.8 minutes. All as a backup. Suddenly, in his 3rd season, his minutes load increased by 60% over his first 180 games. I'm not saying there is a correlation, but I sure don't have trouble imagining that 180 games of 17 minute/game over 28 months conditioned his body and the dramatic increase in stress as a starter could be the root of his recent injuries there's enough smoke around this, and there's enough C-in-street-clothes history in Portland to warrant caution instead of warrant increased minutes....IMO
It might not fit your reality but it's science. You are right in saying "You don't just run on the bones of your legs and feet." Your joints with all of their soft tissues take on weight, your muscles stabilize the joints, if the joints are unstable parts of your limbs could be compromised but you need to look up fatigue injuries and try your damnedest to find a broken tibia/fibula, femur, ulna/radius or humerus in there. They might be mentioned but only at the location of the joints. That's it. Nurk's leg injury could not be attributed to fatigue or being overworked... that's just not the way those injuries occur. Knees, ankles, even hips and the bones around them yes but not the middle of the bones I just listed. Backs are very susceptible to injury due to fatigue but not broken backs... it's just not the way this stuff works. Of course there are fatigue injuries and of course we shouldn't run any of our players into the ground but if we did they wouldn't start having injuries like either of the two that have kept Nurk out for sustained periods of time. Seriously, do the research. Honestly it's kind of hard for me to believe that you're a sports fan and don't know a little more about sports medicine than you're showing.
you're charging down tangents I didn't even open I basically said two things...one was that I didn't see a reason for Nurkic to average 30 minutes from here on out. And the other was that body structure wasn't just bones
Cool, my initial response was just because you said considering Nurk's injury history. I don't think Nurk has ever shown that he can play those kinds of minutes without gassing... I mean the guy gets to where he isn't getting up and down the court so not considering injury, you're right... given what we know of Nurk 30 sounds pretty unrealistic.
Ask again in a week or so. Olshey will have to add at least one player, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he added two. I don’t think they’re gonna trust Nas/Simons with minutes in the playoffs.
Dame - 30 (got to watch his minutes) Nas - 44 Elleby - 30 Giles - 36 Kanter - 30 CJ - 18 Roco - 8 DJJ - 8 Nurk - 18 I've been convinced we need to give the young guys a chance and they will thrive, except Ant.
I'm trying to go for a post that will get likes based off game thread requests. It failed though. Clearly, it's me!
