Starting Small Forward

You look at Hood, Bazemore and Hezonja's stats from last year, and there really isn't much of a statistical argument for one over the other.

Rodney Hood: Best scorer, best 3 point shooter, has that sweet spot of age at 27 where he still has upside but isn't a kid. More of a 2/3 who may physically not match up well with all the big 3's out there. Took a pay cut to come here. We have him on a one year re-rental, although I think we get his bird rights?

Kent Bazemore: Best defender, most seasoned. Oldest at age 30. Another 2/3. Almost definitely somewhere else next year (unless he plays himself out of a good contract).

Mario Hezonja: Definitely the most upside, but also the most downside. Only 25. 5th overall draft pick just 4 years ago who so far has performed poorly in basket case situations. More of a 3/4, with a solid 20lbs on the other two. His last 3 games in NYC were phemominal, but the prior 55 not so much. We have him this year and next year, so we have some incentive to develop him.

Who will win the starting job on opening night? Will he keep it by December?

 

I think it will be Hood's job to lose, but am pretty sure Terry will run a bunch of lineups to see what the best 3/4 combo is. My honest hope is that at some point Hezonja takes the position, with Hood and Baze off the bench. But, more likely that Hood or Baze will hold onto it. Probably whoever plays better defense and hits the three more aggressively and consistently.

 

I think Bazemore gets it. I think Hood's overall fit with the Bench unit is better for him, and for the team. I really like Hood, but to me it just makes sense. He can create shots for himself, he can be a matchup problem. If he's "on", he may get more minutes on some nights than Bazemore does. Bazemore, on the other hand, will help even out the starters, can be a good defender in PNR's, and if he can remember how to shoot, he's a good floor spacer for Dame / CJ.

I think Hood stayed knowing he'll get minutes, but I don't think they promised he'd start or anything like that.

 

A competition between three bench players for our starting spot.

Even the SF we drafted was a bench player!

 

Bazemore has started about 30 more games than coming off the bench. He shoots a much higher % as a starter. He came off the bench last year because Atlanta was going young.

He'll get the start. IMO

 

Rodney played last season and in the playoffs for us....I think he'll get the nod early in the season if for no other reason than the fact he knows the system better than the new guys. Someone might take the starting job after the break but I'll bet Stotts starts Rodney...I think Bazemore will be more of a bench ball handler....2 guard....Rodney and Mario will probably handle the SF spot

 

It doesnt really matter who starts imo because we have Dame/CJ/Whiteside. Most important is who is at the 3 and 4 in the 4th quarter, it could be
Dame, CJ, Hood, Collins, Whiteside or
Dame, CJ, Bazemore, Collins, Whiteside or
Dame, CJ, Bazemore, Hood, Whiteside or
Dame, CJ, Bazemore, Hood, Collins or maybe
Dame, Simons, CJ, Hood/Bazemore, Collins/Whiteside

We have many options, i just dont like the depth of our roster right now but i'm sure Neil gonna fix that problem by the Deadline

 

Last year: http://www.82games.com/1819/1819POR.HTM

Turner played 30% of the SF minutes.
Harkless played 27% of the SF minutes.
Layman played 21% of the SF minutes
Hood played 12 % of the SF minutes.

Bunch of other guys filled the other 5 mins or so (CJ/Seth/Suace, etc). Once Hood came on, Turner's mins reduced and Layman was pretty much out of rotation.

This year, I see the breakdown as follows:

Baze starts for his defense and takes the Harkless role. Hood comes on off the bench midway through the first and replaces the Turner role. Hezonja is the third swingman and goes up to PF on occasion.

Minutes breakdown:

PG: Dame (33) / Simons (15)
SG: CJ (33)/ Hood (10)/ Simons (5)
SF: Bazemore (25)/ Hood (15) / Hezonja (8)
PF: Collins (25)/ Tolliver (15)/ Hezonja (8)
C: Whiteside (30)/ Collins (5) / Center to be named later (13)

The key to our SF rotation is Collins being to play consistently around 25-30 mins at PF without foul trouble.

 

Also sidebar. I really want to scale down Dame's minutes this year. It's now year 8 for him and he's climbing up the overall minutes chart. After seeing him completely breakdown physically by the end of our playoff run, we need to start managing his minutes. Steph scaled down to 32-34 once Kerr came on, and we really need to start doing the same with Dame. I really hope Terry plays around with the rotation a bit more this year. If Simons is truly ready, then we can make Dame hyper-efficient in his 2-3 fewer minutes this year and keep his usage the same.

 

If Dame is still playing FIBA world cup...it'd be smart to give him some rest when possible early in the season

 

Bazemore is a better off ball scorer and defender than Rodney while Rodney is the better isolation player. Hood has more experience in the system however and will probably be the starter initially.

 

Not to belabor the point, but if Zach can't hack it at PF, Hood and Hezonja will get a lot more mins at that position, making Baze the default SF.

 

I have mixed feelings. I like Hood creating his own shot in the second unit, and Bazemore likely a better overall defender. But, Hood is bigger, which usually works better in the starting lineup, with Baze playing in a small-ball second unit, adding vet savvy to balance Ant.

 

Dame only averaged 35.5 minutes per game last year. I know that's still high compared to the rest of the league but I don't think it's that egregious for Dame to be playing just under 75% of a game.

 

Hood is taller, not bigger. His wingspan is smaller than Bazemores and he’s also a significantly worse rebounder. Like Hoods rebounding numbers are anemic.

 

Well, Hood does outweigh Baze by 5 lbs, and I didn't say "longer" I said "bigger". We don't have Baze's standing reach, but I would guess it would be similar to Hoods, give Baze's wingspan advantage.

 

I'm saying this based on the way they play.