Sixers Opening Night Lineup
by Jordan Sams on Aug 8, 2010 5:52 PM PDT
in Read and React
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PrintLast year on opening night the Sixers ran out a starting lineup of Lou Williams, Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young, Elton Brand and Samuel Dalembert. Now that two of those players have established themselves as bench players, one's been traded and Elton Brand's body appears to be on the verge of self-combustion, this year's lineup projects much differently.
Despite training camp being a ways away and free agency technically still underway, the Sixers roster is set enough where we can begin discussing different starting lineups and rotation strategies. Last year Eddie Jordan's rotations and lineups were a hot topic at Liberty Ballers so now is your chance to show EJ how it's done and make some suggestions for new coach, Doug Collins (He obviously reads Liberty Ballers religiously, unless he can't handle the Jruth).
Read my suggestion after the jump.
PG - Holiday (35 minutes)
SG - Turner (35 minutes)
SF - Iguodala (39 minutes)
PF - Speights (25 minutes)
C - Hawes (29 minutes)
Bench - Brand, Lou, Thad, Meeks, Noce
My main concern in putting together this rotation was getting enough minutes for the young guys and limiting the minutes of guys who have no future with the team. It's important for the Sixers to play Hawes and Thad enough to properly evaluate them before they become restricted free agents next summer. Same goes for Speights and Meeks who become RFA's in two years.
From a basketball standpoint I'm relying on my three wings to prevent penetration as much as possible due to lack of interior defense. The lack of a plus-plus defensive rebounder also forces the team to rely on rebounding by committee.
On offense we're going to put the ball in the hands of our playmakers and space the floor with Speights and Hawes. The less clogged up the paint is, the more room Jrue, ET and Dre have to create for themselves and others. A post presence like Brand would be more effective with less playmakers and more shooters.
Most of the time the second unit wouldn't play all together, but when they did the lineup would look like this:
PG - Lou
SG - Meeks
SF - Thad
PF - Noce
C - Brand
The main creators on offense would be Lou with his penetration and Elton with his post ups. If both created well enough they would free up Meeks and Noce for open threes. Thad's job would be to run the floor and crash the offensive glass -- reverting back to his successful rookie year where there were reportedly no plays run for him.
In order for this lineup to maintain or build on any lead, Brand and Noce would have to revert back to their career DREB%s of 18.8 and 18.4 respectively. Defensively, they would be torched on most occasions.
The best part about my rotation is ... no Willie Green!
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A case can probably be made for any of my suggested bench players to start and vice versa. Post your suggested rotation and your best guess on the actual rotation.
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My rotation:
Jrue, Turner, Iguodala, Brand, Hawes.
My thinking is, Speights does not deserve to start at the beginning of the season. He needs a fire lit under him and if he is made a starter, he will become too complacent. He needs the opportunity to work for a starting position. Based on his performance last year, he doesn’t deserve anything but a comfortable spot on the bench. Hawes, on the other hand, needs playing time to see if he can work with this core. Brand is with this team for possibly another three years, so we might as well get the most out of him.
If my memory serves me correctly, Jrue ran nice pick n’ pops with Brand last year. I would like to see plays involving Iguodala and/or Jrue driving and dishing out to Brand, or maybe Hawes if he proves capable (so far he hasn’t).
Bench:
Lou, Meeks, Noce, Thad, Speights
Although I believe Speights is more of a PF than a C, he is capable of playing bench C. Likewise, Thad is also capable of playing bench PF. Neither of these guys really pass, but if they decide to, Noce and Meeks will be open on the perimeter for either a regular three point shot, or an exceptionally tough three point shot with some mullet action.
Basically, our bench players will be playing keep away from each other when they have the ball in their hands. On the plus side, we have some shooters and natural scorers, but we won’t be winning a championship anytime soon with this bench squad.
"I admire his competitiveness. As much as I admire it, I thought that he was trying too hard."- Eddie Jordan
You probably have the right lineup here. However, I think it would be a beautiful thing if they could find someone, anyone, who could replace the Albatross in the starting lineup, bazillion dollar a year deal or not. And in my dreams, there’s someone other than the Shambling Mound that could be run out there at C.
It’s a sad, sad thing that Speights is such a head case. He has the physical ability to be a really useful player at a position (possibly two, although he’s definitely more of a PF than a C) where the lineup is, to be very generous, weak.
But hey, they could always trot Tony Battie out there to be a veteran presence. There are days I just hate Stefanski. Seriously.
Basically, our bench players will be playing keep away from each other
I love this
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The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As Michael Bourn
by Michael Levin on Aug 8, 2010 8:53 PM PDT up reply actions
starting lineup
tuener 6’7, noce 6’7, thad 6’9, smith 7’0, and hawes 7’1 lets which team can match my height and speed. None!
I am on board with the line-up and rotation as suggested by the estimable Mr. Sams. But I doubt Brand will be coming off the bench. It might undermine his “rediscovering his love for basketball” as Collins would say.
Starters-Jrue Evan Dre Elton Spence
Bench-Thad Lou Meeks Speights Noce
At least at the beginning of the season Speights wont be a starter. Maybe he will prove himself at some point in the season, but hes not starting opening night
"My truck done shocked the fire outta me. My arm don't hurt no more" - Roy Oswalt
If the only interest is in developing young talent while losing…
Start Speights, Hawes, and Turner
If the only interest is in being competitive while forcing guys to earn minutes…
Start Brand, Hawes or maybe Battie, and either Green or Meeks
To me the smartest long term approach….
Start Thad at PF, Hawes at C, Iggy, Jrue, and Meeks
While this lineup would start the game for me, it wouldn’t necessarily finish it. To me this starting lineup will improve our trade scenarios. Thad could probably lead our team in scoring as an undersized PF playing 30min/night. Turner and Iggy wouldn’t be in each other’s way(off the bench Turner would be the lead playmaker and Lou would be an off the ball slasher). And Turner would get to do what he does best more when he is in the game, and have the ball in his hands more often. This would probably be best for his developement. I doubt he will be a top notch off the ball scorer.
I’m done with Speights. No amount of Pt will make him a good defender within a team concept. The more he plays, the more he will be exposed in my opinion. I could be wrong.
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