Who Should Start?

Just a general question.  Pick 5 players you think should start.

This could result in a little chaos, like if there is unanimity on the starting back court and the votes getting spread around the front court, but let's give it a shot, shall we?

Feel free to tell us who you picked and why you thought they would be best.


bob


.

I went with height
pg- turner
sg- crowder
sf- jones
pf- olynyk
c- zeller

I like
Zeller
Lee
Turner
Bradley
Smart

as the starters.

I think Amir and Kelly may turn out to be a good team together on the second group along with Crowder and IT.

not sure who would be the 10th man yet, Jerebko (with Turner playing more minutes at Guard) Hunter or Young.


I would assume Danny is getting ready to call some other GM's this week, in an attempt to replace our depth with a higher grade starter somewhere ( if Possible).

maybe a Sully, Jerekbo and Young (or Hunter) to Minny for Martin and Dieng could be worked out.

Such a tough question at this point, and a rookie or three might be a logical choice in a month or two, but not at this moment. Especially Rozier with a knee in unknown condition.

My hunch is Brad sticks with continuity to begin the season, which probably means Smart/AB/ET/DLee/Zeller. If Sully wasn't in the process of bottoming out, he'd have a great opportunity to start over Lee, but he looks fatter every game. Last year at this time he started the process of gaining like 20-30 lbs before his foot stress fracture.

Something about the lifestyle on the road, room service and restaurant food, and a complete lack of discipline and love of the game.

After a lot of thought I went with a combination I don't feel super strongly about, but I went with: Rozier/Smart/Crowder/KO/Amir

Four great defenders to compensate for KO's questionable defense, even though he's looking very mobile and pretty strong.

Playing with 4 aggressive scorers would allow KO to be himself, which means great ball movement for the team and good offensive efficiency out of the gate, along with good/great overall team defense.

The starting lineup we saw in Europe, Smart/AB/ET/DLee/Zeller seems to have 3 average or below average defenders in ET, Lee, and Zeller. Not only that, the 5 man unit doesn't seem to have a lot of offensive firepower. AB and ET are streaky scorers, as is Smart, and AB and Turner are prone to bad passes/decisions.

And I'm not sure if David Lee is still a good starting PF, especially after the Knicks game. Maybe Lee was sick though, since he missed practice Sat or Sun with illness, and I think he might have been sick after Europe or something, so maybe Lee wasn't near his best vs the Knicks.

IT also has a strong case for starting, and with his improved decision making and passing, he's more capable/better prepared to be a starter now vs last year. And if Mickey is really showing signs of dominating in practice, who knows, maybe he's (almost?) ready to learn on the job in a big role. If Brad was leaning towards IT as the starting pg, Mickey might make a better option at PF than either Lee or Olynyk.

I'm fond of the idea of trying to win and develop the young players at the same time. Throwing one, two, or three of our rookies into the starting lineup should at least be on the table. If not game one, then perhaps later in the year.

Like I said a month ago when I started a thread about not sleeping on any of these three rookies as potential starters as rookies, all three of them are a lot older and wiser than James Young was last year, and this year. Hunter might already be the highest bbiq/decision maker on the team, Mickey is already apparently dominating at least one practice, and Rozier is looking like an almost instant upgrade over Avery Bradley because of his ball handling and brash demeanor.

Rozier/Smart/Crowder/KO/Amir seems like a good balance between competing to win every game and developing our young players for the long-term/big picture.

The biggest problem with that look is IT, Bradley, Turner, Lee, and Zeller might be more than a little annoyed, not to mention Sullinger.

Perhaps full-season team chemistry is best suited by the most predictable starting line-up, and perhaps our season record would benefit overall even if our record out of the gate is disappointing. It's easier to make changes to the starting lineup when the team is losing. Right now, everybody probably thinks they're a starter, and not without reason.

I went with:

Amir
Lee
Turner
Smart
Bradley


Amir has gotten off to such great starts the last couple of games I don't see how Brad can not start him.  He is also our defensive baseline anchor.

Brad likes the defensive back court of Bradley and Smart.  They provide perimeter defense that helps protect our weak baseline defenders.

I have Turner and Lee starting because we need some ball handlers.  I still don't have much confidence in Smart's ability to play point.

This isn't a tall line up, Replacing either of the bigs with Kelly or Tyler would make us more "right-sized" but I think this line up has the best balance. Just one man's opinion.

Turner could be swapped out for Crowder, to increase the perimeter defense even further.

I don't see Lee being swapped out for Kelly or Sully because Lee is as good at rebounding than Sully, better than Kelly, and is a more reliable shooter from mid-range and down low than either of them.  Sully and Kelly have better range than Lee, especially Kelly, but we have Smart, Bradley and even Amir for threes.  Lee likes playing in the paint while, it appears, that Sully has to be urged to do that more now.

This week is the week that GMs start getting on their phones and try to trim their rosters with trades.  They've had a few weeks to see what they have to work with and cutdowns are coming.  Most bubble players will just be let go (or signed and sent to D-league).  Some will be sent to another team for 2nd round picks, cash.  You know Danny's on the phone.  I'm amazed one of his ears isn't the size of an elephant's.


bob


.

Assuming you want balance AB, MS, ET, KO, Zeller

Or Johnson for KO.

We need a stretch 4 or 5 starting and 1 off the bench.

Dboss