Too Many Options on this Roster

[phoostal]

As I posted in an earlier thread, but I think this topic needs a thread of its own. As I have watched every game this year and looked at this roster, do you think Drew has too many options on this roster as far as playing time goes?We have a deep roster of players this year. This is good and bad. I'm not necessarily saying all of these guys are great players, but pretty much every guy with the team (exception of the rookies) have played significant minutes in the league. I feel this makes Drew's decisions a lot tougher in the game. Now I have read a lot of threads on the site and the majority think Drew is horrible as a coach. I will agree that he has made some questionable decisions, however I don't think this roster does him any favors. I think it is a case of Damn if you do and damn if you don't.If he rides hot hands and we lose. You get the comments of how come so and so didn't play. If he goes the other way and takes them out and we lose, then you get why did he take him out. We even get these comments when we win. For instance last night with the Kings with Teague. I feel if we didn't have as deep of a roster we wouldn't be having this issue as much as we have earlier in the season. I believe Drew wishes we weren't as deep so he doesn't have to find minutes for everyone. You can look at a lot of his quotes stating he is looking to tighten up his rotation of players or finding the right guys to put on the floor. Right now his best option might have to be injuries so he doesn't have to worry about getting everyone minutes.Now Drew gets paid to make these decisions and he ultimately is responsible of putting the best 5 out there. However, I don't think this roster does him any favors. There really isn't a standard 5 he can put out there, thus he puts who think is hot at the time or who he feels can get hot to get the win.Thoughts?P

[RedDawg#8]

I think Drew has to be less indecisive and actually define his starters and go from there. I know we are versatile and like to match up to our opponent but I think it sends the wrong message that we don't have a clear 5 man group with chemistry enough to get us off to good starts each night. By establishing the starters you can at least create a structure in the players minds of what to expect night in and out and hold them more accountable for their roles/performance. That also allow the backups to not be on edge each night as to if they're gonna start the game one day and not the next. Injuries should be the only deviating factor. Based on our performance this season my lineup. Would be:TeagueStevensonKorverSmithHorfordAnd I'd define the top 2nd line asHarrisWilliamsTolliver ( i dislike him alot because of Drew, but he's the best option as a b/u sfJohnsonZazaPetro would never be activated and I'd constantly rotate Tolliver for Morrow as the back up sf on a performance basis night to night. Morrow has extremely long arms and a dknack for getting steals plus he's 6'6.5 in shoes do he's not as undersized as most assume. Smiths only 6'8 in shoes for comparison sake. It'd still be hard to get the Rooks on the court but with injuries and illness there would plenty of nights for them to move up into the 2nd line

[Deeman]

Agreed it's tough because all are guards and wings are so similar. We complain about Teague not getting minutes in the 4th but look who was in for him Lou Will who is pretty much like our Joe Johnson this year. But at the same time we may finally have our allstar caliber pg in Teague.

[RedDawg#8]

Of the guards Teague and Lou are the ones who deserve to be in down the stretch as of now. Drew has to realize Teague has grown and can compete with any pg. Not saying he is better than any pg but he isn't a liability at all

[swolehawk2]

There should be a 9 man rotation for the next 20 games barring injury, severe foul trouble:ZZAlJoshKorverTeagueIvanLouDeshawnMorrow

[MrMeltdown]

<p>You can never have too many good assets. You just have to use them all in the wisest manner. Maki

Edited November 17, 2012 by MrMeltdown

[Peoriabird]

If he rides hot hands and we lose. You get the comments of how come so and so didn't play. If he goes the other way and takes them out and we lose, then you get why did he take him out. We even get these comments when we win. For instance last night with the Kings with Teague.

The problem in a nut shell is that LD does not ride the hot hand and last night was no exception. Teague was carrying the team in the 1st quarter and Josh Smith was stinking up the joint but guess who was sub'ed out first? You guest it! Jeff Teague. Lou william finish the game is not a change from previous games. LD's plan is to have Lou Williams finish games...Lou hitting his shots was just a coincidence. There have been many games like the Golden State game where players were obviously hot..Korver and Ivan Johnson but who got the most shots and minutes? You guest it! The coldest guy on the floor, Josh Smith. So no, I don't see LD ever going with the "Hot Hand" but rather with his preferred hands!

[Admin]

The problem in a nut shell is that LD does not ride the hot hand and last night was no exception. Teague was carrying the team in the 1st quarter and Josh Smith was stinking up the joint but guess who was sub'ed out first? You guest it! Jeff Teague. Lou william finish the game is not a change from previous games. LD's plan is to have Lou Williams finish games...Lou hitting his shots was just a coincidence. There have been many games like the Golden State game where players were obviously hot..Korver and Ivan Johnson but who got the most shots and minutes? You guest it! The coldest guy on the floor, Josh Smith. So no, I don't see LD ever going with the "Hot Hand" but rather with his preferred hands!

Maybe LD wanted someone who wasn't turning the ball over at such a pitiful rate last night?

Regarding Josh, what can he do? He impacts the game the most of anyone on our team, both good and bad, but if he benches him then Josh will pout and people here will call him an idiot for benching Josh. If he doesn't bench Josh then he gets criticized for "allowing" him to play the way he does, as if he's the guy out there actually passing the ball to Josh when he's camped out waiting for the long jumper. If anything, how about some of you criticize our players for passing him the ball when he's in those positions?

To answer the question of the thread, we have what 75% or more of our roster are new players? That's going to take a lot of experimentation and time to figure out the right rotations and it's got to be difficult trying to get enough minutes as you are right we are a very deep team full of supporting players. I love that we're so deep, but it also means that some of these good players are going to sit on the bench as we can only have 5 in there at a time and you know that Josh and Al are going to get the bulk of the minutes at the 4 and 5 so that doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room for LD.

[MrMeltdown]

Josh impacting the game more than anyone else in a positive manner is simply a falsehood at this point. Like Peo says this has nothing to do with performance on the court. Teague gets the same treatment regardless and he only had 1 TO in the first quarter. So, who knows what would have happened if he was left in the game with the hot hand theory. People trying to make this all about some turnovers and last night are just arguing to be arguing.

[Peoriabird]

Regarding Josh, what can he do? He impacts the game the most of anyone on our team, both good and bad, but if he benches him then Josh will pout and people here will call him an idiot for benching Josh. If he doesn't bench Josh then he gets criticized for "allowing" him to play the way he does, as if he's the guy out there actually passing the ball to Josh when he's camped out waiting for the long jumper. If anything, how about some of you criticize our players for passing him the ball when he's in those positions?

Blame Josh's poor shot selection on the rest of the team? I've heard it all now!

[Admin]

Josh impacting the game more than anyone else in a positive manner is simply a falsehood at this point. Like Peo says this has nothing to do with performance on the court. Teague gets the same treatment regardless and he only had 1 TO in the first quarter. So, who knows what would have happened if he was left in the game with the hot hand theory. People trying to make this all about some turnovers and last night are just arguing to be arguing.

I didn't say positive manner, I said he impacts the game more than anyone on the team. When he's good Josh then yes he by far impacts the game more in a positive manner than anyone else. But he's also the biggest baby on the team and if he were treated like Teague is treated then we'd never see good Josh. So people bringing in logic about Teague having FIVE 1st half turnovers are just wanting to argue? Riight, because FIVE 1st half turnovers are acceptable from your PG.

[Admin]

Blame Josh's poor shot selection on the rest of the team? I've heard it all now!

Nah don't assign any blame to the guys who are actually passing him the ball in those bad situations. They're totally blameless, I mean we've only seen for 8 years what he's going to do with the ball in those positions. Everyone in Philips arena knows what he's going to do but how could his teammates know and why should they get any blame for making bonehead passes to him.

BTW this doesn't mean I absolve LD and of course Josh of the blame, but at some point his teammates have to say f that we're not passing you the ball while you're camped out for a long 2 or 3.

[Peoriabird]

So people bringing in logic about Teague having FIVE 1st half turnovers are just wanting to argue? Riight, because FIVE 1st half turnovers are acceptable from your PG.

4 turn-over in the 1st half.. 1 in the second half

[Peoriabird]

Nah don't assign any blame to the guys who are actually passing him the ball in those bad situations. They're totally blameless, I mean we've only seen for 8 years what he's going to do with the ball in those positions. Everyone in Philips arena knows what he's going to do but how could his teammates know and why should they get any blame for making bonehead passes to him. BTW this doesn't mean I absolve LD and of course Josh of the blame, but at some point his teammates have to say f that we're not passing you the ball while you're camped out for a long 2 or 3.

1st of all he doesn't just miss long jump shots and secondly, it looks like Drew's offense goes through josh Smith the majority of the time. Last night they were feeding him the ball in the post a lot in the 1st half...But of course in josh Smith fashion, he either fumbled it away or took a tough off balance shot. But the point is that it is LD's design to have him take most of the shots.

[Admin]

4 turn-over in the 1st half.. 1 in the second half

Damn my bad, that changes everything!

[Admin]

1st of all he doesn't just miss long jump shots and secondly, it looks like Drew's offense goes through josh Smith the majority of the time. Last night they were feeding him the ball in the post a lot in the 1st half...But of course in josh Smith fashion, he either fumbled it away or took a tough off balance shot. But the point is that it is LD's design to have him take most of the shots.

I simply cannot believe that BOTH Woody and LD design their offenses for Josh to float outside like he does. I think they simply put up with Josh and the way that he plays because of the other areas of the game he impacts. I don't like that but what else can you do with a pouty star player who knows damn well how he should play the game but refuses to do so? You can't win if you bench Josh and he's not going to change unless we get a superstar veteran who can force him to play right so for now we just have to live with the bad to get the good.

[Peoriabird]

You can't win if you bench Josh

Well, that theory has only been tested once this year.

[sillent]

Teague played great and was unstoppable in the 1st quarter. Coach Drew just made a simple coaching decision to give him a little rest at the end of the first. Maybe he was also playing match ups since Teague seemed to play alot more timid when fairing with Brooks compared to going against the smaller Isaiah Thomas. The reserves came in and played well particularly Lou Williams. Teague got rested a little longer than expected and didn't come back in aggressive when he did come back in. He didn't do the things he started the game with and he was alot more passive. Josh started off sloppy (takig and missing shots shawty) but was affective all over the court especially after the first quarter. I'm surprise he only had 6 assist because he was our best facilitator on the court!! Whether it was a fast break or just a solid pass in the half court Josh Smith made a huge difference. Lou Williams balled !! Ball hog of course almost reminded me of Allen Iverson. Like Allen Iverson he also did a pretty good job on defense in the passing lanes and made some good passes here and there. Horford was all around solid and did what we should expect of him 20 & 10 or at least a double double every game... The reserves did there thing Zaza (although a starter ), Ivan Johnson, Morrow keeps showing he deserves more playing time. How could I forget Korver with his game high 22 points 5-5 3pt and just knowing when to take the shot and when to pass it up. Korver still struggled on defense and not because of lack of effort but if he can play like he did last night he will be a key exfactor in helping our team get further along and a better record than most predicted for us and for this season!!

[Ruckus]

Damn my bad, that changes everything!

We had a 12-15 point lead I believe when he was taken out. High risk huge reward. He had just gone coast to coast on a beautiful steal. He should not have been taken out. He was dominating the game.

[MaceCase]

The problem with the team's depth is that there is a lot of roster duplication. 90% of the players are best suited at only 3 positions while we are trying to scrounge up warm bodies at the other 2.