Might see a whole lot of lineup changes in the beginning of the season

[aali34]

I'm a guy who has watched a lot of Spurs basketball in the past few years and this year I'm wondering if Bud is going to do more of what Pop does in the regular season.

We all now know that aside from getting a top 3 seed and building chemistry, regular season wins are not really important going in to the playoffs. Ex- 60 wins and ECF sweep

One thing that Popovich often does before the all star break is experiment with different lineups against certain teams for a quarter or two. 

Ex- Starting Boris Diaw in some games and sitting Splitter or doing the same for Marco Bellineli and Danny Green, putting Cory Joseph on Westbrook and sitting Patty Mills or Tony Parker.

The reason is not for rest, but to see if he can find any advantages against certain team line ups.

Boris Diaw saved the spurs in 2014 against OKC when they needed spacing from Ibaka's shot blocking in game 6. When they started him,he had like 26 points, that was the first time in the playoffs. The same thing happened in the finals when they wanted a spaced floor for Tim Duncan to post up and Tony Parker to drive and dish. Since Tim Duncan is a good defender and the Heat only had Chris Bosh as their only big that could pose a threat, they sacrificed defense and rebounding for a better offense.

But that was the opposite in the first two rounds when Tiago's defense was the reason the spurs got past Dirk Nowitski in Dallas and Lamarcus Aldrige in Portland.

Last year, the bench depth wasn't as good and deep as it is now. I think Bud has more lineup flexibility this year. I can see times when Bud may start Splitter over Milsap in some situations, start Korver and Hardaway together to put a more three point attack with Splitter and Horford protecting the rim, dual point gaurd lineups, or some times with Millsap at the 3.

Even though it can cost some regular season games it might be worth it down the road.

If it does happen, don't feel bad if we lose to tough teams in the East sometimes. Finding out advantages will definitely help.

I'd rather lose some games in the regular season if it means adding in playoff wins.

Edited October 1, 2015 by aali34

[JTB]

Good write up!

And I completely agree. One thing that has surprised me since coach Bud has been the head coach of Atlanta the past two years is that he hasn't really experienced with different starting lineups similar to what coach pop does but at the same time I believe it was due to a lack of reliable depth at certain positions mainly the center position.

I too have watched a ton of Spurs games and those examples you gave were some of the same ones I shared with this board. Pop definitely adjust and takes advantage. We haven't seen bud try that yet and I've been wondering if we are going to see it this season...in fact I'm somewhat expecting it.

When we play teams like the cavs and they are starting bigger centers like mosgov I believe splitter should get the start against matchups like that and Bud should strengthen the bench by adding one of his all star big men to play with the second unit. I see nothing wrong with this as pop has used ginobli of the bench damn near his whole career and has started him too.

But anyways I completely agree with your post but be prepared for some squawk members to tell you there's no way bud is going to bring horford or Millsap off the bench in any game but little do they realize the Hawks way is the Spurs way and taking advantage of matchups is something the Spurs do with a mixture of different STARTING lineups. Of course there will be a primary starting lineup but there will be a big lineup that will feature Millsap at SF, horford at PF, Splitter at C....there will be a fast pace lineup featuring Teague and Dennis in the backcourt.....there will be a space the floor lineup featuring korver and hardaway jr.....and there will even be a defensive lineup probably featuring bazemore, Sef, and splitter in the starting lineup....If bud is truly anything like pop I expect a wide variety of starting lineups depending on the opponent to take full advantage of whatever weakness the opponent may struggle with.

[Guest]

Splitter played 59 and 52 games the last 2 regular seasons which allowed Pop to 'experiment' because he was injured. Leonard missed games to start season because of injury. Injuries to Parker also forced Pop's hand.

I understand shuffling lineups for certain matchups etc. but it's not like he subbed out Tim Duncan. Plug anybody next to TD and you still have success. The way I see it, Diaw=Splittler in terms of what each brings though different things at different times.

FYI: Bud did bring Millsap off the bench for a few games. I don't think it was last year but the prev year

We have more roster flexibility this season to play big or small, so I do think Bud will experiment a lot.

Edited October 1, 2015 by JayBirdHawk

[aali34]

Yeah, but even if they were healthy, he still would have experimented with his players. Don't you notice that the spurs always seem to rack up wins after the all star break, regardless of health. Look it up. This is when they go on their Rodeo Road Trip

(away games after all star break) and solidify lineup changes. One reason you may not notice it much is  because for 4 or 5 years in a row they have had the same starting rotation. 2011,  2012, 2013,2014, and last year.

Parker

Green

Splitter

Leonard 

Duncan

 

but they make certain changes vs certain teams.

Like I said Splitters on ball defense is not needed much against OKC since the primary goal is to stop Westbrook and KD.

But they need Diaw's 3 point range to pull out Ibaka from the paint.

But against teams like the Mavs, where Dirk can light it up, they need him to gaurd Dirk so Tim can focus on offense.