Numbers back why we like small ball for this team

[Nicholasp27]

we have played 25 minutes total with a lineup of lue/chill/smoove/harrington/walker

the score? 55-42 Hawks (that's a game score of 105.6 - 80.64)

but delve into the stats and it's even better...

our fg% is .451

our OPPS FG% is .386

so now it's starting to look like we do ok without a big...

but look even closer...

54% of those points were in the paint, so we can score inside without a big center to box out...

even better, only 36% of the opp's points were in the paint, so we are able to clog the paint with our small guys...

even more, we got TEN more free throw attempts in those 25 mins...

and we outrebounded them and made them turn it over more...

i'd like to see more small ball lineups while we still have walker here...it's working for the suns and we aren't a playoff contender anyway, so why not do it some more to get more pt for the chill/smoove/al grouping...

btw, any time we have harrington at PF in our lineup, we outscore the opps...those times also just happen to have chill in the lineup as well...

[mrhonline]

It's not like Drobs or Collier are going to be worthy of starting at center next year. Plus, it would allow Childress to be a little more active in the offense from the outside...

[Nicholasp27]

yeah, and our rebounding numbers go up, because chill/smoove rebound better than collier or drobs...

[macdaddy]

I hate when posters say 'this is what I've been saying all along' but to me this is obvious. If we are not playing Shaq what do we lose by playing Smoove at C rather that Collier. Nothing! We actually improve our shot blocking and rebounding by a huge margin (which is what you want a C for). Walker with help from Smoove can D most centers in the east, and no 7 footer can hang with them on the offensive end.

[Nicholasp27]

yeah

most on here have wanted a small ball lineup, but now we have numbers to back up why we like it...it may not be conclusive, but still helps our argument that most nights we could run a small ball lineup...

if we don't trade walker or harrington before the deadline, i really hope that we use this small ball lineup MUCH MUCH more often so that chill and smoove can get in the game (smoove and al at their positions) and run

[Diesel]

I don't think it's small ball perse.... It's playing the 5 best players we have....

If Smoove was "The Giant" and had the same game, we'd still benefit by having him on the floor than someone else.

I also feel that Donta has to come off of IL...