It

[Licensed to Il]

ROTATION - mpg
Sanders-30 / Henson-18 / Zaza
Parker-30 / Ersan-18 / OBryant
Middleton-30 / Dudley-18 / Inglis
Mayo-24 / Knight-24 / Bayless
Giannis-33 / Marshall-15 / Wolters

With the roster we presently have - I really like Giannis at PG. All other PG’s on the roster are ordinary without much upside. Talk about mismatch on Offense for Giannis to exploit. On D our SGs – Mayo, Knight, Bayless are able to defend the PG.
To insure everyone gets PT and still keep a 10 man rotation each game - Zaza, Bayless, & Wolters alternate games w/ Ersan, Knight Dudley & Marshall

While a seven foot Magic Johnson blows my mind, I don't think Giannis playing 33 minutes a night at PG is realistic. He doesn't shoot well enough to keep defenses honest, his defensive versatility is not maximized if he is out on the perimeter, and I don't think we want him bringing the ball up in situations where the defense has time to put 5 guys between Giannis and the rim. Furthermore, his high dribble is going to be a disadvantage in half court situations. I think a better approach is to put Giannis in a hybrid-point guard role; where he is running side pick and roles surrounded by shooters and ball handlers, where he is getting the outlet pass at half court and instructed to attack the still vulnerable transition defense, and where he is used defensively in a blitzer / trapper / heart of the scheme type role. There was a time when the TWolves had an elite defense against the pick and roll, all because Garnett could switch on to whoever was the greatest threat and eliminate them from the play. That is where Gainnis' greatest potential value is. But it probably will be another year before he can offer that consistently. Keep in mind Larry Drew was basically a wasted year developmentally.

[ReasonablySober]

I'd be surprised if Zaza is seriously cutting into Henson's minutes. Unlike Mayo and Ersan, he doesn't have any value to rehab. If teams need a serviceable bench big and they don't mind the contract, they know what to expect from Zaza.

[Giannis Parker]

Preseason minutes distribution-

Paker 7 games 31min
Giannis 7 games 26.4min
Knight 4 games 25.3min
Ersan 3 games 24.7min
Sanders 3 games 23.8min
Henson 7 games 23.5min
Middleton 6 games 22.9min
Mayo 6 games 22.9min
Bayless 6 games 22.9min
Dudley 6 games 21min
Marshall 5 games 19.2min
Wolters 4 games 18min
Zaza 5 games 16min

That's icky.

How so? It was preseason......I think it is safe to say that one of Wolters/Marshall, as well as Zaza will be seeing little time on the court this season barring injury. Zaza has reportedly taken the role of team mentor, and has said he is fine with limited playing time as long as the team continues to grow and improve. Which means we are likely to trade him at the deadline lol.

[machu46]

It would be at the expense of Larry and Jabari. And yes I am.

We could play Zaza 0 minutes and henson still won't get as many minutes per game as he did last year.

My God.

I don't know what to tell you if you're honestly expecting Henson to approach 30 minutes a game. You're most likely going to be disappointed unless Larry or Jabari get hurt.

[LUKE23]

I'm expecting him to be the third guy by a landslide at PF/C. I mean, what is the point of playing Pachulia? Do you think we are a relevant win now team and he impacts that above what Henson would? How did the vets playing a ton work out last year if your goal is to win games?

All of the PF/C minutes should go to Jabari/Sanders/Henson. Throw Ilyasova in there until he's traded, but he should be jettsoned immediately. Pachulia serves no purpose whatsoever. None.

[BobbyLight]

I'm not making the same argument machu is.

I don't think vets should play over youth (unless that youth is just roster fodder) but I think they are good to have in place to teach young guys life in the NBA. For instance (and I have nothing of fact to back this up) I think Zaza has been a very positive influence on Giannis. I say that from the limited interaction I've seen with them, specifically both of Giannis' media days.

That's why I brought up Love's quote about not having anyone to learn from. Reading between the lines of what he said, I strongly got the impression that he wasn't worried about learning how to play, but learning to live with fame, money and in some of these guy's cases, losing a lot more than they are used to.

Again, I think we have 2 or 3 vets too many and I don't even think Zaza should play, but I think we need a few guys who've been around to take the younger guys under their wing. Probably more for off court than on court reasons.

[ReasonablySober]

I'm expecting him to be the third guy by a landslide at PF/C. I mean, what is the point of playing Pachulia? Do you think we are a relevant win now team and he impacts that above what Henson would? How did the vets playing a ton work out last year if your goal is to win games?

All of the PF/C minutes should go to Jabari/Sanders/Henson. Throw Ilyasova in there until he's traded, but he should be jettsoned immediately. Pachulia serves no purpose whatsoever. None.

I don't think Henson sees a minute at PF. He looks to be Sanders' backup, which is fine.

[LUKE23]

I'm fine with these guys sticking around (assuming we can't get trade value for them) as locker room guys. I'm arguing against the merit of them deserving minutes. The Bucks are not in playoff contention mode, they are in develop/rebuild/evaluate mode. The guys we are trying to evaluate need max minutes we can give them.

Even if you are in the win now boat, it's not like the veterans we have majorly impact wins anyway.

[BobbyLight]

I agree with you, 100% on the playing time issue. I agree we need to get rid of a few of them and sooner is better than later. Ersan isn't going to increase his value. I just don't agree that it's a good idea to have an entire team under 22, there need to be a few guys who are (hopefully) good influences.

Gun to my head, I keep Zaza and Bayless (was surprised how well he came across on media day) trade Mayo, Ersan and Dudley for scraps, if we have to.

[Giannis Parker]

If I had to guess, I could see the Bucks using something similar to this (mpg): When Mayo is in at PG, Giannis will be running the Point!!

Knight (32), Mayo (16)
Middleton (30), Mayo (10), Dudley (8)
Giannis (30), Parker (10), Dudley (8)
Parker (20), Ersan (20), Henson (8)
Sanders (28), Henson (20)

That would translate to:

Knight (32)
Parker (30)
Giannis (30)
Middleton (30)
Sanders (28)
Henson (28)
Mayo (26)
Ersan (20)
Dudley (16)

Guys that will get some 5-10mpg runs here and there would be Wolters/Marshall, Zaza, Bayless. Bayless could easily replace Mayo if he becomes complacent like last season.

[unklchuk]

If this was a team coached by Drew and choreographed by Herb-ivore Hammond, I'd vote for playing only youth. Because of skepticism that the front office could handle any other approach without mucking it up.

But this is a new era. I don't think this front office has any intention of chasing mediocrity. So I'm open to the prospect that Kidd may well enhance the future of this team by judicious use of veterans. The logic for developing the young talent while also building a team with some vet savvy isn't as straightforward as youth only, but IMHO it's there.

[SkilesTheLimit]

I agree with you, 100% on the playing time issue. I agree we need to get rid of a few of them and sooner is better than later. Ersan isn't going to increase his value. I just don't agree that it's a good idea to have an entire team under 22, there need to be a few guys who are (hopefully) good influences.

Gun to my head, I keep Zaza and Bayless (was surprised how well he came across on media day) trade Mayo, Ersan and Dudley for scraps, if we have to.

The problem is if I'm Bayless I'm not coming here unless a) they guaranteed me playing time or b) they offered me the most guaranteed money.

I hope it's just (b) but I have a hard time believing he was brought here to play 4th fiddle to the Knight/Marshall/Wolters PG position. I see him getting most of his minutes at the 2.

[BobbyLight]

I assume you put Mayo as backup to Knight assuming Giannis takes ball handling duties, but I don't think that's going to happen. I think we're going to see Marshall or Bayless take those minutes backing up Knight, not Mayo.

[BobbyLight]

The problem is if I'm Bayless I'm not coming here unless a) they guaranteed me playing time or b) they offered me the most guaranteed money.

I hope it's just (b) but I have a hard time believing he was brought here to play 4th fiddle to the Knight/Marshall/Wolters PG position. I see him getting most of his minutes at the 2.

Yeah, I am not even factoring in reality here, I am sure that's why he's here. I'm just saying what I would like to see based on the current situation and that would be keeping Zaza and Bayless only letting them have time in case of fouls/injuries. I know there is probably no chance that happens.

[Giannis Parker]

I assume you put Mayo as backup to Knight assuming Giannis takes ball handling duties, but I don't think that's going to happen. I think we're going to see Marshall or Bayless take those minutes backing up Knight, not Mayo.

Could be, I just think Wolters and Marshall are terrible players, and should never see the court, for any reason. I want a winner, and that means playing guys who are already established, or playing guys with ultimate potential. Wolters and Marshall are neither of those options, and should not see the court.

That being said, I could see Bayless taking the minutes, so long that Kidd looks for consistency at PG in terms of play style, as both Bayless and Knight are streaky shooters who can get to the rim. That may open up scoring lanes for Mayo, Parker, Middleton, etc....

[machu46]

I'm expecting him to be the third guy by a landslide at PF/C. I mean, what is the point of playing Pachulia? Do you think we are a relevant win now team and he impacts that above what Henson would? How did the vets playing a ton work out last year if your goal is to win games?

All of the PF/C minutes should go to Jabari/Sanders/Henson. Throw Ilyasova in there until he's traded, but he should be jettsoned immediately. Pachulia serves no purpose whatsoever. None.

I'm not saying Zaza needs to play major minutes, but I do expect that he'll get some playing time. I think he generally has a better grasp of what Kidd wants our center to do, so I think he'll be used as sort of a "watch how he does this, and now get out there and show me you can do it too" kinda thing. And I expect Ersan to get around 20ish minutes give or take, so if that happens, there's just no way Henson gets 26 a game like he did last year. He wouldn't have gotten that last year either if not for Larry's issues.

Edit: and I just don't agree that guys like Henson and Wolters need max minutes. Jabari and Giannis will get plenty, no doubt, but I don't buy the idea that if we play Henson 30 minutes instead of 15-20 that he'll become a much better player. 15-20 minutes + all the practice time and some games here and there when he gets hot and gets more minutes is plenty for him to learn and grow.

And I'd rather give the minutes to Knight over Wolters or Marshall personally.

[ampd]

Preseason minutes distribution-

Paker 7 games 31min
Giannis 7 games 26.4min
Knight 4 games 25.3min
Ersan 3 games 24.7min
Sanders 3 games 23.8min
Henson 7 games 23.5min
Middleton 6 games 22.9min
Mayo 6 games 22.9min
Bayless 6 games 22.9min
Dudley 6 games 21min
Marshall 5 games 19.2min
Wolters 4 games 18min
Zaza 5 games 16min

First of all a little quick arithmetic:

5x48 = 240
Total Minutes in your quote = 297.6

So we need to cut 58 minutes off that "rotation" before we even start talking about who should be getting minutes.

If you cut the bottom 3 guys off the rotation and a few minutes from Dudley that about does it, and gets to a 10 man rotation.

I don't think the idea of going to a more euro style rotation where very few guys get more than 30 minutes is necessarily bad on its face, especially with a roster of guys around the same talent level, as long as the right guys are getting 30 mpg (Larry, Parker, Giannis, Middleton), and when they are in the game they are the focal point of the offense / defense.

I'd rather we put Giannis and Parker in the game when we are going to play through them rather than do what Larry Drew did with Giannis last season and draw up one dribble hand off play for him while the rest of the time he watches the other guys run the offense from the corner

[El Duderino]

I'm expecting him to be the third guy by a landslide at PF/C. I mean, what is the point of playing Pachulia? Do you think we are a relevant win now team and he impacts that above what Henson would? How did the vets playing a ton work out last year if your goal is to win games?

All of the PF/C minutes should go to Jabari/Sanders/Henson. Throw Ilyasova in there until he's traded, but he should be jettsoned immediately. Pachulia serves no purpose whatsoever. None.

I don't think Henson sees a minute at PF. He looks to be Sanders' backup, which is fine.

Plus, if Henson can't clearly out produce Pachulia, he's not going to amount to much anyways.

This is year three for Henson and he wasn't some really raw kid who left college for the NBA after his freshman year. At some point his play in practice and on the court in games has to force the coaching staff to give him consistent minutes if he expects to ever be more than a 10-15 minutes a night backup center.

[MiltownHawkeye]

I assume you put Mayo as backup to Knight assuming Giannis takes ball handling duties, but I don't think that's going to happen. I think we're going to see Marshall or Bayless take those minutes backing up Knight, not Mayo.

Could be, I just think Wolters and Marshall are terrible players, and should never see the court, for any reason. I want a winner, and that means playing guys who are already established, or playing guys with ultimate potential. Wolters and Marshall are neither of those options, and should not see the court.

That being said, I could see Bayless taking the minutes, so long that Kidd looks for consistency at PG in terms of play style, as both Bayless and Knight are streaky shooters who can get to the rim. That may open up scoring lanes for Mayo, Parker, Middleton, etc....

Oooohhhhh boy.

[FrieAaron]

Feel like Wolters has been debated endlessly. I like what I've seen from him running the point enough to want to give him minutes and see if he grows. To me the team looked better when he was running the point 9 times out of 10. I'll just quietly hope that either he does whatever he has to to earn minutes from Kidd or Knight somehow manages to not be a chucker, but based on what I've seen in the preseason I wouldn't be surprised if Knight once again leads the team in FGA.