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Given our amazing depth, and with Von Wafer's emergence as Jesus, how will the minutes be distributed once everyone is healthy? We have a lot of options at the swing positions, and certain guys, although good in their own way, have played really bad, while others, who weren't even expected to crack the rotation, have stepped up in a major way. I definitely want to see Dikembe out there more, since he provides size that we desperately need when Yao is out, but Rick's pretty good at handling the big men other than that. The real problem, if you want to call it that, is at the two and three. We have a glut of really good players when we have our full roster, so Adelman has to decide who he's going to play.

First of all, I want to continue to see Wafer in the rotation, because if anyone has earned their minutes out there, it's this guy. I don't think the coach really liked him early on, but he's opened a lot of eyes since the Toronto game, so I'm sure he'll continue to get time. Another thing to consider is Barry, who is finally shooting the ball instead of overpassing, and thriving at it. He's a good third option to have at point guard when Brooks or Rafer are sucking, so his minutes should still be there, too. Then, there's also Battier, who's been pretty mediocre so far this season, which is likely due to the surgery. Once McGrady and Artest get back, his minutes should be monitored for awhile. Most importantly, I don't want to see Head on the court the rest of the year, unless it's in another uniform. He's the worst player on the team, and he can't even play well in the regular season anymore, so he can't be eating actual good players minutes.

There are some tough decisions for the coaching staff to make. Ron and Tracy will still be in the mid thirties, so that only leaves so much to go around. Give your recommendations here.

Barry is been underrated in our teams recent success, we need to continue playing him, his intangibles on our team are great. His shot is finally falling, his passing IQ (and basketball IQ in general) is terrific, so I think you've got to keep him in the lineup. I think Brooks is in a small sort of a slump, while we can only hope Rafer Alston can keep up his hot streak of shooting the ball.

Battier might need to take a break, since he hasn't been doing great as of late, his injury might be bothering him a bit, so I'd like for him to play less and rest when Artest/McGrady return. I'd say for the next 1-2 weeks T-Mac/Artest should get about 30-32 minutes, Yao 30-33 minutes, Wafer 22-28 minutes, Battier 15-20 minutes (just for him to ease up on that injury that might be bothering him a bit), Barry 20-25 minutes, Alston 29-minutes, Brooks 20-25 minutes. The guard/forward spots seems the most crowded, forward and center shouldn't be a problem, but I'd like to see more action from Deke.

just in case you don't remember Barry had a wrist injured in the beginning of the season
that's why he's not making his shots
20-25 min for old Barry (37 years old) would be too many

Yao/T-Mac/Artest/Battier 32 min
Alston around 30-34, the rest for Brooks
play Barry around 12 min

Alston (28) Brooks (18) Barry (2)
McGrady (31) Wafer (17)
Battier (23) Artest (25)
Scola (28) Landry (15) Artest (5)
Yao (32) Deke (10) Hayes (6)

I have no idea, I kinda think Battier is being the odd man out at this point...but it's tough to gauge whether Wafer will keep it up.

nvm, Shay's idea in the gamethread is much better.

20+ mins for Barry is too much for him. I see him somewhere around the 12 min mark.

I doubt Deke is going to get much burn anytime soon. Adelman likes running his small bigs with the 2nd unit. Deke is not incorporated in the offense since he just joined the team recently. He's strictly an insurance policy.

I know our offense has been running pretty well as of late but the defense has not been very good especially in the backcourt. With a backcourt lineup of Alston, Brooks, Barry and Wafer you can see why we are getting destroyed by penetration.

When T-Mac and Artest get back fully healthy I don't see much minutes for Wafer. You have 96 minutes to work with at the SG/SF positions, with 4 players to split it between (T-Mac, Artest, Battier, and Wafer). He'll probably end up getting spot minutes here or there but not in the regular rotation.

I tweaked a little bit what I posted in the game thread:

PG-Alston 26/Brooks 18/Barry 4
SG-Mcgrady 24/Wafer 14/Barry 10
SF-Battier 26/Artest 15/Mcgrady 7
PF-Scola 12/Landry 21/Artest 15
C-Yao 32/Scola 16

10 men rotation
Totals:
Yao 32 , Mcgrady 31 , Artest 30 ,Scola 28, Battier 26 , Alston 26 , Landry 21 , Brooks 18 , Wafer 14 , Barry 14.

The things I don't like is Artest playing that many minutes at pf , I don't know how much our defense and rebounding will suffer and I'd like to get Wafer more minutes but if Artest and Mcgrady are playing like they should I don't care as much.

It will really depend on the matchups but Battier will probably sacrifice some minutes , he has no ego and is not fully healthy anyway , a reduce of minutes will do him well.

I like it Shay.

One thing i'm concern about is Wafer's productivenss in limited playing time. He's playing well because he's playing 30+ mins per game. Who knows how well he'll handle limited playing time. Hopefully he wont regress and turn back into the D league veteran that he was.

regard of min
the top combination should stay on the floor together longer
http://www.nba.com/statistics/plusminus ... am=Rockets

Guy986 wrote:I like it Shay.

One thing i'm concern about is Wafer's productivenss in limited playing time. He's playing well because he's playing 30+ mins per game. Who knows how well he'll handle limited playing time. Hopefully he wont regress and turn back into the D league veteran that he was.

Yeah , thats one of the things we wil just have to try it and see , the same like if Artest can handle more minutes at pf , hopefully everyone is healthy soon and we can build some chemistry and figure out how to use everybody.

or Adelman can use my Live 09 rotation

1st - Yao/Scola/Battier/T-Mac/Alston
1st (3-4min mark) - Mutombo/Scola/Artest/T-Mac/Brooks
2nd - Mutombo/Landry/Artest/Wafer/Brooks
2nd (7-8 min mark) - Yao/Landry/Artest/Barry/Brooks
2nd (4 min mark) - Yao/Artest/Battier/T-Mac/Brooks
3rd - Yao/Scola/Battier/T-Mac/Alston
3rd (3-4 min mark) - Mutombo/Landry/Artest/T-Mac/Brooks
4th (9 min mark) - Yao/Artest/Battier/T-Mac/Brooks (or Barry instead of Battier if i need 3, for some reason i suck shooting 3 using Battier in Live 09)

Adelman: Live hasn't been any good since 96.

Guy986 wrote:Adelman: Live hasn't been any good since 96.

03-04 was decent. But everything else = pure garbage.

Just going to throw it out there - let's stick with the way we are going - we've won 6 of 7. If Wafer cools off, then we can put him back on the bench.

I maintain that we will be competitive with Yao up front with Scola, having Battier there, and Rafer/Wafer seem to be playing alright together

Start: Rafer, Wafer, Battier, Scola and Yao
Bench: T-Mac, Artest, Barry, Landry, Brooks, Hayes

Wafer has held his own as a starter; would it hurt Tracy that much if he wasn't starting, but playing 30+ minutes anyway?

Shake-down:
Rafer [30] Barry [16] Barry [2]
Wafer [18] Tracy [26] Barry [4]
Battier [32] Artest [12] Tracy [4]
Scola [18] Artest [18] Landry [14]
Yao [32] Scola [12] Hayes [4]

Would give us a bit more bench.

easy solution
starters:
Yao/Scola/Battier/T-Mac/Alston (no need to change)



C - Yao [32], Scola [10], Hayes [6]
PF - Scola [20], Landry [20], Artest [8]
SF - Battier [20+/-??], Artest [20], T-Mac [8]
SG - T-Mac [24], Wafer [12/-+??], Barry [12]
PG - Alston [32], Brooks [16]

if playing against superstar SG/SF like Kobe/LeBron/Wade/Johnson, then play Battier more, if not play Wafer more and put T-Mac at SF
only play Brooks when T-Mac/Barry is on the floor