RealGM

Well it's official. We have a coach and a roster. Our depth is likely as follows:

PG: Lin/Nash/Clarkson
SG: Kobe/Young/Henry/Clarkson
SF: W. Johnson/Henry/Young
PF: Boozer/Randle/Hill/Johnson
C: Hill/Davis/Sacre

Now what do you think will be our best strategy as far as offensive and defensive schemes? We have an interesting team. I really like our bench and would like to see an uptempo style when they are on the court. As far as our starting 5 I think we should run a lot pick and pops and pick and rolls with Kobe/Boozer and Kobe/Randle. Obviously we need to have a lot movement on offense especially with Lin's ability to cut to the basket as well as W. Johnson. Hopefully less threes this year to help our transition defense. what do you think?

Wait I thought Boozer was going to start along with Randle. Pretty sure Mitch wants to try and turn Randle into a sf/pf hybrid, but we'll see.

aaron_gray wrote:Wait I thought Boozer was going to start along with Randle. Pretty sure Mitch wants to try and turn Randle into a sf/pf hybrid, but we'll see.

I thought I saw one of the beat writers shoot down that rumor. We will see.

I think the best strategy on paper (your projection is fine, but it's missing kelly) will, as always be dictated by injuries. You can always bank on two players being out at times so I think it's still too early to speculate.

My opinion is that this will be our depth chart - at least initially for the beginning of the season:

PG: Lin/Nash/Clarkson
SG: Kobe/Young
SF: X/Johnson
PF: Boozer/Randle/Kelly
C: Hill/Davis/Sacre

Edit- I can see Randle, Davis and Clarkson moving up depending on development. I'm high on all of them in terms of work ethic and motor. On the same token, I can see Nash being dealt, and Hill and X missing time due to injuries.

If our team really buys into a team defense concept, I like our roster a lot. We have the firepower and distribution, we just really need Nash's 9 million to be someone that will contribute every night. Hopefully we can find a starting SF at the deadline.

Just curious to see what everybody's opinion of a rotation would be. I would go with this.

STARTING:

PG: Jeremy Lin
SG: Kobe Bryant
SF: Wesley Johnson
PF: Carlos Boozer
C: Jordan Hill

- I would like to bring Julius Randle in slowly for the first month or two of the season. Let him play against second team bigs and gain some confidence. So, for that, start Boozer. Boozer mentioned at his press conference that it was "tough" just playing the 1st and 3rd quarters. Well, for the most part, it's going to be the same thing here. Get used to it.

- I would start Wes over Henry. His game blends better with Bryant as Johnson doesn't need the ball in his hands to be effective. Let Henry be a main cog in the second unit and add some energy and explosiveness to that group.

- Start Hill for rebounding purposes, getting multiple opportunities based on his activity on the glass.

1ST QUARTER -- 5/6 MINS LEFT

PG: Steve Nash
SG: Nick Young
SF: Kobe Bryant (Substitute Henry at 2-3min mark)
PF: Carlos Boozer (Substitute Randle at 2-3 min mark)
C: Ed Davis

- Bring in Nash, Young, Randle and Davis to surround Kobe for a few minutes. A good offensive unit and then bring in Henry for the last few minutes.

- Play Randle next to Ed Davis. Davis can be the rim protector alongside him.

START OF SECOND QUARTER:

PG: Steve Nash
SG: Nick Young
SF: Xavier Henry
PF: Ryan Kelly
C: Julius Randle

- Call me crazy, but I think this would be a really efficient lineup. Let Randle go against 5's and take them off the dribble to the bucket. Xavier Henry can take it to the basket. Surround Randle and Henry with shooters (Nash, Young, Kelly) and you have an efficient offensive lineup that can push the tempo.

SECOND QUARTER -- 6/7 MIN MARK:

PG: Jeremy Lin
SG: Kobe Bryant
SF: Xavier Henry
PF: Ryan Kelly
C: Julius Randle

- Bring back the heavy hitters, let Nash go to the locker room and get treatment/whatever he needs for the second half.
- With this lineup, you got Kobe surrounded by a few shooters and him and Randle can be the post guys.

SECOND QUARTER -- 2/3 MIN MARK:

PG: Jeremy Lin
SF: Kobe Bryant
SF: Wesley Johnson
PF: Carlos Boozer
C: Jordan Hill

- Finish off the half with the starting 5.

--------------------------

The 2nd half, I would stay with relatively the same sort of scenario (maybe a little less Kelly, more defense/rebounding) and finish games with a choice of a couple different of lineups.

SHOOTING:

- Steve Nash
- Kobe Bryant
- Wesley Johnson
- Kelly
- Hill

DEFENCE:

- Lin
- Bryant
- Johnson
- Boozer (or Randle)
- Hill

For the most part though, I think our crunch time lineup will be as follows:

PG: Lin
SG: Young
SF: Bryant
PF: Randle
C: Hill

MINUTES:

PG: Jeremy Lin (28)/ Steve Nash (20)/
SG: Kobe Bryant (26)/ Nick Young (22)/
SF: Wesley Johnson (16)/ Xavier Henry (24)/ Bryant (8)/
PF: Carlos Boozer (22)/ Julius Randle (16)/ Ryan Kelly (10)/
C: Jordan Hill (24)/ Ed Davis (16)/ Randle (8)

Nash with randle. Lin with boozer. Kobe without Nick.

nash to stay on the sidelines and coach lin
kobe to be kobe
wes/boozer/davis/randle/hill/kelly to play top 10 defense

Tylers - great post and strategies.

The only thing I would add is that it will likely be a battle for minutes between Johnson and Henry. Kobe and Swaggy P are going to get big time minutes at the two and three - I think that leaves 24 minutes for either Johnson or Henry. Even less if the rumors about Boozer as a three are true. If that's the case, then you have Kobe at the two, Boozer at the three, and then Swaggy P getting whatever minutes are left at the two and three.

something exciting so the fans stay interested

Interesting post, Tyler. Although, the thing that first struck me was Kobe is playing 34 minutes. Don't you think he'd be better served closer to 30?

Also, IDK why, but I always see X as Kobe's backup and Nick Young as our SF off the bench. Obviously wings are interchangeable, but when you look at X and Young's minute logs, they supposedly logged more minutes in at the opposite position. Not to nitpick, just see that in a lot of depth charts around.

As well, yes there were a lot of injuries last year, but Nick Young played 63 games, only started in 9, and still got 28 minutes per game. I'd think we could give Nick the extra 4 of those Kobe minutes.

I find it interesting you have those 8 Randle minutes at center...I wonder if that's even feasible, might be interesting here and there, but I'd be surprised if as a rookie he's a good enough rebounder to battle with centers. We shall see. Also think Jordan Hill is set to play closer to 30 mpg.

I know it's a long shot, but damn I hope we somehow have Nash healthy to be our lockdown shooter. Would really open up entire dimensions for this team, especially in crunch time. Kobe/Nash/Lin/Young in the clutch would be huge if we needed a last second shot.

Style is the big question here being that we don't have the normal post players that we usually have. With Scott I think our best chance to win is with defense but I'm not sure we have the horses to get that done.

Offense
Pick and pop/roll points Lin/Nash
Kobe Isolation
Second chance points Hill/Randle
SwaggyPoints

Not sure about our identity at all!

And just cause I'm bored I'm going to throw the stat predictions out there. Maybe others can join me and we can look back at this at the end of the year. So, according to my minutes for each player..

Jeremy Lin- 13.2 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 4.8 APG, 35% 3 PT,
Kobe Bryant- 25.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 5.7 APG, 44% FG
Wesley Johnson- 8.2 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 1.1 BPG, 1.0 SPG, 39% 3PT
Carlos Boozer- 10.2 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 48% FG
Jordan Hill- 10.1 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 1.0 BPG

Steve Nash- 7.4 PPG, 7.0 APG, 41% 3PT
Nick Young- 15.6 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 1.8 APG
Xavier Henry- 10.8 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 1.2 SPG
Julius Randle- 12.2 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 2.9 APG, 0.8 BPG
Ryan Kelly- 9.4 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 37% 3PT
Jordan Clarkson- 7.0 PPG, 2.5 APG
Ed Davis- 6.5 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 1.0 BPG
Robert Sacre- 4.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 0.7 BPG

crazyeights wrote:Interesting post, Tyler. Although, the thing that first struck me was Kobe is playing 34 minutes. Don't you think he'd be better served closer to 30?

Also, IDK why, but I always see X as Kobe's backup and Nick Young as our SF off the bench. Obviously wings are interchangeable, but when you look at X and Young's minute logs, they supposedly logged more minutes in at the opposite position. Not to nitpick, just see that in a lot of depth charts around.

As well, yes there were a lot of injuries last year, but Nick Young played 63 games, only started in 9, and still got 28 minutes per game. I'd think we could give Nick the extra 4 of those Kobe minutes.

I find it interesting you have those 8 Randle minutes at center...I wonder if that's even feasible, might be interesting here and there, but I'd be surprised if as a rookie he's a good enough rebounder to battle with centers. We shall see. Also think Jordan Hill is set to play closer to 30 mpg.

I know it's a long shot, but damn I hope we somehow have Nash healthy to be our lockdown shooter. Would really open up entire dimensions for this team, especially in crunch time. Kobe/Nash/Lin/Young in the clutch would be huge if we needed a last second shot.

You know what, I see the exact same thing about Henry/Young and wonder the same thing but exact opposite. I figure Henry is more of a slashing forward with the ability to handle the ball as a SG in dire situations (see last year). Young's a gunner, but I think he's got way more of a guard game to him. You're very right though, very interchangeable these days. It would be different if it was 5-10 years ago.

I had a stretch with Randle in the second quarter being the C surrounded by Nash, Young, Henry/Bryant and Ryan Kelly. Randle is a man. He can definitely hold his own when it comes to rebounding for a few minutes against C's. Especially against teams with smaller front lines, I would love to put him against a slower C and let Randle take him to the bucket every play. Especially if you were to surround him with shooters like Nash, Young and Kelly, I think that would be a really efficient offensive lineup. I don't know if you can get away with it for 30+ minutes a game, but for a stretch, I think it would be good.

Totally agree about Nash, my friend. I honestly wish he would change his game and just be a spot up shooter. Obviously, have the ability to be Steve Nash once in a while, but I think it would extend his career maybe even passed this season if he would change his game and just be a spot up shooter and hold off on working the screen and roll every play he's in there. He even talked about that on a radio interview I was listening to, but he wants to play the game the way he plays. So, he'll play in 20-40 games a season, and Clarkson and Lin's minutes will rise significantly when he's not playing.

If Kobe finishes the season at 30 MPG, I'll be pleasantly surprised. But, I think he'll inch closer to that 34 MPG. Especially if he rounds back into Kobe form, it's hard to keep that sitting on the bench. Phil went through that for Kobe's career as well as D'Antoni in 2012-13, but obviously, didn't work. Kobe will decide that.

Medium tempo. Fast break with the young guys, slow for bigs and Kobe.

I hope Byron takes the time to get to know his personnel and not go square peg-round hole on us.
I have felt like that's what they were doing under both Brown & D'antoni...it's not always about the system, it's mostly about the players.
Even Phil knew when to break out of the Triangle for certain lineups and players.
This team is going to be unique due to the amount of bigs we have...going to need to find that right mix. I have a feeling we will see multiple starting lineups before it's all said and done.

Let Lin dictate tempo & run the offense through the post whenever possible.

As far as offensive strategy..

That should be after about the first week of training camp. I have a feeling this team is going to have some long sessions and film work of Byron Scott showing tape from last year and absolutely ripping apart this team on the defensive end.

I also hope nothing is given. Boozer, you want to start? Earn it. Ed Davis, you think you're going to come in here and get all sorts of playing team? Earn it. Jeremy Lin, you want to start? Defend. Kobe, you want to take 20-25 shots a game? Show these guys how to get down in a stance and shut people down. No more free safety defence. And if it takes making some tough decisions and sitting proven veterans down in the fourth quarter to get it done, then do it.

If this team has any sort of playoff success, we have to be a Top 5 team defensively. No questions asked.

Guard your man, rotate, help the helper, protect the rim, take charges, etc.

As well as a huge Lakers fan, I am a huge Michael Vick fan. So, I naturally became a Philadelphia Eagles fan (still am) and when Chip Kelly came in and started playing Vick, DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy with 2nd and 3rd teams, it gets guys antsy real quick. Byron's main focus has to get these guys playing D every night. Even in a late February Milwaukee Bucks game.

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Our only hope of making some waves in the league is to use our youth and focus heavily on D, clearing the glass, and creating turnovers... And then get out and run. Outside of Boozer, Nash and Kobe... We've got pretty young legs.

So focusing on Defensive execution and a deadly transition game is probably our best formula for success.

If we get mired in a half court contest, a offensive scheme that doesn't rely on plays is going to be the most effective... The Tri and the Princeton would be good for that as long as we drill the hell out of them and know them like we know the path to the bathroom in the middle of the night.