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We as fans have had discussion about the Brooklyn Nets depth chart, and obviously it has evolved as players come and go, rise and fall through trade, form, injury and signings.

The addition of LMA brings an interesting dilemma for Nash and the coaching staff. Thus far, sacrifice has been almost as big of a team mantra as connectivity, and we've seen guys accept the challenge and sacrifice for the good of the group. Will we be able to maintain the good vibes as KD and KAI return, and yet another big-name FA accepts a buyout to chase a ring with us?

Also, what should be our homebase rotation? And will it keep everyone happy? Surely, we have the versatility to cobble together a different best-8 to match up with different contenders, when the need arises. But we have to establish our own identity first, to dictate the terms of engagement. As such, not everyone can have a steady role. We saw this early in the season with Brown, and we see now how impactful he can be.

I belive that once Aldridge ramps up, he'll be our backup 5. That'll take some time, just as our training staff did with Griffin. Kevin may be back by then, Landry too, and we can only hope Kyrie is back for good then as well. You can agree to disagree with me, but I believe that Spencer will be playing in games for us by the end of next month. We even have a 15th spot unsigned at the moment, but without that, here's how I think our depth chart will look for the stretch run:

IRVING (30) - Dinwiddie (22) - Brown
HARDEN (34) - Harris (28) - Shamet
DURANT (32) - Green (16) - Cabarrot
GRIFFIN (18) - Claxton (26) - Johnson
JORDAN (20) - Aldridge (14) -

Many folks see Aldridge's arrival as a demotion for Claxton, or at very least a significant threat to his role. I think that playing more at the 4 will free Nic, he can switch on the perimeter without worrying about backline defense. I do think that adding another big will eventually squeeze Joe out of the starting lineup, and squeeze Landry out of the regular rotation altogether. This will improve our overall defense, since teams have begun to hunt mismatches with both Irving and Harris. I should also mention, that while Joe and Jeff have dutifully played up a position or two when called upon, they play statistically better defense when they are at their natural positions, the 2 and the 3.

We don't need anyone else. If anything, it's an embarrassment of riches. However, winning a ring will never be a cakewalk. Focus on our health, our X's and O's and our chemistry, I like our chances.

When you type it out like that, DAMN this team has an embarrassment of riches. You've got a roster right now where you can legitimately go big or small depending on matchup without giving up too much shooting or defense respectively, plus the potential to put some very creative mad scientist type lineups out there.

Ultimately when the games start to matter you'll likely end up with a 8 man rotation, I see the players split into 3 camps - guys in the regular rotation, guys who will play in certain matchups and guys who are just injury insurance.

Regular rotation
KD
Harden
Kyrie
Joe
DJ
Green
Claxton
Blake

For certain matchups
LMA
Brown
Johnson/Dinwiddie (If he is back)

Out of rotation/Injury backup
Shamet
TLC
Last roster spot

I agree this team doesn't need another player that's going to require minutes since you're incorporating way too many new parts at once, especially as KD still has to come back in. I'd get another big wing as injury insurance and call it a day, also not averse to just keeping Alize in that spot since he's 1) in that switchable defend everybody size range 2) got energy for days to annoy the opponent 3) has a brilliant name 4) upside of locking him in for cheap next season if he works out, which is useful since a lot of the role guys are expiring this season.

I don't believe Dinwiddie is currently taking up a roster spot?

Bench Guys WILL PLAY, just not as often as they are now.

Primary Regular Season Rotation, When Healthy (11):

Kyrie (33) - Brown (10) - Shamet (5)
Harden (33) - Brown (10) - Shamet (5)
Durant (33) - Harris (10) - Griffin (5)
Green (25) - Harris (15) - Griffin (8)
Claxton (20) - Aldridge (15) - Jordan (13)

BENCH (5):

TJ
TLC
Perry
Chiozza
Alzie

I know that's 16, so someone on the bench has to go, I just can't figure out who?

IL:
Spencer Dinwiddie

The first thing the comes to mind for me is .....Please don't screw this up Nash

The second is I hope you are right about Spencer coming back this season. I think we might have moved him if was not coming back this season.

Even if Spencer does come back, I cannot see him playing a lot of minutes, so I believe Shamet should not get buried at the end of the bench. He can help us.

I have no problem sliding Nic over to the four. If he loses PT to LMA so be it, as long as we are getting more out of LMA.

I'm also not opposed to having Joe come off the bench.

The one thing that does concern me is with the addition of LMA we are going to see more line up changes and it will take time to adjust.

We need to dwindle our rotation down to 9 preferably come playoffs.
Griffin complements Claxton and Brown complements Aldridge.
Prefer to see our young gunners Shamet, Harris, Brown and Claxton to be rotational.

Kyrie / (one of trio)
Harden / Shamet
KD / Harris
Brown / Griffin
Aldridge / Claxton

Or

Kyrie / (one of trio)
Harden / Shamet
KD / Harris
Griffin / Brown
Claxton / Aldridge

ecuhus1981 wrote:
IRVING (30) - Dinwiddie (22) - Brown
HARDEN (34) - Harris (28) - Shamet
DURANT (32) - Green (16) - Cabarrot
GRIFFIN (18) - Claxton (26) - Johnson
JORDAN (20) - Aldridge (14) -

It is going to be interesting. Before KD returns its alot easier. when he is back, then it get dicey for all our bigs. The one thing that jumps out... I think it is extremely unlikely we go big, and go big for nearly the entire game. Nash is going to want the big + Harris on the floor as much as possible. And I think its more likely we see lineups with KD at the 5 then we do KD at the 3.

I can see claxton getting minutes at the 4, especially pre-KD. but he is our best center. especially on defense. and we need to play our best defensive players at the 5. Like we could start the worst offensive center on the planet and we are still scoring 120. you dont need a stretch 5 to have elite spacing. we will have elite spacing regardless.

I think you can Pencil in Claxton for 24 minutes at center. and probably another 4-6 next to another big. DJ cant be counted on for a ton of minutes. and Blake takes a bunch of charges which is good in a smaller role but over 30 minute his lack of Defensive prowess would likely pose an issue also. but Blakes ability to take a charge helps offset his lack of shot blocking. Aldridge should see minutes while KD is out and especially while KD/Kyrie are out. it makes sense to go big if we only have harden from our big 3. but once Kyrie is back and definitely KD is back then one of Blake/Aldridge/Green is out of the rotation.

I think its a lock that:

Harden (38) | TJ (10)
Kyrie 34 | Shamet (14)
Harris 32 | Brown (16)
KD 34 | Green (14)
Claxton (24+) |

I think thats your locks for minutes. Brown/Green/Shamet will fluctuate with those 44 minutes as needed as matchup dictates. maybe brown goes 30 minutes one night and we dont see shamet. maybe green goes 30 and we dont see brown.

That leaves 24 minutes at center. I think you go 12-18 for Deandre and extend claxton to 30 if its working. if one or both arent getting it done you see a stretch 5 like blake or green or aldridge. blake lileky sees some time at the 4. but overall it will be tough for him to find minutes. And as claxton plays better, nash may opt for a stretch 5 backup over DJ.

id guess:

Harden (38) | TJ (10)
Kyrie 34 | Shamet (14)
Harris 32 | Brown (16)
KD 34 | Green (14)
Claxton (24+) |Blake (16) | Green or DJ (8)

I dont think our rotation will shrink for the playoffs because our stars already play huge minutes.

FlipFlopShot wrote:We need to dwindle our rotation down to 9 preferably come playoffs.
Griffin complements Claxton and Brown complements Aldridge.
Prefer to see our young gunners Shamet, Harris, Brown and Claxton to be rotational.

Kyrie / (one of trio)
Harden / Shamet
KD / Harris
Brown / Griffin
Aldridge / Claxton

Or

Kyrie / (one of trio)
Harden / Shamet
KD / Harris
Griffin / Brown
Claxton / Aldridge

I just cant see Nash sitting Harris for Blake. It would be one thing if blake provided solid defense or stellar rebounding. but but would act as floor spacing forwards. at which point, harris is roughly a jillion times better at that. I can see a scenario where harris doesnt start because we put a defender in his place (brown or green?). but i doubt it would be for blake and even then i doubt nash would do it.

Ky/Harden/KD/Harris seems set in stone

Prokorov wrote:

FlipFlopShot wrote:We need to dwindle our rotation down to 9 preferably come playoffs.
Griffin complements Claxton and Brown complements Aldridge.
Prefer to see our young gunners Shamet, Harris, Brown and Claxton to be rotational.

Kyrie / (one of trio)
Harden / Shamet
KD / Harris
Brown / Griffin
Aldridge / Claxton

Or

Kyrie / (one of trio)
Harden / Shamet
KD / Harris
Griffin / Brown
Claxton / Aldridge

I just cant see Nash sitting Harris for Blake. It would be one thing if blake provided solid defense or stellar rebounding. but but would act as floor spacing forwards. at which point, harris is roughly a jillion times better at that. I can see a scenario where harris doesnt start because we put a defender in his place (brown or green?). but i doubt it would be for blake and even then i doubt nash would do it.

Ky/Harden/KD/Harris seems set in stone

I continue to dislike the small ball since the start. For regular season sure, but come playoffs, everyone will have to play so much harder because of it. If that continues to be the case on Harris, then we only have three possibilities of starters.

1. Kyrie / Harden / KD / Harris / Jordan
2. Kyrie / Harden / Harris / KD / Green
3. Kyrie / Harden / KD / Harris / Aldridge
4. Kyrie / Harden / Harris / KD / Claxton (Recognized Claxton would take a step up this season from the start but this is even too big of a step for me)

I am curious about the 3rd one as we have not tried that yet. Claxton without another heavy big just does not cut it for me. Rebounding continues to be my main concern. I like KD's height to be an extra addition and not the focal point on banging for rebounds.

Let's see if Nash now is willing to experiment with all these vet talents.

Come playoff time I can see it like this (I ll put Dinwidie as part of rotation):

Harden Dinwidie Johnson
Irving Shamet (1 buyout like Porter)
Harris Brown TLC
Durant Griffin Green
Aldridge Jordan Claxton

FlipFlopShot wrote:

Prokorov wrote:

FlipFlopShot wrote:We need to dwindle our rotation down to 9 preferably come playoffs.
Griffin complements Claxton and Brown complements Aldridge.
Prefer to see our young gunners Shamet, Harris, Brown and Claxton to be rotational.

Kyrie / (one of trio)
Harden / Shamet
KD / Harris
Brown / Griffin
Aldridge / Claxton

Or

Kyrie / (one of trio)
Harden / Shamet
KD / Harris
Griffin / Brown
Claxton / Aldridge

I just cant see Nash sitting Harris for Blake. It would be one thing if blake provided solid defense or stellar rebounding. but but would act as floor spacing forwards. at which point, harris is roughly a jillion times better at that. I can see a scenario where harris doesnt start because we put a defender in his place (brown or green?). but i doubt it would be for blake and even then i doubt nash would do it.

Ky/Harden/KD/Harris seems set in stone

I continue to dislike the small ball since the start. For regular season sure, but come playoffs, everyone will have to play so much harder because of it. If that continues to be the case on Harris, then we only have three possibilities of starters.

1. Kyrie / Harden / KD / Harris / Jordan
2. Kyrie / Harden / Harris / KD / Green
3. Kyrie / Harden / KD / Harris / Aldridge
4. Kyrie / Harden / Harris / KD / Claxton (Recognized Claxton would take a step up this season from the start but this is even too big of a step for me)

I am curious about the 3rd one as we have not tried that yet. Claxton without another heavy big just does not cut it for me. Rebounding continues to be my main concern. I like KD's height to be an extra addition and not the focal point on banging for rebounds.

Let's see if Nash now is willing to experiment with all these vet talents.

Rebounds are not important. and they certainly are not important to analytics driven teams like the Nets. The nets would play 6 smalls if they were allowed to. Harden gets a ton of triple doubles. in part because he is great, but in part because teams have 5 guys running back the second a shot goes up. it is no coincidence harden/westbrook/luka have so many triple doubles. a decade or 2 ago they would be fighting 7 footers for those. now half their rebound sbounce twice before they pick up with no opponent in sight.

Getting back in transition has more value then an offensive rebound from an analytics perspective, due to the high volume of made 3PT FG made in transition. this is even more true in the playoffs when that volume goes up and teams want to grind to slow the game down to a halfcourt game.

Teams all switch everything in the playoffs, which put sopposing centers at the 3 point line on defense taking them out of rebounding position

Also, take a look at our lineups, including when allen was here. our 4 smalls + claxton is near the top. because its such a threat running the floor the other way. swapping claxton for ladridge wont make us any better of a rebounding team. maybe on offense, not on defense

I won't really think of the full rotation until I see LMA get some time here to judge his defense. A few things I definitely need to see:

1. Harris has to play a lot with the starters. Yes, our big 3 is so ridiculous on offense that we'll be elite no matter what. Throwing Harris into that lineup just makes it straight up gamebreaking. Certain matchups might call for Jeff Green to start over him but I want a steady diet of Joe waiting on the weakside while our big 3 demands attention.

2. Claxton doesn't have to start but the guy needs to keep playing a lot. He's been way too good. Can't wait to see him on the floor with KD.

3. Blake has looked pretty good but Jeff Green is a better fit next to our stars. We can't fall into the trap of seeing Blake have a couple good games as option 1 on the 2nd unit and start playing him more than Green. Green's versatility + unselfishness is so useful with the stars.

MGrand15 wrote:I won't really think of the full rotation until I see LMA get some time here to judge his defense. A few things I definitely need to see:

1. Harris has to play a lot with the starters. Yes, our big 3 is so ridiculous on offense that we'll be elite no matter what. Throwing Harris into that lineup just makes it straight up gamebreaking. Certain matchups might call for Jeff Green to start over him but I want a steady diet of Joe waiting on the weakside while our big 3 demands attention.

2. Claxton doesn't have to start but the guy needs to keep playing a lot. He's been way too good. Can't wait to see him on the floor with KD.

3. Blake has looked pretty good but Jeff Green is a better fit next to our stars. We can't fall into the trap of seeing Blake have a couple good games as option 1 on the 2nd unit and start playing him more than Green. Green's versatility + unselfishness is so useful with the stars.

These are all great points. #1 is a certainty with our philosophy as an organization. Harris will likely start and if not continue to see 30 minutes.

Talk about Claxton being behind LMA/or Blake has me confused. Especially with the love this board has thrown him. I mean a month ago before he shut me up thats the kind of thing i'd have said but id have been on my own there. Dude is a legit 5 in this league on both ends and his ability to switch is really all thats keeping us relevant defensively outside of every 3rd game when DJ decides to be a force on that end of the ball.

Unless Green goes in some shooting slump, i agree on him over Blake too. he is flat out better on D, provides all the IQ and has been awesome from deep. I love blake taking charges, but green overall has been better.

Harden / TJ / Dinwiddie?
Kyrie / Brown / Shamet
Harris / Green
Durant / Griffin
Claxton / LMA / Jordan

I think Claxton is the ideal big to pair with the big 3 and Harris. He is the best rim runner and defender amongst all the bigs save for Jeff Green who I think could also start if you are looking to go small with KD at the 5.

Claxton's minutes should also coincide with Blake's as they are a good fit.

LMA would be my choice to take most of Jordan's minutes depending on match ups.

In crunch time the line up should be:

Harden
Kyrie
Harris
Durant
Claxton/Green