Odd man out

[co_laper]

Looking like Dejuan Blair and Patty Mills are the odd man out.

Splitter almost always play behind Duncan. Even in the Lakers game where Splitter starts, it only lasted about 5-6 minutes and only for the first quarter. You don't see it anymore after that opening quarter. Mostly goes Duncan-Diaw and Duncan-Bonner.

Diaw looking like the starter right now. Him and Bonner fits in with Splitter and Duncan.

So our big man rotation looks like Duncan-Diaw starter, Bonner first big to come off usually for Diaw. Splitter will come in to give Duncan a rest.

Perimeter, it's Kawhi and Green starting. Who comes out first usually depending on who's playing worst. Manu comes in for them. And then Neal and Jackson will come in for Parker and the other starter.

So that's looking like a 10 man rotation for us with Splitter likely getting the least because he's playing behind Duncan, who will get an increase in minutes played to about 34-36 minutes. Neal and Green's minutes IMO will get reduced a lot due to Manu and Parker playing more. It looks like that most of the time either Kawhi or Jax will be on the floor because they are our SFs. Neal and Green are our SG/PG so they'll be most affected by the increase in Parker/Manu's minutes.

[Donald Kaufman]

Yeah I was thinking about the shorter roation for the playoffs and who might miss out.

At first I thought Bonner might ride the pine, but then he has that ability to stretch the defense which is key in the playoffs.

I agree that Blair and Mills will most likely not see much if any PT going forward.

[SinJackal]

They can still run 12 players. I still think most guys will get time because we basically do have 12 guys who are solid.

We have (roughly best to worst imo, and I'm including defense):

1: Tony Parker
2: Tim Duncan
3: Manu Ginobili
4: Tiago Splitter
5: Kawhi Leonard
6: Danny Green
7: Boris Diaw
8: Stephen Jackson
9: Gary Neal
10: Matt Bonner
11/12: DeJuan Blair
11/12: Patrick Mills

Honestly, can you say any of those guys are "bad"? Mills is a better ball handler and open court player than Neal imo. Neal is much better at SG, not handling the ball for the 2nd unit. So I do think Mills will end up getting the ball handling duties when Manu and Tony aren't on the floor, rather than Neal. Pop can always play them together and use Neal "properly", to have a super scoring 2nd unit. Who knows. I think all 12 of these guys will end up getting time at some point. Blair will actually have a presence against every team except the Lakers, Bulls, and Grizzlies. Those three teams are the only ones with very tall overall frontcourt depth.

The Jazz have a good frontcourt, but they're undersized. I think Blair can come in and actually score on and outrebound them. He also is known to bully OKC. Remember the near 30/30 game? Yeah, that was @OKC too. So I def' think he'll get time. He just isn't going to get any against the teams I listed. . .which could very well be round 2, WCF, and Finals. :\ He's going to get time against Utah though. . .watch.

[co_laper]

Diaw officially the starter I read.

I feel really bad for Blair. I mean, second year in a row, he got benched for no real strong reason other than.. He's not tall enough. What is a man supposed to do about that? Just like last year, he started, and the team was winning, but got benched for McDyess. Now, it's happening again. Sure, he got clobbered by Lakers for one game but for the season, he pretty much did alright. I just feel sorry for Blair.

As for the decision, I get it. I do feel Diaw is a better fit for Duncan and Blair's rebounding/energy would be better suited in spurts off the bench. In my heart I just feel sorry for Blair. He did all he could, it just wasn't enough. He' just not tall enough.

[Ballings7]

I mean overall it is for the best, so Blair has to take it... I mean, he was a second rounder with late first round talent... I think what Pop's doing with him is giving him as much tiem as he can as well as when not to hurt the team (late game minutes/against bigger teams/most PO games)... but at the same time he can gain good experience for the future since he's one of younger players who may still be a significant piece in a few years.