Gasol off the bench again for the 3rd game

[Psubs]

Crazy that Gasol doesn't start especially with Kawhi out this game. Gasol needs to be there just for his screens alone.

Marc should definitely end the game with Kawhi out if the game is close.

[raptorstime]

Man f*** Nurse. Tired of his dumbass.

Hope this bum gets fired ASAP.

crowd should boo him tonight

[Yosemite Dan]

You guys are ridiculous. Ibaka has earned the right to start over Gasol because of his play this year. Just because someone comes off the bench doesn't mean they are not valuable to the team. Manu Giniobli? Pretty damn good. Lou Williams? Same thing. When you're winning, you do not mess with what's working. Every decent coach knows that. Relax.

Really don’t care if he starts but he’s not finishing either and playing 20 mins a game. That’s a bench player. And most of those games we are winning are going down to the wire against bad teams.

"Most of those games." GASOL HAS PLAYED TWO GAMES WITH THE RAPTORS. He was gassed in the last game when he came out. Brooklyn is not a bad team either.

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You’re like the Nick Nurse of posters. You just don’t get it. You said why mess with what’s working as in Ibaka being a starter which means before Gasol came her.

And Brooklyn is crap, a .500 team in the east is terrible. Sorry to break that to you. And there’s been quite a few weak teams we’ve played in the last month that was a lot closer than it should be because we turtle in the 4th quarter.

[StopitLeo]

So Ibaka won't be benched after putting up 18 points, 12 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steal, 0 turnovers on 69% shooting in 25 minutes. Crazy. Maybe it's time for the Raptors to consider firing Nick Nurse. Obviously, he's not the man for the job.

Right? Ibaka should man up and accept what's best for the team by sitting his butt on the bench. Who cares that he's been great this year taking on a new role as the starting 5. It wouldn't be insulting at all to bench him. After all, he's a professional athlete and they aren't allowed to have feelings.

I don't think you understand what green font is for lol. Ibaka has come off the bench multiple times this season and has said he was fine with it

I absolutely do and my post was 100% sarcasm. You can't just pull Ibaka from the starting lineup immediately. It is great that he said he's fine coming off the bench and has this season. That will make transitioning Gasol into the starting lineup and Serge out easy. But it has to be a transition because interpersonal relationships are important in team sports. People who think Nurse should just swap Ibaka and Gasol like he was playing 2K are clueless and I bet they have never played on a team outside of pickup at the local gym or coached a team.

[Red_Claw]

Crazy that Gasol doesn't start especially with Kawhi out this game. Gasol needs to be there just for his screens alone.

Marc should definitely end the game with Kawhi out if the game is close.

I bet you that doesn't happen.... Nurse sticks to the time on court pretty strictly. Gasol will come in late in third and leave with about 5-4 min left in the 4th.

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[Yorkex]

I will say this again.
If you really believe Ibaka is going to bench Gasol for the rest of the season , stop watching basketball.

[Hero]

Minutes is what matters. Stop acting like little kids .

[MainEvent]

We better at least distribute the minutes where Gasol closes the game

[Yorkex]

Right? Ibaka should man up and accept what's best for the team by sitting his butt on the bench. Who cares that he's been great this year taking on a new role as the starting 5. It wouldn't be insulting at all to bench him. After all, he's a professional athlete and they aren't allowed to have feelings.

I don't think you understand what green font is for lol. Ibaka has come off the bench multiple times this season and has said he was fine with it

I absolutely do and my post was 100% sarcasm. You can't just pull Ibaka from the starting lineup immediately. It is great that he said he's fine coming off the bench and has this season. That will make transitioning Gasol into the starting lineup and Serge out easy. But it has to be a transition because interpersonal relationships are important in team sports. People who think Nurse should just swap Ibaka and Gasol like he was playing 2K are clueless and I bet they have never played on a team outside of pickup at the local gym or coached a team.

dont waste your time man
They think swap him in and everything will be smooth because Gasol is smart.

[Yosemite Dan]

We better at least distribute the minutes where Gasol closes the game

Don’t hold your breath on that one.

[bon]

Right? Ibaka should man up and accept what's best for the team by sitting his butt on the bench. Who cares that he's been great this year taking on a new role as the starting 5. It wouldn't be insulting at all to bench him. After all, he's a professional athlete and they aren't allowed to have feelings.

I don't think you understand what green font is for lol. Ibaka has come off the bench multiple times this season and has said he was fine with it

I absolutely do and my post was 100% sarcasm. You can't just pull Ibaka from the starting lineup immediately. It is great that he said he's fine coming off the bench and has this season. That will make transitioning Gasol into the starting lineup and Serge out easy. But it has to be a transition because interpersonal relationships are important in team sports. People who think Nurse should just swap Ibaka and Gasol like he was playing 2K are clueless and I bet they have never played on a team outside of pickup at the local gym or coached a team.

So if you were a coach you would intentionally handicap your team in order to appease one person's feelings? What about the All-NBA center's feelings? Would you not be concerned about him too? Where do you draw the line?

[Johnny Bball]

If Gasol doesn't start even but still plays 28 minutes a game and is effective with the bench, are you all still going to be pissed off? Real question.

Again, it wouldn't matter if he didn't start if Nurse had half a brain with his rotations. If Gasol comes off the bench but gets significant minutes with the starters, that's totally cool. The problem is that he's spending most of his minutes NOT playing with the starters. I don't care how effective he is playing with OG, McCaw, and Powell. I want him to be effective playing with the starters. I want to see what kind of effect he has on the best players the team has. I want to see chemistry being built with the starters.

Why is this even a discussion? The 5 best players at each position start and play the most minutes and play the most with each other. It's not rocket science.

I like your answer because playing with the starters would be important and it has to happen, and mostly it's about minutes.

Ok. Follow up question ... And bear with me because I'm not saying this is the right way to go, because I don't know yet and I don't know what they have discussed.

How many people asked for a facilitator for the bench, generate offense, someone that could be 6 MOY?

I don't know that Nurse is doing that, or even that he's experimenting, but my point here is this - I find it funny that it hasn't been mentioned once, given how many times bench help was longed for. When we have a guy that you could do this, right in front of us and like some people here that asked for this. I do doubt this is why, and think it goes to match-up based, but I do think it's worth discussing especially if this goes on a long time.

And yeah, he could be playing most of the minutes or closing even off the bench, which is truly the most important part. I'm just waiting to see how it shakes out, because there's more than one way this could be beneficial imo is all.

[Yosemite Dan]

I don't think you understand what green font is for lol. Ibaka has come off the bench multiple times this season and has said he was fine with it

I absolutely do and my post was 100% sarcasm. You can't just pull Ibaka from the starting lineup immediately. It is great that he said he's fine coming off the bench and has this season. That will make transitioning Gasol into the starting lineup and Serge out easy. But it has to be a transition because interpersonal relationships are important in team sports. People who think Nurse should just swap Ibaka and Gasol like he was playing 2K are clueless and I bet they have never played on a team outside of pickup at the local gym or coached a team.

dont waste your time man
They think swap him in and everything will be smooth because Gasol is smart.

The denseness of this board is astounding sometimes. We have 24 games left. We need to have him blend in with the starters and for a great passer like Gasol, it’s even more important that they know his tendencies. Experiment time is over.

[mademan]

The problem with Gasol not starting is that it's difficult to stagger the minutes to get him to finish the game. If Ibaka starts the 3rd quarter, Marc comes in around 3 or 4 minute mark. This means he either has to play 16 minutes straight through, which he cant, or play some weird kind of disjointed 3 mintue spurt with a break before finishing the game.

He absolutely should be starting. I'll give Nurse the benefit of the doubt, for now. If Gasol isnt starting come post all-star break, then we got a problem.

[lexxus]

Minutes is what matters. Stop acting like little kids .

Funny. Ibaka is playing more minutes than Gasol. I guess Ibaka matter most than Gasol then.

[RaptorsLife]

Nurse is insane

[jeffya2]

It's not really surprising anymore. Nurse is using Gasol pretty much like JV.

Sadly it is becoming clear
Everything Nurse knows, he learned from Casey

[Yorkex]

I absolutely do and my post was 100% sarcasm. You can't just pull Ibaka from the starting lineup immediately. It is great that he said he's fine coming off the bench and has this season. That will make transitioning Gasol into the starting lineup and Serge out easy. But it has to be a transition because interpersonal relationships are important in team sports. People who think Nurse should just swap Ibaka and Gasol like he was playing 2K are clueless and I bet they have never played on a team outside of pickup at the local gym or coached a team.

dont waste your time man
They think swap him in and everything will be smooth because Gasol is smart.

The denseness of this board is astounding sometimes. We have 24 games left. We need to have him blend in with the starters and for a great passer like Gasol, it’s even more important that they know his tendencies. Experiment time is over.

He just joined the team. This is the last game before ALL STAR break relax.
Before you use Tobias Harris as your excuse , keep in mind Tobias is 26 and Gasol is 34 ...oh and btw Sixers have no choice but to play Harris, look at their back ups and that should give you the answer as to why.
If you really believe this trade was made for Gasol to be a bench player then stop watching basketball.

[traps#10]

Nurse is insane

I’ve heard that he’s a “mad scientist” lol

Perhaps he’s overthinking himself with this acquisition.

[traps#10]

It's not really surprising anymore. Nurse is using Gasol pretty much like JV.

Sadly it is becoming clear
Everything Nurse knows, he learned from Casey

Well Nurse actually used a 3 PG lineup this season on several occasions, so perhaps it wasn’t Casey’s idea but Nurse’s all along