Post and Discuss Your Starting 5 Here

[DrFunk]

I'm very glad to see Jay is giving everyone a "chance" which in turn gave us a good look at our entire team. We all may differ on opinions about X player (the under/over rated game), but I think we can all pretty much agree our defensive sets and execution (specially from the bench) have been out of this world. In fact I couldn't even recognize this team during the last few games, they actually played smart D and showed they cared.

Now when the season starts against Cleveland our tendencies would be to showcase our "best" players into the starting 5 and set a rotation behind them etc... I'm just worried that if we have Barg/Bosh/Hedo/jose/any SG it would be a potent offensive team but lack in the defensive area. Let's not kid ourselves :

1. Bargs is allergic to rebound and has average man on man D at best, plus he's not going to be defending the paint that well

2. Bosh is also an average defender (though Jay plans on using him to anchor), he's physically capable (specially with the added muscles) but considering this is a contract year I doubt he'll put 100% energy on D but rather try to get as many points as he can.

3. Hedo from what I could read has average to below average defense.

4. Jose (let's not kid ourselves about his D)

5. Random SG here which won't cover any of our bases from the previous 4 points.

Now as awesome as it was to watch our scrubs beat up washington's scrubs. It became apparent that they needed better playmaking during crunch time. Jack was solid yes but with the game on the line you'll need better offensive sets to carry the load. So we can't put out the all defense team towards the end.

So this is where we can be a bit more creative, considering how we have a lot of awesome bench players why not rotate them into fixed units to compensate their strength/weakness, a balanced out roster.

Since Bosh will be in our starting lineup obv, he needs a big 5 that will do the dirty work, let him be the goto scorer in a potential line up like this.

5. Amir
4. Bosh
3. Hedo
2. Derozan
1. Jack

Now before i get flamed for starting jack, if you have hedo with bosh for the new pick and roll, you don't really need another playmaker (specially one that is weak on D). Jack is a good defender who can penetrate and push the pace, more to the point we can play more aggressive on the fast break as all these guys can run very well. Our bench unit then becomes:

5. Evans/Rasho
4. Barg
3. Belinelli
2. Weems
1. Jose

Bargs now becomes our focus point on the offensive sets, still retain a high flyer like weems and some solid spot up shooters. Once Wright comes off the injury and show us what he's got we can insert him in either unit.

Now I know a lot of you will disagree with some calls like putting Jose / Barg on the bench. This isn't meant to disrespect them as a player, I just thought this would be a more balanced line up that potentially won't cough up 12 points in any stretch of time while managing our players strength and weaknesses. Discuss~

[KG1585]

No.

[TheRaptor!]

No.

+1

[Darkseid]

DrFunk, maybe you should take a second and think about why people ignore your opinions all the time.

[DrFunk]

No.

We can disagree, but I'd like to hear what your starting 5 / bench would be and why.

[A_wildstabatanything]

[Chosen_One23]

wow...

[HSOB SIRHC]

I don't understand why people seem to forget that just because we have a deep team, doesn't mean a whole second unit will be subbed in all at once. It's called mixing it up. If the starting line up isn't doing so well during the game, Jay will sub the right players in.

[Third Coming]

Good for you.

My starting lineup is whatever Jay Triano decides.

[KG1585]

No.

We can disagree, but I'd like to hear what your starting 5 / bench would be and why.

I think you have to start your best players. When you start playing with the starting lineup, it never leads to any good. There are chemistry issues, and a guy like Bargs who's confidence will be destroyed if he got demoted, and will play like he did in his second year.

[Paperclip]

It is not hockey where you just switch the entire line off and on. You can get the effect you need by mixing up the subs and bringing some of the earlier etc etc.

[DrFunk]

Well it seems the majority of you will stick with putting everything in the starting 5 and hope to outscore the opponent. I just see many problems with paint defense/rebounding with the projected best player lineup.

[elmer_yuck]

I like it.

[J Dilla]

Lol no way. We need Hedo in the lineup.

I wouldn't mind

Bargnani
Bosh
Turk
Weems
Calderon

But then again, Weems looks like he loves to play with Jack and DeRozan, so its best to have him come off the bench and start Antoine.

2nd unit

Johnson
Evans
DeRozan
Weems
Jack

[DrFunk]

I didn't mean sub in Team A to Team B, it's obvious you sub out 1/2 players at a time. The idea was more along the lines of do we want Barg/Hedo/Jose to go along with Bosh... but nevermind since we have yet to see Hedo play. Time will tell how that starting unit will fare.

[KG1585]

I didn't mean sub in Team A to Team B, it's obvious you sub out 1/2 players at a time. The idea was more along the lines of do we want Barg/Hedo/Jose to go along with Bosh... but nevermind since we have yet to see Hedo play. Time will tell how that starting unit will fare.

I think the Raps should go with the best players, if the starters are not playing then you look to make changes.

[Test of Wills]

I know what you're trying to say and I understand your perspective but that starting 5 you mentioned lacks a few things.

Firstly Amir is not big enough to bang down low with some of the bigger centers in the league, he is more suited to defend long and athletic 4's and 5's. He is a hustle player who is doing great off the bench thus far in the preseason.

There is also no real threat to make shots from long-range CONSISTENTLY other than Hedo. I also think Calderon will be at his best when Hedo is on the floor, he will have time to play off the ball and make shots and get inside. So Hedo and Caldy should bond quickly and often.

Another thing is if you're going to start Jack you should start him beside Belli who is a threat from the outside. It's good to have a nice mix at the guard spots and I think DD and Calderon work well and Belli and Jack work well for various reasons. Having 4 new players surrounding Bosh in the starting line-up is going be a set-back and will take this team more than a month to gel if that is the case.

These are a lot of things to consider but to sum it up it is a good logic but it won't get us where we want to be.

[I_Like_Dirt]

I actually like the idea. The best players still play the most minutes. Calderon and Bargnani off the bench and absolutely dominate opposing benches. Bargs still plays ~35 mpg and Jose still gets about 30 mpg, since I think he benefits from playing slightly fewer minutes. The lineup to close games might be a bit different, but starting with Jack, DeRozan, Turkoglu, Bosh and either Amir or Rasho makes sense from a certain perspective, with Bargnani subbing in for whoever the starting C is relatively quickly once the opposing starting C has tired himself out a bit battling on offense and then Jose subbing in for whichever of DeRozan, Jack or Turkoglu needs a break first (likely DeRozan).

[DrFunk]

I know what you're trying to say and I understand your perspective but that starting 5 you mentioned lacks a few things.

Firstly Amir is not big enough to bang down low with some of the bigger centers in the league, he is more suited to defend long and athletic 4's and 5's. He is a hustle player who is doing great off the bench thus far in the preseason.

There is also no real threat to make shots from long-range CONSISTENTLY other than Hedo. I also think Calderon will be at his best when Hedo is on the floor, he will have time to play off the ball and make shots and get inside. So Hedo and Caldy should bond quickly and often.

Another thing is if you're going to start Jack you should start him beside Belli who is a threat from the outside. It's good to have a nice mix at the guard spots and I think DD and Calderon work well and Belli and Jack work well for various reasons. Having 4 new players surrounding Bosh in the starting line-up is going be a set-back and will take this team more than a month to gel if that is the case.

These are a lot of things to consider but to sum it up it is a good logic but it won't get us where we want to be.

I know Amir is undersized to guard the big 5's but for the first time in a long while I saw opponents not challenge inside while he was out there. I counted 3 possessions where he didn't even have to shot block but just intimidated them into a fadeaway (what most of our raps do), so was thinking more along the lines of rebounding/defense.

Your right though about the outside shooting, and just because of that you'll prob need to put Bargs in there, I know Jose's injured etc... but even at his best I'm still not convinced that Jack is not a better option at the starting 5. Understand this is strictly from a defensive concern, I know the original line up can flat out score but there's going to be nights where the shots don't go in and I'd hate for us to have a slow 1st quarter start to play catch up vs the elite competition is all.

But like I said Turk is the X factor and we'll see how he fares with Jose defensively together.

[saham]

Anytime you take Bosh out of the starting 5, its going to be an EPIC FAIL.

But i think the starting lineup should be adjusted based on the opponent.