Starting Lineup & Minutes split

[bigfoot]

It's a nice problem to have two of Durant, Booker, Beal, and Gordon always on the court. Hopefully the three point shooting pans out.

[Saberestar]

Yeah, the more I think about it the more likely its matchup based - makes the most sense, and we'll have to figure out anyways who is the best starting regardless of matchups, that will be a good trial and error. Also the games where one of the big 3 is out.

+1: we have at least 3 guys in Payne, Okogie and Yuta who play great (or just better) with the starters/stars, while seemingly struggle without them. So some of the decisions will be based on this factor too. Who can do their thing "on their own" better, or with some bench players. Or where do we have the more competitive advantage - stomping the starters from the jump, and letting up a bit when benches are in, or we got enough stomping with the big 3 starting, and we want to build on the (smaller?) lead when benches come in.

This is what I would do. 5th starter changing from night to night depending on how you want to defend the opponent. Maybe by mid season someone snatches the job permanently but try lots of different player combos.

And it's really more about the finishing 5 than the starting 5.

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I think it would be better to establish an starting five and stay that way allowing them to have nice chemistry on the court.

The best teams usually have a clear cut starting 5 and a 6th man. We have a recent example in the Nuggets, just by looking at each other they know what they are going to do.

Against any team we are gonna be usually the most talented team. They MUST adjust to us, not the other way. We aren't underdogs anymore.

[Saberestar]

Vogel's defense requires aggressive POA defense against guards, with a particular emphasis on icing the side PnRs. Think Okogie is the best suited to replicate this Caruso role. KBD is too big to effectively navigate screens and handle quick guards.

I think we may go big if we're playing a wing-heavy team like the Lakers, Clippers or Celtics, but against most other teams where the lead ball-handler is a guard, Okogie will have to play.

We will go to the playoffs, that's for sure. This team is trying to win a championship and the Nuggets are by far the biggest threat out there.

Okogie is a bit of a liability on offense, KBD is an upgrade over him in that aspect of the game AND he is a better fit next to Book/Beal because of his size.

With Okogie in the starting lineup we can't fight against Porter/Gordon/Jokic. That's a biggest problem than losing some POA defense.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Yeah, the more I think about it the more likely its matchup based - makes the most sense, and we'll have to figure out anyways who is the best starting regardless of matchups, that will be a good trial and error. Also the games where one of the big 3 is out.

+1: we have at least 3 guys in Payne, Okogie and Yuta who play great (or just better) with the starters/stars, while seemingly struggle without them. So some of the decisions will be based on this factor too. Who can do their thing "on their own" better, or with some bench players. Or where do we have the more competitive advantage - stomping the starters from the jump, and letting up a bit when benches are in, or we got enough stomping with the big 3 starting, and we want to build on the (smaller?) lead when benches come in.

This is what I would do. 5th starter changing from night to night depending on how you want to defend the opponent. Maybe by mid season someone snatches the job permanently but try lots of different player combos.

And it's really more about the finishing 5 than the starting 5.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

I think it would be better to establish an starting five and stay that way allowing them to have nice chemistry on the court.

The best teams usually have a clear cut starting 5 and a 6th man. We have a recent example in the Nuggets, just by looking at each other they know what they are going to do.

Against any team we are gonna be usually the most talented team. They MUST adjust to us, not the other way. We aren't underdogs anymore.

If someone emerges as a clear cut 5th guy then sure lock it in but I just don't see that yet.

Offensively the expensive 4 should be awesome regardless of who that 5th dude is. Defensively is where I could see some challenges depending on the opponent. Specifically I think Beal/Booker could have a hard time against some of the quicker PGs but if say you just started Payne I think there are teams that 5 would be a little small against. Maybe Okogie is the answer because of his defensive versatility but we'll see.



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[Bogyo]

This is what I would do. 5th starter changing from night to night depending on how you want to defend the opponent. Maybe by mid season someone snatches the job permanently but try lots of different player combos.

And it's really more about the finishing 5 than the starting 5.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

I think it would be better to establish an starting five and stay that way allowing them to have nice chemistry on the court.

The best teams usually have a clear cut starting 5 and a 6th man. We have a recent example in the Nuggets, just by looking at each other they know what they are going to do.

Against any team we are gonna be usually the most talented team. They MUST adjust to us, not the other way. We aren't underdogs anymore.

If someone emerges as a clear cut 5th guy then sure lock it in but I just don't see that yet.

Offensively the expensive 4 should be awesome regardless of who that 5th dude is. Defensively is where I could see some challenges depending on the opponent. Specifically I think Beal/Booker could have a hard time against some of the quicker PGs but if say you just started Payne I think there are teams that 5 would be a little small against. Maybe Okogie is the answer because of his defensive versatility but we'll see.



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Yeah. We should have a pretty clear cut top 5 by the end of the season, and a 3 man bench that can produce. Thats the way to go in the playoffs - especially conference finals and finals. We do have the top 5 basketball talent, with the expensive 4 and Gordon. We have to have one big behind Ayton (for several reasons), we can just hope that Eubanks is that guy, no real big minute sample size is available on him - especially not playoffs. Bottom feeding injured Portland doesn't really count in this. I'd be really surprised if Metu was this guy. While athletic he is not very good (yet?), he is clearly 3rd string, I don't expect anything else, and that's OK.
If Eubanks hits, we are still only at 6 players. So 2 of the Payne/Okogie/KBD/Yuta bunch has to emerge into a solid playoff (finals???) contributor, one of them a (finals???) starter most likely. On the top of the big 3 being all healthy. Not a short order if you consider all this with the probabilities slotted next to them, but not impossible. Fingers crossed - this team should be fun.

[Mulhollanddrive]

I think Durant at C in playoffs could be something.

If you can play a Zubac, Adams, Valanciunas, Gobert, Sabonis, Looney, Powell off the court and have more experience than the opposition with that gamestyle we can make a 5 minute run.

If we want to change the game make Davis, Jokic defend Durant.

[dmastro32]

Alright let’s give this ago:

Beal: 33 minutes
Booker: 35 minutes
Okogie/KBD: 24 minutes will rotate starting based on matchups
Durant:32 Minutes
Ayton: 30 minutes

Bench Mob:
Gordon: 22 minutes
Payne: 10 minutes
Okogie/KBD whoever didn’t start: 20 Minutes
Eubanks: 18
Wantanabe: 10
Goodwin:6

Probably going a little too deep but think all of these players offer something in these minutes.

[Mulhollanddrive]

My dark horse is Saben Lee think he could make it to bench PG at some stage.

He's the best at getting to the paint with his speed and pressure the defense, get some open corner 3s for Watanabe and Bates-Diop.

[WeekapaugGroove]

I think it will be interesting to see what Vogel tries first because it might tip his hand in what he wants with the expensive 4.

Point of attack D he has Okogie and Goodwin available

Shooting he has Yuta or Gordon

Bigger lineup he has KBD

Then there's the Payne option where he gives you more distribution, speed, some D and some shooting and maybe most importantly he's played a lot of minutes with Booker and Ayton and I think the suns will be running Young's O so Payne should have a leg up over the new guys.

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[durden_tyler]

Question: why not just start KD at PF? Staggered minutes on both PF positions though but you really envision Beal and Booker as primary ballhandlers for longer stretches?

[Mulhollanddrive]

I'm leaning Payne actually, but reading stuff that we're looking to trade him? So possibly not.

Payne, Beal, Booker, Durant, Ayton

Payne can be a lot more efficient and then has the speed to play defense on PGs like Curry, Morant, Westbrook etc

Having said that I think a Goodwin or Okogie if they are in the rotation are best with the big 4 rather than having to have them score off the bench.

Plenty of options. If Beal can guard point guards then Watanabe or Bates-Diop or even Gordon are also viable.

Really could be any of Goodwin, Payne, Okogie, Gordon, Watanabe, Bates-Diop what a luxury position to be in.

I'd like to see Goodwin given first go as I think he has the game to be highest impact if he can be a Marcus Smart-lite player.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Goodwin, Beal, Booker, Durant, Ayton
Gordon, Okogie, Bates-Diop, Watanabe, Eubanks
Payne, Lee, Wainright, Camara, Metu

So with my depth chart who comes in if someone gets injured.

Goodwin, Gordon - Payne (2)
Beal, Booker, Durant, Okogie - Lee (4)
Bates-Diop, Watanabe - Wainright (2)
Ayton, Eubanks - Metu (2)

So Damion Lee I'd have as the depth player that comes in the most, even if he's not in the rotation he's probably going to play 50 games as cover during season. Was surprised to see he had the 6th most minutes last season too.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Updated playoff rotation:

Beal 40
Booker 40
Okogie 30
Durant 40
Ayton 36

Gordon 16
Bates-Diop 14
Watanabe 12
Eubanks 12

All dependent on our offense running without a typical PG and Vogel able to elevate our team defense to not need more than 1 specialist defender.