31to6 wrote:If you do a list by "who Joe has pulled 20 seconds into a half and chewed out for not getting on the floor for a loose ball", it's:
1. Banton
I wouldn't read too deeply into that.
According to Mazzulla, it was simply a teaching moment. Clearly, Mazzulla is high on Banton and his potential as evidenced here:
/photo/1
And here, where he sings Banton's praises at :14 and again at 2:14
Banton went back in the game shortly after that happened. And this reporter commented that Banton played much harder when he went back in. So I wouldn't think is anything to worry about moving forward.
?s=20
31to6 wrote:I think minutes in pre-season games are highly variable
Sure. Which is why I posted the total minutes for all 3 preseason games combined, rather than only looking at a 1 or 2 game sample size.
I also made sure to mention in my post that "This seems to be the pecking order, at the moment. Things could certainly change by the time we play our next game in 5 days.."
31to6 wrote:it was somewhat surprising Svi didn't play in the preseason opener, but that was a 'full squad' game and you can only go so deep.
To some it may have been surprising. I don't think ti was surprising to the C's coaching staff, though. It was probably intentional.
We'll have a full squad when the reg season opens up, so it would appear there's a good chance Svi won't be playing then - since he didn't play in the preseason game where we had a full squad.
Of course, that could certainly change - as I mentioned in my post..
31to6 wrote:Svi has clearly made an impact once he's gotten onto the court, and my point anyway was that I think he slots right in as backup SG, which puts him in a different 'lane' than Hauser, who I think is locked in as backup SF for now.
Perhaps. But I think that collectively here we sometimes get too caught up with positions that a guy plays.
We're getting deeper and deeper into the era of positionless basketball. Positions these days are really fluid and interchangeable, especially with a switching defense, the need for a secondary ball handler on the floor, etc.
Technically, we didn't really have a "backup 2" last season. We had Brogdon, who throughout his career (and also with the Celtics) has been more of a PG. But of course, he did often play the 2. But I wouldn't necessarily say he was a "backup 2". He was really a combo-guard. D-White probably played more at the 2 last season than Brogdon, but when Smart was out, it was usually White running the point. He too was a combo-guard. Heck, even Smart was the PG a lot, but often times was playing off ball as a 2. They really were all combo-guards. And so was Pritchard when he played - although he was on the bench most of the time - especially when everyone was healthy.
Hauser, while I suppose he could be classified as a "backup SF" I just consider him a wing. A wing can be a 2, a wing can be a 3, a wing can even be a 4.
I'd consider Svi to also be a "wing". But with Svi, he's a wing who can also be a secondary ball handler - whereas Hauser doesn't really offer that kind of versatility.
Svi, Hauser, Banton, Walsh, Stevens and Brissett are all essentially "backup wings". Some of them are bigger, stronger, better rebounders (Stevens, Brissett) while others can operate as a secondary ball handler (Svi, Banton) while some even have the ability to run the point at times (Banton). But all (for the most part) have played the wing position.
Again, positions these days are fluid and pretty interchangeable. Which is why in my post, I didn't break down the players by position - I thought it might be helpful to see all of the players on the team (outside of the core 6) listed in order of total minutes played so far this preseason to simply give a rough idea of the pecking order, at the moment.
One other thing worth noting in the video above with Mazzulla speaking after the Knicks game. Around the 2:50 mark, a reporter asks him what he's looking for from the backup wings and he says "toughness, physicality and IQ". FWIW, he does not say anything about shooting being a requirement.
