Injury subs for starters

[YosemiteSam]

At the major risk of creating a jinx thread, I was curious who each of us think would be the primary substitutes if we were to lose one of our starters for 15 to 20 games or more. Just to begin this season, we’re seeing players like Hartenstein, Strus, Kawai, Middleton, and Mitchell Robinson scheduled to miss significant time. Based on that, as well as what Mosley did last year when we needed to replace starters, I am proposing we each list who we would expect to be the subs for each starter.

Before I make my list, here are a few assumptions I made:
- Mosley has shown he wants defense in the starting lineup. That’s why we wound up with AB and Goga last year.
- Mosley also likes to have a steady second unit so he will sometimes go three deep to find a starter replacement and keep most of the second unit intact
- I do think the answer will be different by midseason than it would be for an injury early season. So I listed my predictions for an early season injury, and then a late season injury.

Suggs —> early AB, later AB
KCP —> early Harris, later AB
Franz —> early Harris, later TDS or Jett
Paolo —> early JI, later JI
WCJ—> early Goga, later Goga

Primary 2nd unit —> Cole, Moe, maybe Jett
Only in case of emergency —> Joseph, Houstan, Queen

[eyriq]

That's a good question. I'm curious who the second unit is and how well they play.

Last season Mosley seemed to opt for rotation stability, subbing in Green Goblins for injured starters. Was this because the bench had established role players? Cole is a role player, Moe is a role player, Ingles is a role player, Harris or Fultz are role players, etc.

Green Goblins was the developmental unit.

I think things are sort of the same. Cole, Moe, Harris, and JI are all role players. AB will assume a regular role in the rotation.

Running that logic through we'd have Corey, Jett, Caleb, TDS, and Goga as the emergency starters.

[anothermagicfan]

I've thought about this situation as well because it's likely to happen to every team league wide. Problem is we have a totally different outlook this year, especially with who actually gets minutes in the rotation for the second unit.

I have a feeling that the rotation will be somewhat steady with certain players and a revolving door with others. I'm fairly certain we'll see plenty of rotations with injuries throughout the season as they do occur but it's almost like it could be a coin flip decision at times just to get guys minutes.

I got no guesses here but it's something to be on the lookout for for sure

[drsd]

Suggs will inevitably miss some games. I assume Black takes over the starting over Anthony.
Caldwell-Pope missing, I assum Harris starts
F-Wagner missing: is it Black who starts? Or da Silva?
Banchero missing: clearly Isaac starts. With Bitadze getting backup minutes.
Carter: I cannot see M0Wagner starting, so Bitadze starts.

But: what happens when the Magic miss two starters? There are a lot of moving parts in missing two starters.

[Knightro]

My guess is that it will be highly dependent on how well the 2nd unit comes together.

If the 2nd unit is playing really well for the first few weeks, I'd imagine Mosley would opt to elevate a green goblin from the third unit as to not disrupt the 2nd unit chemistry.

But if the 2nd unit isn't playing all that well anyway, then I'd think more sweeping changes would be in order.

It's also dependent on WHO gets hurt. If KCP or Carter or Franz get hurt, it's easier to slide Jett/TDS/Goga up from the 3rd team into the lineup.

But if Suggs gets hurt, they'd almost have to slide Black up. It's not like CoJo would ever start just so they could keep the 2nd unit intact.