mkot wrote:1. Again, I don't trust Skinner as a starter. He is what he is - a backup role player not really wanted by many teams. He is good in limited minutes because he has limited role. If he give him a bigger role and starter minutes, he might not be able to handle it. We are not in a fantasy where a given player should produce when given minutes. Skinner is good off the bench for us with his energy and shot blocking because 1) he doesn't have to worry about fouling out, 2) he doesn't have to worry about running out of gas at the end of game and 3) he doesn't have to worry about doing other stuff he isn't good at. Keep Skinner on the bench, stop messing with good things.
2. LB is better playing alongside a PG in Nash (who doesn't?) but consider this:
- we need scorer off the bench
- starting LB and Nash make us too small
- Raja is back (both his D and shooting) so there's no reason to bench him now
3. RE: Hill, I'm not worry about Hill's role on this team. Mike likes him. And btw, Shawn shoot I think 40% something behind the arc against the Spurs last post season. He averaged a double-double on 50% shooting to go along with a couple of steals and blocks. I'd say that's pretty effective. Raja played some good D, and it's not like he can't hit mid-range shot, knowing how much he likes to fake a 3 and runs inside the arc to take a little mid-range.
4. You can't compare Hill and Raja to Artest and Wells, Artest and Wells have strong post up game, Hill can take smaller guy in the post, and Raja is solely a jump shooter on offense.
You enlightened me on some points but
1.Starting Skinner doesnt mean he will have more role. He's just the same backup center who starts in the first quarter and 3rd just to
- avoid Amare getting into foul trouble by guarding Duncan early in the game. We need Amare to be out of foul trouble at the second half so that we can go small with Amare at center.
- bring some physical defense to Duncan early to slow him down. I think we can go dirty at Duncan and Skinner is willing (i guess?). He will not be effective as KT though but still better than nothing.
- in the fourth quarter where it matter most, we can go to our usual line up with Amare playing his usual defense without worrying about fouling out of the game.
2. Starting Nash and Barbosa doesnt make us small against Spurs and besides we have two big men, Amare and Skinner with Marion. Nash will guard Bowen, Barbosa will guard Finley. Finley isnt as good as he was going one on one.
- starting Barbosa doesnt mean less role to Bell. Bell will replace Barbosa once Ginobli gets in, usually 7 minutes of the game, that means barbosa can come in replacing Nash when Nash will rest. Bell will just focus on of course on shooting the ball but most importantly he will be fresh when Ginobli goes in.
- we are not benching Bell, he will play minutes as ginobli play.
3. If you look at the Spurs guards and small forwards, Bowen is the only legit defensive player who most of the time will guard Nash. We can exploit that weakness of Spurs by going to Hill at the post where we can attract double team where Hill will most likely to be manned by Ginobli or Finely.
