Where are the minutes?

[partnerfusion]

As everyone knows, we are at a complete logjam at the 2/3 positions. Try this exercise of distributing minutes -

PG - Williams (38) Price (5) Knight (5)
SG - Brewer (30) Korver (18)
SF - Kirilenko (30) CJ (10) Harpring (8)
PF - Boozer (35) Millsap (13)
C - Okur (35) Millsap (10) (Collins/Fes/Whoever?) (3)

This assumes Almond once again is in the D-league (and if he isn't where does he take minutes)

Is 18 minutes enough for Korver?
Is 10 minutes enough for Miles?
Only 8 minutes for Harping?

[Soul Patch]

I'd cut Korver's minutes and split them with Harpring and Miles'. Korver should play about fifteen and then other factor's will decide who will get more minutes each night between Harpring and Miles.

[carrottop12]

Here is what I think the rotation will be.

Deron (38)/Knight (10)
Brewer (24)/ Korver (12)/Miles (12)
AK (28)/Harpring (12)/Korver (5)/Miles (3)
Boozer (32)/Millsap (16)
Okur (35)/Boozer (5)/Koufos and Fes (8)

[partnerfusion]

OK I like those splits by Batronuj - but this assumes neither Price nor Almond make the rotation, right?

[fivas14]

Hopefully Brevin can come and contribute and low TOs Deron played WAY too many minutes during the regular season.

[babyjax13]

I think what we really need to look at is what lineups work best together, Sloan doesn't care about getting every man his minutes, he cares about who gives him the best balance of defense and offense.

Price will be on the roster next year, he did a good job at the end of quarters (2nd and 3rd specifically) holding down the fort, and sometimes making a good play. Knight isn't a good guy to have in at the end of a quarter because he can't shoot at all, and if Deron is in foul trouble you need Price.

Deron 35/ Price 5/ Knight 8

Then there's shooting guard...Brewer is at his best when there is a perimeter and interior force to take attention away from him (Memo/Booze, Millsap/Korver), and Korver needs a good defender on the court with him, otherwise we give up too much on defense (Brewer/AK). Miles is the perfect balance of both worlds, he's a decent defender, and a good scorer.

Brewer 23/ Korver 15/ Miles 10

At small forward we have AK, Harpring and Brewer. AK is our interior defender, so he will see significant minutes when we have Boozer and Memo on the floor together. I don't think Harp's knees are going to last an entire season, but when he comes in he normally provides a spark, so I see him getting minutes when we are starting to trail. If AK is off his game Brewer and Miles will see a lot of minutes at small forward.

Kirilenko 33/ Harpring 8/ Brewer 7

We know what we have at power forward, you can either have a good defender with streaky offense, or a great offensive player with streaky defense. The way Booze plays perfectly compliments Deron, so we won't be seeing a reduction in his minutes.

Boozer 35/ Millsap 13

Our center position is comprised of power forwards, but as we all know Okur is great at spreading the floor and giving Boozer and Brewer room to work on the baseline.

Okur 34/ Millsap 10/ Koufos or Fessenko 4/ Collins

Another thing is that we have to have one of Almond, Fess, and Koufos on the roster (only 2 draft picks per team allowed on nbdl team).

We have too many players on the wings, Almond is out unless we trade AK, so it comes down to Fess and Koufos...I think they will most likely split nba time through the season unless one establishes himself as being more nba ready than the other.

[fivas14]

Miles plays SF

[partnerfusion]

So it appears everyone agrees that Almond is the odd man out and Miles won't get more than about 10 minutes of action...

[babyjax13]

Miles plays SF

The positions are interchangeable... You can have Korver, Miles, or Brewer at the small forward, in the end it accomplishes about the same thing (same as throwing Millsap or Boozer in at center).

[d-will8]

I don't see how Koufos and Fesenko are going to get minutes considering that they, along with Almond, will be inactive most games. You can only have 12 guys on your active roster, right? My guess is that, just like most of last year, Boozer and Millsap will get most or all of the minutes backing up Memo at center. Also, knowing Sloan, you have to figure that Collins will be ahead of them in the rotation as well.
The only two positions in the rotation that are in question are backup PG and backup SG/SF. The starting lineup should be the same, Deron should continue to get 35-40 minutes a game, Boozer will be around 35, Memo and AK will each get over 30 and Brewer will see somewhere between 25 and 30. Off the bench, Millsap is a lock to get around 20, maybe more. That leaves 8-13 minutes a game at PG for which Price and Knight will compete, somewhere in the vicinity of 40 minutes a game between the SG and SF positions for Korver, Harpring and C.J. Korver's spot is probably safe since his shooting can be so valuable and Harpring is a favorite of Sloan's, but he's old and he's breaking down and we're paying C.J. a lot of money now and he's beginning to scratch the surface of his potential.

Anyways, here's a rough guess as to what the rotation could look like:

PG- Deron (36), Price/Knight (12)
SG- Brewer (26), Korver (18), C.J. (4)
SF- AK (28), Harpring (12), C.J. (8)
PF- Boozer (24), Millsap (20), AK (4)
C- Memo (34), Boozer (10), (4 leftover minutes for Boozer, Millsap or Collins)

I really have no idea who will win the backup PG slot and I think that it could vary from night to night. I also think that Harpring's minutes (and, consequently, C.J.'s) might fluctuate a great deal based on his health. I'm guessing that we will rest him quite a bit this year and, in doing so, give C.J. more opportunities. Also, I realize that AK getting any minutes at the 4 is just a wild fantasy, but it would really give us an exciting and different look, even if it was just for a short stint.

[partnerfusion]

PG- Deron (36), Price/Knight (12)
SG- Brewer (26), Korver (18), C.J. (4)
SF- AK (28), Harpring (12), C.J. (8)
PF- Boozer (24), Millsap (20), AK (4)
C- Memo (34), Boozer (10), (4 leftover minutes for Boozer, Millsap or Collins)

------------------------------------------------------------

Looks really good - once again no Almond. Should we be looking to deal Almond combined with one of our young "bigs" for a defensive back up center then?

[ZenBaller]

Hey guys,

There's no way Deron or Boozer will play less than 35 minutes. Same goes for Okur and his 32-33 minutes. Brewer and Millsap deserve 2-5 more minutes because they are extremely efficient. Brewer is one of the 2-3 guards in the whole league with 55% fg. That's amazing, I think only Monta Ellis has a similar percentage. While Millsap doesn't have the room to play much more, Brewer definitely has it and he can easily eat up some of Korver's/Miles' mins.

I believe Sloan will use more or less the same rotation and PT for everyone unless we have a breakout season for someone.

Edit: Forgot to mention that Koufos is a much better player than Fesenko or Collins. He should easily surpass them in the rotation but it will be too difficult to find more than 10-12 mins unless Okur's injuries carry on.

[bsutefan]

As long as Korver is around, he'll split minutes with Brewer 24/24 (or close to it). I expect minutes to be very similar to last year unless there's an injury.

[markusj]

bsutefan is right. Brewer and Korver will be splitting minutes again at SG. Not enough has changed for me to believe that the rotation will change compared to last year.

PG- Williams (38), Price (10), Knight (Garbage mins)
SG- Brewer (24), Korver (24)
SF- AK (30), Harpring (18), Miles (Garbage mins)
PF- Boozer (38), Millslap (10)
C- Okur (35), Millslap (13), Collins/Fesenko/Koufos (Garbage mins)

[GP]

Everyone seems to have similar min for players, my only change is that Collins/Fes/Koufos get all of the backup center playing time. Millsap is undersized for a pf, he shouldn't spend time at center (unless of course the opposing team is playing small ball). Still have a feeling we one of our sg is going to be traded.

[The Sheik]

The rotation wont change one bit. The only difference from last season will be:

1) a camp competition for the backup PG spot.

and thats it.

Sloan will never put a veteran like Jarron Collins on the IA unless he is truly injured. Korver is also Harpring lite (not because he sucks), but because he wont have to compete with CJ for minutes.

CJ has to wait for those situations where Sloan needs a spark, blowouts (either way), and the 10 games we all know AK is going to miss.

I wish Sloan wasnt such a hypocrite and would actually let people compete.

[jazzfan1971]

I don't think we brought in Knight to be 3rd string. Price might struggle to see floor time.

I don't think Collins hardly got off the bench last year. I doubt he does this year either.

A lot is going to depend on how effective Harpring is playing. He could get 25 minutes or 5. I just don't know.

I think it's going to be hard ot keep Brewer off the floor this year. Korver will have to play some 3.

Miles.... I don't know why we matched. I just don't see any minutes for him. Not to mention Almond. And even Price might be gunning for some backup 2 minutes. Somebody(ies) aren't going to be happy with minutes.

I won't be surprised to see Harpring lose his spot in the rotation. Then again, he could start if AK starts crying.

[carrottop12]

I don't think we brought in Knight to be 3rd string. Price might struggle to see floor time.

I don't think Collins hardly got off the bench last year. I doubt he does this year either.

A lot is going to depend on how effective Harpring is playing. He could get 25 minutes or 5. I just don't know.

I think it's going to be hard ot keep Brewer off the floor this year. Korver will have to play some 3.

Miles.... I don't know why we matched. I just don't see any minutes for him. Not to mention Almond. And even Price might be gunning for some backup 2 minutes. Somebody(ies) aren't going to be happy with minutes.

I won't be surprised to see Harpring lose his spot in the rotation. Then again, he could start if AK starts crying.

At least we aren't worried about holes that need to be filled, that all I have to say.

When guys like Matt Harpring and Kyle Korver are your 7th-9th best players on the team, you are in good shape.

[Duiz]

Wasn't there a limit of 12 people in the roster?