Time to Play Small Ball

Krapinsky · Post #1 » by **Krapinsky** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:30 am

Lots of threads seemed to be oriented toward finding a replacement big (Rasho, Wilcox, etc.). However, with Al gone the offense no longer has to run half court sets and grind it into the post. I'm hoping McHale opens up the offense and starts running the floor more. I know people HATE Gomes as a PF, but his weaknesses there don't stick out as much in the run and gun.

Start Telfair/Foye/Carney/Gomes/Love and just have those guys run.

Telfair (35)/Foye (13)
Foye (22))/McCants (18)/Carney (8)
Carney (18)/Miller (30)
Gomes (30)/Smith (18)
Love (35)/Cardinal (13)

Maybe sign Pops too.

B Calrissian · Post #2 » by **B Calrissian** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:59 am

I agree with the starting line up but I hope that either Madsen or Collins can back up Love.

Krapinsky · Post #3 » by **Krapinsky** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 4:11 am

Calrissian-- Nice work on the new Pic. I wish I would have thought of that.

kevinbs · Post #4 » by **kevinbs** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 4:22 am

Dr.Krapinsky wrote:Lots of threads seemed to be oriented toward finding a replacement big (Rasho, Wilcox, etc.). However, with Al gone the offense no longer has to run half court sets and grind it into the post. I'm hoping McHale opens up the offense and starts running the floor more. I know people HATE Gomes as a PF, but his weaknesses there don't stick out as much in the run and gun.

Start Telfair/Foye/Carney/Gomes/Love and just have those guys run.

Telfair (35)/Foye (13)
Foye (22))/McCants (18)/Carney (8)
Carney (18)/Miller (30)
Gomes (30)/Smith (18)
Love (35)/Cardinal (13)

Maybe sign Pops too.

i AGREE, SMALL BALL THE WAY TO GO

Post #5 » by **C.lupus** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 4:39 am

If only our small ballers could actually score...

B Calrissian · Post #6 » by **B Calrissian** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 5:35 am

Dr.Krapinsky wrote:Calrissian-- Nice work on the new Pic. I wish I would have thought of that.

Thanks. It was time to retire the Jawas.

This would be my ideal rotation with the roster as is.

Foye18/Telfair30
Carney30/Foye18
Miller30/Gomes18
Gomes12/Smith20/Cardinal16
Love34/Madsen8/Collins6

McCants has shown he is the same player as before so I see no reason he should be showcased anymore. Miller can play point forward so Telfair can come off the bench. Still small but a little tougher.

Post #7 » by **Basti** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 7:47 am

C.lupus wrote:If only our small ballers could actually score...

seconded... I'm really looking forward to many 4-15 shots by any of out guards (save Carney because he rarely takes 5+ shots) to come for the remainder of the season...

Devilzsidewalk · Post #8 » by **Devilzsidewalk** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 12:39 pm

personally I'd rather see Collins at Center than Gomes at PF. If we're gonna suck, at least be properly sized while we do so that we can clearly see that the lack of talent is the problem. If Gomes plays PF and we suck, I'll be tempted to blame it on the small lineup.

Biff Cooper · Post #9 » by **Biff Cooper** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 1:57 pm

Devilzsidewalk wrote:personally I'd rather see Collins at Center than Gomes at PF. If we're gonna suck, at least be properly sized while we do so that we can clearly see that the lack of talent is the problem. If Gomes plays PF and we suck, I'll be tempted to blame it on the small lineup.

I understand where you're coming from, but it seems wrong to Foye and Love to put a team out there that has less of a chance of being competitive, just so we can evaluate players at their proper positions.

Post #10 » by **C.lupus** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:13 pm

I'm not sure that Collins/Love/Gomes/Foye/Telfair (Miller/Carney/Cardinal/Madsen) is any less competitive than Love/Gomes/Carney/Foye/Telfair (Miller/Cardinal/McCants). The small ball run-and-gun sounds exciting and would be fun to watch but we just don't have the right talent on this team to execute it properly, IMO.

I'm guessing McHale will use Collins and Madsen at the C and not change the other positions that much. I do hope McHale opens it up a bit to allow Foye and Love to operate freely. Ball movement will be key from here on out.

deeney0 · Post #11 » by **deeney0** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:30 pm

Move McCants for a body asap. Gomes at PF is more destructive than playing Madsen.

Post #12 » by **revprodeji** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:49 pm

Smith is still out anyway so the lineup is flawed.

Development is our key concern. Having Love against the centers of the league with a SF as his "big" could stunt his growth.

Krapinsky · Post #13 » by **Krapinsky** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 4:26 pm

revprodeji wrote:Smith is still out anyway so the lineup is flawed.

Development is our key concern. Having Love against the centers of the league with a SF as his "big" could stunt his growth.

Or it could speed it up.

Devilzsidewalk · Post #14 » by **Devilzsidewalk** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 4:58 pm

I actually liked what Collins gave us; usually I hate those types of players, but I felt like he made opposing big men work hard, and I was surprised when he started collecting DNPS

*Madsen too, I feel like he makes guys work hard in the post, there's no gimmes with Madsen or Collins. They'll at least give a good foul rather than an easy basket.

With this team, I'm totally ready to grind out games in the 80s if at all possible. Slow it down and make it ugly, and maybe win a few games if we get hot from downtown.

the_bruce · Post #15 » by **the_bruce** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 5:48 pm

I think the team runs small the remainder of the year. It won't be pretty!

yojimbo · Post #16 » by **yojimbo** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:26 pm

I agree with Rev that Love's development suffers playing C. He will already be playing more minutes and running more, which seems like enough of a challenge for now. We could still go small for extended periods with Mad Dog at the 5 since he has such a high energy level.

Foye · Post #17 » by **Foye** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:30 pm

Now that Jefferson is out we should sign Courtney Sims out of the D-League and see if he is able to play C on nba level.

younggunsmn · Post #18 » by **younggunsmn** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:59 pm

We've been playing small ball all year. You're talking about going to nano-ball.
One thing to keep in mind is that Kevin Love no longer has Al Jefferson around to draw all the interior defensive attention away. If we want him to be successful and gain some confidence we need to at least put a big body next to him.

One goal we should have for the rest of the year is to get our "core" guys to develop some defensive chemistry together. That means playing them at their proper positions, where they would be with Al back. Otherwise all they're going to do is develop bad habits and get frustrated at the rate they give up points.