Depth Chart and Minutes

[Ice32]

With the Nuggets roster almost complete (1 spot left) I would like to see Nuggets fans thoughts on the Depth Chart and Minutes Distribution, if we keep this current roster in tact. My thoughts are that if everyone goes to Training Camp and Pre-Season healthy, there will be 2 positions up for battle - SF and C. I don't think Gallo is a lock for the starting SF spot, with Wilson Chandler, Corey Brewer and Jordan Hamilton all capable of starting. The C spot has McGee, Mozzy and Koufos all wanting minutes and Anthony Randolph capable to of playing. This team is 10 deep right now and last year Coach GK had to use almost everyone on a regular basis to overcome key injuries. My thoughts for minutes are:

PG - Ty - 31-35, Miller - 13-17 (cant see Fournier getting mins unless an injury happens)
SG - Iggy - 32-36, Brewer - 5-9, Miller - 5-9 (cant see JHam getting minutes early in the season)
SF - Gallo - 18-22, Chandler - 18-22, Brewer - 6-10 (the starter is up for grabs)
PF - Faried - 26-30, Gallo - 8-12, Chandler - 8-12 (GK loves small ball)
C - McGee - 26-30, Mozzy - 8-12, Randolph - 8-12 (KK and AR battling for 3rd string mins)

I think GK will run with a 9 man rotation for the first 20 games, and when injuries occur, JHam, Fournier, Randolph, Koufos will get their opportunities.

Brewer is a hard one for me - GK loves his energy and defense, but he will be battling against Iggy, Miller, Gallo, Chandler for minutes. He needs to have a strong pre-season to prove his value or he may be packaged in a trade. I think he could get 10-20 minutes on any given night, and some DNPs, if there is an injury he will pick up minutes.

[corona]

pretty much agree with all that.

although i think the only way gallo loses the starting spot is if chandler has a ridiculously good camp and gallo's injured or just sucks.

brewer will find minutes when injuries hit, or in games when the bench comes out too slow.
karl will be quick to pull mcgee for moz if he's not keeping his head on straight.
not sure we'll see much of randolph or hamilton.

[TunaFish]

I think Chandler is going to see time at the shooting guard position as well as small forward. Randolph will be backing up the power forward slot primarily. There are three centers already on this roster and only two power forwards. Gallo will be the starting small forward and Iggy will be the starting shooting guard.

I keep thinking that Chandler is too good a player to be limited to a bench role. Why not send him somewhere in a trade that upgrades the roster since there are a lot of small forwards on this team ? Maybe his injury is an issue.

[RRFB]

I keep thinking that Chandler is too good a player to be limited to a bench role. Why not send him somewhere in a trade that upgrades the roster since there are a lot of small forwards on this team ? Maybe his injury is an issue.

Because Chandler's value around the league is ****. He's far more valuable to us right now than anyone else we could get for him. And considering Gallinari's injury history, I wouldn't trade him now that Harrington is gone. I don't want Brewer playing 30 minutes a night if Gallo goes down.

I agree with the OPs rotation for the most part. Hamilton and Randolph won't see any time until someone gets hurt.

[youngthegiant]

my time distribution plan

Ty lawson(33)/Andre miller(15)/Julyan Stone(0)
Andre Igoudala(32)/Andre Miller(7)/Corey Brewer and Ham(9)
Danilo Gallinari(30)/Wilson Chandler(15)/Brewer and Ham(3)
Kenneth Faried(30)/Wilson Chandler(15)/Danilo Gallinari(3)
Javale Mcgee(30)/Timofey Mozgov(18)/Kosta Koufos(0)

Anthony Randolph is out of the rotation to start but he will eventually get some minutes at center when we go small. Quincy Miller and Fournier are not in the rotation unless there are injuries. Brewer and Hamilton will battle out for the minutes on the floor.

[Manimal]

my time distribution plan

Ty lawson(33)/Andre miller(15)/Julyan Stone(0)
Andre Igoudala(32)/Andre Miller(7)/Corey Brewer and Ham(9)
Danilo Gallinari(30)/Wilson Chandler(15)/Brewer and Ham(3)
Kenneth Faried(30)/Wilson Chandler(15)/Danilo Gallinari(3)
Javale Mcgee(30)/Timofey Mozgov(18)/Kosta Koufos(0)

Anthony Randolph is out of the rotation to start but he will eventually get some minutes at center when we go small. Quincy Miller and Fournier are not in the rotation unless there are injuries. Brewer and Hamilton will battle out for the minutes on the floor.

This is probably the closest to what it'll actually look like, when everyone is healthy anyway. I could see Karl actually going with an 8 man rotation a lot of the time, with Iguodala/Gallinari/Chandler all playing 30+ min and Miller not being far behind. If either of Gallinari or Chandler go down, that's when we'll probably see Brewer/Randolph split his minutes. With how much versatility we have with our wing players, I doubt Hamilton/Brewer/Randolph will see many minutes, because there wont be a huge need.

[Grape God]

Ty lawson(34)/Andre miller(14)/Julyan Stone(0)
Andre Igoudala(21)/Andre Miller(12)/Corey Brewer or Ham(15)
Danilo Gallinari(24)/Wilson Chandler(14)/Iguodala(10)
Kenneth Faried(28)/Wilson Chandler(14)/Danilo Gallinari(6)
Javale Mcgee(29)/Timofey Mozgov(14)/Kennith Faried (5)/(Kosta Koufos(0)


my take

[patrol345]

Everyone has mozgov listed as the backup center, I guess everyone has short term memory. With the exception of the LA playoff series koufus beat out mozgov during the season by a long shot, his pick and roll defense was worlds better. I think that happens again this year. Especially if your gonna run chandler or randolph at the back up pf spot you cannt have a bad hands center with them 2 who the heck is gonna rebound the ball. I'd also like to see jham and brewer get about 10 minutes each a night, I dunno how they can make that happen but it would be nice.

[Ice32]

Everyone has mozgov listed as the backup center, I guess everyone has short term memory. With the exception of the LA playoff series koufus beat out mozgov during the season by a long shot, his pick and roll defense was worlds better. I think that happens again this year. Especially if your gonna run chandler or randolph at the back up pf spot you cannt have a bad hands center with them 2 who the heck is gonna rebound the ball. I'd also like to see jham and brewer get about 10 minutes each a night, I dunno how they can make that happen but it would be nice.

Koufos started 24 of 48 games (50%) and Mozzy started 35 of 44 games (80%)

Rebs - slight edge to KK
Points - even
FG% - KK
FT% - Mozzy
Blks - slight edge to Mozzy

Overall there isn't much difference in these guys, I think the Olympics may have helped Mozzy this off-season. McGee should be starting C and depending on opposition depends on who gets backup minutes.

I also think that Brewer will get minutes when defense/energy is needed, and JHam will get minutes when threes/scoring is needed. Both will be battling each other in training camp, pre-season and practices! I think Brewer gets the edge though because he has GK trust already and brings an element to the game that not many other players can.

[patrol345]

Yes mozzy started more games but koufus started taking his minutes a little over half way thru the season when the mozzy-nene experiment failed. I'm not acting like either one is great. But it seems like before the playoffs everyone had established mozgov basically sucked and koufus needed to be starting, but then the playoffs came with bynum who everyone already knows mozgov matches up with well due to size and everyone forgot about how good koufus was prior to that. Maybe mozgov got better but I doubt it. I rember before the playoffs he could not handle a pass from anyone in traffic to save his life.

[The Rebel]

Yes mozzy started more games but koufus started taking his minutes a little over half way thru the season when the mozzy-nene experiment failed. I'm not acting like either one is great. But it seems like before the playoffs everyone had established mozgov basically sucked and koufus needed to be starting, but then the playoffs came with bynum who everyone already knows mozgov matches up with well due to size and everyone forgot about how good koufus was prior to that. Maybe mozgov got better but I doubt it. I rember before the playoffs he could not handle a pass from anyone in traffic to save his life.

Koufos started getting Mozgov's minutes after Mozgov got injured. It will be interesting to see which one gets more minutes from here on out, but I think Karl likes the bulk that Mozgov has on the defensive end.

[jasonic]

Actually Kosta had a knee problem and he wasn't 100 % ready in the playoffs. His pick and roll defence was great and i think his offensive skills are underrated. He has improved a lot his post game and he 's a good shooter even if he doesn't try jumpers in the game.

[patrol345]

Mozgov was available at the end of the year for a long time and koufus still played. I seem to rember like 3 games in a row of mozgov just barely twisting an ankle and rolling around on the ground screaming. Koufus is a lot better than mozgov if that wasn't obvious watching every game last year, mozgovs hands suck I don't think u can really fix that. Yall really have short term memory around here.

[Manimal]

Ahh the best part about fandom...bashing players on your own team to support your argument for another. When do the Gallo/Chandler debates start?

[RRFB]

Channel 4 had George Karl on for an interview at the Tavern a few hours ago and they asked him about the starting lineup. He pretty much said that McGee isn't a lock to be the starting center, and that either Moz or Koufos could earn it in camp. He also said that Chandler is basically going to fill in for Harrington.