Less is more

[FJS]

We have won 4 of our last 5 games (to be honest, only Min is in 50% of W-L) but seems like we are playing a little better.
It's curious we are playing better with less players in our rosters, and with more limited players.

I mean:
Tinsley, Watson and Burks are worse players than Mo, but they know their limits. They try to pass, deffend and create. They shoot only when it's necessary.

Without Williams we play Carroll, who is a worse basketball player than Marvin, but he only does what he knows to do. Deffense, intensity, rebound in limited minutes. Then, Hayward, Foye and Burks can play more.

In Suns and Nuggets Kanted did not play. @ Suns Al, Paul and Favors did a great job combined. @ Nuggets was a disaster.

With that, I don't mean Mo, Marvin or Enes aren't valuable for this team, but sometimes it's better to have some players with reduced role who do their job, than 12 decent players who can't explode their game.

[leorn]

Mo shoots more than any other player in clutch situations....and is 4/18 for a sizzling 22%.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/plus/shot_finder.cgi?request=1&player_id=&match=single&year_id=2013&is_playoffs=N&team_id=UTA&opp_id=&game_num_min=0&game_num_max=99&game_month=&game_location=&game_result=&shot_pts=&is_make=&shot_type=&shot_distance_min=&shot_distance_max=&q4=Y&q5=Y&time_remain_minutes=2&time_remain_seconds=0&time_remain_comp=le&margin_min=-5&margin_max=5&c1stat=&c1comp=ge&c1val=&c2stat=&c2comp=ge&c2val=&c3stat=&c3comp=ge&c3val=&order_by=fg

I don't hate Mo, but he has not been an effective closer for us this year.

[HolyToledo12]

i thought we played too many players at the start of the season, but simply i think millsap and Big Al playing better and thinking less about their pending free agency. The biggest factor is Hayward worked on his shot and went from a good player to an allstar level player. Millsap said after the Bobcats game that Hayward is the leader of this team.

[RyanStorm]

Since we got at least one young guy wanting to step up and shine for every position, every time one guy goes down, there is one ready to come in who is talented and capable of stepping up(surpassing the guy they are subbing for). Everyone who comes in, has great nights. These bench players, when mixed with our starters, really helps them step up their game(which is what we saw last night). Carroll is a 3rd string and can make that big of a difference.

Pretty much, by keeping everyone hungry(except our lazy starters), when these younger guys get minutes, especially the amazing quality minutes that Burks saw last night 28:13, and Carroll's 28:27 minutes, they really play at their bests and make people around them better. This might also make our starters toughen up on account they want to keep 30+ minutes. Jefferson and Foye(part of the miracle unit), were the only ones with 30+.


Seriously, Foye and Marv rarely both score 10+ each, Carroll and Foye hit 9 and 10, they work much better together. Then you add Paul and Al's big nights of 19 and 26, and Tinsleys 9...our starters finally all had a great night(only difference was the junkyard dog), we all hit our minimum expectations which never happens. Winning all comes down to all of our starters having "good" nights, with one or two having great nights(not just one or two having good nights).

This needs to continue if we want to win. Cause our benches performance was amazing(like always), Burks hit 12, Favors had 10 and Hayward had 14. Were talking 8 guys who made 109, they averaged 13.6 points last night(almost all of both units averaging starter numbers). Watson and Kanter were the only two who did nothing, watson never does anything anyways, but Kanter was 1/6. If he would have hit his 50% shooting, that would have been 6 points, 2 rebounds in 15 minutes. Even if you add them in, our 10 man rotation averaged 11.2 points last night. Add in Murphy and Evans, and that is 9.3 points per player on the whole team.

Biggest difference that I usually point out as biggest flaws(black hole), that didn't happen last night...Al's 73% shooting, and 100% FT with 26 points total, then Paul's 66% shooting and 60% FT with 19 points. All of our points 44 made out of 82 attempts between everyone, was .536 shooting, which is great shooting when your counting everyone.
Less misses mean less fast breaks, and 10 total offensive rebounds means even less fast breaks and more second chance points.

[RyanStorm]

Sum it up in one sentence, are entire team shot at .536 shooting and scored 112 points. Your idea of smaller rotations could be correct. Last night was a 10 men rotation. It becomes a 14 man rotation at full force.

Mo, Marv, Evans, and Murphy. Two were threw in for victory lap in 4th, and two out on injury. I think knowing your going to get good minutes has really opened up these guys. I mean its a lot easier to play when you know what your doing each night. With 4 others, 2 of which are starters, were talking a lot of confusion on who gets what minutes, and how to get your own.

[MeestR]

maybe the veterans can take turns on the inactive list for a game or 2, so the young bucks can get the hang of holding on to the reigns. and at the same time, force the vets to have some confidence in the 2nd unit. and also force corbin to use what he has instead of using the vets as a crutch.

[RyanStorm]

maybe the veterans can take turns on the inactive list for a game or 2, so the young bucks can get the hang of holding on to the reigns. and at the same time, force the vets to have some confidence in the 2nd unit. and also force corbin to use what he has instead of using the vets as a crutch.

I thought about this, and I think now is perfect. These next 6 games including our last game, 4 are against the 4 worst teams in the east, and 1 versus the best in the east, and 1 versus a Golden State type good team.

As much as I think our 2nd unit should stay together, it really helps out our starters to have some young blood pumped into the starting lineup.

I just see Burks and Hayward as being able to work on any unit, same with Carroll. If Carroll can take over as a starter every game, I would like that, cause our Q1's are always slow and have no energy. Marvin just isn't what he is worth, especially with Hayward ready to take his minutes(which he should for a win). I think with Al, Paul and Foye making all the points, were better off putting in a primary defensive player who can score in Carroll, who makes great decisions unlike Marvin.

I don't care who starts, but I care who plays with who, and who gets minutes. I personally think it should all depend on each game and who is hot and who is not. Which I see Corbin doing every game as of late. But I think Corbin has found some nice line ups with Burks and Hayward. Carroll, Paul and Al, all work out cause its a good combination of offense and defense. Marvin's offense just isn't that good, and Carrolls defense is much better.

I say trade Marvin, I mean his contract is more than Millsaps, and combined they could afford something good. We seriously have plenty of guys to fill in for them two, and as much as I like Paul, he is finally recovering from being a non-jazzman, after denying that contract he went into the dump. I only want guys who want to play and who will bleed for this team, like Carroll. I have seen Al pick up on this type of play.

[RyanStorm]

Most the time Marvin makes like 6 to 8 points, but his "whack a mole" get 15+ randomly through out the season, makes him look like a 10ppg player. This is just another inconsistent player we don't need. Seriously once a week he gets over 15, and win almost every time he does. More production would mean more wins.

Carroll hasn't consistently done as much, but he isn't getting secured starter minutes, and is being brought in every now and then, which is really hard to do. Either way, I believe Hayward is a way better player, and should be getting Marvin's minutes..

Favors isn't as ready to take over full time for Millsap, but still could. Kanter is further back than Favors, to replace Al. However in time, I believe Kanter will become a premier Center, and so will Favors at hybrid C/PF. For now they make us a deadly bench while they earn and learn.

Of all these combinations of young vs starter, the only one I personally think can change now, is Hayward for Marvin, or even Carroll for Marvin. Kanter, Burks and Favors make a crazy good bench, especially defensively. The current 10 man rotation is awesome, but I would really like to see Murphy and Evans get 5+ every night, especially against these young "less win" eastern teams

[erudite23]

The biggest contributor to this upswing is Gordon Hayward. He's been killing it for the last two weeks, and playing at a borderline All Star level. He's gone from a very poor 3p% to over 40% as of right now. His PER is currently higher than Paul George--who everyone is drooling over and going nuts that we passed on him---and he has increased his usage and efficiency while cutting down his TOs. If he can finish better inside the arc, and bring his rebounding and assist numbers up a bit more, we're looking at a very valuable player with a really well rounded game.

Otherwise, we are just playing bad teams and playing better rotations. We still aren't going anywhere until we figure out what we're doing long term, what our identity is, and resolve the situations with Favors and Kanter. This we're just in a holding pattern until further notice.