Small Ball is Dead, so what will our line up look like?

MrDollarBills · Post #1 » by **MrDollarBills** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 9:22 pm

Interesting to see where we go line up wise now that Kidd's system is out. I'm assuming we're going traditional, regardless of the hire.

C: Lopez
PF: ?
SF: Johnson
SG: ?
PG: Williams(ugh)

I'm assuming that Pierce and Livingston haul ass.

What do you think the Nets will field regarding starters? KG and Brook cannot play together. Can Mason possibly play the 4 man in a big line up? Not sure.

I leave Joe at SF indefinitely. He was a stud at that position last season.

Bro Johnson · Post #2 » by **Bro Johnson** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 9:39 pm

Depending on who the new coach is it may be dead.

Assuming the new coach is Lionel Hollins then yes, small ball is dead, but if it were Mark Jackson or George Karl there's absolutely no reason why it can't continue.

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If the Nets want to run a more traditional lineup and Pierce and Livingston do leave I'd probably opt to go with the following:

PG: Williams
SG: Johnson
SF: Kirilenko
PF: Mirza
C: Lopez

Kirilenko would basically step into the Shaun Livingston role with his off-the-ball cuts, slight passes, and defense against opposing wings while Mirza would help overall floor spacing.

MGrand15 · Post #3 » by **MGrand15** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 9:50 pm

I love AK47 and wouldn't hesitate to start him at 4 or even 3 if we need to move JJ back to SG. If KG's retiring or going to a bench role, his defense and passing would help a lot. I thought AK47 was underused last year because Kidd really, really emphasized outside shooting - which lead to AA stealing some of his minutes.

I think Plumlee has to stay at center. Playing him next to Lopez encourages Brook to spot up more from the outside - which none of us want. Or worse - it encourages Mason to shoot more jumpers. Dont really want that. I'd rather keep giving Teletovic minutes at the 4. Plums should focus on being a backup. He'll get PLENTY of minutes considering Lopez/KG will be on minute restrictions and probably rested on back-to-backs.

We need to see what our SG situation looks like in a month or so. Right now only Thornton is signed on for next year. I wonder if we bring Bogdanovic in now that Livingston is gone.

MGrand15 · Post #4 » by **MGrand15** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 10:02 pm

I kinda worry that Lionel Hollins may not value spacing the floor that much. I could see us going super big with AK47 at 3 and KG or Plumlee at 4. He was a good coach for Memphis though so I won't take that from him.

Ror1997 · Post #5 » by **Ror1997** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 10:31 pm

I would like to make a run at Ariza but I have no idea if we actually can. Can we somehow trade for Wilson Chandler?

Paradise · Post #6 » by **Paradise** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 10:37 pm

Ror1997 wrote:I would like to make a run at Ariza but I have no idea if we actually can. Can we somehow trade for Wilson Chandler?

Yes. Thornton for Chandler swap works financially.

Prokorov · Post #7 » by **Prokorov** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 10:47 pm

no one should be slating kirilenko to start. he missed 40 games last year and has struggle with injury for a few years now.

IF pierce is gone, we will need to bring in a PF, maybe ivan johnson?

Ror1997 · Post #8 » by **Ror1997** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 11:00 pm

Paradise wrote:
Ror1997 wrote:I would like to make a run at Ariza but I have no idea if we actually can. Can we somehow trade for Wilson Chandler?

Yes. Thornton for Chandler swap works financially.

It would take more than Thortan tho, right

Keith Van Horn · Post #9 » by **Keith Van Horn** » Tue Jul 1, 2014 2:19 am

Hire Messina and keep appealing to the foreign, d league, and second round players over the next few years. Develop a new identity and a system around Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez (pray) and all the new and young guys. Don't hold out any hope that 2016 will be our saving grace. Just hope for the best performance out of each player on our roster. Trade Deron as soon as his value reaches a high point this year.

That's how I see things shaping up.

Deron / Jack (trade Thornton)
JJ / Brown
PP / bogs (use MMLE)
AK / MT3
Lopez / KG / Plumlee

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kerry kittles · Post #10 » by **kerry kittles** » Tue Jul 1, 2014 2:48 am

Hopefully Pierce is back and starting at the 4. Small ball doesn't have to be dead and Pierce is better suited at the 4, Johnson better suited at 3. The lineup played well to the strengths of our players last year. I see no reason to deviate from it if Pierce returns.
Before "small ball" Kidd was throwing **** at the wall at seeing what would stick. He went though what 20+ starting lineups, experimented with Pierce off the bench, etc. The lineup we saw success with played to everyone strengths. Johnson is too slow to guard quicker shooting guards like the Hardens, but move up to the 3 he's great. Pierce is too slow to take 3's off the dribble. Move him up to the 4 and he can. Livingston isn't a guy who needs touches and can defend multiple positions on defense. The lineup we saw really just played to each player's strengths and there was great floor balance.

Post #11 » by **NyCeEvO** » Tue Jul 1, 2014 2:48 am

Prokorov wrote:no one should be slating kirilenko to start. he missed 40 games last year and has struggle with injury for a few years now.

IF pierce is gone, we will need to bring in a PF, maybe ivan johnson?

I like Ivan Johnson. I've advocated signing him just like you have.

With that said, if he's our starting PF and there isn't a better big man behind him, we're in deep trouble (even though where we are right now isn't so great lol.)

vincecarter4pres · Post #12 » by **vincecarter4pres** » Tue Jul 1, 2014 3:52 am

If Pierce leaves I wouldn't be shocked to see something along the lines of Lopez traded in a 3 team deal for Rudy Gay with Josh Smith going to Sacto.

I think you'd see JJ moved back to the 2 and Mirza and Plumlee as the starting bigs.

Plumlee
Mirza
Gay
JJ
Deron

SpeedyG · Post #13 » by **SpeedyG** » Tue Jul 1, 2014 9:14 pm

vincecarter4pres wrote:If Pierce leaves I wouldn't be shocked to see something along the lines of Lopez traded in a 3 team deal for Rudy Gay with Josh Smith going to Sacto.

I think you'd see JJ moved back to the 2 and Mirza and Plumlee as the starting bigs.

Plumlee
Mirza
Gay
JJ
Deron

Doesn't make a lot of sense for Detroit to let Monroe go, only to trade Josh to replace him with Lopez, does it?

kamaze · Post #14 » by **kamaze** » Tue Jul 1, 2014 11:00 pm

This team needs a power forward ASAP Jordan Hill would be ideal but will cost more than the MLE. BK would have to do some wheeling and dealing to pull that off.

Marvin Williams would be a good pickup since he's versatile enough to play small forward.

Or like someone said Ivan Johnson they can even bring Humphries back.

jeff1624 · Post #15 » by **jeff1624** » Wed Jul 2, 2014 12:30 am

Hopefully:

Lopez./Garnett/Plumlee
Kirilenko/Mirza
Pierce/Anderson?
Johnson/Thornton/Brown
Williams/FA PG/Teague

One of lopez or Garnett will need to be the backup Center full time. I think I might prefer Lopez to start, sit him at the 7 minute mark, then bring him in with the subs so that he could be the 1st option.

Prokorov · Post #16 » by **Prokorov** » Wed Jul 2, 2014 1:34 am

jeff1624 wrote:Hopefully:

Lopez./Garnett/Plumlee
Kirilenko/Mirza
Pierce/Anderson?
Johnson/Thornton/Brown
Williams/FA PG/Teague

One of lopez or Garnett will need to be the backup Center full time. I think I might prefer Lopez to start, sit him at the 7 minute mark, then bring him in with the subs so that he could be the 1st option.

how many games would you expect that starting lineup to play together? 10? 20?

Kirilenko is a lock to miss a ton of games. Lopez and dwill im sure will miss a bunch as well.

if we are going away from small ball(which i think thre is a 0% chance of happening if pierce is back) then we need to aquire a PF

therealbig3 · Post #17 » by **therealbig3** » Wed Jul 2, 2014 1:59 am

My main concerns are backup PG and starting SG. If we slide Johnson back to SG, and stick Kirilenko and Pierce (if Pierce stays) at the two forward spots...our bench gets really thin. No backup PG outside of Teague and Jorge, no backup SG outside of Thornton, and no backup SF outside of our 2nd rounders.

And yeah, imagine if we had injuries, which is likely to happen when you have Deron Williams, Andrei Kirilenko, Kevin Garnett, and Brook Lopez on your team.

jeff1624 · Post #18 » by **jeff1624** » Wed Jul 2, 2014 1:59 am

Prokorov wrote:
jeff1624 wrote:Hopefully:

Lopez./Garnett/Plumlee
Kirilenko/Mirza
Pierce/Anderson?
Johnson/Thornton/Brown
Williams/FA PG/Teague

One of lopez or Garnett will need to be the backup Center full time. I think I might prefer Lopez to start, sit him at the 7 minute mark, then bring him in with the subs so that he could be the 1st option.

how many games would you expect that starting lineup to play together? 10? 20?

Kirilenko is a lock to miss a ton of games. Lopez and dwill im sure will miss a bunch as well.

if we are going away from small ball(which i think thre is a 0% chance of happening if pierce is back) then we need to aquire a PF

I didn't include injuries because that part of the game is inevitable. It wouldn't surprise me to see Lopez play 75+ minutes next season, just like it wouldn't surprise me to see him play less than 30.

As for PF's. I tend to agree, but I doubt King will look to acquire one since: this team has few trading assets and since Brooklyn seems to be positioning themselves for 2016.

vincecarter4pres · Post #19 » by **vincecarter4pres** » Wed Jul 2, 2014 7:50 pm

Lopez probably isn't going to play any back to backs and be given off precautionary games here and there even if he's healthy and his minute limit is probably going to be 25 even if he's up to speed midseason.

So even if he's healthy, I think he's a guy who plays around 65 games max.

SpeedyG · Post #20 » by **SpeedyG** » Wed Jul 2, 2014 8:18 pm

vincecarter4pres wrote:Lopez probably isn't going to play any back to backs and be given off precautionary games here and there even if he's healthy and his minute limit is probably going to be 25 even if he's up to speed midseason.

So even if he's healthy, I think he's a guy who plays around 65 games max.

I'm not so sure. Kidd's gone. I can't remember a lot about Hollins, but the impression I get is that he's a tough hard-nose kind of guy. If the doctors clears a player with no restriction, I don't think Hollins will self-impose one.