fatlever wrote:As much as PJ sucks, and I cant understand why teams even try to guard him out to the 3pt line (i'd take my chances), it does seem like he at the very least spaces the floor some for the starters. How much different would that offense look, spacing wise, with MKG in PJs place? Seems like, at the very least, MKG's man would be leaving him and have one foot in the paint to help.
it could also big a good lesson to MKG to just shoot it when left wide open.
PJ is shooting like crap, but they still defend him because he launches it with confidence
Dusting off this thread in anticipation of MKG coming back.
Interesting piece on rotoworld talking about the minutes impact of MKG coming back (link):
Spoiler:
The big question is: When MKG comes back, what happens then?
The Hornets have been starting P.J. Hairston at small forward this season, but that only accounts for about half the game. The other big piece in the small forward puzzle is starting shooting guard Nicolas Batum, who is logging around 15-17 minutes at small forward to help fill the void. That also opens up the 30 minutes or so at shooting guard, which is where Jeremy Lamb and Jeremy Lin come in. Marvin Williams also logged nine minutes at small forward on Monday. Lin has been logging all of his minutes at shooting guard right now while Lamb has been hurt, so Lin will be moving back to point guard more and bump Brian Roberts out of the rotation.
So all that said, MKG’s 25-27 minutes are going to come from basically every wing and even Frank Kaminsky because Marvin will be logging almost all of his minutes at the four now. Plus, the Hornets did use MKG at the four, but that may be less likely to happen. The Hornets offense is built on the stretch four, so Kaminsky and Williams should be soaking up all of the PF minutes — unless maybe the Hornets are up big and want to use MKG on defense. The Hornets are almost never using Kaminsky at the five, so MKG’s return may not hurt Cody Zeller. Of course, they could opt to use Kaminksy for spacing in that regard, too. Although, his low-post D has been a major issue.
So as we have all noticed, Cliff has started plugging Frank in at PF as first sub off the bench with Marv and Cody still on the floor, shifting Marv to SF. It will be really interesting to see what happens with the Frank / Marv minute distribution once MKG comes back. This offseason, Marv seemed very much to be the odd man out and everyone hoped he'd just get buried on the bench as second or third string SF. Given his play so far this season, that seems highly doubtful, but Cliff has also clearly made playing Frank a priority. Frank has played 27 MPG in his last five, same as Marv (and that includes Marv's 44 minutes yesterday).
Spoiler:
Random aside, but wanted to make sure everyone saw this:
Adi Joseph @AdiJoseph Jan 18 Steve Clifford says using Kaminsky on inbound plays is partially about player development as much as him being the best option. cc: Byron
It will also be interesting to see what happens with the PJ / Lamb minute distribution. Even though he's the current starter, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see PJ get bumped to the end of the bench with Lamb's minutes going relatively untouched. It will be really interesting to see if Cliff tries to change PT between Lamb and PJ depending on offensive or defensive needs in the game, or if one of them gets to keep minutes and a guaranteed spot in the rotation unless they really mess up.
Lin - 28 (14-PG, 14-SG) Lamb - 20 (20-SG) Frank - 22 (22-PF) Hawes - 10 (10-C) Al - 10 (10-C)
I do not see any way the coach will only play Al 10 minutes. He was terrible last season and got huge minutes so I would expect the same should he get healthy again. Ideally I would like to see him with some DNPs and some small ball center minutes for Frank with Marv and MKG in to see if that helps cover for his defense a bit.
Braggins wrote:I'd like to see something like this for minute allocation when fully healthy...
I do not see any way the coach will only play Al 10 minutes. He was terrible last season and got huge minutes so I would expect the same should he get healthy again. Ideally I would like to see him with some DNPs and some small ball center minutes for Frank with Marv and MKG in to see if that helps cover for his defense a bit.
You're right, but a man can dream lol.
You haven't been posting much this season. I was hoping you would show up in the game thread against Phoenix and tell us all to suck it for doubting Booker
I'm just glad for all the flexibility we'll have when we can plug MKG in for 25+mpg at SF and know the position will be rock-solid that entire stretch. I expect it will take awhile, probably until shortly after the All-Star break, for Cliff to figure out the best way to reconfigure roles for the other guys.
I concur with everyone else that Al is probably going to get big minutes once he's fully healed, but I wish he wouldn't. At minimum I hope Cliff is wise enough to start out slow with him, 10-15mpg for a week or two, and let him get his conditioning back.
I half expect Cliff to spoon-feed MKG minutes for conditioning reasons while giving Al a big load right off the bat and insisting it's cool to play his way into shape cuz veteran leadership. That would be the worst-case scenario.
Braggins wrote:I'd like to see something like this for minute allocation when fully healthy...
I do not see any way the coach will only play Al 10 minutes. He was terrible last season and got huge minutes so I would expect the same should he get healthy again. Ideally I would like to see him with some DNPs and some small ball center minutes for Frank with Marv and MKG in to see if that helps cover for his defense a bit.
You're right, but a man can dream lol.
You haven't been posting much this season. I was hoping you would show up in the game thread against Phoenix and tell us all to suck it for doubting Booker
A little annoyed by some of the decisions made on this board so I drifted away for a while. Still not pleased but some of you guys I missed so I come by here and there to see what you guys think. Saw a couple of posts of yours that I found interesting and decided to comment.
Frank has been better than I thought on offense but still not much of a defensive player. We will see how he develops there once MKG is back. MKG fixes a lot of our problems by doing so much that never shows up in a stat sheet.
yosemiteben wrote:It will also be interesting to see what happens with the PJ / Lamb minute distribution. Even though he's the current starter, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see PJ get bumped to the end of the bench with Lamb's minutes going relatively untouched. It will be really interesting to see if Cliff tries to change PT between Lamb and PJ depending on offensive or defensive needs in the game, or if one of them gets to keep minutes and a guaranteed spot in the rotation unless they really mess up.
I'm expecting Cliff to keep PJ in the rotation and for Lamb to become a DNP-CD player until it becomes totally long overdue for him to give Lamb those minutes instead.
They will wage war against the Lamb but the Lamb will triumph them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings - and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers." Revelation 17:14 (NIV)
mkg is not going to make a difference from what I can see. With the god awful D played by the bigs on this team, as well as batum, there is no way he can cover for all of them. On the other hand, I can see mkg flourish with kemba/lin, troy daniels, tyler hansborough, marvin williams. Only these guys are not lost causes on the defensive end.
bigbob wrote:mkg is not going to make a difference from what I can see. With the god awful D played by the bigs on this team, as well as batum, there is no way he can cover for all of them. On the other hand, I can see mkg flourish with kemba/lin, troy daniels, tyler hansborough, marvin williams. Only these guys are not lost causes on the defensive end.
You underestimate him. This is a guy who has learned how to cover for Al Jefferson's ass for the last two years early in his career- something that has probably brought out the best in him. He just might be the best at recovering and still contesting shots that he has no business getting to, that I've ever seen. If there's one guy in the league that can collapse into the paint like we do and still close out well on the open shooter on the kick out, it's him. He has the full package of length, quickness, athleticism, awareness, and insane hustle to guard anybody and everybody at the same time.
bigbob wrote:mkg is not going to make a difference from what I can see. With the god awful D played by the bigs on this team, as well as batum, there is no way he can cover for all of them. On the other hand, I can see mkg flourish with kemba/lin, troy daniels, tyler hansborough, marvin williams. Only these guys are not lost causes on the defensive end.
He's been doing it with awful defensive bigs and wings his whole career essentially. He makes our entire defense so much better. He made Al Jefferson competent in some manner. His presence will help a ton! It will also give Batum relief on guarding the best wing on the opposing team, which he shouldn't have to do. And that give Batum more energy and freedom on offense as well.
That would be the worst-case scenario.
