Your starting 5 and 3 things you wish to see this season

[lazybatman]

Starters -
Bron 32
Schroeder 26
Wes 16
AD 32
Trez 26

Bench -
KCP 24
Gasol 20
Kuz 30
Caruso 20
THT 14

Garbage -
Morris 0
McKinnie 0
Cook 0
Dud 0

I already feel bad about our role players' minutes. All of them deserve more but it's not happening.

Went with Trez as I think Trez, AD & Bron back court is enough to handle 90% of the bigs pretty handily, and Trez is gonna be more productive around Lebron than any of the other ball handlers. And I want Gasol or Bron on the court to lead at all times, so couldn't have them in the same lineup.

I thought about switching Kuz / Caruso in the starting line up, but there's enough ball handlers / playmakers already there, and Kuz will be better served with more minutes in the bench unit around Gasol.

3 things -
1. Gasol + young hungry cutters bench lineup(which is my bench unit here). Would love to see this bunch develop chemistry and play off each other like they did in game 2 against the Clips last week. I can't see a ceiling for this group offensively.
2. Schroeder improve to 7-8 assists. Don't care if he goes down to 13-14 ppg.. each assist is worth 2.5 points.
3. Caruso fully transform into a mean Marcus Smart level bad*ss.

[lazybatman]

Modders - Can you please merge this thread with the other Frank Vogel's rotation thread. Sorry!

[TyCobb]

LeBron-KCP-Kuzma-AD-Gasol
Caruso-Schroeder-Matthews-Morris-Harrell
Cook-THT-McKinnie-Dudley-Antetenkounmpo

Three things I wish to see:
Trade Kuzma and Cook for Aaron Holiday and Goga Bitadze.
Waive Giannis’ brother
Sign Zhaire Smith

[heezyo2o]

KCP, Matthews, Lebron, AD, Gasol.

Even if they want to limit Lebron's and ADs minutes, I'd bet they still play there regular 34-35mpg on most nights. AD just played 30 in a meaningless preseason game.

I think they should rest and sit Lebron on some games. Regular season record doesn't matter

[snaquille oatmeal]

LeBron-KCP-Kuzma-AD-Gasol
Caruso-Schroeder-Matthews-Morris-Harrell
Cook-THT-McKinnie-Dudley-Antetenkounmpo

Three things I wish to see:
Trade Kuzma and Cook for Aaron Holiday and Goga Bitadze.
Waive Giannis’ brother
Sign Zhaire Smith

I'm of the opinion that we should stand pat. I'm good as we are. once the inevitable injuries happen we will need the guys we got already.

[stan francisco]

Caruso, Pope, LBJ, AD, Gasol
Schröder, Matthews, THT, Kuzma, Harrell
THT, Tinkle, McKinney, Morris, Kostas

Wish list:
1) Waive Quinn Cook (to open up a spot) or trade him for cash to a place where he can get looks.
2) Sign Pau, allow him to ‘warm up’ until the playoffs. Assign him as Kostas’ personal coach.
3) When Ariza is waived, beg him to sign a 1 year lease with us for relative peanuts.

[Kilroy]

LeBron, Schroder, Mathews, AD Gasol.

I want to see THT get consistent minutes, I'd like to see if he ends up in the starting lineup after the all star break. I think he's got the best mix of skills to play guard off of LeBron, whereas KCP and Schroder can be fine in the second unit. I'd like to see if a THT, Caruso, LeBron, AD, Gasol lineup could work.

I want to see Caruso develop a consistent 3pt shot... Because if he doesn't, I'm not sure how he gets much PT with Schroder, KCP, Mathews and THT all fighting for minutes.

I want to see Kuzma traded as part of either a deal for another young talented big, or for another young talented wing.

[tamaraw08]

I for one don’t spend so much time worrying on who should start but more on who should play more, JMC started but didn’t made as much impact as Caruso imo.
For my wishes, I have the unrealistic ones and the more plausible.
The unrealistics are
1. AD to suck it up and play the 5 except when guarding huge centers.
2. Kuzma to hit 40% from 3.
3 Lebron and AD to play about 28 minutes per game.
4. Schroeder and Harrell to come from the bench and lead the reserves as the most prolific bench, average 35 mins and 40 pts.
My practical wishes are
1. AD to improve more on how to move without the ball.
2. Lebron as a legit screener for Schroeder and Marc as the passer.
3. Better sets for the bench.
4. Matthews and Caruso to hit their open 3’s

[Michael Lucky]

Lebron, AD, KCP, Gasol, Schroeder as the starters. Yeah Sshroeder is an awkward fit, but so is Kuzma at SG.

Bench: Tht, Kuzma, Harrell, Matthews, Caruso.

[stan francisco]

To correct based on the assumption that we get to sign Ariza and can revive Pau; my rotations would be:

Starters: Caruso, Pope, LBJ, AD, Marc Gasol
BenchMob2.0: Schröder, Matthews, Ariza, Kuzma, Harrell
Thirders: THT, Tinkle, McKinney, Morris, Dudley/Kostas/Pau

[Beethoven]

BRON BROW KCP TREZ GASOL

Really got to get trez more involved in the offensive schemes / LeBron pick n roll instead of just having him iso or stagnate jump shot or garbage clean up from what I saw in pre-season not sure we're utilizing him correctly.
Have him play the most minutes and let him flow into the second unit as well w Schroder offensively moving w him.

Basically I want to see primary focus on trez involvement for most of the regular season.
I would like to see him as the 3rd highest scorer on our team on average.


I honestly want to see both kuz and THT as 'garbage' play clean uppers. Meaning no set plays on a regular basis for them (set plays always initially for bron ad or trez) .
And if defense alters the primary plan, a kick out to catch and shoot 3 for kuz or pass to THT if we run into the situation where we have only 8 sec left on the clock and (before we used to have someone just desperation iso play or chuck it)...have THT garbage play to the hole since he's so good at it. That play he does shouldn't be a primary offensive play for Frank as scouting teams will hamper him big time (seriously , he's talented but he's not experienced enough yet when the scouting hurdles come upon him)
So for now him being used as a tertiary or secondary option / plan'B' is much better for the overall offensive impact of team..until he grows into some veteran experience.

This by no means I'm disrespecting THT. Just see his drive-to-basket, although more controlled than a lance Stephenson , is more a scoutable play at this point ...
analogous to a Dwight offensive rebound clean up or lob dunk (lob dunk always work when the defense is so focused on ad bron , the change in offense works all of a sudden Dwight dunk. Obviously it don't work if you gear your offense only through to Dwight lob dunk cuz it will be easily planned against ).

[DanishLakerFan]

Starting 5:
Schroeder; KCP; Lebron; AD; Gasol

3 things:
1) AD wins it all - MVP, DPOY and FMVP.
2) THT and Kuzma break out.
3) We somehow manage to add Pau and Ariza who end up playing key roles in the 2021 championship.

[stan francisco]

The reason why I’m starting Caruso and KCP is because LBJ handles all the playmaking with that unit. He and AD and Marc is enough playmaking to make Schröder’s playmaking superfluous. See the Stephenson experiment.

A second unit of Schröder, Matthews, Kuzma, Morris, Harrell would compete against most starting fives, and probably run up our lead in no time every night. This spells healthy legs for LBJ and AD in the post season, and also some times for THT and Kostas to grow.


EDIT:
If AD loved to play with DMC, he’s gonna flip out playing with Marc. The two of them are a perfect combo on both ends.

I also look forward to seeing Caruso and Marc play off of one another. They think the same way, it’s gonna be a great match and beautiful to watch. I’m hoping Marc will set AC up for some good look threes so he can get back into rhythm from deep.

[Liam_Gallagher]

G - James/Shroder/Cook
G - KCP/Caruso
F - Matthews/THT/McKinnie
F - Davis/Kuzma/Morris/Dudley
C - Gasol/TREZ/Cacock

[lazybatman]

BRON BROW KCP TREZ GASOL

Really got to get trez more involved in the offensive schemes / LeBron pick n roll instead of just having him iso or stagnate jump shot or garbage clean up from what I saw in pre-season not sure we're utilizing him correctly.
Have him play the most minutes and let him flow into the second unit as well w Schroder offensively moving w him.

Basically I want to see primary focus on trez involvement for most of the regular season.
I would like to see him as the 3rd highest scorer on our team on average.


I honestly want to see both kuz and THT as 'garbage' play clean uppers. Meaning no set plays on a regular basis for them (set plays always initially for bron ad or trez) .
And if defense alters the primary plan, a kick out to catch and shoot 3 for kuz or pass to THT if we run into the situation where we have only 8 sec left on the clock and (before we used to have someone just desperation iso play or chuck it)...have THT garbage play to the hole since he's so good at it. That play he does shouldn't be a primary offensive play for Frank as scouting teams will hamper him big time (seriously , he's talented but he's not experienced enough yet when the scouting hurdles come upon him)
So for now him being used as a tertiary or secondary option / plan'B' is much better for the overall offensive impact of team..until he grows into some veteran experience.

This by no means I'm disrespecting THT. Just see his drive-to-basket, although more controlled than a lance Stephenson , is more a scoutable play at this point ...
analogous to a Dwight offensive rebound clean up or lob dunk (lob dunk always work when the defense is so focused on ad bron , the change in offense works all of a sudden Dwight dunk. Obviously it don't work if you gear your offense only through to Dwight lob dunk cuz it will be easily planned against ).

I agree about Trez needing more focus. He needs to be played next to Bron as much as possible, until any of the other ball handlers(Schroeder, Caruso, THT) can develop a nice PnR game with him.

I feel a lot of you guys wanna give starter roles to KCP(contract) & Gasol(seniority) out of respect, but I'm fixed on them leading the 2nd unit.

I see this bench lineup - Gasol + KCP, Kuz, THT, Caruso. While Lebron, AD, Scroeder, Wes, Trez is a formidable starting lineup(and I'm not worried about the size at all), this 2nd unit has Gasol playmaking for the cutters / open shooters. Combine that with THT & Kuz iso possessions, and that's a pretty fundamentally solid bench unit which, if unlocked on offense, could be amazing. Morris can sub any of them if size is needed.

[heezyo2o]

Gasol's playmaking with the 2nd unit can help, but I think Gasol should play most of his time with AD to save him some wear and tear over the season. I figure Gasol's minutes will be limited and most of the time they'll go small so might as well match him with AD when he's out there. Also would like a quicker pace with the 2nd unit and Gasol would slow them down

[Liam_Gallagher]

I don't understand why Shroder started last night. He and LeBron seem like a bad fit. When LeBron and AD are on the floor, most plays (like last season) go through them. Dennis should be manning the bench with Montrezl. Lineup should simply be:

G - James[34] / Shroder[30] / Cook
G - KCP[26]/ Caruso [18]
F - Matthews[18] / THT[14] / McKinnie
F - Davis[35] / Kuzma[20] / Morris / Dudley
C - Gasol[15] / Harrell [30] / Cacock / Antetakoumpo