The Playoff Rotation

TylersLakers · Post #1 » by **TylersLakers** » Sun May 2, 2021 5:47 pm

If Alex Caruso comes back tonight which is likely, it's time we put the kids to bed and bring out our big guns for a playoff style rotation. Which means: Markieff Morris, see ya later. THT, see ya later. Marc Gasol, unless Harrell/AD/Drummond get hurt or dinged up, see ya later. Ben McLemore? Maybe a shift or two if KCP isn't making jumpers.

What is your playoff rotation and what line-ups would you like to see heavy doses of for the last 9 games going into the playoffs? My rotation and some of my line-ups would look like:

The Starters:

Schroder, KCP, LeBron, AD, Drummond: We need to see if this line-up works. Because if we play it to start the first and third quarter of every game and we're down 7-8 points when LeBron heads to the bench for the end of his first shift, then we're not maximizing AD/LeBron minutes. We have to destroy teams when those two are on the court and if we're not then we need to make some changes around it. If it works? We need to bully ball people. For this line-up to work, the AD front court needs to dominate the offensive glass like how Pau/Bynum did it in 2009-2011. We used to see Bynum and Pau playing volleyball on the boards and having possessions where they'd have 4 or 5 straight offensive rebounds or tip-ins. The AD front court is totally capable of that. Add in LeBron? Come on.

Caruso (24-28 MPG), Kuzma (26-30 MPG), Harrell (18-25 MPG), Wes Matthews (14-18 MPG) off the bench. In the playoffs, trim Wes Matthews from that quickly if he's not hitting.

Line-ups I'd Like To See:

Schroder, KCP, Caruso, LeBron, AD: A line-up I think will close a lot of games for us in the play-offs. We went to that 3 guard line-up a lot last year (with Bradley in the regular season and Rondo in the playoffs). We need to see how that works with Schroder in the mix.

Schroder, KCP, Wes, Kuzma, AD: With LeBron on the bench, pick-and-roll the s**t out of teams with Schroder and AD. You got AD who can roll or pop out, you got great cutters in Kuzma/KCP and everyone in that line-up can spot up and knock down shots.

LeBron, KCP, Caruso (or Wes), AD, Harrell: If you recall back to the Denver home game this year, this line-up specifically and three-man combination of LeBron/Trezz/AD absolutely dominated the Nuggets in that second half. The P&R of LeBron and Trezz led to dunk after dunk after dunk.

Schroder, Caruso, Kuzma, LeBron, Harrell: Again, pick and roll with LeBron/Trezz with a whole lot of Kuzma activity and hard nosed perimeter D out of Caruso and Schroder.

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Let's quit f**ing around and get in a playoff rhythm. In my opinion, the following games should be our dress rehearsal games:

vs Toronto (tonight)
@ Clippers (Thursday)
@ Blazers (Friday)
vs Suns (Sunday)
vs Rockets (banner night)
@ Pacers

That's 6/9 games where we need to play our guys playoff level minutes. The other 3 games we can screw around and do whatever we need to do. But I think we need to come out with 5 wins from those 6 games specifically.

Post #2 » by **Slava** » Sun May 2, 2021 6:16 pm

I wouldn't hesitate putting Caruso or Gasol into the starting line up as soon as possible if the defense continues to falter over the next 2 or 3 games. I don't give a **** if that hurts Drummond or Schröder's feelings. They signed up for a championship run and they have to do their part off the bench if necessary.

My ideal playoff rotation would look like this:

Gasol (15) - Drummond (12) - Harrell (15) - Davis (6)
Davis (32) - Morris (12) - Kuzma (4)
LeBron (28) - Kuzma (15) - Matthews (5) - McKinnie
KCP (30) - Caruso (18) - McLemore
Schröder (32) - LeBron (10) - THT (6)

The closing line up most likely ends up being: Davis/Kuz/Caruso/KCP/LeBron

stan francisco · Post #3 » by **stan francisco** » Mon May 3, 2021 1:38 am

The rotations in my sig is what I want to see. Yes, Schröder off the bench.

TylersLakers · Post #4 » by **TylersLakers** » Mon May 3, 2021 2:43 am

stan francisco wrote:The rotations in my sig is what I want to see. Yes, Schröder off the bench.

The problem with that is just wayyyyy too many guys. Cut out THT, Kostas, one of Gasol/Harrell, and Morris.

I'd be totally okay with Schroder off the bench at this stage. He's still going to play 30+ MPG.

Of course, basically as soon as I posted this, Schroder was announced as out for health and safety. This season, man.

LAKESHOW · Post #5 » by **LAKESHOW** » Mon May 3, 2021 3:52 am

After watching the clipps last night. They had no answer for Joker. If we face Joker in these playoff rounds, we gonna need all our bigs

Spanish_Laker · Post #6 » by **Spanish_Laker** » Mon May 3, 2021 9:11 am

You mean the play-in rotation.

iamworthy · Post #7 » by **iamworthy** » Mon May 3, 2021 12:36 pm

Are we pretending we have the AD of last year or this year? That matters :lol:

Ckay · Post #8 » by **Ckay** » Mon May 3, 2021 3:37 pm

iamworthy wrote:Are we pretending we have the AD of last year or this year? That matters

Pelicans AD.

Post #9 » by **Kilroy** » Mon May 3, 2021 5:39 pm

It's really looking like maybe AD needs to go to the bench... He's not bringing much of anything this season, since preseason...
And AD and LeBron are both such liabilities on Defense at this point, we can't have both of them on the court at the same time.

Post #10 » by **zimpy27** » Mon May 3, 2021 10:17 pm

6 mins: Schröder, KCP, LeBron, Davis, Drummond
6 mins: Schröder, THT, Kuzma, Davis, Harrell
6 mins: LeBron, THT, McLemore, Morris, Gasol
6 mins: Caruso, KCP, Kuzma, LeBron, Davis

6 mins: Schröder, KCP, LeBron, Davis, Drummond
6 mins: Schröder, THT, Kuzma, Davis, Harrell
6 mins: Caruso, McLemore, LeBron, Morris, Gasol
6 mins: Caruso, KCP, McLemore, LeBron, Davis

36 mpg: LeBron, Davis
24 mpg: Schröder, KCP
18 mpg: Kuzma, THT, Caruso, McLemore
12 mpg: Drummond, Gasol, Harrell, Morris

stan francisco · Post #11 » by **stan francisco** » Tue May 4, 2021 2:41 am

TylersLakers wrote:
stan francisco wrote:The rotations in my sig is what I want to see. Yes, Schröder off the bench.

The problem with that is just wayyyyy too many guys. Cut out THT, Kostas, one of Gasol/Harrell, and Morris.

I'd be totally okay with Schroder off the bench at this stage. He's still going to play 30+ MPG.

Of course, basically as soon as I posted this, Schroder was announced as out for health and safety. This season, man.

Fair enough. :meditate:

MPG by position, starters in bold:

PG: Caruso 20, Schröder 24, THT 4
SG: Pope 24, THT 20, Matthews 4
SF: LBJ 30, Kuzma 14, McLemore 4
PF: Davis 30, Harrell 6, Kuzma 6, Morris 6
C: Drummond 24, Gasol 10, Harrell 10, Davis 4

Caruso, KCP, LBJ, AD, Drummond
Caruso, KCP, Kuzma, LeBron, Davis
Caruso, THT, LBJ, Harrell, Drummond
Schröder, KCP, LeBron, Davis, Drummond
Schröder, THT, Kuzma, Davis, Harrell
Schröder, THT, Kuzma, Harrell, Gasol
Schröder, Matthews, Kuzma, Harrell, Gasol
LeBron, THT, McLemore, Morris, Drummond
LeBron, Kuzma, Harrell, Davis, Drummond
Caruso, McLemore, LeBron, Morris, Gasol
Caruso, KCP, McLemore, LeBron, Davis

Edit:
And if I really had to bring it down to a ten-man rotation:

PG: Caruso 24, Schröder 24
SG: Pope 24, THT 24
SF: LBJ 30, Kuzma 18
PF: Davis 30, Harrell 12, Kuzma 6
C: Drummond 24, Harrell 14, Gasol 10

bb22 · Post #12 » by **bb22** » Tue May 4, 2021 11:39 pm

I’m afraid that Lebron will not be playoff-ready once the RS comes to a close. His rhythm is completely off and he relies on the last couple months preceding the playoffs to get his rhythm. Never been out for this long prior to the playoffs.

stan francisco · Post #13 » by **stan francisco** » Tue May 11, 2021 3:07 am

bb22 wrote:I’m afraid that Lebron will not be playoff-ready once the RS comes to a close. His rhythm is completely off and he relies on the last couple months preceding the playoffs to get his rhythm. Never been out for this long prior to the playoffs.

This is why we might need that play-in series before the real playoffs begin.

Beethoven · Post #14 » by **Beethoven** » Tue May 11, 2021 5:43 pm

Isn't the official rule for the playoffs is to bring a 12 man roster? Or is that an older rule?

If it is , I have the 12 man roster like this:

Lebron AD
Gasol Schroder
Caruso KCP
Kuzma Morris
Trez Drummond
THT McLemore

Doug_12 · Post #15 » by **Doug_12** » Thu May 13, 2021 4:08 pm

If we manage to survive the play-in, then I think the frontcourt is pretty much locked (or should be locked) w/ Gasol, Davis, Morris, Lebron and Kuzma.

In the backcourt KCP, Schroeder and Caruso seems to be locks, but here we would need a 4th guy. On paper Matthews is the best fit, but given how well THT plays, he might steal that spot. McLemore can see some minutes in the garbage time, but his lack of D makes him unplayable for longer stretches.

What I'm pretty interested in is if Vogel will have the guts to bench both Drummond and Trez. Based on their their tools and what they provide he should. And also: if he does this, will Drummond have the willingness to fight back and earn his spot. The bar is not too high for him: I mean he needs to be more valuable than a washed-up Gasol or Markieff...

stan francisco · Post #16 » by **stan francisco** » Mon May 17, 2021 3:50 pm

My ten man rotation, against GSW:

PG: Caruso 24, Schröder 24
SG: Pope 24, THT 24
SF: LBJ 30, Kuzma 18
PF: Davis 30, Harrell 12, Kuzma 6
C: Drummond 24, Harrell 14, Gasol 10

My twelve man rotation, Suns series:

PG: Caruso 24, Schröder 24
SG: Pope 24, THT 20, Matthews 4
SF: LBJ 30, Kuzma 14, McLemore 4
PF: Davis 30, Harrell 12, Kuzma 6
C: Drummond 24, Harrell 14, Gasol 10