Odd Man Out From Starting Lineup?

[dkb965]

Barnes

[Johnny Bball]

Birch. Barnes gets a short leash early in the first.

[720]

Birch.

[mtcan]

Scottie goes to the bench...and there goes any hope of ROY.

If you are trying to win now...Fred/Gary/OG/Pascal/Khem really is the only way to go.

Scottie seems way too passive on offense with Pascal, OG and Fred on the floor at the same time. He defers too much. Perhaps coming off the bench will open up some scoring opportunities for Scottie.

Defers or not being passed the ball?

I think it's a bit of both. He isn't nearly as aggressive with his shot when Pascal is on the floor. Of course...there is also the fact that I'm seeing a bit too much one-on-one...the "my turn, your turn" type of offence. It's bring the ball up...one pass and then the guy goes one-on-one and it's one and done. There is zero ball movement.

[Spida888]

Sit Barnes for now, experiment with different line ups and ultimately make an optimal decision when there's enough data.

Barnes hitting the bench might mean less play time for Banton. The Barnes + Flynn lineup has a +11.4 netrtg (small sample size), while the Barnes + Banton line has a -13 netrtg.

[Dennis 37]

Birch. If the Fred, GTJ, OG, Pascal, Scottie lineup cannot coexist, we need to find out sooner rather than later. That is the long term vision of this team. So far we don’t know yet because of people coming in and out with injuries, players still learning each other’s tendencies, scottie still learning the schemes/roles/league.

It will have ugly results at times but that is what this season is about, figuring out the long term vision of this roster. So far this lineup has been doing well in the short time it has played together so I don’t see them abandoning ship any time soon.

Does Birch address a lot of weaknesses of that lineup? Absolutely for the short term. But in the long run the role Birch has is going to be a low cost situational low minutes player because of the salary cap and all the money that will rightfully be tied up in those 5 starters.

Precious is like a backup plan. We want him to be the Birch player long term with the possibility of taking a starter role if the current 5 guys can’t coexist. But he is still quite far from that player.

When Pascal has to play center he gets frustrated and then sucks. There is a reason he had improved play in Sacramento.

[_MidNight_]

Putting Scottie on the bench isn't gonna solve the scoring issues we have with the second unit (rank 29th)

I also want to see us play big with Fred/OG/Barnes/Pascal/Birch. GTJ can come in and light it up win any combination of the starters.

[wegotthabeet]

Banton
Anunoby
Barnes
Siakam
Birch

Move both Fred & Trent to the bench. See which one is better suited for the 6th man role then trade the other. I want to see this lineup. Must be at least 6"7 to ride. I don't care if it works or not. Let them develop.

[PoundTown]

Putting Scottie on the bench isn't gonna solve the scoring issues we have with the second unit (rank 29th)

I also want to see us play big with Fred/OG/Barnes/Pascal/Birch. GTJ can come in and light it up win any combination of the starters.

I think it could help. If the unit starting the 2nd was Gary, banton, Scottie, svi/yuta/ flynn, and precious I think we’d be able to put the ball in the basket enough. Barnes will be more agressive if there is no one to defer or less guys to defer to.

[Ackshun]

This reminds me the season Bargnani just didn't fit with Bosh, so he hit the bench. We ended up losing a ton, when Brian Collarangelo stepped in and forced Smitch to play Bargs. Basically said if we are gonna lose, you should develop your prospects with a decent amount of minutes.

I'm not sure how I feel about this team's ceiling but coach has a big decision ahead of hom. It's fluid though, so as we lose games, things will sort itself out.

[Kingsway_fan]

Trent for sure needs to be moved to second unit... there are too many chuck first players in the starting unit otherwise... Fred also needs more minutes with second unit and fewer with starting unit... Barnes needs more involvement with the starters and that's not possible with all the me first chuckers right now

[Dr Positivity]

Starting lineup:

VanVleet
Trent Jr
OG
Siakam
Birch

Bench: Banton, Svi, Yuta, Barnes, Precious. Flynn and Boucher get some minutes when there is injuries.

This looks like it could be a pretty solid team with the play of GTJ and Birch rounding out the starting lineup well. Precious in the Harrell type backup big role is perfect and gets Boucher out of the rotation. 2nd unit looks young and fast overall with Barnes at PF and with plenty of opportunity to run his own show.

[VanWest82]

I want to continue to see different line up combinations. I prefer our big line ups but as others have said it behooves us to get a good look at FVV/GTJ/OG/PS/SB. Surely that's how we hope to close games.

[Los_29]

Spacing has already been a significant problem. Taking GTJ out of the starting lineup would be an absolute disaster.

[Gold Dragon]

I want to continue to see different line up combinations. I prefer our big line ups but as others have said it behooves us to get a good look at FVV/GTJ/OG/PS/SB. Surely that's how we hope to close games.

That lineup has only played 3 games together and most of that was basically Pascal’s training camp/preseason after being away from competitive basketball for however many months.

[JPHolling]

If Scottie doesnt start to show more effort on the defensive end, hes gotta come off the bench.
I dont know if he hit the rookie wall or what. Id rather see him play less minutes with more energy.

[anotherhomer]

Scottie make sense but it may kill his confidence

[Mikistan]

I want to continue to see different line up combinations. I prefer our big line ups but as others have said it behooves us to get a good look at FVV/GTJ/OG/PS/SB. Surely that's how we hope to close games.

That lineup has only played 3 games together and most of that was basically Pascal’s training camp/preseason after being away from competitive basketball for however many months.

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[Indeed]

Hopefully in another week, we got everyone healthy, and we will have to decide this again.

[Vampirate]

Hopefully in another week, we got everyone healthy, and we will have to decide this again.

It's obviously precious when OG gets back.