Should Thibs Stagger/Platoon His Rotation?

[SearsTower]

With McDermott soon to be back and Moore showing he's a capable NBA player, the Bulls are deep, real deep. Maybe even too deep. I'm dreading the upcoming box scores that we saw earlier in the season where Doug plays 6 minutes and Snell plays 3 minutes and both players look lost and contribute nothing. My proposal would be to stagger games played by Player A and Player B. For example, if 16 minutes are available for that spot in the rotation, Player A plays all 16 of those minutes one game while Player B plays 0. The next game, Player B plays all 16 while Player A plays 0. So on and so on...

Now, obviously, most players in the current rotation are everyday players (when healthy). Rose, Gibson, Brooks, Jimmy, etc...

Looking at the roster, I see 2 (maybe three) candidates (pairings) for this stagger rotation idea. My proposed pairings:

Kirk Hinrich and E'Twaun Moore
Reason? Health and Age

Kirk's shot and mobility is noticeably better when he has a couple days off or so. He played well tonight in 34 minutes and history would suggest he won't look too good tomorrow night on a second of a back to back. He's one of the older players on the team so it's not crazy to think he could use a day off here and there. E'Twaun Moore has played well for the most part when given a decent number of minutes. He and Kirk (at this stage in his career) play similarly and could platoon that reserve combo guard role.

Tony Snell and Doug McDermott
Reason? Development

Snell plays 20 minutes one game, 6 minutes the next game. He plays 31 minutes, 16 minutes, 0 minutes, and then 4 minutes in a 4 game span. No real rhyme or reason to it. It's just random and confusing and is probably doing wonders for his confidence. When he was healthy, Doug was getting the same sort of treatment. And when they were playing together, they would both play like 6 minutes apiece and neither of them could establish any sort of rhythm or confidence. I say cut them loose. Let Tony play 20 minutes one game backing up MDJ and let Doug play 20 minutes the next game. Give them enough minutes to find an offensive and defensive rhythm and allow them to make mistakes without automatically benching them. How will anyone know if they belong on this level if they each get short, inconsistent spurts?

Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah
Reason? Health and Team Chemistry

OK, so I admit this one is a bit far-fetched. Each are too accomplished and make too much money to take every other game off. I would instead like to see each of them split the available minutes at the center position and never or hardly ever share the floor together. It's something I and many others have been saying since the summer. Noah and Gasol are both centers who should be protecting the rim on defense and play best on offense when paired with either Taj or Nikola.


One of the benefits to this idea, I think, is that it would be a sort of tryout for the playoffs. For example, if Snell consistently outplays Doug in their equal regular season sample size, then come playoff time when the rotation is trimmed, Snell would be the obvious choice to get those minutes in a 7 game series.

Thoughts?

[BrooklynBulls]

The Bulls have not proven to be deep. Serviceable does not mean rotation-worthy. Tony Snell sucks. Moore is not a rotation caliber player. Kirk Hinrich's ideal role is to play only when Brooks does, to supplement Brooks' less than perfect leadership ability.

The only reason we're seeing what we're seeing is because we're so thin due to injuries that we're playing 11th men. We need health, not staggered rotations.