Reading Doug Smith mailbag today there was a question there which discusses why it seems to be that most teams come playoff time really tighten their rotations. Doug had this conversation the other day with some members from the organization which I guess felt that Jay shouldn't change anything and use our depth.
Would you guys agree or come playoff time do you think Jay should really tighten things up himself and go with a shorter rotation?
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Would you guys agree or come playoff time do you think Jay should really tighten things up himself and go with a shorter rotation?
Q: Hi Doug. Posted this to your Friday morning blog, but it's probably better suited to the mailbag, so here you go:
Can we talk "roles", Doug? How boxed in should any team be here? Isn't it possible that Jay's actually working too hard at defining narrow, pigeon-holed 'smallish' roles for players who were brought in precisely because they're so versatile?
Especially when injuries deplete the troops, don't players' roles absolutely HAVE to be expanded to cover the shortages? And don't the players themselves look for and work for every chance they can get to take advantage of those opportunities? Wouldn't expanded minutes with more flexible roles maybe have come in quite handy the past couple of weeks?
Then could we take that same question and apply it to the playoffs? Why exactly is it that a tighter rotation is 'mandatory' in the post-season? Couldn't it be that some teams are constructed with enough flexibility in talent and ability to play multiple positions (Hedo, Sonny, Marco, Jarrett, Antoine) and entirely goof up the traditional NBA playoff approach enough to be successful (by forcing opponents to try to adjust)?
David M, Ottawa
Doug: I’d say there were expanded minutes and more flexible roles in the last little while: Reggie and Rasho played more than they’d usually be expected to, Friday we say Sonny and Wright and Johnson get a lot more time than they might usually expect and the minutes they got out of Marcus Banks in Houston were certainly expanded. I think we’ve seen Jay try to pull some rabbits out of hats every now and then.
As for the shortening of a post-season rotation, it’s funny, I was just talking about that with some from the organization who holds a rather lofty title.
I was mentioning that I thought it’d be hard to play 10 guys in a playoff game and he was saying maybe not, maybe because of the way this team is constructed, that’s exactly what Jay should do, run out his usual combinations and rotations and let everyone stay the same.
So you may see that when mid-April rolls around.
Can we talk "roles", Doug? How boxed in should any team be here? Isn't it possible that Jay's actually working too hard at defining narrow, pigeon-holed 'smallish' roles for players who were brought in precisely because they're so versatile?
Especially when injuries deplete the troops, don't players' roles absolutely HAVE to be expanded to cover the shortages? And don't the players themselves look for and work for every chance they can get to take advantage of those opportunities? Wouldn't expanded minutes with more flexible roles maybe have come in quite handy the past couple of weeks?
Then could we take that same question and apply it to the playoffs? Why exactly is it that a tighter rotation is 'mandatory' in the post-season? Couldn't it be that some teams are constructed with enough flexibility in talent and ability to play multiple positions (Hedo, Sonny, Marco, Jarrett, Antoine) and entirely goof up the traditional NBA playoff approach enough to be successful (by forcing opponents to try to adjust)?
David M, Ottawa
Doug: I’d say there were expanded minutes and more flexible roles in the last little while: Reggie and Rasho played more than they’d usually be expected to, Friday we say Sonny and Wright and Johnson get a lot more time than they might usually expect and the minutes they got out of Marcus Banks in Houston were certainly expanded. I think we’ve seen Jay try to pull some rabbits out of hats every now and then.
As for the shortening of a post-season rotation, it’s funny, I was just talking about that with some from the organization who holds a rather lofty title.
I was mentioning that I thought it’d be hard to play 10 guys in a playoff game and he was saying maybe not, maybe because of the way this team is constructed, that’s exactly what Jay should do, run out his usual combinations and rotations and let everyone stay the same.
So you may see that when mid-April rolls around.
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