Flush

Is anybody else concerned about the 11 man rotation Sam has been running lately?

This team's success can be directly correlated to when Sam tightened up his rotation to 8 players.

He's now letting the 9th, 10th and 11th players in the rotation get significant minutes mid-game...and often at the same time

Yesterday the lineup of Jose, Mopete, Joey Graham, Hump and Bargnani gave up a ten point lead and let the sonics take the lead.

I thought Sam had gotten past this. Is he doing it to rest his core going into the playoffs? Is he at risk of screwing up confidence and chemistry?

MVP_23

Im tellin ya bro Smitch is a SUX coach, how can you have an offensive threat in Bargnani and not run a play for him..... LOL IAVRONI HERE WE COME BABY

CrookedJ

. . .Because he can score 20 points wihout plays being run for him? What kind of play do you run for a guy whose best options come out of a face up at the three point line? In terms of bball strategy, there's not a much easier play to set up than that. It just happens on broken plays, kick outs, . . . and
. . .
They run the high screen/roll a fair bit with him. Even deadlier is when they run high screen roll for Bosh, and the PG curls and drives on Andrea's side of the floor sucking in the defender. . . .Swiiiish!

As for Iavroni , nothing against the man but ditching a coach that is a C.O.T.Y. candidate in favour of a guy with no NBA head coaching expereince seems like a bad idea. At least when Detroit fired Rick Carlisle they replaced him with Larry Brown who had a proven NBA track record. Coaches need time to develop, Mitchell has done so, why start again?

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Flush

I'm of the opinion that this teams success is more due to how BC built the roster than how Sam Mitchell is coaching them.

Look at the starting lineup. 4 of the 5 player were all brought in by BC in the off season.

But that's not the point of the thread...how do people feel about the change in rotation?

kirk_2003

Because we have a back to back to worry about?

streetballa

Fire that *******!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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speedythief

As much as I think it is an oversimplification, giving minutes to Dixon ahead of Peterson and Graham reeks of a job security issue. At the beginning of the season everyone was begging for a shooter/scorer and now that we have one people want him benched for shooting too much.

Anyways, the rotation will tighten eventually. With guys like Bosh and Parker showing some wear-and-tear right now it is no wonder that we are relying on our depth. Its our biggest asset and to have it and not use it would be a major mistake, especially during the grind of the late months.

SkywalkerAC

No real complaints here, I like seeing Mo, Joey, and Hump get a few minutes.

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CrookedJ

Rotation wise, I Liked it a bit shorter (8 or 9). The injuries to AP/ Garbo ( don't think the knee is not affecting him) AB missin a game and Juan coming in have resulted in the whole thing getting suffled again. It also doesn't help that both Mo and Joey are playing poorly.


We have 19 games left, its the last chance to spare some of the main contributer's minutes before the playoff run.

I expect it to be tightened back down to "8.5" by the end of the season. 8.5 meaning, of couse, Andrea & Jose playing, and then maybe Juan & Mo each getting a little burn early on to see whose got it going that day.

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Flush

I guess my concern is how Sam runs his rotation. I don't mind if guys are getting minutes, but in the 2nd quarter yesterday that lineup allowed the sonics back into the game and eventually take the lead. If Sam had kept a strong rotation the floor they could have put the game out of reach.

Instead he allowed the sonics to stay the game, and it eventually went into O.T. So our starters ended having to play even MORE minutes. So the argument that it's giving our best players a break goes to hell.

I think the key to giving bottom of the rotation guys time, is to play them with stronger players. It helps their confidence and doesn't give the opposing team an edge to get back into the game.

ColinBeehler

That's what I think too, play one of the 8-11 guys at a time at most. A line-up of; Bosh, Humphries, Garbajosa, Peterson, Ford, wouldn't likely give up a ten point lead to the Sonics. Then again though, if you did that all game, and played your best five in crunch time. What would the minutes be like for our big time players. I know in reading :07 Seconds or Less, the book on the 2005-2006 Phoenix Suns season, Mike D'Antoni had certain player rotation rules he followed. I believe he would never have Nash on the bench in an important game, unless Diaw and Marian were on. Maybe when Bosh is off, TJ Ford and Andrea Bargnani should be on, to make up for lost creativeness on offense. At any rate, I have noticed that when good coaches take off their best players, they generally leave on their best remaining line-up. This hasn't been true in Toronto, worth a coaching change? I don't know, probably not. But it is something that he should work on.

-lata

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shookem

It's a long season and the Raps want their top guys ready for the playoffs.

A lot of the team's success depends on being able to wear down the other team with constantly engerized guys.

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TJ Ford

I don't think this team's success was due to Mitchell either.

As for the rotation, we are pretty deep. Anyone can contribute on any given night. You can't say that for a lot of teams.

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Turkish Delight

Why did we trade for Juan Dixon? To make him sit on the bench like Fred Jones? No, if that were to be the case we would have just let Fred rot there. When you bring in a guy like that, you are obviously going to give him the opportunity to play and see what he can do and how he can contribute to your team. So far, Juan Dixon has vastly outplayed both Mo Pete and Graham since he's put on a Raptors uniform. His defense and rebounding is an issue, but he has still brought a lot more positives than Mo Pete and Graham.

SkywalkerAC