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Originally Posted by Lee356  Please explain the difference then. Meanwhile, let me make it clear. Amir Johnson must be in our regular rotation, pretty much immediately, for us to be able to win a championship this season. It does not matter if he is good enough right now. What matters is how good he is when the playoffs start. Right now, with way too little experience, of course his defense is lacking in some areas, as defense is largely a matter of experience. Yet, he is our best rebounder, shotblocker, and a very good transition D player. He also gets to a very high percentage of plays due to his quickness. Further, with all that height and ups, he ain't so easy to shoot over.
Also, this has to be in the regular rotation, not just garbage time. Amir has to see situations that will occur in games while they are still undecided. Garbage time is a different game, a different set of opponents, a different set of teammates, different roles, different priorities. While garbage time helps some, I'd say its about a 4 to 1 ratio better if you are playing in the regular rotation. |
The difference is simple
Regular rotation players play in the regular rotation
Non-regular rotation players do not play in the regular rotation.
To know the difference between what is considered regular rotation time and non regular rotation time, you may want to re-read this thread from the beginning.
As far as your other point about a player having to play in the regular rotation for a winning team when they are not good enough or experienced enough I totally disagree with you on this. In fact I couldn't disagree with you more if I wanted to.
Take someone like Durant. His game is primarily offense, specifically the ability to get his shot off and score. So on a scoring challenged team like Seattle he will play.
Murray is in street clothes not primarily because he doesn't pass the ball, because he did pass the ball when he started. As I recall he even had one game with 13 assists as a starter. Murray is in street clothes because he can't play defense.
As a Pistons player, if you can't play defense better than the guys on the depth chart who are ahead of you, you just don't play ahead of them.
Playing defense is not just a matter of blocking shots or rebounding. In fact a lot of time guys who block a lot of shots get burned by good offensive players, like AJ did last night when they attempt to go for a block.
Playing defense is about being able to stay between your man and the basket at all times unless in a particular team defensive set you are required to front him. Playing defense is about moving your feet to stay between him and the basket. Playing defense is about keeping your opponent off of his sweet spot, which requires, skill, strength and experience. Playing defense is about not letting the offensive player seal you off. Playing defense is first and foremost a team thing. It mean making the proper switchers, knowing when to step out, covering the weak side when needed, etc, etc. These things are learned in practice or in basketball camps and then reinforced in game situations.
If a player doesn't make the proper defensive plays it messes up the entire team defense.
In addition AJ is still not strong enough to hold his position against most PF and Centers.
You keep countering, why not play AJ at the #3? There are a number of valid reasons for not playing him at the #3 and almost none for playing him at the #3
The Pistons unlike almost all NBA teams are first and foremost about defense. Barring injury, AJ will have to earn his spot in the regular rotation when by playing Pistons type defense. If he can't get strong enough and learn to do that he will be traded.
However, I am confident he will based upon his skill set and attitude.
