I am not one to start a thread for the sake of it; but I think this may be useful going forward.

We lost tonight to the Kings. They had 5 road wins before coming to the Palace tonight; they left with 6. 8 players recorded minutes in the game but the starters logged from 34+ to 43 each. Not to mention this was the first game of a back-to-back. Sacramento's Brad Miller played the most minutes for their team; 39. The rest of the team was around 29.

There have long been complaints about the starters logging too many minutes and the bench not getting enough minutes. I think these are the results of a different and more important problem.

Substitution Patterns are bad. Actually they are horrible. I will use tonights game as an example and I think as the season progresses we will be able to see if a pattern develops.

Sacs first sub came in with 5:53 left in the first quarter. The next sub was at the 4:59 mark of the first. So Martin comes in for Salmons and Bibby comes in for Udrih respectively. They are fresh and are playing against our starting guards. This continues til the 1:42 mark where we sub Stuck for Rip. Meanwhile we did match one other sub with them at the 2:58 mark; we bring in Maxiell and they bring in Artest.

In my opinion; this is where the game is lost. We have put a full 12 minutes on everyone but Wallace and Rip from our starters. They each get to rest 1 minute into the 2nd and then it is back to work. Their starters have been on the bench for 5 and 6 minutes while our starters have not had a break.


We are running our guys against players with half the minutes on their legs with shorter rests in between. We are putting ourselves in the hole to start. In order for this to be a winning recipe; our player has to be a lot better then the opposition in order to match him on the offense and defense when we are tired and he is fresh. Having stamina and being able to play 35 to 40 minutes a night would be fine if we HAD to and if the opposition is doing the same thing. The advantage is not putting yourself in a position to HAVE to.


If we are not able to blow our opponent out in the first quarter; the game will be a struggle in the end. Game after game I watch us get out to a lead only to fall back to our opponent. I think this is where the fatigue starts to have its effect. Shots are short, we are slow on the rotations or we reach on defense. These are signs of fatigue and once they show up; it is too late. That is when we start the isos and the one-on-one plays into turnovers.

I need to end this but I think alot of our roation problems and the lack of bench playing would be slved if we subbed more often. CB said tonight in the post-game that the bench has a smaller window on the court to make an impact and they may be pressing. It doesn't have to be this way. Limit the consecutive minutes on the starters and give the bench shorter stints but more opportunities to make a difference.

Bring in Max earlier in the first like at the 6:00 minute mark for Dice. That allows for more sub opportunities in the first and third accordingly. May be able to give AJ the last 2 or 3 minutes of the first quarter and the first 2 or 3 minutes of the second quarter by subbing earlier.

We handcuff ourselves by not subbing in the first quarter. Teams that play the starters for 40 minutes a night do not have any talent on the bench so they have to. That is not the position that Joe has put us in so we shouldn't be playing that way. And I for one am tired of watching us do it.

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