How about an all big line-up just for a couple of minutes sometime to really foul an opponent up?

PG - Prince
SG - Delfino
SF - BWallace
PF - McDyess / Davis
C - RWallace

During that one game Arroyo suspension Prince showed he could run the team productively, at least for a couple of minutes. (I'd like to see him bring the ball up a few times a game even with CB in the game.)

And Ben can stay in front of anyone for a few minutes.

I like it. We would have to get some rebounds with those guys in there. Although, Sheed would be the Center, but would be outside the 3-point line the whole time.

We beat Boston, but not by much. Why? Wrong rotation. Flip Murray should not be playing. No defense. In a zone, he chooses to cover nobody at all. In a man to man, he plays the opposing guard so soft that he takes away no options at all. Mohammed should never have been signed, and McDyess is having problems with back spasms.

For the Boston game, here is an 8 man rotation we could have used. Eight guys is too little for the long run, but perhaps we are adding Webber, and CB will come back soon enough:

Delfino at point, Rip, Tay, Amir Johnson, Sheed.

Blalock plays 20 minutes at point.

Delfino plays 5 minutes at shooting guard, and Tay plays 7 minutes at shooting guard. (Which leaves Rip with 36 minutes of playing time.)

Jason Maxiell plays 19 minutes at small forward, allowing to Tay to rest plenty and also allowing Tay to play some at shooting guard.

Dale Davis rests Sheed and Amir Johnson. Maybe JMAX plays just a little at power forward, but not much.

Nobody gets more than 36 minutes in the game. We beat the snot out of Boston.

Next question, what about when Webber is added to the rotation and CB returns from injury? Simply, everyone plays a bit less. Nobody should average more than 32 mintues during a regular season.

CWEBB should start, but with those knees of his, he should never play more than 24 minutes. Start him, play him the first 8 minutes of the game, the first 4 minutes of the 2nd quarter, the first 6 minutes of the 3rd quarter, and the last 6 minutes of the game.

Sheed has long term ankle and knee problems right now stemming from his severe ankle injury last playoffs. Here is another player who should start, but should be limited for now to 28 minutes per game.

CB should start out with 24 minutes a game and slowly extend that to 32 minutes a game.

Rip and Tay, 32 minutes per game.

In sum, the starters should be taking, starting Monday, (assuming Webber is with us and CB plays) 138 of 240 minutes. This leaves 102 minutes for the bench. Thats 5 players getting 20 minutes. JMAX, Amir Johnson, Blalock, Dale Davis, Delfino.

Dyess should be kept as a spare big, and should get Dale's minutes on 2nd of back to backs. Dyess should work on his conditioning, making sure he is 100% for the playoffs, if we need him. Being the spare big on a championship team is a valuable role. He should embrace it.

Dupree should be the 12th man dressed.

There was a talking head shot of Flip during the Boston game saying that they wanted to run Delfino at the point more, but hadn't had enough practice time to get it going.

With the addition of Webber, some more rotations.

Start Billups, Rip, Tay, Sheed, Webber.

2nd unit: Delfino at point, Tay at shooting guard, JMAX at small forward, Amir Johnson at power forward, Dale Davis at center.

Comment about the season so far. We have completely wasted an opportunity. We could have been playing Amir Johnson all this time instead of wasting all those minutes watching Mohammed play no D, and being completely unable to post up on an NBA center.

Alternate 2nd units,which must play some becaue we need the depth:

Blalock, Delfino, JMAX, Amir Johnson, Dale Davis.

Either of the above, except Dyess playing for any of JMAX, Amir, or Dale.

This is a nine man rotation, but with a total of 11 players staying involved.

A rotation we could use today, with Billups out.

Delfino, Rip, Tay, Sheed, Dale Davis start. Note, a whole lot of defense, plenty of offense, and plenty of ball handling skill.

Bench: Blalock, Tay at shooting guard, JMAX at small forward, Amir Johnson at power forward, Sheed at center.

Lee - Amir isn't with the club right now. I keep seeing him in your line-ups. What gives?

Amir can be called back at any time. My rotations are just possibilities, not what I actually expect to see at the moment. Sometimes what I want to see.

ded, I will take that one step further. Yes, JMAX should be getting major burn. But with two good guards in the backcourt who can work together to feed the big guy in the post. Like CB and Billups paired up. Or CB and Blalock. Or Blalock and CB. Further, the other guy in with them should be Webber, another good passer to really make things click. Webber adds another post up player so they have to try to keep both JMAX and CWEBB out of the post at the same time. Or, add Amir Johnson to the mix.

Here is a rotation for you that uses some of this.

Start CB, Rip, Tay, Sheed, CWEBB. First wave off the bench, Blalock, Delfino, JMAX, Amir Johnson, Dale Davis.


Blalock, Dale Davis, and Amir don't need to play much. Blalock and Amir are kind of just keeping their feet wet, and Dale Davis does not need to be playing major minutes at his age. These three would just play the last couple of minutes of the 1st quarter, and the first few of the 2nd quarter.

Now Billups comes back in for Blalock, Dyess for Dale Davis, and Webber for Amir. This gives you Delfino and Billups in the backcourt, with JMAX at small forward, Dyess at power forward, and Webber at center.

Depending on how things are going, you may or may not bring any other starters back in the 2nd quarter. Hunter would come in and play the last couple of minutes of the 2nd quarter, and maybe Dale Davis for Webber. Going into the 2nd half, none of the starters should have played more than 16 minutes, leaving them fresh to play major minutes in the 2nd half if needed.

I posted the above at detnews.com, now, I am going to add some comments to it. One, Amir Johnson is now coming back soon, Sunday, I believe. (I saw this posted, but I did not catch the original source.) 2nd, my first impression is that Dyess and Webber do not work well together on defense, so I am not too crazy about this rotation I just posted. I put Dyess in there just because I wanted to try to include him, but its not easy to include a guy who plays poor help out D. Sheed instead could come back in the game for Amir, after Amir stays out there just a bit longer than I mentioned.

This would give a unit of Billups, Delfino, JMAX, Sheed, Webber. Now you have three outside shooters to spread the floor, and two solid post up players. And of course, Sheed gives you even the luxury of a third post up player. Post up players with two guards in the backcourt who can feed the post.

Where does Dyess come in then? Trade? Maybe he takes Dale Davis' minutes on occasion. Amir's on occasion. JMAX's on occasion. Webber's on occasion. And Sheed's on occasion. Keep him involved. If we go up against Miami, all bigs will be useful.

Who is "ded'?

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Thank you for another great season!