I agree that nothing is set yet. Flip is still experimenting.

Who knows if there may even be somekind of a minor trade.

8 =

Sheed
Dyess
Tay
Rip
C-Bill
-------------
Stuckey
Maxiell
Hayes
-------------------

plus Hunter for the playoffs.

AA may see some minimal non-garbage playoff time.

That should do it except in blowouts.

Playoff rotations are set barring injury.

PISTONS CORNER: Stuckey's stock rises as rookie's minutes increase

I doubt this rotation will get us past round one.

Look at all the money you will save on playoff tickets. You should be elated.

If you look at the past 10 NBA championship teams, how big of a rotation did they have in the playoffs? That would be interesting to know.

I'd like to see Flip shorten the rotation even more. I think he should only play 4 guys like in Hoosiers if one of the starters gets in foul trouble. Flip could earn some respect from the players and fans by yelling, 'I got my five!' as one of the starters leaves the court and no one replaces them.

I was thinking about it and I think the poster(s) saying that we should cut Flip some slack is/are right. Flip has been burning his players for a long time now. He knows what he's doing.

OK, will try to answer my own question, but don't have data for 10, just the last 4:

'06-07 Spurs-
10 players with 20% PT or more
1 with 3%
1 with 2%
(10 deep)

'05-06 Heat-
8 players with 20% PT or more
1 with 8%
2 with 6%
1 with 1%
(8 deep with 3 more mild contributors)

'04-05 Spurs-
8 players with 20% PT or more
2 with 10%
1 with 5%
1 with 1%
(8 deep with 2-3 other mild contributors)

'03-04 Pistons-
8 players with 20% PT or more
Mike James with 17%
Elden with 11%
Ham with 8%
Milicic with 1%
(9 deep with 1 other contributor + defensive specialist).


So, if you take all of this in, it looks like we are going to need 8/9 players who are going to be heavily involved + 2 or 3 players that we are going to have to trust with about 5 minutes per game. Since we don't have the superstar model, we need more depth. SA was 10 deep last year. Our last Championship put us 9 deep + Elden, who got a lot of minutes in certain games.

Billups/Rip/Tay/Sheed/Dyess + Stuckey/Maxiell/ Hayes = our top 8

We need 2 more contributors. Herrman and Bresec are out. If Herrmann contributes it will be because he replaced Hayes, not as a 3rd string. Bresec will only be used 2% of the time or less.

That leaves Lindsey, Afflalo, and Amir as the only choices. Lindsey will be a spot defender. Afflalo I would be will be the same. At the current pace, Amir won't be ready or have the coach's trust.

So, we are heading toward and 8 man rotation +2 minor contributors at best. If we were to win it like that, I would argue that we were the shallowest team in the last 5 years to do so.

__________________
"I’ll just say this: We’re not talking to teams about their second- or third-best players." Joe Dumars talking about his plan to get other teams' 4th best players.

Last year San Antonio had 10-player rotation with Vaughn being the lowest at 10.5 mpg. Miami had 7-player rotation with Mourning at 10.7 mpg on the bottom.

You can be 14 deep and still have no team. 14 guards won't cut it. Also, regardless of past history, you should shoot for the highest number of players possible to be involved; to account for possible injuries, to maximize needed skills / physical abilities available. (and your players should be as versatile as possible as well, as far as being able to play multiple positions.)

I think you can scrimp on a backup SF. But I do believe you need at least a 4th big and a 4th guard. Ideally even a playable 5th big.

Foul trouble is a reality. Something that Flip seems to fail to grasp.