Micro, I know your opinion. And I do appreciate people who have opinions, whether or not they agree with me. Like Max and you. Both of you clearly state that we really don't need these guys, and heck, Max apparently does not even think a bench matters much at all period. Whatever. What I don't like is people who really have no opinions, but yet want to snipe at someone who does.

Now, just to review, as I have said many many times, I would love to see Afflalo and Amir play in our rotation, as I believe that gives us the best chance of winning it all. Between the two, its been Afflalo who has been more important to us as far as who plays and when we win. Lets take this playoffs right now. Afflalo out of the rotation has resulted in 2 losses to Philly, and one win. (Game 2) Afflalo out of the rotation in the Orlando series has resulted in one blowout loss, and two wins.

Overall, 3 and 3 not using Afflalo. Using him, we are 4-0. I am talking about 1st half minutes, specifically coming in to rest either Tay or Rip. Afflalo played in 4 straight games, as a significant part of the rotation, the last two of the Philly series, then the first two of the Orlando series. And we looked pretty darn good in that stretch. Without him, 3 losses and two very close wins we eaked out in the last seconds of the games.

So here is the question, which team do you like, the one that barely can get by, or the one that wins easily - like what we get when Afflalo is in the rotation.

Now, some people call this complaining. Is it? Is giving my opinion complaining? I don't think so. When CB went down, Flip responded by playing some young players less, thinking this would help Stuckey out. I did not agree with that move, but it did give Stuckey some experience down the stretch in close games, which is good. If Afflalo had played, we have won easily and never gave Stuckey that valuable experience.

So, my opinion is, we will continue to use Afflalo, as we already have so far in this playoffs, and we should also start to play Amir, to make it just that much easier, and that much more sure, that we win the whole thing this year.

It should be pointed out that DET did not beat Miami in the first round.

I would bring Tay off the bench in the ECF and start Hayes. LeBron/Pierce won't get others involved and will tire out from going to the tin repeatedly. Tay can then come in and finish them off.

I never said the bench did not matter. 80-20 or 73-27 in your case of the ratio of mins played. Let me ask you this. Whats going to help us more if Rip has a good game or if his backup does?

I like the bench and I would like to see a nice 9-10 man rotation even in the post-season. My point is we spend all this time talking about the bench when it is and will boil down to how the starters play.

Help is the appropriate word. To me how the guy who plays 80% of the game is far more important that the guy who plays 20%
Qoute Max
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Poorly said Max, the whole point of the bench is to revive/releave the starters so they don't get run of the court. Our bench is stronger than their bench-we win.

I think it's possible that we could win the title in spite of Flip. But we would have to get very lucky, the team would have to be on the same page, and Flip would have to not be in the situation where he needed to think quickly on his feet about substitutions and have the confidence/awareness to make them.

Do I think he hinders our chances of winning it? Yes.

YES WE CAN WIN WITHOUT PLAYING THEM. WE HAVE DONE IT, AND CAN CONTINUE. IF WE DO LOSE IT CERTAINLY WILL NOT BE BECAUSE AMIR AND AA DIDNT PLAY.

You are probably the only person on the forum who didn`t know this was my opinion.

Is that clear enough for you?

Thanks for stating your opinion. First of all, no, we have not done it without them. Afflalo played in four straight games for us, in the rotation.

Next, you say it won't matter whether we play them or not. But do you think it might help our chances if we do play them. Or would it hurt us? Do you think they are not ready to play. I would like your opinion on both players. Thanks in advance.

Oh, and a follow up question, if you do think it would help our chances, can you think of a particular reason we should not play them?

Max, I can't respond to what you just wrote. Read it yourself. It is contradictory. You say the bench does matter? But its only how our starters play that matter? Try to clarify please. Thanks.

Not sure if I gave my opinion a few threads back or not, but I voted unsure...And I did that because of the 8 victories, we have only looked dominant in no more than four of them. We only had three losses but were blown in two of them.

If Flip ignores a potential run and refuses to call a time out I can see the Celtics running away with one of those home games and I hope it ain't game 7

Of course I don't think that will happen, but I don't want our starters playing 40+ minutes when we have guys on the bench who can contribute. I know Amir didn't fare well in last outing with the Celtics, but lets hope he gets a chance to dress for a couple of games in this series and both Hunter and Afflolo get some minutes too. If Jarvis Jayes aren't hitting no need for him to play and let Paul Pierce him. Give that time to AA who can play defense and hit the jumper or drive when the opportunity is there.

Lee what's your vote man?? I don't think I saw you in the poll

Afflalo played in the first 3 games, avg about 8-9 mpg. He played well for the most part. He did not play in four games straight, AA didn`t play in game 4 and played all of two seconds in the game 5 clincher.

Check your game films again.

Saying that playing someone may help or hurt our chances is a hypothetical. We don`t know if it will hurt or help. All you can do is play them or don`t.

AA and Amir are two young players, you seem to be pinning our hopes of winning a championship on the play of these two. You might be the only person on this planet doing so.

I am saying that neither of them are ready right now for that kind of pressure, IMO, especially Amir.

Now, as I said before in spot minutes here and there depending on matchups and the situation, they both could help as AA did in the Orlando series. The minutes he played in thats eries could be considered limited PT or spot minutes.

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"I`m shocked" The Low, on the Pistons game 2 win in the ECF at Boston.