the rotation/depth chart thread

[playstation]

we know the top 7. 8th will get nightly playing time. 9th will still see sporadic minutes.

i'm calling the banks/strawberry race. banks wins. his shooting has gotten exponentially better. that's your 9th man. he's actually kinda looking like a $21M luxury right now rather than an albatross.

skinner/marks is too close to call right now. skinner played real well tonight. only thing marks has on skinner is the shooting stroke, but skinner can shoot those too (check 82games.com). I still think skinner eventually wins because of the defensive look.

Barbosa 6
Diaw 7
Skinner 8
Banks 9

other guys only play if it doesn't matter or injuries. not to say straw/marks aren't good (they are, and will be helpful if/when injuries happen), but they lost position battles and coach isn't playing more than 8. that 9th guy will get a look in foul difficulty issues.

 

[BC867]

Will D'Antoni play a regular rotation of 9 or stick to 7-sometimes-8? That remains to be seen.

Nine would better prepare us for a Championship in the post-season.

 

[CardNots]

Will D'Antoni play a regular rotation of 9 or stick to 7-sometimes-8? That remains to be seen.

Nine would better prepare us for a Championship in the post-season.

My guess is DA will use more bench this year because he has two (Nash/Hill) he has to rest.

 

[dodie53]

i hope he plays the rookies..

 

[Stargazer]

I also think DA will use more bench this year, but for a different reason: I think the bench is stronger this year.

 

[fordronken]

I think it will be:

8- Banks
9- Marks

But at certain times, he'll throw Skinner and DJ in there to see how they do. If they play great, they could take over the 9 spot.

 

[playstation]

i revise my thoughts. i think we're not going more than 7.

if grant plays closer to 35, that pretty much assures it

shawn 38
raja 35
nash 33 (probably 35)
amare 33
grant 33 (since he's pushing for more minutes)
boris 28
leandro 28

dantoni wrote these down as averages. that includes blowouts when dudes are playing 25 min. if the games are of consequence, these guys are playing pretty much all minutes.

think about it. that's about 230 min. 10 min for a big man left. except look at coach's track record. he'll play you 20 or nothing (if you're a rotation guy). that 10 is probably closer to 20 & 0 (depending on garbage time) than it is to 10 every night.

we have a great team, but still frustrating when you see guys hard work during the summer go for naught. if you don't play them semi-regularly during the season, they will not be in sync when they do come in, and their talent will not show.

i guess i hope the 7 starters will play like the bulls like a decade ago: they had such great chemistry that the goal was to have a blowout by the start of the 4th every night so the scrubs could get their minutes.

 

[mribnik]

If the Suns are able to consistently play the swarming defense they've been playing so far in the preseason in the regular season, there is going to be a lot of time for the stars to rest. Hopefully they stay aggressive defensively.

 

[BC867]

My guess is DA will use more bench this year because he has two (Nash/Hill) he has to rest.

And Amare with foul trouble.

I hope using the bench comes as a pro-active approach (regular rotation) than a reactive one, like incorporating Kurt Thomas beginning with Game 2 of the Finals, out of desperation.

 

[PoolBoy]

strawberry deserves minutes...he can flat out PLAY

 

[azirish]

Preaseasons is always just exhabitions games, but the Suns are shooting the lights out with six guys in double figures and that does NOT include Nash or Diaw.

Strawberry is doing very well on defense and is averaging 2.3 assists in just 17.3 minutes. But his outside shooting is not there yet, just 4 of 13 for three (he's 5 of 10 inside the arc).

By contrast, Banks is shooting very well including 7 of 14 for three and 10 of 19 inside the arc - 10.5 ppg in 23.5 minutes.