With the Eagles running out Michael Vick and wildcat and the Phillies chasing their 3rd straight NL East Championship, and the Flyers parading their new goalie and new franchise player around, there is as little hype and talk for a Sixers’ season as I can remember.
But for me, and Dannie, there is a lot of intrigue with this team right now. We aren’t expecting huge things, but with a new coach, a new look and a good amount of new players, it will be interesting to see how things play out.
Something I have been thinking about is how Eddie Jordan is going to split up the minutes, or rather, how I think he should split them up. We have 13 players who played more than 12 minutes per game in their last full season.
I took the average of Brand’s year last year and his last full season with the Clips to come to that 35. I also approximated Holiday’s minutes based on Smith and Speights’ first year.
OK – well, here is where the question arises. The above minutes add up to 293, but there are only 240 minutes to go around. In keeping things realistic, when projecting out the minutes – keep Iggy at 40, Brand at 35 and Young at (at least) 35. Also, the only players you can’t drop down to 0 are Williams, Dalembert or Kapono, they will play. Also, you can’t do things like not play any point guards.
Here is how I would break out the minutes if I’m Eddie Jordan…
Well, as you can see I significantly dropped both Sammy and Willie’s minutes. I would like to see the young players get some run and see what we have. If Sammy doesn’t want to be here, I don’t really want him playing half-way half the time. I also think that the shooting of Speights and Smith will work better in Eddie Jordan’s offense (though they, as well as Brand, would have to make up for it on defense with Sammy riding the pine). I liked Green as simply a shooter off the bench, but I’d rather have Kapono and his ridiculous 45% career 3-pt% taking those minutes.
So – that’s how I see it right now. Given that things will likely change a bit in training camp (but I can’t see it changing that much unless Holiday is tearing it up), how would you distribute the minutes if you were coaching this team?
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I haven’t really given much thought to actual minute distribution but here are my thoughts taken from the previous posts.
Stefanski said two things of note about Willie.
That to me means he will continue to play. 5 minutes isn’t likely more on this in a second.
I don’t think there will be much time on the wing for Green though with Thad and Dala getting the bulk of the minutes at 2 and 3 assuming Brand plays all year and then the first guy in has to be Kapono.
Willie will then to compete with Carney for wing minutes.
BUT, I think just assuming Holiday will or should play more minutes than Willie as the 2nd string point is wishful thinking both in terms of what everyone wants and what is best for the team.
I think it’s safe to assume Ed saying he envisions Willie G in a Luscious Harris type irregular pg role might me as the back-up point guard and Holiday will have to show enough to earn and snatch that spot from Green at this point.
Ed said he doesn’t see any reason why Holiday won’t get regular minutes this season if he plays the defense everything believe he can play and doesn’t turn the ball over.
But remember Jrue is still a rookie and this team isn’t exactly playing for the lottery. They expect to make the playoffs and as Stefanski said “make some noise.” So if Jrue does what most non Chris Paul rookie points do he could be a bit detrimental to winning as a 19-year old point guard in the NBA.
Not many ppl want Willie playing I get that but I think we also need to consider the idea that Jrue could flat out stink it up as a very young rookie learning on the job.
Right now if I had to project a fluid depth chart with how guys would be moved around in different positions I would quickly guess something like this:
PG – Lou/Green/Holiday/Ivey
SG – Iguodala/Kapono/Lou/Green/Carney
SF – Thaddeus/Iguodala/Kapono/Carney
PF – Brand/Thad/Speights/Smith
C – Sam/Speights/Brezec/Smith
Thoughts?
Honestly I have no idea where to put or project Brezec. Never seen him play and know very little about him. I know he is a legit center and his best season in the NBA was 13 ppg, 7.4 boards, on 51% FGs and 74.5% from the line in 31 minutes per game. That was with the Bobcats in 04-05.
I guess those are the kind of numbers everyone hopes Jason Smith could put up if given minutes as a Sammy replacement (temporary or long term)
ill give this team one thing – we do have decent depth. all 13 of these guys (save Holiday) have played significant NBA minutes. Brezec is really the only unknown, but like Dannie said, he’s put up decent numbers in the past.
Interesting topic. The depth and youth of this team makes projecting minutes difficult- and makes for an interesting season W/L aside.
Starters: Iguodala(38), Thad(36), Brand(35), Lou(33), Sam(22)
Primary Subs: Speights(24), Green(16), Smith(11), Kapono(11), Jrue(10)
4 situational minutes left for Carney/Ivey/Brezec
Later maybe more for Jrue and Speights if they are ready (taken from Sam and Green)
………………………………………………………………….
Starters: Lou/Iguodala/Young/Brand/Sam
1st subs (8 min mark): Speights/Green for Lou/Sam (Iguodala defacto PG!)
2nd Q starters: Jrue/Green/Iguodala/Speights/Smith
2nd Q subs: Kapono for Iguodala (3 min mark)… then starters filter back in over last 4 min of half
2nd Half: Same as 1st half, but probably less Jrue until he earns it. Also expect Speights to finish out the game unless a defensive stopper is needed.
Later in the year Speights could make a push to start in place of Sam. Jrue could take Green’s spot as 1st G off the bench.
As for Carney/Ivey/Brezec one will be DNP and the others will be situational. Carney will be given the chance to push Green for minutes as the year progressed. And of course there are always injuries to open up more minutes for reserves.
I don’t want to see Greene get any burn, I want all of his minutes to go to Carney or Jrue.
pg Lou 28/ Jrue 12/Iggy 8
SG Iggy 30/Carney 15
SF Thad 36/Kapono 15
PF Brand 34/ Speights 14
C Sam 20/Smith 20 Speights 8(total of 24 for speights)
There are so many keys to the season.
1. Brand, will he be an impact player
2. Can Lou handle being a starting pg?
3. What the hell are we going to get out of Sammy, will he buy into his role as a defender and rebounder or will he continue to be a cancer in the lockerroom?
4. How much of a leap will Thad make in this his 3rd season. BTW Dannie when Thad gets inducted into the hall of fame I am expecting you take me there on you! lol
5. Will we have enough outside shooting with Iggy at the 2? Can Iggy become a 35% 3pt shooter?
6. Will Jrue have a Speights/Thad like impact in his rookie year or will he struggle because of his youth?
7. Is Jason Smith healthy enough to fight for big minutes? If he is then my next question is whether or not he has developed a low post game. If he ever does develop a low post game then I see 15 pts a game being easy for him with the way he shoots and runs the floor. I really like his willingness to defend in his rookie year, I just think that the thing that was missing was that he was weak. Stefanski was raving about his toughness and he also said that he has beefed up t0 250. Can’t wait to watch him play.
8 Will Speights learn how to play defense? If Smith and Speights can defend then it would be a pleasure to get rid of any minutes going to brand and giving them to Smith ans Speights.
I think this year Carney finally wins the minute battle with Willie [15 to 5] and Kapono gets no less than 15 minutes a night because the need to spread the floor in this offense is key. Dannie and Pete; do you think Jordan plays L.Will. strictly at the p.g. spot to wipe away any [instant offense] thoughts out of his head ? I hope he gets a batism of fire and logs heavy minutes early, we certainly have plenty 2!s and 3!s.
Eddie Jordan says, “We want Lou to be Lou, and that’s attacking. We want him to be fast and get to the basket and be a 38-minute-a-game player.” That blows up your chart, Pete. It also makes it sound like Holiday won’t be getting a lot of minutes, at least not right out of the gate anyway.
my chart is what I think should happen, not necessarily what will.
I know that and I’m not getting on you about it, Pete. Just pointing out that if Jordan isn’t simply trying to build up Lou’s confidence heading into camp, then it looks like the plan is for him to see a sizeable increase in minutes over the 24 per game he played last season, which will necessarily take away minutes from others.
Willie Green was more affective as a bench player last season, plus his on the ball defense is very good and underrated! The question is, how many minutes will he play? Depending on the matchups and teams, Ivey or Green may have to take turns for some of that ball pressure in the final seconds of a game.
Plus, Eddie Jordan shares his thoughts regarding Dionte Christmas:
“He’s going to have a real, legitimate shot at making our team.”
In case, Carney or Kapono is injured, having Christmas would be great plan B. This guy shoots very well through screams and moves well without the ball.
GO SIXERS!
Oops, I meant to say “screens” instead of “screams”. I was in a bit of a Halloween mode there with October looming. But, it would be great to hear if Christmas does work well through screams, as well as screens.
Plus, the Sixers should bring back Big Shot as the Sixers mascot. Hip Hop belongs in the Iverson era. Or at least have a new mascot, Ben “Jammin’” Frankin!
Stromile Swift has been added to our training camp roster. This guy is athletic and is built for this team. He could better than Brezec defensively.
Swift is a decent backup for Dalembert and could be cheaper than Ryan Hollins if he does stay on our roster!