2023-2024 Rotation/Minutes

[Uncle Mxy]

Morris, Ivey, and Cade are way too ball dominant.. It would be nice to have one lead the 2nd unit.

Morris takes care of the ball, can actually make threes. Cade works best off the ball, will likely be an elite wing once we stop pretending he's the second coming of Luka, Ivey neds a steady hand to guide. That's my operating theory, at least.

[vege]

Morris, Ivey, and Cade are way too ball dominant.. It would be nice to have one lead the 2nd unit.

We would be a good team with Ivey and Stewart on the 2nd unit with Morris/Cade/Ausar/Bojan/Duren starting and Burks and Muscala playing with Stewart and Ivey on the 2nd unit.

During the post-game, Monty was asked a question that must have forced him to mention tweaking the line-ups.

Oh you posted the same thing I posted yesterday. Morris/Cade/Bojan/Ausar/Duren. Ivey/Burks/Stew/Muscala you even managed to get Sasser in there as well. Too bad Monty is not using that lineup, it would be good imo.

[Uncle Mxy]

With Ausar's current level of offense, someone always gets doubled in the starting lineup.

[MortSahlfan]

Ausar has a quick dribble, high elevation FT line jumper that's automatic. If he takes those and avoids 3 (and dunks the rest), he'll be fine.

[mattao313]

Ausar has a quick dribble, high elevation FT line jumper that's automatic. If he takes those and avoids 3 (and dunks the rest), he'll be fine.

The thing is no one guards him on the perimeter

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[bstein14]

Ausar has a quick dribble, high elevation FT line jumper that's automatic. If he takes those and avoids 3 (and dunks the rest), he'll be fine.

The thing is no one guards him on the perimeter

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I think putting the ball in his hands a bit, or letting him be the screener is ideal.

If you have a bench unit with him and four shooters you can still space the floor well. Problem is Monty has him standing in the corner all the time.

Ausar Thompson is top 10 in the entire league in PPP as a pick and roll ball handler, yet he only gets to do it one every other game on average. He's just behind Giannis and just ahead of Haliburton in PPP as a pick and roll ball handler. Let him keep doing it.

[MortSahlfan]

Ausar has a quick dribble, high elevation FT line jumper that's automatic. If he takes those and avoids 3 (and dunks the rest), he'll be fine.

The thing is no one guards him on the perimeter

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But he still managed to score by getting into the paint, or at least making the right pass. A few dribbles and a shot seems to work fine from him. He shoots such a low % from 3, there's no reason to take them. I'd like to see scoring more paint, even throwing it to Duren, try to force a double team to get better 3s.

[mattao313]

Ausar has a quick dribble, high elevation FT line jumper that's automatic. If he takes those and avoids 3 (and dunks the rest), he'll be fine.

The thing is no one guards him on the perimeter

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But he still managed to score by getting into the paint, or at least making the right pass. A few dribbles and a shot seems to work fine from him. He shoots such a low % from 3, there's no reason to take them. I'd like to see scoring more paint, even throwing it to Duren, try to force a double team to get better 3s.

When a guy is sagging off you it's definitely going to be harder for u to get into the paint and score. I still think he's best a off ball scorer cutting to the basket and working is fast break/semi fastbreak situations. I fell like he fumbles his dribble a ton in the half court.

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[Cowology]

The thing is no one guards him on the perimeter

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But he still managed to score by getting into the paint, or at least making the right pass. A few dribbles and a shot seems to work fine from him. He shoots such a low % from 3, there's no reason to take them. I'd like to see scoring more paint, even throwing it to Duren, try to force a double team to get better 3s.

When a guy is sagging off you it's definitely going to be harder for u to get into the paint and score. I still think he's best a off ball scorer cutting to the basket and working is fast break/semi fastbreak situations. I fell like he fumbles his dribble a ton in the half court.

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All of the above is true simultaneously.

Ausar performs better & should be used more in the pnr & generally attacking the basket. But we also need him to space the floor so other players are able to operate at max efficiency and ultimately he's gotta get comfortable taking that shot.

It's the same problem we've been battling for 3+seasons; too many overlapping deficiencies (shooting) making a lot of lineups untenable. But we *have* to play the kid.

Soooo.... we gotta try & use him better & try to involve him in other ways, but he's still gotta take those wide open looks or develop a pull-up or floater out something. He can't just dribble into traffic when the ball swings to the weak side.

[breezypeezy]

Gallinari giving more on offense than any of our starters tonight.

[Kalamazoo317]

Feels like Monty's starting to figure out the rotations a bit better. Or maybe that's just Hayes and Wiseman being out of the rotation speaking ....

[flow]

Gallinari giving more on offense than any of our starters tonight.

No surprise there. Gallinari is the 2nd or 3rd best offensive player on our roster.

[kierkegaard]

re Ausar and shooting, my operating premise is that everyone at every level develops a better shot over time.

Killian has certainly challenged my thesis. So certainly there are outliers.

But I think Ausar will develop his 3 game and then be a 3 and D monster. Actually his athleticism and instincts are too good to be limited to 3's offensively. So were he to develop the 3 he would be a complete package. Kawhi came into the league as pretty much a defensive specialist only, and look at him now.

[bstein14]

re Ausar and shooting, my operating premise is that everyone at every level develops a better shot over time.

Killian has certainly challenged my thesis. So certainly there are outliers.

But I think Ausar will develop his 3 game and then be a 3 and D monster. Actually his athleticism and instincts are too good to be limited to 3's offensively. So were he to develop the 3 he would be a complete package. Kawhi came into the league as pretty much a defensive specialist only, and look at him now.

The toughest thing with that is, he's literally been shooting and training to be a pro basketball player his entire life and he's still horrible. His dad literally trained him and his brother to become NBA players since they were like 5 or 6 so he's spend an absurd amount of time already shooting. It's not like he's some big (like Duren) who played inside the paint and played at a college where they mostly wanted him to rim protect and score inside but not shoot... Ausar and Amen have been shooting a ton their entire lives and they both suck.

[bstein14]

Ausar has a quick dribble, high elevation FT line jumper that's automatic. If he takes those and avoids 3 (and dunks the rest), he'll be fine.

The thing is no one guards him on the perimeter

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Putting Ausar in the corner with the 2nd unit is a mistake... he should be there a little bit from time to time but I think we should see more of him both as a screener and a pick and roll ball handler and let him develop more of those skills this season rather than just sitting him in the corner like Monty mostly has done up to this point.

[kierkegaard]

re Ausar and shooting, my operating premise is that everyone at every level develops a better shot over time.

Killian has certainly challenged my thesis. So certainly there are outliers.

But I think Ausar will develop his 3 game and then be a 3 and D monster. Actually his athleticism and instincts are too good to be limited to 3's offensively. So were he to develop the 3 he would be a complete package. Kawhi came into the league as pretty much a defensive specialist only, and look at him now.

The toughest thing with that is, he's literally been shooting and training to be a pro basketball player his entire life and he's still horrible. His dad literally trained him and his brother to become NBA players since they were like 5 or 6 so he's spend an absurd amount of time already shooting. It's not like he's some big (like Duren) who played inside the paint and played at a college where they mostly wanted him to rim protect and score inside but not shoot... Ausar and Amen have been shooting a ton their entire lives and they both suck.

Hard to argue with your reasoning except to say that I hope you are wrong. Ivey improved significantly as did Stew. And watching Ausar's FT form + his form on those 15 foot jumpers in the paint, I'm hopeful that he can become a much better 3 point shooter over time, even as early as next year.

[Mr Peanut]

re Ausar and shooting, my operating premise is that everyone at every level develops a better shot over time.

Killian has certainly challenged my thesis. So certainly there are outliers.

But I think Ausar will develop his 3 game and then be a 3 and D monster. Actually his athleticism and instincts are too good to be limited to 3's offensively. So were he to develop the 3 he would be a complete package. Kawhi came into the league as pretty much a defensive specialist only, and look at him now.

The toughest thing with that is, he's literally been shooting and training to be a pro basketball player his entire life and he's still horrible. His dad literally trained him and his brother to become NBA players since they were like 5 or 6 so he's spend an absurd amount of time already shooting. It's not like he's some big (like Duren) who played inside the paint and played at a college where they mostly wanted him to rim protect and score inside but not shoot... Ausar and Amen have been shooting a ton their entire lives and they both suck.

I mean, I'm sure his dad is a great guy but he (or whoever he hired to train them during their upbringing) is not nearly on the same level as an NBA trainer. I would give him time now that he has the right people working with him.

[DetroitSho]

re Ausar and shooting, my operating premise is that everyone at every level develops a better shot over time.

Killian has certainly challenged my thesis. So certainly there are outliers.

But I think Ausar will develop his 3 game and then be a 3 and D monster. Actually his athleticism and instincts are too good to be limited to 3's offensively. So were he to develop the 3 he would be a complete package. Kawhi came into the league as pretty much a defensive specialist only, and look at him now.

The toughest thing with that is, he's literally been shooting and training to be a pro basketball player his entire life and he's still horrible. His dad literally trained him and his brother to become NBA players since they were like 5 or 6 so he's spend an absurd amount of time already shooting. It's not like he's some big (like Duren) who played inside the paint and played at a college where they mostly wanted him to rim protect and score inside but not shoot... Ausar and Amen have been shooting a ton their entire lives and they both suck.

I mean, I'm sure his dad is a great guy but he (or whoever he hired to train them during their upbringing) is not nearly on the same level as an NBA trainer. I would give him time now that he has the right people working with him.

Yeah, and not to mention Lavar Ball trained his sons to be in the NBA all their lives and those boys (especially Lonzo) came in with the worst shooting form you'll ever see.

I think Ausar being trained since a little boy shows up in his instincts and overall awareness and you can tell he just knows how to play ball. But, specific skillets (like ball handling and shooting) are better developed working with high level trainers on.

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[MortSahlfan]

Since the two trades..

Cade-34/Killian-14
Ivey-28/Sasser-20
Bojan-28/Vontecchio-20
Thompson-22/Stew-26
Duren-32/Muscala-16

On offense, Muscala would play the stretch 4, and Stew is inside, scoring or boxing. Center on offense, PF on defense. Sasser to me is a SG.

[MortSahlfan]

Cade-34/Sasser-14
Ivey-30/Grimes-18
Thompson-28/Vontecchio-20
Stewart-30/Gallo-18
Duren-30/Muscala-18