10-31-2022, 07:44 AM
I think we can now see that the closing group is Maxi, DFS, THJ, Bullock and Luka. Not much creation, but it isn't like anyone besides Luka is going to initiate pays in the final few minutes.
This is the role I envisioned Powell would have. The run in the second quarter went a little longer than I think will be normal, but it was working. Powell plus the starters went on an 11-1 run starting middle second quarter.
That much Powell meant fewer than usual Wood as solo-center minutes. 1:40 (+0) in the first quarter and 2:00 (-2) in the fourth. We even saw about a minute of Powell/Wood overlap in the third (+0).
Josh at 17 minutes was also more in the range of what I expected prior to the season beginning. It helped to keep DFS, Bullock and THJ all under 30 minutes. What we don't know yet is whether that is the beginning of a trend or simply an accommodation during the second night of a B2B.
The general theory behind McGee is he would help the starters hold serve for a few minutes at the start of halves. Then you'd get Luka and mostly bench guys the rest of the quarter, SD and mostly bench guys to start the 2nd/4th and they would dominate the bench of the other team. Then we would end up with some kind of closing lineup. Basically four segments. They color code the +/- in the box score section of B-Ref so it is easy to see.
Our four starters with McGee have a net rating of -12.4 (the O is horrible)
Our four starters with Maxi have a net rating of -32.6 (again, horrible O, but the D-rating is 132.6)
Our four starters with Wood have a net rating of -32.0 (see above)
It has only happened in two games...obviously...but our four starters with Powell are a +32.9. I like that a a specialty lineup, but even I wouldn't run with that as our main lineup. Still the problem remains that in a small sample size of six games, we don't have a big that is working with our starters. The super-O combo of Wood, Dinwiddie and Hardaway isn't working unless Green is with them. These are the things Kidd is looking for as he tinkers around the edges with his lineups. What seems to be emerging as our closing lineup Maxi/THJ with DFS,RB and Luka is +10, but there are only 10 minutes of experience with this. I also find it interesting that THJ/Wood and Maxi work well so far IF they are combined with Green and either of the PG's...+22 with Dinwiddie/Green and +29 with Luka/Green.
There may be some encouraging news in all of this for the folks wanting to start Wood (as long is Maxi is with him). There are a pretty good number of lineups with Wood and Maxi that are working. The issue is you can only do that about 24-28 minutes a game. So, how do you man the middle when the two of them are sitting? Yeah, you might get a few minutes (6-8) with Wood as the solo big during shift changes. But now he's at about 30 and you've not accounted for about 18-20 minutes of play that will have to be either Powell/DFS or McGee/DFS anchoring the paint.
This is the role I envisioned Powell would have. The run in the second quarter went a little longer than I think will be normal, but it was working. Powell plus the starters went on an 11-1 run starting middle second quarter.
That much Powell meant fewer than usual Wood as solo-center minutes. 1:40 (+0) in the first quarter and 2:00 (-2) in the fourth. We even saw about a minute of Powell/Wood overlap in the third (+0).
Josh at 17 minutes was also more in the range of what I expected prior to the season beginning. It helped to keep DFS, Bullock and THJ all under 30 minutes. What we don't know yet is whether that is the beginning of a trend or simply an accommodation during the second night of a B2B.
The general theory behind McGee is he would help the starters hold serve for a few minutes at the start of halves. Then you'd get Luka and mostly bench guys the rest of the quarter, SD and mostly bench guys to start the 2nd/4th and they would dominate the bench of the other team. Then we would end up with some kind of closing lineup. Basically four segments. They color code the +/- in the box score section of B-Ref so it is easy to see.
Our four starters with McGee have a net rating of -12.4 (the O is horrible)
Our four starters with Maxi have a net rating of -32.6 (again, horrible O, but the D-rating is 132.6)
Our four starters with Wood have a net rating of -32.0 (see above)
It has only happened in two games...obviously...but our four starters with Powell are a +32.9. I like that a a specialty lineup, but even I wouldn't run with that as our main lineup. Still the problem remains that in a small sample size of six games, we don't have a big that is working with our starters. The super-O combo of Wood, Dinwiddie and Hardaway isn't working unless Green is with them. These are the things Kidd is looking for as he tinkers around the edges with his lineups. What seems to be emerging as our closing lineup Maxi/THJ with DFS,RB and Luka is +10, but there are only 10 minutes of experience with this. I also find it interesting that THJ/Wood and Maxi work well so far IF they are combined with Green and either of the PG's...+22 with Dinwiddie/Green and +29 with Luka/Green.
There may be some encouraging news in all of this for the folks wanting to start Wood (as long is Maxi is with him). There are a pretty good number of lineups with Wood and Maxi that are working. The issue is you can only do that about 24-28 minutes a game. So, how do you man the middle when the two of them are sitting? Yeah, you might get a few minutes (6-8) with Wood as the solo big during shift changes. But now he's at about 30 and you've not accounted for about 18-20 minutes of play that will have to be either Powell/DFS or McGee/DFS anchoring the paint.
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