Game 33: Dallas Mavericks (19-14) vs. Golden State Warriors (15-17) 132-122 WIN

[mvossman]

I think Curry and Hardy are immaterial to the playoff rotation for a healthy team.  So, I don’t see the logjam.  it is just THJ and Green and both are needed.  

At full strength THJ currently rotates with Kyrie and Luka to provide two “scorers” on the floor.  THJ’s lack of creation and playmaking isn’t ideal for the role, but it is made up by the fact that…

Exum (who can play-make for others) and Green rotate as point of attack defenders.

GWill splits minutes with DJJ as bigger wing defenders.  Grant has gotten a few minutes as a small-ball center recently, but in this game against this team that didn’t happen.  Lively and someone will split center minutes even if Grant gets some.

To me, the rotation at full strength looks like:

Scorers (Luka, Irving and THJ)
POA Defense (Exum and Green)
Bigger Wing D (DJJ and GWill)
Center (Lively and someone….Powell has gotten the bulk of these minutes)

Everyone else is either developmental (OMax and Hardy) or here for injury protection or injured themselves.  To me, Green isn’t the one to jettison.  THJ’s spot would be better used by someone with a more diverse skill set that includes playmaking or defense or even better….both.  If we had a bigger player with that skill set, Green and Exum would be ideal for the remaining role

Yep.  This is how I see it.  I don't see it likely that we make the THJ swap at the TDL, but the offseason goals should be:

Replace Timmy with a bigger two way player (many assets at our disposal for this)
Get a quality backup center
figure out a way to keep DJJ

In an ideal world, you use Timmy, Holmes and Hardy as trade fodder and hold on to everyone else.