Reply To: Houston – Game 4

[lehigh90Participant]

I’m starting to think Reed may need to revamp the starting lineup/top 7-8 to cover up some of our weaknesses. The best thing, IMO, this team does is score the basketball. Scoring is nice, but it rarely wins at any level. Solid defense and rebounding are generally the key to success. It is hard to get a good barometer on this team, when they play against big time OOC talent, as we are never going to be able to defend and rebound against these teams, who are bigger than us and more athletic.

All that being said, I think we may need to sacrifice some offense, for the sake of toughening up the defense and rebounding. TK is not going to rebound this season for us. Plain and simple. He doesn’t have the body, strength, toughness, or desire at this point in his development. Our hope is that he becomes a good positional rebounder later in his career. So, he is going to need help on the backboard. JC is a solid rebounder, but he is often 20 feet from the basket on the offensive end, which means positioning is going to be tough for him. So, I would propose pulling a little offense from the starting 5 to sure up our weaknesses.

I think it makes sense to move JC to the 3 (he plays like a 2-3 more than a 4), and insert either CB or JG into the starting 5 at the 4 spot to give us a little toughness. Keep TK at the 5, and we have a frontcourt of “big” players, 6’10”, 6’7″ and 6’6″. Obviously, MM at the 1, and I would move CS out of the starting lineup, and start AP at the 2. I like AP’s perimeter defending a little better than CS, who struggles to stay in front of penetrators.

I haven’t seen much from MS at this point, that I would be giving him many minutes. He looks rather lost out there, and I don’t like his ability to run the show, this early in his career. I would run CS in as the 3rd guard, who can play either spots, and my first big would be either CB or JG, whoever does not start. I think that 7 gives us the best shot to compete.

Work AD back in whenever he comes back. SW gets minutes behind JC, limited, until he proves something. Really unsure what he is so far. MS, limited minutes at PG. SC, again limited, until healthy, wing against zone.

So, minutes wise, you would have something like.

PG – MM (32), CS (8)
SG – AP (20), CS (20)
SF – JC (30), SW (10)
PF – CB (20), JG (20)
C – TK (30), JG (5), CB (5)