I have a petition.

[Diesel]

I think Woody ought to sit Joe, Josh, and Bibby out every third game.

I watched what Cleveland did to Lebron.

I watched what the Lakers did with Kobe.

Woody ought to let Bibby, Josh and Joe get some rest...

and

We should play some of our other players in their place.

i would like for us to play:

Teague, Craw, Evans, Marv, and Horf for a few games.

Subbing in Rio, Hunter, Smith, and Zaza.

If we lose, then fans need to understand that we lose because we're trying to get this team ready for the playoffs. I just think that Orlando is rolling right now and we probably won't overtake them. SO we should just get our guys ready... I feel that there's a disconnect of chemistry with Teague and Evan and Joe Smith. These are guys that we need to be able to call on for the playoffs. SO just every third game. This will also give Woody a chance to develop a new rotation.

[exodus]

Every third game might be a bit much but I agree with the concept. I think it is a good idea to give the main guys a few days off here and there.

[NineOhTheRino]

He will never do it. He's all about getting and many wins as possible to give himself a bargaining chip with ASG or another team at the end of the year. Only way it happens is if he's given a new contract now but we know that will never happen.

[Diesel]

He will never do it. He's all about getting and many wins as possible to give himself a bargaining chip with ASG or another team at the end of the year. Only way it happens is if he's given a new contract now but we know that will never happen.

Yeah, I get the feeling that unless we're in the NBA Finals, Sund already has Woody's replacement on speed dial.

Every third game might be a bit much but I agree with the concept. I think it is a good idea to give the main guys a few days off here and there.

That and these other guys need to be tested to see if we can put some confidence in them.

[Gray Mule]

Diesel: This will never work. Why not? Because it makes too much sense.

The same reason that Jeff, Mario and Joe Smith never got to play in the

second half of our last game. They MIGHT cause the Hawks to lose.

(They lost any way, but that's beside the point.)

Better to play a tired starter in the 2nd game of a BTB rather than give a player

off the bench, who is fresh and rested, the opportunity. We all know that these

bench guys can't be trusted. - - - Therefore, if they can't be trusted, your plan won't work.

:whistling:

[Gray Mule]

Woody might say, "Can't be trusted? I never said that."

Actions speak louder than words. Judge a tree by it's fruits.

Not what the seed catalogue said.

:tongue:

[macdaddy]

These guys are nba players. They are supposed to be ready when I..er Woody..calls their number. It shouldn't matter if they haven't played all season they should have immediate chemistry and know exactly what to do. Plus in the playoffs I can shrink.. I mean we can shrink the rotation down to 6 guys. That's why all the guys are 6'8", good jump shooters, and can defend the paint and the perimeter. They are interchangeable.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I think Woody ought to sit Joe, Josh, and Bibby out every third game.

I watched what Cleveland did to Lebron.

I watched what the Lakers did with Kobe.

Woody ought to let Bibby, Josh and Joe get some rest...

and

We should play some of our other players in their place.

i would like for us to play:

Teague, Craw, Evans, Marv, and Horf for a few games.

Subbing in Rio, Hunter, Smith, and Zaza.

If we lose, then fans need to understand that we lose because we're trying to get this team ready for the playoffs. I just think that Orlando is rolling right now and we probably won't overtake them. SO we should just get our guys ready... I feel that there's a disconnect of chemistry with Teague and Evan and Joe Smith. These are guys that we need to be able to call on for the playoffs. SO just every third game. This will also give Woody a chance to develop a new rotation.

LOL @ Diesel . . good lord man. Do you actually think the entire bench is going to be a factor come playoff time? Why would you even waste time giving sorry scrubs minutes, if they won't even play in the playoffs.

The real question is . . . why don't people in this fan base watch how other playoff coaches manage their rosters?

- Lakers have a set 8 man rotation, with a 9th man maybe getting spot miinutes

- Orlando CAN go 10 deep, although they only usually go 9 deep.

- Oklahoma City has a legit 9 deep rotation

- Portland usually goes a legit 9 deep

- Denver will go 8 deep, with the 9th man getting spot minutes

- Boston goes 9 deep, with a 10th man getting spot minutes sometimes

- Dallas goes with a set 8 man rotation, with hardly any variation

- Phoenix goes 8 deep with a 9th man getting spot minutes.

- Cleveland goes 9 deep, but routinely reduces the rotation to 8 in tight games.

- Jazz will go 8 deep, with the 9th and/or 10th man getting spot minutes.

You guys keep talking about . . "bench, bench, bench" . . when you KNOW that these bench guys are basically SORRY. What Woody needs to do, is simply go with 3 guys, with maybe a 4th guy getting spot minutes, and roll with that on a nightly basis. Don't worry about playing the entire bench, because they're not going to play in the playoffs anyway, unless it's an emergency situation.

I could understand if we had ballers on the bench. I could understand that if outside of Crawford, we had Chill, Alan Henderson, Nazr Mohammed, and Craig Ehlo making up the rest of our bench. But we have scrubs.

Even with the great play of Crawford, the bench ranks 26th in the league, the WORST amongst all current playoff teams.

Yet, people want to see Smoove, Horford, and JJ's minutes cut, to develop the bench more. Doc Rivers is learning about playing his bench, especially in the 2nd halves of games. His sorry bench almost lost that game for him last night.

If the scrubs don't get in a game . . Woody gets blamed. If the scrubs play bad . . Woody gets blamed for putting them, or leaving them in. If Woody takes a "hot man" out of a game, to put in the scrub in a timed substitution . . Woody gets blamed.

The fan base would have a fit if we did what you said, especially when we're still in the thick of a division race.

How about this Diesel . . Pick the 2 guys you want rolling with Crawford off the bench, and one more player to play spot minutes. That's more realistic than saying to try to play the entire bench to get them ready. Ready for what? To sit the pine in a 7-game series?

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Diesel: This will never work. Why not? Because it makes too much sense.

The same reason that Jeff, Mario and Joe Smith never got to play in the

second half of our last game. They MIGHT cause the Hawks to lose.

(They lost any way, but that's beside the point.)

Better to play a tired starter in the 2nd game of a BTB rather than give a player

off the bench, who is fresh and rested, the opportunity. We all know that these

bench guys can't be trusted. - - - Therefore, if they can't be trusted, your plan won't work.

:whistling:

Well Gray . . tell me who you going to trust on this team off the bench. And tell me how many minutes a night each of those "trusted" players should be playing?

[Gray Mule]

Northcyde:

Not many minutes, that's true, BUT if they are of no use, they need to be released and

be replaced with players from the D League.

We recently played a team that had more D League & undrafter players than they had

"Star quality" first round picks. We won - - Barely.

When Joe Smith had a very good game in the first half, then sat the entire second half

as the "trusted" starters got whipped because they were too tired, You gotta wonder.

When D. Wade was running wild and no one could slow him down - not stop, just

slow down, our defensive stopper, Mario, stayed nailed to the pine.

You might say that Mario couldn't possibly stay with him. Since no one else could who

was on the floor, what did the Hawks have to lose by trying?

With Bibby dead on his feet in the 4th and a rested Jeff T. on the bench, he didn't see the

floor at all. Two or three minutes? That would have cost us the game - - That we lost

any way because of all the turnovers that Atlanta had because they were too tired.

If our bench is good enough, use them. Maybe not a lot, but use them. If they are of no use

release them. No point in paying them to do absolutely nothing but sit.

:stirthepot:

[Diesel]

LOL @ Diesel . . good lord man. Do you actually think the entire bench is going to be a factor come playoff time? Why would you even waste time giving sorry scrubs minutes, if they won't even play in the playoffs.

The real question is . . . why don't people in this fan base watch how other playoff coaches manage their rosters?

- Lakers have a set 8 man rotation, with a 9th man maybe getting spot miinutes

- Orlando CAN go 10 deep, although they only usually go 9 deep.

- Oklahoma City has a legit 9 deep rotation

- Portland usually goes a legit 9 deep

- Denver will go 8 deep, with the 9th man getting spot minutes

- Boston goes 9 deep, with a 10th man getting spot minutes sometimes

- Dallas goes with a set 8 man rotation, with hardly any variation

- Phoenix goes 8 deep with a 9th man getting spot minutes.

- Cleveland goes 9 deep, but routinely reduces the rotation to 8 in tight games.

- Jazz will go 8 deep, with the 9th and/or 10th man getting spot minutes.

You guys keep talking about . . "bench, bench, bench" . . when you KNOW that these bench guys are basically SORRY. What Woody needs to do, is simply go with 3 guys, with maybe a 4th guy getting spot minutes, and roll with that on a nightly basis. Don't worry about playing the entire bench, because they're not going to play in the playoffs anyway, unless it's an emergency situation.

I could understand if we had ballers on the bench. I could understand that if outside of Crawford, we had Chill, Alan Henderson, Nazr Mohammed, and Craig Ehlo making up the rest of our bench. But we have scrubs.

Even with the great play of Crawford, the bench ranks 26th in the league, the WORST amongst all current playoff teams.

Yet, people want to see Smoove, Horford, and JJ's minutes cut, to develop the bench more. Doc Rivers is learning about playing his bench, especially in the 2nd halves of games. His sorry bench almost lost that game for him last night.

If the scrubs don't get in a game . . Woody gets blamed. If the scrubs play bad . . Woody gets blamed for putting them, or leaving them in. If Woody takes a "hot man" out of a game, to put in the scrub in a timed substitution . . Woody gets blamed.

The fan base would have a fit if we did what you said, especially when we're still in the thick of a division race.

How about this Diesel . . Pick the 2 guys you want rolling with Crawford off the bench, and one more player to play spot minutes. That's more realistic than saying to try to play the entire bench to get them ready. Ready for what? To sit the pine in a 7-game series?

Really. I thought you were being funny until i got to the end and there was no haha moment. Then I realized that you're serious? We have less than 20 games left. Under my proposal, that's 6 possible loses. 6 loses that won't change our position in the playoff race. However, it gives our guys adequate rest and at the same time give our reserves the chance to gel.

Now to your questions.

No. I don't think that our bench players will be a large part of our playoff rotation. However, there's this great thing call player development. Aside from Joe Smith, most of the players on our bench could use some playing time to help them develop. Moreover, because of his defense, there will be times (even in the playoffs) where we will look to Rio. This is Woodrows chance to get some of these guys in the game and allow them to work on some chemistry. This is also a time to build up the confidence of an underachiever like Marvin. Putting Marvin in as a secondary scorer has to raise his confidence and may bring him out offensively. However, we can sit back and play our starters to death and watch them drain out in the playoffs because Woody doesn't have anybody he trusts to give them some rest. OR we can get our bench up to snuff on the floor and in Woody's eyes.

Now you mentioned watching playoff teams.

Let's talk about Detroit a few years back. Do you know that they developed Tayshun Prince as a rook? His playoffs were great... that started because Carlisle had tinkered with Prince (a little) during the end of the season and when the chips were down, he had the confidence in Prince to give him a try.

Let's talk about Orlando last year.

Did you know that Orlando last year had 9 players to play more than 200 minutes and 11 players more than 90 minutes in the playoffs With one being Jameer Nelson who only played in the Lakers series.

Let's talk about the Lakers last year.

10 guys over 200 minutes.

Then there was us...

7 guys over 200 minutes.

Solomon Jones = 77 minutes.

Acie Law = 28 minutes.

Mario West = 46 minutes

This is the rotation Woody went with.

I have shown you what Championship teams do.. and when you look at us... It's freakin embarrassing.

Championship Celtics = 9 guys over 200 minutes.. Plus 2 guys (Glen big baby and Eddie House) over 120 minutes.

[NineOhTheRino]

Cleveland is resting Bron and Pop has been sitting Duncan on back-to-back nights all year. Why is Woody not doing the same? C'mon we know the answer. Funny how coaches get away with selfish behavior yet they criticize players routinely for doing the same. I like Woody but at some point he has to put the team's future before his visions of a new multi-year contract.

Edited March 8, 2010 by NineOhTheRino

[Diesel]

Cleveland is resting Bron and Pop has been sitting Duncan on back-to-back nights all year. Why is Woody not doing the same? C'mon we know the answer. Funny how coaches get away with selfish behavior yet they criticize players routinely for doing the same. I like Woody but at some point he has to put the team's future before his visions of a new multi-year contract.

I truly hope this is not Woody's idea to get a new contract? Our players really need rest right now. I younger players could use more playing time. This is the logical thing to do.

[Colin]

6 loses that won't change our position in the playoff race.

Are you serious? 6 losses is easily going to be the difference between 2nd and 4th. IT MATTERS COMPLETELY to the playoff race.

[Diesel]

Are you serious? 6 losses is easily going to be the difference between 2nd and 4th. IT MATTERS COMPLETELY to the playoff race.

Maybe but 4th still has HC advantage. Moreover, I'd rather play Cleveland in the 2nd round than Orlando.

[Colin]

Maybe but 4th still has HC advantage. Moreover, I'd rather play Cleveland in the 2nd round than Orlando.

Yes, wouldhave HC advantage in the 1st round, I want it in the second as well. Why should we rest JJ and Josh, you don't see the Magic resting Dwight, you don't see the Celtics resting Rondo/Ray, you don't see Cleveland resting Lebron until he gets injured. You don't rest your players when you're still fighting for playoff position, that is why the Lakers, and now Cavs can get away with it, they pretty much have the top spots locked up.

YOU GET PAID TO PLAY 82 GAMES, you can rest when you have your playoff position locked up.

[exodus]

Are you serious? 6 losses is easily going to be the difference between 2nd and 4th. IT MATTERS COMPLETELY to the playoff race.

We aren't going to catch the Magic. They have had injuries and chemistry problems all season and still have a comfortable lead on us. Now that they are healthy and starting to play better our chances of catching them are nill.

JJ ,Smith, Horford and Crawford could definitely use a few games off before the playoffs start. Bibby probably won't be playing over 30 minutes very often anyway.

[Diesel]

Yes, wouldhave HC advantage in the 1st round, I want it in the second as well. Why should we rest JJ and Josh, you don't see the Magic resting Dwight, you don't see the Celtics resting Rondo/Ray, you don't see Cleveland resting Lebron until he gets injured. You don't rest your players when you're still fighting for playoff position, that is why the Lakers, and now Cavs can get away with it, they pretty much have the top spots locked up.

YOU GET PAID TO PLAY 82 GAMES, you can rest when you have your playoff position locked up.

Well, us getting HC in the second round is doubtful. Moreover, you will see those guys rested just as you have seen Kobe and Lebron and Duncan rested.

[Wretch]

Woody is going to get 50 wins. 50+ if he can help it. And if he hasn't learned to make minor adjustments in all this time, I have absolutely no faith in him making this on either. But it's a good call. I don't know about entire games, but the advantages you mention are solid. Now is the time to give the main guys some rest. It would also be a great time to give Teague some burn and to give the bench a chance to gel.

...ain't gonna happen though.

[gutz]

I think Woody ought to sit Joe, Josh, and Bibby out every third game.

I watched what Cleveland did to Lebron.

I watched what the Lakers did with Kobe.

Woody ought to let Bibby, Josh and Joe get some rest...

and

We should play some of our other players in their place.

i would like for us to play:

Teague, Craw, Evans, Marv, and Horf for a few games.

Subbing in Rio, Hunter, Smith, and Zaza.

If we lose, then fans need to understand that we lose because we're trying to get this team ready for the playoffs. I just think that Orlando is rolling right now and we probably won't overtake them. SO we should just get our guys ready... I feel that there's a disconnect of chemistry with Teague and Evan and Joe Smith. These are guys that we need to be able to call on for the playoffs. SO just every third game. This will also give Woody a chance to develop a new rotation.

Hunter isn't even on the roster anymore? And Woody won't rest anyone so don't even bother.