2022-23 Depth Chart

how much of AD and lebron's early shot selection is forced by having a non-shooting center on the floor, do you think? i'm not sure what the options are when russ's man drops off him and dj's man plays the paint. i suppose get into the teeth and look for lobs to dj?

really think that stretch of officiating in the 2nd was a huge blow and effectively lost us the game. we did lose our composure, which i agree was weird to watch, but that was some crazy stuff.

and we're going to continue to disagree on bridges's contract. he's had a good first three games, but if he's just the guy he was last year, it's a pretty decent-sized overpay that will hurt a small market team. when paul's not available (and paul won't be available for much of his current contract), i just don't think he's much of an impact player.

put it this way: i get why we recycle vet mins for our three and d guys.

 

Great commentary, svtzr!

Agree with abeer's post as well.

 

yeah, that was good analysis/discussion. svtzr and panko doing work here!

 

lol, i was just asking in the other thread to hear someone talk about the defense, and here's ol' frank.

glad that he thinks it's fixable.

 

sample size is a huge issue there, obviously, but i'd have expected the baze/bradley lineup to not be totally terrible. the monk/melo one doesn't surprise me at all.

 

yep. houston figured out that you needed 4 defenders to play with harden on the floor. nba offenses have gotten too good, the players too skilled, to have more than one weak link defensively. and ideally, you don't have any (i.e., that guy better be a pretty effective offensive player).

 

Both of their first 2 shots were early shot clock mid range fade aways. I feel like it’s the kind of shot you take to see if you’re hot on the night. I didn’t love the shot selection, but it’s not the end of the world.

We made spacing work the bubble year with AD/Javale/Lebron/Green/Bradley. And both Bradley and Green weren’t shooting particularly well. AD had good chemistry with Javale and when he would attack his man, and help came from the C, it was an automatic lob every time.

I think you can mitigate spacing issues by getting a lot of early offence and that’s why our defence is so important.

 

Yes I’ve noticed the same thing so far. Monk and Melo together don’t seem to gel. I’m sure they’ll continue to test it, so we’ll see if that changes.

The same way we can’t have two no D players so far - we seem to not be able to have two no O players either. As soon as Bradley and Bazemore aren’t hitting shots when they’re on the floor it’s hurting us.

 

Absolutely, Ellington, Nunn and Ariza are 3 shooters we are missing with Nunn and Ariza providing 3&D. Also THT is out and he can be a different look if our offence isn't getting going, let him run a bench unit and attack the basket with a few 3&D players and AD around him.

It's going to be interesting to see the next two months and how our rotations develop.

 

Game 3 vs Memphis
10/22/21
Win 1-2
121-118

1Q
A. 12:00 - 6:02 (5:58)
Westbrook/Bazemore/LeBron/AD/DAJ -8
B. 6:02 - 5:14 (0:48) 1 sub Monk
Monk/Bazemore/LeBron/AD/DAJ +2
C. 5:14 - 2:16 (2:58) 1 sub Melo
Monk/Bazemore/LeBron/Melo/AD +4
D. 2:16 - 0:00 (2:16) 2 subs Westbrook & Reaves
Westbrook/Monk/Reaves/Melo/AD +7

2Q
E. 12:00 - 7:21 (4:39) 2 subs LeBron & Dwight
Westbrook/Reaves/LeBron/Melo/Dwight +2
F. 7:21 - 6:23 (0:58) 1 sub Monk
Monk/Reaves/LeBron/Melo/Dwight +1
G. 6:23 - 5:23 (1:00) 1 sub AD
Monk/Reaves/LeBron/Melo/AD +0
H. 5:23 - 3:24 (1:59) 1 sub Westbrook
Westbrook/Monk/LeBron/Melo/AD +0
I. 3:24 - 1:35 (1:49) 2 subs Bazemore & Dwight
Westbrook/Monk/Bazemore/AD/Dwight -1
J. 1:35 - 0:01 (1:34) 1 sub LeBron
Westbrook/Bazemore/LeBron/AD/Dwight -1
K. 0:01 - 0:00 (0:01) 1 sub Reaves
Bazemore/Reaves/LeBron/AD/Dwight +0

3Q
L. 12:00 - 5:15 (6:45) 2 subs Westbrook & DAJ
Westbrook/Bazemore/LeBron/AD/DAJ -7
M. 5:15 - 4:17 (0:58) 1 sub Monk
Monk/Bazemore/LeBron/AD/DAJ -1
N. 4:17 - 3:37 (0:40) 1 sub Melo
Monk/Bazemore/LeBron/Melo/AD +1
O. 3:37 - 2:16 (1:21) 1 sub Westbrook
Westbrook/Monk/Bazemore/Melo/AD -1
P. 2:16 - 0:00 (2:16) 2 subs Bradley & Dwight
Westbrook/Bradley/Monk/Melo/Dwight -1

4Q
Q. 12:00 - 9:27 (2:33) 2 subs LeBron & Reaves
Westbrook/Reaves/LeBron/Melo/Dwight +3
R. 9:27 - 5:35 (3:52) 1 sub Monk
Monk/Reaves/LeBron/Melo/Dwight +4
S. 5:35 - 3:03 (2:32) 3 subs Westbrook, Bazemore & AD
Westbrook/Bazemore/Reaves/LeBron/AD +1
T. 3:03 - 0:11 (2:52) 1 sub Melo
Westbrook/Bazemore/LeBron/Melo/AD -4
U. 0:11 - 0:07 (0:04) 1 sub Monk
Westbrook/Monk/LeBron/Melo/AD +2
V. 0:07 - 0:06 (0:01) 1 sub Bazemore
Westbrook/Bazemore/LeBron/Melo/AD -1
W. 0:06 - 0:05 (0:01) 1 sub Monk
Westbrook/Monk/LeBron/Melo/AD +0
X. 0:05 - 0:00 (0:05) 1 sub Bazemore
Westbrook/Bazemore/LeBron/Melo/AD +1

 

Obviously, the starting unit sucked when together this game.

Dat Monk+Melo combo though! +17! Total turnaround from the previous games.
With +12 of that having Reaves alongside them.
And it worked with anyone who played next to them, any combo of: Westbrook, Bazemore, LeBron, AD & Dwight.

Every Monk lineup was -1 or better, most of them being positive, some of them extremely positive. Same thing for Dwight. Almost the same thing with Melo, although he does have one -4 stretch. Oddly, it was with the starters except DAJ: Westbrook/Bazemore/LeBron/Melo/AD -4

Every single Reaves lineup was positive! Kid's got alligator blood. No matter who was around him, it worked. Same thing is true from G2. No lineup with him has ever been negative! So he is now a team-leading +35. In 2nd place is Melo at +22. Meanwhile, every starter is negative.

Vogel used pretty much the same substitutions in 1Q as in G2.
Reaves got Bradley's playing time from G2.

 

I’m liked the Westbrook, Reaves, Lebron, Melo and AD/Dwight rotation. Lebron, Melo and Reaves have been shooting lights out and Lebron, Reaves and AD/Dwight play solid defence.

Like I’ve been saying it’s still to early to draw conclusions - just look at the Monk and Melo lineup that worked. But it’s encouraging.

 

Thx. I've seen sites that have those breakdowns for different lineups overall, but I haven't seen the exact substitution patterns and rotations for each game like what I've been posting. It's interesting enough to me that I'll keep at it for a while for as long as I have time, although eventually I probably either won't think it's as useful, or won't have the time.

For anyone looking for cumulative stats on different units, nba.com's advanced stats have great dropdown menus to sort and filter by:

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced/