(The original article was published on December 8. The author is Grant Hughes in the bleachers. The content of the article does not represent the translator’s point of view)
It is not easy to build a set of effective NBA starting lineup. Although only one quarter of the team has been played this season and the number of competition samples is relatively small, some teams have already provided enough information, prove that changes need to be made. According to the net efficiency of the lineup and some specific statistical problems, Grant Hughes in the bleachers pointed out the defects behind the starting lineup. In some cases, it will emphasize the veteran who hinder the growth of young people in the starting lineup. Most of these young people are very important to the team’s long-term plan. The ultimate goal is to help these teams and put the strongest five-player group in the starting position, but they certainly cannot do everything.
Dallas Lone Ranger
Current start: Lucca-East Chech, Spencer-tinvey, Tim Hardaway, Finney Smith, and Dwight Powell
Adjustment suggestion: Josh Green replaced Ding Weidi
The lone ranger thought that dong qiqi could enter the playoffs with four players in the starting line. The first step for them to verify this idea was to let mackey and brock play the starting line at the beginning of the season. But soon the Lone Ranger gave up Mackey, and then let little Hardaway replace Brock’s starting position. There was the starting position now, but they still need further adjustment.
The outside world’s voice for making Josh Green start is getting higher and higher, and the performance of this third-grade flank player is constantly improving. In the case of 20-minute average appearance this season, it can score 7 points, field goal percentage 58.2%, and the three-point hit rate is as high as 44.4%. Although the utilization rate of josh-green is low, which is normal when the utilization rate of donchic ranks first in the league for the third consecutive year, the improvement of josh-green’s passing and decision-making ability cannot be ignored. His defense estimates that the positive and negative values are second only to finney smith in the lone ranger team, with a snatch rate of over 91% for flanking players, and he can fight for a lot of offensive rebounds. All these add up and you will find that Josh Green is a role player worthy of starting position.
The lone ranger can put ding weidi on the bench so that he can become the first choice to hold the ball after dong qiqi’s fate. Nothing can stop the lone ranger from putting the two best players in the team on the court at the same time when necessary, but it is also logical to use the only two qualified organizational cores in the team separately. So far, in the time when Ding Weidi and Dong Qiqi played together, the net efficiency of the Lone Ranger was-1.1, which was caused by the low efficiency of defense. After changing Ding Weidi to Josh Green, the two sides of the first lineup of The Lone Ranger will be more balanced.
Finally, when donchip, josh green, little tim hardaway (he has been in good condition since he returned to the starting again) and finney smith played together, the net efficiency of Lone Ranger is as high as +45.3 in 110 rounds, which is of reference significance even if the sample size is still relatively small. Many people strongly urge the Lone Ranger to replace Powell with wood, but if the Lone Ranger really wants to adjust the starting lineup, it is of the greatest significance to change to Josh Green.
Los Angeles Lakers
Current start: Patrick Beverly, Dennis Schroeder, Lonnie Walker, LeBlanc James, Anthony Davis
Adjustment suggestion: Austin Reeves replaced Beverly
Since entering the Lakers rotation last year, Reeves has always been the target of the opponent’s offensive, and he played very badly in some matches. One of them was lost to the cavaliers on december 6. Although I am not sure whether to blame reeves for not restricting the entry of mitchell, as long as mitchell finds the feel, I feel that he can hit 90% of the flank defenders in the league. In addition, any criticism of Reeves’s defense ignores the fact that Beverly, who is famous for defending, is actually not better than Reeves. Although 34-year-old Beverly still maintained the crazy dog style of play, the defensive side didn’t actually play much role unless you thought the irrational actions in the half-time battle were helpful.
Beverly currently sends 5.1 personal fouls per hundred rounds, ranking fourth among 81 defenders with an average playing time of more than 25 minutes this season. His game style will make the team reach the number of fouls early, thus weakening the overall defensive strength. In fact, beverly’s foul frequency has increased significantly compared with the past few years. In this case, history shows that beverly’s foul problem may become worse.
Even if you don’t believe that 1.96-meter Reeves is as bad as 1.88-meter Beverly on the defensive end, the attacking end can explain the problem. Beverly’s two-point shooting rate is only 38.5 percent, and three-point shot percentage is only 22 percent. For a short defender who is not the main organizer of the team, the shooting rate is hard to imagine. In this case, you have to ask, what can Beverly do on the court? At the same time, reeves’s two-point hit rate was 65.8% and three-point shot percentage was 36.4%. In roughly the same playing time as beverly, reeves scored more than twice that of beverly. Don’t forget some subtle things. Every match Reeves will help the Lakers gain some advantages by accurately grasping the situation on the court. Although beverly had more experience, he could only be regarded as a fixed-point shooting threat, and he made too many radical mistakes when he couldn’t make a three-point shot.
Indiana Pacers
Current start: Andrew-nemhard, tyres-Halliburton, buddy-Hilde, Jay-Smith, Miles Turner
Adjustment suggestion: masserin replaced Hilde
Pacers have suffered some injuries recently, so it is not accurate to call the above-mentioned starting lineup the “current starting” of Pacers. Neismith played 11 games in the starting game, even when Turner was absent on December 5th, he also played a power forward position, and nemhard also recently entered the team’s starting game. Masserin also started in the match against warriors on December 5th. What was confusing was that it was actually masserin’s first start this season. All signs show that Pacers prefer to use the above line-up to start when all members are healthy. This lineup started 8 games, more than any other starting line up combination.
The reason for supporting masserin as a starter is very simple. He is the only rookie in this year who has the chance to snatch the best rookie from bankelo. At the same time, the total score is the highest among all the rookie. Masserin hit 37.5 percent in three points and is good at making fouls, it seems to be a qualified cornerstone player of flank team building. If matherin can maintain the current data, he will become the 20-year-old defender who has averaged at least 18 points in the fifth game since the 1982-83 season and actually field goal percentage more than 55%.
Walkers should let Halliburton and matherin invest in this pair of backcourt combinations as much as possible. Hilde’s tossing is still reliable, but he turned 30 a week before christmas, and he is far from that high value for walkers’s long-term team building plan. It may be the most likely result to trade hilde, the veteran defender, to a winning team that needs projection ability. Trade rumors between hilde and the lakers have been spreading for several months, so he is likely to leave the starting line-up of the pacers in some way.
In other words, walkers should take immediate action. When Halliburton and matherin went off on Hilde, the Pacers played better than Halliburton and Hilde when they went off on the 1st and 2nd. The most incomprehensible thing is that Halliburton and masserin worked so well together, but they only worked in the backcourt in 27 non-garbage time attacks, this kind of use is a waste to these two key players. Of course, Hilde currently plays No. 3 most of the time, while nemhard suddenly plays out, which is worth a starting position. The pacers should let matherin and halliburton go and play. It is better to catch up with nemhard and judge the partner effect of the three through a large number of matches by the way.
More importantly, Hilde is a well-known tradable asset in the alliance. Pacers do not need to increase his exposure and increase his trading value. In fact, everyone knows what kind of trading value Hilde, one of the most productive three-point shooters, has at the negotiating table, so he continues to play a larger role, which does more harm than good. If Yogueta is injured, it will lose its attraction to other teams immediately. Pacers should know that many teams gave up their pursuit of Turner after he was injured last year’s trading deadline. Although Turner is good at defense at present, and his performance in all aspects of defense has improved, Hilde is definitely not a player that Pacers will consider staying for a long time.
Houston Rocket
Current start: Kevin junior-PROTONIC, Jay Green, Eric Gordon, Jamari Smith Junior, Alperon-Shen Jing
Adjustment suggestion: Tari-Ethan replaced Gordon
As in the case of walkers and Hilde, Rockets should mainly cultivate young people and protect the value of trading assets. Gordon is now and will be a hot commodity in the trading market in the future, and he has not been as durable as Hilde for so many years. Rockets should be more inclined to put their veteran flanks on the bench than pacers to prevent injuries from causing players’ trading value to fall. Gordon played all 20 games in this young rocket’s debut this season, averaging 12.3 points and 2.6 assists. Although his three-point shooting rate dropped by last season, 33-year-old gordon is still one of the top plug-and-play flanking players in the trading market. However, the rocket has a more suitable starting candidate in this position.
On the 17th show of the 2022 draft conference, the performance of rookie striker Ethan attracted attention. So far, Ethan has only 8 percent of the time to play the third place. If he is responsible for the fast defensive, the outside scorer may be very difficult, and his ability to control the ball has always been problematic, however, ethan has shown some ability to deal with the taller dual-function attack line. The really incredible thing is that when Ethan played without a ball, the number of truncation and snatches per 75 rounds was the seventh highest in the league.
When little Jamari Smith entered the league, he was widely regarded as a multi-position defensive weapon, so he was present to allow Ethan to deal with a taller frontend opponent. As Smith’s cold shooting feeling gradually warmed up at the beginning, he hit 35.1 percent in November and 46.1 percent in December, and the Rockets did not need Ethan to become the three-point marksman. Ethan’s three-point hit rate is only, and his shots are also few, but this is actually better than Gordon’s current performance. This means that the rocket replaced gordon’s starting position with ethan and actually did not give up too much space on the field.
Putting Ethan in the first line can make the rocket more dependent on physical talent. This season has been a tough year on the whole, but the rocket’s offensive rebound rate and free throw rate are both ahead of the league. Ethan’s offensive rebound rate exceeded all forward players, and the free throw rate also declined. Ethan’s foul-making performance exceeded 66% of the players in the same position. Ethan’s active pursuit of the second attack score and the keen sense of the defensive end to the passing route help the rocket’s starting lineup to win more attack rounds. This is crucial for the Rockets team, which has the highest error rate in the league and is effective in field goal percentage league. Little Kenyon Martin could also be Gordon’s defensive substitute, but his destructive power on the defensive side did not reach Ethan’s level.
New York Knicks
Current debut: Jay-Brunson, Quentin-grammes, RJ-Barrett, Julius-Randle, Mitchell-Robinson
Adjustment suggestion: Obi-tuoping replace Mitchell Robinson
Marginalizing tuoping is a point of frustration for knicks fans, but it is worrying to put him into the starting line, but we have to try it. Randle’s salary is too high, and because he prefers to control the ball and lacks the ability to open space, it is difficult for Randle to attack efficiently. It is ideal to simply send him away through trading, but the $0.117 billion contract he signed in 2021 scared many teams. The Knicks should not be chosen to send Randle away, but unfortunately, Randle also played an important role in the Knicks.
Mitchell Robinson also got a new contract from Knicks during the off-season this year. Coach SIBO liked his ability to cap, sibo du may be the last coach who pays more attention to figure than skill in the front-court lineup. Mitchell Robinson is a deterrent force in the inner line, but he must come down from the starting line-up to make a place for tuoping. Coach sibodu has been hesitating whether to let Randle and tuoping partner for a while, worrying about their lack of ability to protect baskets. There is nothing wrong with his worries in this regard. At least in a small sample of 140 rounds, the close shooting rate of his opponent reached 70.7%, which proved that SIBO’s worries are not wrong so far.
However, when Randle and tuoping appeared on the 4th and 5th positions at the same time, the Knicks played a very good attack and scored 116.4 points every synthetic energy, taking advantage of pulling the other party’s number five position out, we got a lot of opportunities to attack the basket and stand on freethrow line. Interestingly, the combination of Randle and tuoping has helped Knicks score points more than once this season. The shooting ability of tuoping has made progress, with a three-point shooting rate of 30.8% last season and a three-point shooting rate of 35.1% this season, helping Brunson and Barrett, the scorers focusing on breakthroughs, gain more opportunities, defenders like Mitchell Robinson often stand in the way of their breakthrough. Although some trade-offs are needed, it is never a bad idea to make the most important players succeed. Tuoping will do better than Mitchell Robinson, at least on the offensive side.
The best way is to send Randle away and let tuoping partner Michelle Robinson fight to ensure the balance between attack and defense and open some space on the court. However, there is almost no progress in the deal of Randal. If the Knicks can focus on the vitality of the offensive end for a long time and can they get rid of the system shackles of coach SIBO Du, this question is more interesting.
Original: Grant Hughes
Compile: Li Taibai
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