Thanks for this thread, OP. Needed something to turn my attention away from the sh!tshow and toward the bright future this team has now that the bad apples (KPJ, CWood) are gone.
Cam will be in the rotation at some point or another during this season. At least one perimeter player will miss some time at some point and minutes will be available. That's just the reality of the NBA, no roster goes through the year entirely healthy all year long
I just meant that injuries happen and usually happen early in the season with veterans who haven’t pushed their body yet in the preseason. Cam and Amen’s chance to get real minutes is more likely to be early in the season than later.
I do think KPJ’s exit makes more minutes available for various players. In my opinion, Amen was destined for minutes from the start. He is a generational talent and believe he will be starting next year if not late this year, especially with a defensive-minded coach. Cam has the most to gain from KPJ’s absence. It will be his ability to play team defense and control his tendency to hog the ball that will determine his time on the court, especially early in the season when we are determining if we have a shot at the play-in. If we are out of it early, Cam will get more of a shot as the Holiday and Tate’s of the world will be relegated to the back of the bench in favor of development. Let’s face it, Tate is a rotational player in this league and as long as we have a shot he will get playing time. Holiday has a skill set we are short on.
Throw him in there at the backup 2 spot, coach. 9 man rotation w/ minutes: FVV(32)/Amen(16) Green(32)/Cam(16) Brooks(32)/Tate(16) Jabari(16)/Tari(32) Sengun(32)/Jabari(16) FVV, Green, Brooks, Jabari, Tari, & Sengun get 32 minutes. Amen, Cam, and Tate get 16 minutes.
That’s what I said. That’s why they need to be ready sooner rather than later to do the things that’ll keep them on the court. Both will get a chance and it’ll likely be sooner than most think even looking at what looks like a crowded lineup… well what was a crowded lineup.
People thinking Cam will automatically get minutes with KPJ's departure may be setting themselves up for disappointment. The reality is that we still have quite a bit of depth. FVV / Green - high minute starters (35mpg) Brooks / Smith / Sengun - moderate minute starters (30 mpg) Tate / Eason / Thompson - moderate minute backups (20mpg) Landale / Green - low minute backups (10 mpg) That's 240 minutes (48 minutes at all 5 positions) and a 10 man rotation. Holiday / Marjanovic / Whitmore - no minute bench warmers (0 mpg) For Cam to get consistent minutes to start this season he will either need to take them from somebody, or there will need to be some major injuries, possible but far from a guarantee. He's incredibly young, we have vets now, we have Ime coaching, we have "phase 2" from the FO/Ownership, it just might be tough for him to crack the rotation.
I just chat GPT’ed it and yeah it’s tracked by enough data to say pretty clearly that injuries have risen over time. I don’t have the data to show it’s usually older players earlier but it’s just how I recall in the past few years. I’ll look it up later to see if that’s true or if older players are more susceptible.
Tate barely averaged 20 mpg game last season when we weren't as deep. I'm guessing he plays less than you're predicting. I also don't think Jeff Green will be in the main rotation. Of course, I could be wrong, but I'm guessing Whitmore ends up averaging somewhere between 15 - 20 minutes a game,
I would surprised if the Rockets isn't looking to pick up a vet PG/SG for the second unit as a stopgap measure. They'll of course be looking to give some playing time and experience to Whitmore and Thompson, as they should. But at the same time, if they're serious about aiming for a winning season, they're not going to overly rely on two rookies to take up a majority of the backup guard duties. Maybe someone like Austin Rivers could be serviceable for the first half of the season. Whoever it is, though, he's got to be willing to work with and mentor rookies and not complain when his playing time drops.
So nice to have a thread about players, playing time, and rotation. I hope he's working on his 3 point shoot. That will keep him on the court IMHO.
It should lead to more minutes for both. KPJ was always in that in between role of creator and 3 and D off-ball wing. They wouldn't have added FVV and drafted Amen if they felt good about KPJ playing 25+ MPG at PG moving forward. He probably would have played a little of both, so both guys should get more run than originally anticipated.
I'm with you but I think Tari and Amen (now that KPJ is done) are the only sure things for big minutes off the bench. Tate seems likely because he fits Udoka's schemes, but I think Whitmore is on the same level as Landale and Jeff Green, in that they could be key rotation guys, or more situational guys, depending on how they fit/play early on. KPJ off the bench was supposed to bring scoring and playmaking. We already have a playmaker in the 2nd unit (Amen), but of all the bench guys, Whitmore is the most equipped to fill some of the scoring that KPJ would've brought. None of the other guys really fit that bill, even if Amen/Tari do damage in transition.
Green and especially Landale don't play the same position as Whitmore, Ime didn't run small ball lineups at C his year with the Celtics, he actually ran double bigs lineups pretty often with Horford/Williams/Theis. Landale and Green are also vets who both got around 1 thousand minutes last season on top contenders. Maybe Whitmore plays his way into the rotation somehow, I hope he does, but he's going to have to take them from somebody expecting to play, which could be a tough task for a 19 year old on a team now trying to win. I'm just saying people should maybe be a little more open-minded with their expectations on Whitmore's role next season, It's possible he spends a lot of time in the G-league.
At least if/when he plays it will be against bench players. Which gives him more chances to succeed. Unlike the trial by fire Jabari and Green have been through the last 2 seasons. Playing against other starters and no veteran teammates.
