The Set Your Own Rotations, Make the Kings Win Thread

With only a couple of days to go until we see the Malone's answer to this, Can it be done with the current roster?

Take the following 15 players (I am going to count Terrence Williams as signed) and give Coach Malone rotations that will give us our best shot this season (the poisitons are just for organization, you can play anybody anywhere you want):

Cs -- Cousins, Hollins
PFs -- Thompson, Landry, Evans, Moreland
SFs -- Gay, DWilliams, Casspi
SGs -- McLemore, Stauskas, TWilliams
PGs -- Collison, Sessions, McCallum

Example:

C - Cousins (36min), Thompson (12min)
PF - Landry (24min), Thompson (12min), Moreland (12min)
etc. etc.

This area of player usage is where Malone has a chance to shine. I don't know enough to add anything useful. I'm clearly looking forward to what coach can do with this motley talented crew. The essence of this thread is th essence of my interest in the Kings.

I suppose you won't let me give Cousins 48 minutes every night and then just fill in pieces around him?

1. McCallum / Collison / Sessions
2. T-Will / Ben / Stauskas
3. Rudy / D-Will / Casspi
4. Evans / Landry / Moreland
5. Cuz / JT / Hollings

I think this gives us the best chance to win games. I wish the frontcourt could be sorted out because I like most of our bigs just in this cluster .

I presume you're being a bit facetious, but why not. I would.

Let's give it a shot.

Rotation
C - Cousins (36), Thompson (12)
PF - Evans (20), Thompson (16), Landry (12)
SF - Gay (36), Casspi (12)
SG - Stauskas (25), McLemore (15), Sessions (8)
PG - Collison (28), Sessions (20)

Minute Distribution
Cousins (36)
Gay (36)
Collison (28)
Sessions (28)
Thompson (28)
Stauskas (25)
Evans (20)
McLemore (15)
Landry (12)
Casspi (12)

Other
Moreland
D. Williams
McCallum
T. Williams
Hollins

Thoughts
Do I want to see Moreland get Landry's minutes? Yes. Unfortunately, Landry just isn't going to sit and rot at the end of the bench.
Do I want to see McCallum get minutes? Yes!!!! However, There's just no minutes for him in a 10-man rotation and a 4 guard platoon. I wish he could just take ALL of Ben's minutes but he just won't suffice as an everyday backup option at the 2.
Do I want to see Hollins get some sort of PT? Again, yes. However, I despise 11 and 12 man "rotations." With the 10-man rotation, he doesn't get in. Perhaps over Landry at some point.
TWill can and hopefully will push Ben for his minutes if he does sign.
I don't want D"Thrill" anywhere near the court.

We won't win much with this team anyways but since we are playing this game I will go with the following;

Collison/Sessions
Stauskas/McLemore
Gay/Casspi
Thompson/Evans
Cousins/Hollins

roll with that squad and rotations and hope they can make the most with some consistent minutes and rotations.

C -- Cousins (35 mpg), Hollins (8), Thompson (5)
PF--Evans (25), Thompson (15), Casspi/Landry (rest) depends on match up
SFs -- Gay (35), Casspi (13)
SGs -- McLemore (18), Stauskas (30)
PGs -- Collison (28), Sessions (20)

Total MPG

Cousins 35
Gay 35
Stauskas 30
Collison 28
Evans 25
Sessions 20
Thompson 20
Casspi 13
Hollins 8
*Landry 8....occasionally Omri will play closer to 20 mins a game between SF and stretch 4, and Carl gets a DNP coaches decision.

Thoughts

I start McLemore but he he is only getting 18 mpg while Stauskas comes in early off the bench and plays the majority of the game. I like Stauskas playing a lot of his mins off the bench when the more ball dominant guys like Cousins and Gay are on the floor early and late. So Nik boosts bench ball movement and production on the bench, and also closes out games.

I look to strategically use Hollins for only a couple of mins each game, where some of his limitations are not as much of a concern, and when his shot blocking is of value. Pair him with Thompson and Landry/Omri depending on match ups.

Thompson plays most of his backup mins at the 4, but would be more practical than Hollins more often than not so steals a few of those backup center mins.

Evans stays the hell out of the way on offense and relentlessly crashes the boards. Let him be real aggressive, look to draw fouls in the paint if he has to, to protect the key and keep Cousins out of foul trouble.

Collison and Sessions almost platoon it, but save the scoring minutes for Sessions off the bench, and the more facilitating mins for Collison.

Not much time for anyone else.

Look to move Williams + McCallum in a package deal for something more useful if I can.

Look to move Landry and/or Thompson as much as possible.

Put Moreland in the D league to develop.

*If we sign T. Williams, after he settles in SG looks like this.

SG Stauskas (28), Williams (20)

I'd give Nik the starter spot, Williams will often finish some games if defense is needed.

Cousins 36 / JT 12 / Hollins Heavy foul nights & blow outs
Evans 30 / Landry 18 / Moreland Heavy foul nights & blow outs
Gay 36 / Casspi 12 / D Will Heavy foul nights & blow outs
McLemore 18 / Stauskas 18 / T Will 12 Designated defensive stopper at SG & blow outs
Collison 24 / Sessions 24 / Ray Mac plays if fouls are heavy or anytime the team is sluggish & blow outs

Rotation
C - Cousins (34*), Thompson (8), Hollins (5), Evans (1**)
PF - Evans (17), Landry (11***), Thompson (10), Casspi (8**),
Gay (2**)
SF - Gay (30), Casspi (10), D-Will (8)
SG - McLemore (19), Stauskas (17****),
Sessions (6), T-Will (6)
PG - Collison (28), Sessions (12), McCallum (10)

* You must consider foul trouble
** Situational/ match up based
*** With less than that - can't use him at all
**** The kid's a rookie. Remember the wall!


Minute Distribution
Cousins (34)
Gay (32)
Collison (28)
McLemore (19)
Sessions (18)
Thompson (18)
Evans (18)
Casspi (18)
Stauskas (17)
Landry (11)
McCallum (10)
D-Will (8)T-Will (6)

Minute Distribution (10 player rotation):
C - Cousins (24) Thompson (16) Hollins (As needed or Garbage Time)
PF - Thompson (20) Landry (20) Cousins with Hollins at C (8) Evans and Moreland (As needed or GT)
SF - Gay (36) DWill (12) Casspi (As needed or GT)
SG - TWill (36) McLemore (12) Stauskas (As needed or GT)
PG - Collison (32) Sessions (16) McCallum (As needed or GT)

Starters: (First 6-10 minutes)
C - Cousins
PF - Thompson
SF - Gay
SG - TWill
PG - Collison

Probable subs after 6-8 minutes:
1.) Hollins for Thompson (Cousins slides to PF)
2.) Landry for Cousins (Thompson slides to C)
3.) Dwill for Gay
4.) McLemore for DWill
5.) Sessions for Collison (Especially if Gay is out)

Note:
The addition of a veteran and decent two-way player (Terrence Williams) at SG will be a big factor for the success of this team. It will adequately plug that big hole in defense at the SG position without sacrificing offense.

Malone should not have any excuse now. He has adequate defensive and offensive firepower options at every position to at least win 40 games this season. It will depend on how good he can use them.

No more of the unnecessary small-ball BS basketball please.

Ok. If winning is the ultimate goal ...

Collison / Sessions / McCallum
Stauskas / T. Williams / McLemore
Gay / Casspi / D. Williams
Evans / Thompson / Landry / Moreland
Cousins / Hollins

Players in bold play every night. This is also obviously under the assumption that Williams is signed, and who knows if that is actually going to happen. If player development was the goal. Moreland and McLemore would be much higher in my rotation. If I want to win, this is how I'm playing it.

I think most of it is pretty straightforward.

The bench I chose is probably the most controversial. Not exactly a scoring bunch, but they would be a sound defensive unit that could and should outmuscle and outsize the opposing team on nightly bases. I like what I've seen out of Hollins. He doesn't try to do to much, and he does a nice job locking down the paint. This would allow Jason Thompson to play a larger role offensively. The unit as a whole is full of veterans who know how to play. Most of them are responsible defenders, and I think it has high chemistry potential.

I like where you're going here. If I were to make some tweaks I'd place Landry in front of Thompson at PF to see if he can get his old mojo back. You're going to need his scoring on that 2nd unit and Hollins could make up for his lack of D and rebounding. Also if Hollins inevitably goes back to showing us why he can't get 10min a game, I'd swap him with Thompson as the backup C.

How about making DWilliams our starting SG and build around him to make an overwhelming lineup. I think SG is his natural position. If that works we would never have to play him at SF or PF or C again.

C- Cuz 36, Moreland 12
PF- Evans 28, Landry 16, Casspi 4
SF- Gay 32, Casspi 12, Ben 4
SG- Stauskas 20, Ben 20, Sessions 8
PG- Collison 28, Sessions 10, Ray 10

I do believe against some teams, we will go small and those small lineup minutes increase. I think Ray eventually gets more minutes.

Since this is hypothetical, I didn't add TWill...if he is signed then I can change the lineup. And since I'm making out the lineup, JT is relegated to garbage time or plays when we have foul trouble to some of the bigs or if Moreland is not in a good matchup.

I'd play Moreland as he might turn out to be what we need, but we won't know if we don't play him....lets find out. None of the PFs are elite defensively, so give me Evans and his elite rebounding, then Landry off the bench and hopefully his offensive game and offensive rebounding comes back.

I think there is room for Ray to steal minutes. I'm puzzled that he didn't play more in pre-season as he at least makes the opposing guards work. I like Sessions offensively but he is not good defensively.

C - Cousins 36 - Thompson 12
PF - Thompson 14 - Landry 20 - Evans 14
SF - Gay 36 - Casspi 12
SG - Stauskas 24 - McLemore 18 - Sessions 6
PG - Collison 28 - Session 16 - McCallum 4

This is what I would like to see, even if an 11-men rotation is a little too much. I just don't want to see Landry/Evans combos, so I'd like to make sure at least one between JT and Cuz is always on the court (or at least Hollins). I wouldn't waste any minute on Williams, but I know this is something we are going to do at the beginning. Casspi i think should be our backup SF.

PG - Collison (26 min) / Sessions (22 min) / McCallum
SG - Stauskas (24 min) / McLemore (24 min)
SF - Gay (36 min) / Casspi (12 min)
PF - Thompson (14 min) / Landry (20 min) / Evans (14 min) / Moreland
C - Cousins (36 min) / Thompson (12 min) / Hollins

PG - Collison (30 min) / Sessions (18 min)
SG - Stauskas (30 min) / McLemore (18 min)
SF - Gay (36 min) / Casspi (12 min)
PF - Thompson (18 min) / Landry (12 min) / Evans (18 min)
C - Cousins (36 min) / Thompson (12 min)

That is my 10-man rotation

Thompson/Evans are only ones that should play with Big Cuz
Thompson s/b only backup C
Landry should only play with JT when at backup C

Ray, Dwill, Hollins, Moreland, Twill are there for maybe special defensive matchups(if SGs get in real matchup problems defensively) or Real bad foul trouble, Injury Insurance, Blow outs ONLY !

Last night's unholy performance is why I think JT should come off the bench. Cuz had foul trouble and was playing poorly and in comes Evans to play alongside Landry YUCK.

This looks just about right. However, I would cut Cousins and Gays minutes to about 32. Cousins sould not play in foul trouble and Gay with 36 minutes produces too much ISO, which hurts the team effort.

It was actually one of our most effective stretches -- Evans was one of only 2 guys on the team to have a positive +/-.

That said, I don't see that happening on many nights.

What happened Sessions last night? That was one of the worst stretches of PG play I've ever seen, like, ever. TO after TO, bad decision after bad decision. Looked like he forgot how to handle the ball too.

Hopefully it was just a blip and he goes back to being a solid back-up. Probably didn't help him being on the floor with Casspi, who was also allergic to holding onto the ball, and a bunch of other guys who had no interest in making it easier for him.

i'm not prepared to set a rotation that i think would help lead to more wins, but i do know one thing: sessions/stauskas/casspi/williams/landry should never, EVER share the court at the same time again. simply ignoring the sick impulse to trot out that lineup should result in a few extra w's. even keith smart likely would have avoided such a lineup like the plague...

That's sort of who Sessions is as a player and why he's bounced around the league so much. Always been a good player, but never really able to consistently show he can be a contribtor as a starting PG. While he won't nearly be as bad as he was last night, I fully expect to see inconsistent stretches of good and bad play this season.

Weeellllll.... I wouldn't go that far...