[kg_veteran]

I think when you boil it down, Nellie is simply more comfortable playing guys who can handle the ball and make smart decisions even if he's "going small" than he is playing your traditional big guys who can't do some of those things.

The rebounding of Walker and Howard makes it possible for Nellie to play this lineup without losing the battle on the glass.

I agree with Kiki that it's a bit early to tighten up the rotation, unless we want everyone to be spent come April. That said, compare this year's team/rotation to last year's team:

Nowitzki, Nash, and Finley remain starters.
LaFrentz vs. Walker
Howard vs. Griffin
Delk vs. Van Exel
Jamison vs. Najera
Fortson/Bradley vs. Bradley

I think you've upgraded at every spot except the Delk vs. Van Exel comparison, and the bench overall is better.

I don't really want Dirk at center. He clearly doesn't play his best ball at that position. But the more I think about it, he played a bunch of center last year, with Najera as the PF anyway.

This rotation might work:

Nowitzki 30 - Fortson/Bradley 18
Walker 35 - Nowitzki 8 - Jamison 5
Howard 20 - Jamison 28
Finley 33 - Howard 15
Nash 32 - Delk 16

I'm not thrilled about it, and teams are going to shoot a high percentage against us, but we'll have a good rebounding squad that should force a lot of turnovers. If Nellie intends to use this strategy, he's really going to have to watch Nash's minutes, because he can't be playing 40 every night.