Quote:
Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky
He doesn't ride the hot man and doesn't keep effective lineups out there for long. It really seems like lineup preconceptions are more important than empirical data or real-time stats for Carlisle. When a group figures the opponent out there, you let them play until the opponent figures them out, instead of saying, "wow, the rookies went on a 12-2 run, so let's pull them immediately and replace them with the guys that dug us a 20pt hole".
I'm not saying James and Wright should play 48mpg, but when Carlisle finds a lineup that works, he rarely milks it or keeps it on the floor.
Dahntay Jones has been one of our best players and can't get time, even when he sparks a run or shuts down a guy that has been killing us. Guy plays with fire, passion and conviction and has changed games, but he can't find PT either.
And when we go down 20-30-40, Carlisle would rather the guys that built the deficit dig themselves out of it instead of trying to find a lineup that works.
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Only Kaman has played more center minutes than Sarge and Brandan. How much more do you want them to get? The Mavs still have Elton available at the position.
As for Dahntay, I like him, but he's playing behind OJ and competing with Vince for minutes at the SG spot, and he's behind Marion, VC and Jae at SF. Arguably he should be getting a bit more time at SF and Jae should be getting a bit less, but there still just aren't a lot of minutes to be had. He might find there's more room for him when Dirk's back and the team is a bit less reliant on wing scoring.
As for playing the guys who built the deficit, I haven't seen every crappy effort by the Mavs this season, but I've seen enough of Rick this season and in previous ones to know that he's not afraid to be creative when it comes to looking for a lineup combination that can make something happen, so I'm really not even sure what the basis for that critique is. And at any rate, usually when a team falls behind by 20+, it's just not their night, and nothing that the coach does is going to sustainably right things, a few isolated runs notwithstanding; if your best players play poorly, you're probably going to lose. That said, more often than not lately, Collison's been one of the primary culprits when things have gone poorly, and PG is the one position where the Mavs have been almost completely lacking proven depth, so I don't think it should be at all surprising that in that respect they've tended to go back to one of the guys who helped dig the hole in the first place.