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Originally posted by: V2M
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Originally posted by: FilthyFinMavs
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Originally posted by: LRB
If it was just one game, that would be one thing. But this is a strong trend that Nellie has had for over a year and a half now. And it could be argued that it has lasted much longer.
Sure if Nellie breaks it this year and starts playing a starting and backup center most of the minutes it will be all right. However, the 1st game out of the box, Nellie reverted to his old bad habits. We got a win, but we got lots of wins with Nellie before. We've just never gotten a championship with Nellie nor has any other team. IMO Nellie needs to learn to use the center talent that we have an abundance of or we won't have much of a shot at a trophy as long as Nellie is coach.
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I mean you've got to remember though that Damp did start for us yesterday and played some minutes. That's something Nellie has done at times but never consistently. I'll start getting worried when I see Damp getting 10 minutes a game. That's when I will say that the old Nellie is back. To me it's not that the Mavs need a center out there on the floor just a big man who is just that. Doesn't shoot mid range jumpers and isn't a liability on defense. I'm not saying Booth or Bradley are those things but Henderson is a nicely sized player when you compare him to what the Kings were offering inside. I'll have to see tonight if I have a problem with Nellie's decision on not playing a real center but I have a strong feeling that we will see Benga, Bradley and Booth get over 15 minutes tonight. I still get the impression that Nellie is still evaluating the team and last night he wanted to see what Stack, Terry and Henderson had. I think it's the centers turn tonight.
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You can't give him credit for playing Damp some minutes. He wouldn't last a month with Cuban if he doesn't start and play Damp some decent minutes, don't you think?!
I'd guess, Nellie last night was all about winning the game and not about testing the lineups, etc. He announced that DJ is the backup to Damp but he didn't have the guts to try an undrafted rookie out in an all important season-opener against a key opponent. I expect him to start playing DJ slowly but surely over the next few games. Booth & Bradley may just be situational backups or injury backups in Nellie's mind.
Over the next month or so, I expect to see the following lineups:
Damp/DJ
Dirk/Hendu
JHo/Stack
Fin/Quis
Harris/JeT
With Bradley & Booth as situational backups at 5 and 4.
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What is disconcerting, is that Nellie was saying the same thing about Fortson. In that, he said Fortson is this great rebounder, then he'd never utilize him because he supposedly never got the offense.
And last night, he said the Bradley was backing up Dampier because MBenga doesn't quite know the offense. I hope this time he really does want to use Mbenga instead of just paying it lip service.
We'll see as the season progresses.