what roles do players assume?

[Murphy3]

just thought i'd get everyone's comments on this

[Rhylan]

<< just thought i'd get everyone's comments on this >>



I hope that Dirk's career game tonight was his actions-speak-louder way of saying, this is MY team, fool!

[Murphy3]

the one thing i fear about the trade is that the mavs won't allow dirk to continue making this his team..

[Rhylan]

One thing to consider, Murph, is that as of now, Dirk is the only guy who will draw a double team in the post. That alone should get him more touches. Raef pulling defenders outside also will open up the lane for Dirk and everyone else to take the ball to the hole.

In theory.

[MFFL]

The Mavs need to establish Dirk as a post player immediately. They need to force feed him the ball down low to get him ready for the playoffs. If that is successful, then the outside shooting will be spectacular.

[Murphy3]

i agree mffl..
dirk is solid inside at posting up..and he'll only get better..however, can teams afford to double dirk?
well, when he makes a move to the basket, they will have to double him.. and other teams will be in alot of trouble

[MFFL]

Minutes per game of current players
39.7 Michael Finley
38.6 Dirk Nowitzki
36.9 Steve Nash
25.5 Adrian Griffin
22.2 Eduardo Najera
20.7 Greg Buckner
15.5 Shawn Bradley
14.8 Johnny Newman
14.2 Danny Manning
11.0 Wang Zhizhi
08.7 Evan Eschmeyer

Minutes per game of former players
31.3 Juwan Howard
23.6 Tim Hardaway
09.0 Donnell Harvey

Minutes per game of new players
38.6 Nick Van Exel
32.7 Raef LaFrentz
23.5 Avery Johnson
20.9 Tariq Abdul-Wahad

Minutes are going to be MIGHTY tight.

I see a rotation of
Dirk at 36 minutes
Finley at 32 minutes
Nash at 32 minutes
Van Exel at 30 minutes
LaFrentz at 30 mintutes
Total about 160 minutes per game

And a bench of
Griffin at 20 minutes
Najera at 20 minutes
Bradley at 10 minutes
Wang at 10 minutes
Abdul-Wahad at 10 minutes
Johnson at 10 minutes
Total about 80 minutes per game

We'll probably never see Buckner, Newman, Manning, or Eschmeyer again this season.

[Hoopsmeister]

Given that in LaFrentz we have a shot-blocker who is actually functioning this season, we may not see Bradley for even 10 minutes for the rest of the year. Instead I expect to see Bradley and Eschmeyer alternate those 10 minutes a game depending on matchups.

Given Griffin's injury issues, Newman will likely not disappear completely. Griffin, Buckner, Newman, and Wahad will form a 4-headed defensive role player with minutes about even for the 2 uninjured members of the group. If more than 3 are even uninjured at one time, then which 2 are in use will depend on what Nellie thinks of their practice.

I doubt Johnson sees much more action than Manning has recently. He's incredible insurance as a third-string point but the skills gap between him and Nash and Van Exel is such that he will only take their actual injury minutes from them. At least part of the 10 minutes you predict for him will go to Wang--Wang is a free agent this summer, China wants to see their star play, and I think Nellie is still really high on his potential.

[Hoopsmeister]

Significant 3 point threats:
Dirk, Raef, Wang, Nash, VE, Finley

Can shoot the 3 though not huge threats:
Griffin, Newman

Not 3 point threats
Najera, Manning, Buckner, Johnson, Bradley, Wahad, EE

We'll still have to see how the rotation finally shakes out but I'm pretty sure that on a 10 man rotation (I don't believe Nellie will ever keep himself to an 8 man rotation) only Najera and one other player will *not* be 3 point shooters. Talk about spacing the floor.

[Murphy3]

hoops..i agree..i don't think johnson will see much time..and newman will get some PT because of griff's injury problems...it will be interesting..but i think we pretty much all agree that we need dirk for his normal 35-38 minutes a game though