but JT will have to beast it a la Dwight for it to work

I think because Donte’s not actually that great scoring on much smaller guys, so the potential mismatch is mainly lost. But he is good at taking bigger guys off the dribble and stretching the defnese. Playing him at PF also keeps him closer to the rim, where he can help with shotblocking.

Where you really miss him when he’s at PF is as a perimeter defender, but I think that’s made up for the fact that he can help defend the rim, which is sorely needed.

1. We need more help at the 4-5, and if Donte can play meaningful minutes at the 4 in a rotation with JT and Hawes, we may have something that works.
2. There is just not enough playing time for the logjam we have at the 1-2-3 spots. Even last night, with Donte playing the 4, Beno was the odd man out. Not that I’m complaining.
3. Donte can cover the athletic 4s and can take the postup 4s outside and in the running game, taking them out of their game.

That closing lineup, depending on what happens before the deadline, is the one you want to have on the floor 60-70 percent of the time, with Spencer spelling JT and Donte, Ime doing his defensive role playing and spot minutes energy stuff, Brockman coming in to bang for a few, Sergio getting some second and third quarter burn, and Beno getting PT when he has it going or Tyreke or Kmart (if he’s still around) go down or are having a rough night.

made me laugh … and cry

when we’re not really that much better

the thing I loved …. Tyreke came and dominated the 4th, getting them into OT. Martin came in OT and scored 9 to get the win. Loved it.

the hairy white arm is his decoy arm.

And the white left hand is omri’s left… How’s that for wing span?

We shouldn’t go back and make judgment that he didn’t use this lineup in the past. I am sure he had his reasons to go with other lineups at the time. There are so many possible combinations he can use. It is impossible to try them all out in one season. But, we can begin from now. He had success with this lineup, so hopefully it will go down in his books as one of the more successful combinations to date.

With the defenders running around chasing shooters, it opens up Thompson to do some dirty work and especially to grab offensive rebounds. Donte’s not going to be able to guard every PF, but he stretches the floor on offense, and since he’s the best help shotblocker on the team it keeps him near the hoop in a Josh Smith role.

It worked particularly well against the Knicks because they have a 6’9" center and a nonrebounding PF, but I think it would work against most of the teams in the league. Hopefully we see this lineup a lot more.

He was just so active and physical, both on the defensive end as well as the offensive boards. Every a Knick was in the lane in the last six minutes JT was in his soup. I am a big JT fan, I loved seeing him play so hard and be effective.

with an athletic PF behind him?

Hmmm, I think I’ve said this would be true. I think JR has thought this for a long time. One of us is a basketball Genuis! (Ok, probably JR)

It may be unfortunate timing with the funeral; however, JT was not playing very well before the funeral. Of course, Greene has been playing the PF position brilliantly. There are no guarantees for these players. JT knows that. Had JT been playing really well before the funeral, I could see him being upset. JT needs to put the team first before himself. It was simply a matter of serendipity, which resulted in PW using Greene in what was “JT’s position.” I think the fact that PW experiments with his lineups, no one on the team should feel he has ownership of anything. PW will find a way to put JT’s talents to good use.

As you point out:

PW may have accidentally stumbled on something effective for remainder of season.

of all the pleasant surprises this year donté may be the most pleasant and the most surprising… nobody really knew what we were getting in omri — we suspected tyreke could do what he’s doing but not this well…

but dg — 6’10" with the ability to create his own shot and be a knock-down spot-up (Not off the dribble) 3 point shooter, plus the ability to play d on the ball and block shots (and by all accounts a great work ethic and attitude), that is the skill set of a future all-star. and at 21 (?) years old?

in 5 years when ron ron is hosting parties in vegas with dennis rodman that trade could go down as one of the best in franchise history.

I would be curious to see what the youngest teams in nba history (by age or experience – and factoring in the amount of minutes actually played by the young guys) have been. I would have to think that this team would be right near the top of the list. I am sure that someone here knows where to find such a list.

Like, he left college and joined the Knicks mid-season or something

“holy shit, he’s doing what we would do! We’re so winning this one!”

Take for instance picks and screens, with Tyreke you can switch but not with sergio or Beno. With Sergio maybe you slip over the screen and jump show on the ball handler and let sergio catch up. There are a lot of things that change both offensively and defensively depending on who is in the game at the time.

It’s a lot easier to remember your responsibility if you always play the same position with the same players on the court with you. When I see players like Beno & Noc or Brockman & Sergio going at each other after a blown defensive assignment, I’ve got to believe that stability in the rotations would help.

Where you might have to sacrifice a few games now to try and win more later on.

I was listening to the start of the game in the car and I think I caught most of the 1st quarter. I don’t remember thinking that Beno and Spencer needed to get pulled, but maybe they were failing in ways that didn’t come across on the radio or maybe I just missed it.

We did win some with all the 19 different starting line ups and hog pog of rotations, but we’re still 4 and 20 over the last 24 games so it hasn’t been all that successful. If someone comes off the bench and puts up some numbers, it doesn’t mean that if we would have stuck with the original line up, that they wouldn’t have eventually put up number also.

What we’re not doing is allowing our core, to learn to work their way out of trouble and back into the game. If the core is our future, and the future starters aren’t coming off the bench, we’re trading valueable experience for short term gains. As I’ve posted many times before, I believe PW is looking to the bench for individuals to help, when the problem is a team defense or team offensive problem and not an individual one.