The starters stay, I'll tell you why

but andre makes some sense as 6th man who will hopefully mesh well with rudy (who we haven’t seen).

i’m actually most worried now about SF. last year we had batum and then outlaw — who scored about 13/game. now batum may be worn out from year-round play, martell has shown nothing, and travis’ confidence seems entirely gone.

martell may play a mean game of HORSE, but it would be nice to see him hit some shots in a game. if you subtracted lay-ups and dunks, what would his shooting % be? .08?

I’ve been on board with that exact plan for a month… The best players will still get more minutes overall. It is obvious that splitting Roy and Miller and having a play-maker on the floor at all times is going to be better for the team, and make things harder for the opponent.
I cannot believe that people do not comprehend that. Miller will make the bench the most productive and feared bench in the NBA.
Everyone just needs to play their hardest (on offense & defense) during their time on the court, and the limited minutes will become a blessing. We will wear teams out. Roy, Blake and LA provide the scoring to start the game. Miller, Rudy, Martell, Trav & Greg will be unstoppable… Miller would make that squad run teams out of gas quick. Then Nate can mix them together as needed. This is the best way to use this deep, awesome roster that KP has put together. There will also be enough blow-outs to let the rest of the bench get some run. Our guys will see this works well, and embrace it… Kind of a Dean Smith/UNC approach.

Saying that who starts is not important, but then creating all this seeming drama around who starts. Not very smart.

Every man in our rotation needs to be at least somewhat comfortable with every other man in the rotation. If it comes to playoff time and we’ve only got eight players consistently playing, those mixes and matches are going to happen.

Blake and Roy have looked awful together this preseason. The best stretch of the preseason — the end of the Denver game — was with Miller, Roy and Oden on the floor together. Despite the rampant chemistry problems. The worst stretch was the start of the Utah game, with Roy and Blake together. Despite the awesome chemistry advantages.

It seems like everyone expects Roy and Miller to have chemistry problems, so they see it whether it’s there or not. They haven’t looked great together, but that’s been true of every lineup combination we’ve put on the floor. Can anyone honestly say that the team has looked worse with Roy and Miller on the floor together? Did you see the start of the Utah game? And can we acknowledge the possibility that the league is catching up to the Roy-Blake two-man game? Like Houston did in the playoffs?

And if Roy and Miller need to work together, wouldn’t that have been a good use of these stupid preseason games? Isn’t the important thing to get them clicking as soon as possible? So that our offense against good teams playing playoff defense will be a little more diverse?

There are sometimes good reasons for bringing one of your best 5 guys off the bench, but it’s pretty rare, and it’s generally a scorer. The longer this goes on, the less it looks like it has anything to do with this basketball team. I’m sorry Nate’s feelings were hurt when Gary Payton was given the keys to the kingdom, but can we all move on and play the best guys together, please?

has really turned this preseason into a mess. Either before camp, or at the latest after the first 2 preseason games Nate should have named his starters and then proceeded to start them every game to let him build chemistry together. (even though injuries didn’t let that happen, at that point everyone was still healthy). It should have been crystal clear to Nate after training came, and a few games that Miller and Oden were the better players, and that he needed to get them court time with Roy and LMA to build this years team chemistry.

Instead Nate waffled on an easy decision and now has a team with no chemistry, no flow, and everyone questioning their role, instead of everyone knowing what their role will be, even if they didn’t like that role. If you don’t think this is a good idea, just take a look at the other “contenders” and what they have done during the preseason.

Boston – They had one big FA to work in, Wallace. What did they do? Started same 5 from last year, worked in Wallace off the bench for about 20-25 mins from game 1 of the preseason. Only 2 games did they not start the same 5.
L@kers – They had to work in 1 new starter. What did they do? Started Artest from game 1, played the same starting 5 in every game they could, (injuries took Gasol and Odom out of a game or two).
Cavs - They had to work in Shaq and Parker to their starting 5, What did they do? Started them every game with James and company that they could, (the flu took them out a game or two plus injuries) from game 1.
Magic – They had Vince to work in, what did they do? Started him from game 1, rested some starters here and there.
Spurs - They had Jefferson and McDyess to work in, what did they do? They would be the closest to the Blazers, as only in their last game did they start their projected starting 5, but they are an older team, and have rested most of their main players throughout the preseason. Jefferson has started every game but 1 while McDyess has been moved around more.

Almost all of the championship contending teams have had to add in one or more pieces, and yet almost all of them have done so from the beginning, making the decisions early in camp and moving forward. Meanwhile Nate has dragged his feet until now we are on the cusp of the season and he still have not told the team what their roles are. That is not how a team should integrate new pieces.