FanPost

How a 3 man PF/C rotation can work


OK, so after looking at Paul Millsap's advanced stats and looking at Greg and LMA's I have come to the conclusion that a LMA,Oden, Millsap rotation can indeed work.

To start lets look at each of the possible combinations:

Oden/LMA

LMA/Millsap

Oden/Millsap

Now, let us analyze each of these pairings.

 

Oden/LMA: AKA, the Starting Lineup. LMA can go to work on the block, pop out and hit the jumper, and even hit the 3 (as long as it's the weakside corner, small sample size, but he hit 6-13 from there and abysmall from everywhere else). He can also switch onto a PG if need be on D. Oden is a monster rebounder who can get points off garbage buckets and should be better in the post this year. Oden is the anchor of our defense.

Strengths: Versatility, Length, Shot blocking, Offensive rebounding, Scoring.

LMA/Millsap: AKA, LMA as a 5. In this lineup, LMA is allowed to play virtually the same role as swiss-army-knife scoring threat and court running gazelle. Millsap plays the role of Oden and cleans up the boards, bangs down low, gets points off garbage buckets. Also, Millsap sets good picks and can draw fouls.

Strengths: Versatility, Offensive rebounding, probably the highest scoring pair.

Oden/Millsap: AKA, Team Windex. Go ahead and shoot it, we've got this. Doesn't matter if you miss when you've got rebounders like Oden and Millsap blocking people OUT. This pair lacks scoring range, but will probably get the most boards and draw the most fouls. Not as versatile at switching on defense but very sold positional defense and help defense.

Strengths: Fouls drawn, interior D, rebounding in general.

 

Minute wise, we probably see LMA/Millsap ~16 minutes, Millsap/Oden ~10 minutes, Oden/LMA ~22 minutes.

Oden~32 minutes

LMA~38 minutes

Millsap~26 minutes

 

Of course, a couple quick fouls and the minute rotation changes. Millsap fouls a lot too, so ~26 minutes is probably about right.

In this scenario, we lose some of Joel's shotblocking and size, but in reality, we're maximizing Joel as an asset. Joel will never be worth more than he is right now. He will be older, get less playing time, and have less exposure. Joel has just had 2 seasons where he played more games than he ever has before and has a good contract. He will bring us more in trade now and up to the deadline (barring injury) than any other time in his career. With the addition of Millsap, both Joel and Outlaw become expendable. While Blake and Outlaw may not be pulling in the offers, a Przybilla/Outlaw package just might secure us the PG/SF we are looking for.

 

Thoughts?