Lineups when Smart returns?

[nickagneta]

It's going to be Walker, Smart, Brown, Tatum and Theis starting. They have all earned it. They showed great chemistry and intensity in the bubble.

Most likely that leaves Tatum, Smart and Theis being the first subbed out early. Then, they will come back in once Jaylen and Kemba sit.

Thompson, Timelord, Semi, Nesmith and Pritchard most likely round out the rotation. Perhaps Langford gets into the rotation come post ASG play. Grant will, of course, see playing time if/when Semi falters.

Edwards, Green, Teague, Waters and Tacko will only see time in massive blowouts.

[RodyTur10]

It's going to be Walker, Smart, Brown, Tatum and Theis starting. They have all earned it. They showed great chemistry and intensity in the bubble.

Most likely that leaves Tatum, Smart and Theis being the first subbed out early. Then, they will come back in once Jaylen and Kemba sit.

Thompson, Timelord, Semi, Nesmith and Pritchard most likely round out the rotation. Perhaps Langford gets into the rotation come post ASG play. Grant will, of course, see playing time if/when Semi falters.

Edwards, Green, Teague, Waters and Tacko will only see time in massive blowouts.

I interpreted the OP question as what I think should be done based on what we've seen so far.
But you're probably right that this line-up is the way that Stevens will go.

The problem arises immediately when you're naming our primary bench options. Thompson and Timelord as first guys of the bench, how are they going to play together? I don't see Thompson and Timelord as complementary players at all.

And then there's Semi who faltered during last year's playoffs. Your solution is to play Grant Williams, who has been awful and is definitely not a playoff level rotation player (yet). Again an illustration of how thin our team really is.

[Vermont Green]

It worked great yesterday, but Theis/Thompson was a terrible at the start of the season.

I am not sure this is actually true.  The team was 8-3 with Smart, Brown, Tatum, Theis, and Thompson at the start of the season.  That is actually quite good.

Anyway, this is going to come down to whether you start Smart and play 1 big or stay with Walker, Brown, Tatum, plus some combination of two bigs, which is what I prefer and have been saying all along.  To me, it doesn't matter so much whether the two bigs are Theis + Williams, or Ojeleye + Thompson or what is most likely Theis + Thompson.

Let's just say the bench was Smart, Pritchard, Langford, Ojeleye, and Williams.  That isn't bad, better with Smart but still not a strength.  This could then be improved upon if we are able to add a nice bench vet wing/swing like Thad Young (or any of many potentially available options) to the mix.

[footey]

Kemba - Brown - Tatum - Theis - Williams

Williams is a better passer and provides way more vertical spacing on offence than Thompson. He's also a nasty defender. Would like to see him get more run. Kemba over his last 5 is averaging 20/4/4 on 44/51/95 splits (is 40/50/90 a thing?), so I think he stays starting. Brown and Tatum are obvious, and Theis, despite his shot not falling from deep over his last 5, has been playing well.

I think the defence of Theis and Timelord would be really solid.

Smart first off the bench, Pritchard second, Thompson third. That's a handy 8 man rotation with Ojeleye, Nesmith and Langford (?) to follow

Me too. Now that Kemba is getting his game back, I like that lineup.

[PAOBoston]

This might be a moot point. Anyone else concerned that Smarts injury is way worse than expected. Based off the news from the other day, he’ll be out close to 3 more weeks. Slightly worried that he’ll be out even longer than that.

[gouki88]

This might be a moot point. Anyone else concerned that Smarts injury is way worse than expected. Based off the news from the other day, he’ll be out close to 3 more weeks. Slightly worried that he’ll be out even longer than that.

I did not catch that, but that is troubling. Any rumours of him re-aggravating it?

He's had numerous years plagued by injury