Scott Brooks let his bench, along with Durant, close out a game this off season. It was a very risky, but in my opinion, brilliant move. Yeah, the Thunder lost the series and the Mavs moved on. But the experience those young guys got in that first quarter made the OKC team much better moving forward.
At some point, we just need to throw these guys (Bradley & Green)in and let them run. It'll make us stronger in the long run.
I'm not sure if anyone watched Ray trying to guard DWade during the playoffs. It was a layup line to the rim. That's not a knock on Ray, the guy is 35. Next year he'll be 36 - as an off guard.
The same is going to be the case more and more with KG, Ray and yes, Pierce.
I'd love to see a situation where a Carl Landry, Jeff Green and a Rudy Fernandez are eating up a lot of minutes during the regular season next year.
We need to get on with the process of building real, legit options behind these guys and you have to play the new guys to get there.
I would have given TA the starting role last year and told Ray he's coming off the bench as a classic sixth man.
Would the team change, yeah. We'd have had alot more break opps with TA and Rondo, would have had less outside shooting but more slashing and one helluva defensive back court. DWade would have had a miserable second round with TA in his jock.
We would have had to design a different half court offense and Ray would have been lighting it up off the bench.
But that might not have been all bad.
Center to be named
KG
Jeff Green
Pierce
Rondo
As long as these young guys get a lot of miles next year I really don't care who starts. But I think Ray should be at around 25-28 minutes a night and Pierce at around 28-32 a night. KG 25-30.