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Saturday, February 18, 2006

Depth Chart

Assuming Francis stays, what does the depth chart look like? Is Hill bringing Darko off the bench or starting him? Where does Arroyo fit?

My preference would be something like:

C - Darko, Kasun
PF - DH, Battie (C/PF)
SF - Hill, Turk
SG - Francis, Stevenson, Diener
PG - Arroyo, Nelson*, Dooling (PG/SG)

Inactive: Outlaw, Augmon, Garrity

Kasun probably continues to DNP so there is a 3 man rotation at C/PF. No need for Garrity as Darko carries the big man shooting skills. At some time we need to see the international front line of Kasun/Darko/Turkoglu just for grins.

If Darko starts I'd lean towards having Hill start on the court with him if he's physically able. Kind of like having a coach on the court to guide him along.

I'm guessing Arroyo starts based on the reaction from the ticket office. (yes that is yet another dig at the Magic lack of basketball management, but it might work in spite of that.)

I will not be surprised if Nelson is shut down for the rest of the year, rather than risk permanent injury.

I'm sure the actual lineup will be quite different.

posted by WeRDevos @ 10:08 AM  

17 Comments:

  • At 12:11 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    The line-up all revoles around jameer,he was the starter,so that shouldnt change,deshawn,dwight & tony,those are your three set in stone for this year,coach hill is showing alot of loyalty to the guys that are always there for him on the floor ready to battle,with their injuries and all,so that leaves 2 positions,PG and SF,if jameer doesnt get back arroyo will probably become the starter,with keyon being able to back-up at both guard spots,and turk's probably gonna get the nod at SF b/c of grants situation,so your starting line-up will probably look like this:arroyo,deshawn,turk,dwight & tony! And a host of quality back-ups now,if you bring in nene,then nene and darko can be your second unit big-men,with pat and mario,giving you depth for injury purposes!

     

  • At 1:41 PM, Blogger WeRDevos said…

    I just hope Hill doesn't screw this up.

    Eliminate Garrity and there are 96 minutes at PF/C to be split amongst Howard, Darko & Battie. I don't really care who starts as long as Darko & Howard get plenty of floor time together so we can see what we have to work with.

    If Darko screws up and Hill pulls him to give minutes to Garrity we should hang Hill in effigy.

    I've been arguing all year that Hill shouldn't start anymore, so I'm changing my tune. Mostly because Grant Hill is a better coach than Brian Hill and Darko needs a tutor.

    If Francis stays, he should move to SG, which puts Stevenson coming off the bench (as an important backup.) Same if Crawford comes & Francis goes.

    Likewise, if Arroyo works out Jameer could be NBA 6th man coming off the bench. First though, Jameer needs to heal properly. Either of 'em could be proved worthy starters or a great backup.

    I still don't know what to think of Dooling.

    Sure is nice to think about playing 9 or 10 deep now instead of the six and a half we had for the first 50 games.

     

  • At 1:42 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    I agree with WeRDevos's starting line up except for PG. I think if Jameer is available that position is his to man, and if not Keyon should start. He is a much better defender and a more explosive player. Arroyo may be a better shooter, but if you have noticed how Keyon and Steve have played together, that job should be Keyon's. Look, we tend to over-hype all the new players that we get. Arroyo played one season in UT but not good enough to justify his 4 million salary so they traded him to DET. He didn't meet DET's expectations and Hunter's return made him expendable. He is basically a 1.5-2 million PG.

     

  • At 1:49 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

     

  • At 1:50 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    If Darko comes in and plays even decent he should move into the starting spot before the season is over. It's not going to take much to put up Battie numbers. Battie is a decent player, but he's made to come off the bench, even he knows that. In the beginning, I imagine Darko coming off the bench with Arroyo so they can play together. In time, I see them both possibly starting depending on Jameer. If Francis stays, which doesn't look good right now, but if he stays, he needs to play the 2 spot and move Stevenson to 3. We have plenty of options, which isn't a bad thing.

     

  • At 1:54 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    The Pistons are shopping for a PG right now. I'm sure they would have rather kept him, but they needed to make that move to insure them keeping their starting 5 together for years to come.

     

  • At 2:14 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    Yes they needed about 10 million to resign Ben Wallace and Arroyo's 4 million was a part of making that happen. Hunter makes about 1.3 million and is decent defender but has lost some of his quickness, and DET needs more depth in the guards' positions.

     

  • At 2:59 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    As much as i hate it,if steve stays then the starting line-up will probably not change,the same one we keep seeing that aint winning,with steve and deshawn sharing the back court,i really dont care about anything else but that,as long as thats our starting backcourt we're gonna lose,we've got three different point guards in jameer,keyon & carlos,find the one you like and start one,but moving steve to the 2 is most important if he's gonna be here,i've been saying it all along,even back since the sentinel blog!

     

  • At 3:00 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    There you go again, Big Figure. Get a hammer and nail it into coach's head.

     

  • At 3:10 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    If it was only that easy. What Brian Hill is going to do or is not going to do really makes me nervous.

     

  • At 3:14 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    There are many combinations for the starting line-up and bench rotation as you guys have pointed out that would provide intriguing possibilities for the Magic. I really like our depth now, but will BHill manage all that depth wisely?

    Interesting comment by WRD that he thinks JNelson should be shut down the rest of the year instead of risking permanent injury. When he first got hurt in mid-January, we were told that it's a day-to-day thing. Here it is a month later, and we still don't know when Nelson is coming back, so something is obviously not right with his foot. But if his foot heals completely in the next few weeks, I would love to see him out there, as he is such an integral part to the Magic's future.

     

  • At 3:16 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Matt,you know what time it is,we shouldnt even be where we are,if i were the coach from day one jameer and steve wouldve shared the back court just like had been reported at the end of last season was gonna happen,but no,coach hill didnt even give it a chance,and when he finally did we went on a five game win streak,i really believe that jameer's injury hadnt happened,none of this would be happening now,b/c we wouldve been winning with what we had,jameer's injury forced him to play steve at the point in his mind,me,i wouldve started keyon with steve (at the time we didnt have arroyo)!

     

  • At 3:22 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    I know we already have Darko and we'll be seeing what he is capable of doing soon enough. Still, I find it interesting to hear what other people think, especially if it's other Pistons that played with him. Here are some strong statements from guys like Billups and Sheed...

    http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060218/SPORTS03/602180346/1051

    Another interesting thing to think about it the PG situation. Let's just say, Francis is traded. Still, we'll have Nelson, Arroyo, Dooling, and Diener... All of them have different assets, but it should be interesting to see who stays in the long run.

     

  • At 3:26 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    I agree there with you about Nelson. That has been a dagger for us. He was the guy that was stepping up for us on a regular basis and he has been sorely missed.

     

  • At 6:26 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    I have a bad feeling that Keyon is on the trade block if Arroyo is for keeps. Travis is not in jeopardy since his around $400,000 salary cannot hurt the bottom-line. Deshawn is almost safe since he is the only true SG even if the trade brings one SG, there is still need for his services.

     

  • At 8:58 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Who knew walter mccarty could sing? I damn sure didnt!

     

  • At 9:06 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    I dont know if keyon is on the trading block,but i do know there is room for keyon even with arroyo,if steve is moved then jameer and arroyo can run the point,and deshawn and keyon can play the two,keyon does well in that back-up 2 role guarding guys like wade and allen,b/c he'll frustrate'em all night long,trav can be the third point,and if injuries happen that deplete the point guard position,you still have keyon who can play the point!

     

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