The Team and Injury #1

[WuShockFan]

An eight or nine man rotation is fine. With the way Coach Marshall conditions his players, the guys won't get tired in an eight or nine man rotation.

PJ, Ramon, Mantas, Matt, Phil, Gal, Wendell, JT, and Aaron - that's a good nine man rotation. I don't expect Burley, Hatch, Michael, or Lance Harris to be in the regular rotation.

The way I see it, Mantas is big enough to play the 4, but will probably start at the 3. PJ can play the 3 or the 2. Ellis can play the 3. Matt, Gal, and Wendell can play the 1. Gal can play the 2. Ramon, Phil, JT, Mantas, and possibly Ellis can play the 4 and 5. There are plenty of players to fill the spots. There's more height in that rotation than last year. More athleticism also.

It's unfortunate that Butler won't be available to play, but I don't think it hurts us much right now.

Okay, but I disagree with you on the 4 position. JT and Phil will be playing the 5 to start with, Gris will be a the 3, and Ellis, IMO, will come off the bench to relieve Gris. Now, who is going to relieve Clemente at the 4?

Granted, Ramon, I suspect, will play more minutes than normal, but someone will have to spell him now and then at the 4, and if Gris is at the 3, and Ellis spells him, then back to my original question, who relieves Ramon?

I think Mantas or Aaron will relieve Ramon at the 4. I think players are going to play different positions in this rotation, at least until Orupke arrives. Mantas and Aaron can play the 3 or 4. Especially Mantas, I think he's a more athletic, slightly less tall version of Kyle Wilson with his inside-outside game. I think PJ will start at the 2, but will be moved to the 3 whenever the rotation demands it. When Mantas is at the 4, PJ could be moved to the 3, with Matt and Gal at the 1 and 2.

[wushock]

Malone mentioned Shawn Bradley. I will take a Shawn Bradley any day

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

Malone mentioned Shawn Bradley. I will take a Shawn Bradley any day

You dont want to win

I would let Mugsy Bogues or better yet Craig Stevens play Center before I ever picked Shawn Bradley

[Snapshot9]

If JT had conditioning problems, whos to say he might 'tire' out before the end of the game? Seems to me, that we are taking a lot for granted with our players currently instead of having the true depth that we need.

[Shocker4Life]

The only thing Ehimen brings if he shows up is height. Now granted thats a very good thing BUT height didnt help out somebody like POB and Ehimen is/will be a unknown commodity and any speculatiion about is merely he 7 feet tall.

I'm assuming POB = Patrick O'Bryant? If that's true... how did height not help him? If he was 6'8 instead of 7'1 he'd pretty much be Arbry Butler. Height combined with his athleticism made O'Bryant a lottery pick. And while he has yet to actually suit up for the Warriors (i believe he's been in NBA-DL?), he's still making a ton of money and his height is a big part of that. I'll concede the fact that Shawn Bradley and Manute Bol weren't all that great, but that's because they weren't very athletic. They were mostly just a couple of really tall guys.

[wushock]

If I remember right BYU did win with Shawn Bradley

[SubGod22]

Again, we'll probably end up with a three man rotation at the 4/5 until Ehimen gets here. The only time Mantas would play the 4 would be foul trouble. Ellis is probably more likely to play the 2 than the 4.

[wu_shizzle]

Ellis is probably more likely to play the 2 than the 4.

SG, I'm usually right with you, but you're wrong on this one.

He looked good in the 4/5 drills in individual workouts and at 6'8 1/2 (CGM's words not mine) he'll be playing a combination of post and wing.

Didn't he play some 4 at Shocker Madness?

[SubGod22]

If Ellis is in the post we're in trouble. I doubt we see much of him there ever. With everyone here and healthy he'd probably be the 6th option at best. The kid is a wing and that's where he'll play. I'm sure he'll take people inside some and post them up, but I doubt he spends much, if any time as a "post" player.

[McShocker]

If Ellis is in the post we're in trouble. I doubt we see much of him there ever. With everyone here and healthy he'd probably be the 6th option at best. The kid is a wing and that's where he'll play. I'm sure he'll take people inside some and post them up, but I doubt he spends much, if any time as a "post" player.

I'd really like to see some kind of stat about how many defensive possessions Magic Johnson used to match up against someone other than a guard. I know it happened, but I don't remember how often it happened.

My point is that we have a pretty good group of tall, athletic players. None of them may be over 6'9", but they don't need to be because they are strong, quick, and athletic. The idea that Ellis, or MG, or anybody else can't ever see time in the post or "we are in trouble" is nonsense, IMO. If they are as good athletically as they seem to be, they can, and probably will, spend some time guarding the post.

Offensively, a really good 5 is a luxury, not a necessity. It was great having big Paul down low, especially his last two years. He was really the only offensive threat we have had from the traditional 5 spot in years.

Offense is about putting people in positions where they can excell. It doesn't matter what kind of combonation you put on the floor for offense. It matters that you have put the players you have in a position to exploit the opponents weakness.

Does anybody think that a lineup of MB, PJ, MG, AE, and RC would have trouble playing anybody in this league? Not a true post in that lineup, but there are 4 guys who can score the ball down low, and at least 3 who should be able to guard a 6'9-6'10" post pretty well.

Obviously, a really good center approaching 7' would give us trouble. It would also give over 90% of teams trouble. That is why getting EO would be a great thing.

I think last year has made everyone too paranoid about post play. We have definitely upgraded in the size and athleticism of our team. I am sure we will get torched at some point by a really good big guy, and when we do, I am prepared to hear about it, but the majority of the time we are going to be fine.

[SubGod22]

We're in trouble because in my mind that means we have 5 guys injured or in foul trouble. It's not that I don't think Ellis could play in the post some because I think he could. I just think he's too far down the line to be seeing much time there.

[rrshock]

I am sure we will get torched at some point by a really good big guy, and when we do, I am prepared to hear about it, but the majority of the time we are going to be fine.

And it will be at a time we can least afford it to happen. That's why the size thing will bite us in the rear more than once this year.

[shockmonster]

In a year or two, Ellis will be 220 lbs. or more. Combined with his athleticism, he is more than adequate to play the 4.

[forevershockerfan]

Hopefully, AB just has a sprain and will resume playing soon and EO gets here and ready to play by mid Dec. If we have them both up and clicking by Valley Time, then I think we are solid at each and every position with quality depth.

We are anticipating a high octane energy boost each and every game on defense. We forsee a mixture of defenses along with various presses. On offense, we will probably take the first good high-percentage shot we have whether that takes 1 pass or running through the offense a time or 2. We have some shooters and some scorers which could vary from game to game as to who the leaders will be..

PJ, MG, and Mr. Clemente will probably be our overall top scorers. Mr Clemente and PJ will possibly be our top rebounders. It will be a war between MB and GM for P.G. minutes. Bar any more bad breaks or injuries, or no shows, I still say we will be a top 3 team in the Valley which would be a su-weet jump up from last year. I still say we will finish strong at the end and win the Valley Tourney for the first time in ages.

[ShockRef]

All this talk and nary a mention of PT. I will be collecting a whole wheel barrow full of crow in a couple of months. Just remember this chatter come say, January. The first one who claims selective amnesia will get a kick square in the grapes. 8)