I’ll have to take a look at their discussion. It will interesting to see how the rotation starts and then how it evolves over the course of the season. A few thoughts:FNG wrote: ↑Sat Jul 19, 2025 9:59 am Moore and Robson had an interesting discussion about how the rotation might work on a pod this week, and I agree with their assessment. They said NAW averaged 23.5 MPG playing 82 games this season, and were wondering how those minutes would be replaced. They assumed Finchy would move to a standard 9-man rotation, with TJ and Rob being the main beneficiaries (with Clark also getting some spot minutes). They think Mike will continue to start, and didn't think his 25 MPG would be reduced. And obviously Ant isn't going to be reduced. Their conclusion was that Jaden will get some more minutes at PF as the 4th big with the other 3 bigs' minutes being slightly reduced with a corresponding reduction. If we expect TJ and Rob to get about 30 MPG between them, the 3 bigs' minutes only have to be reduced by 6 1/2 MPG to make room for TJ and Rob. I think this is a pretty good analysis of what the plan might be coming into the season assuming everyone is healthy.
First, I think Ant’s minutes should be reduced a bit below last season’s 36 per game. He’s been an iron man but so was KAT before his body started to break down playing lots of minutes and playing just about every game. We need to keep him fresh for the end of the season and preserve his health and athleticism over the course of his career here. I’d like to see his minutes reduced to no more than 32 per game.
Second, I think it makes sense to reduce Rudy’s minutes below his 33.2 from last season but I don’t think it makes sense to reduce Naz Reid’s minutes below last season’s 27.5; in fact, Naz’s minutes should probably increase. Maybe Randle’s minutes should be reduced below last season’s 32.3 but I’m not sure. Without a defensive backup center to replace Rudy, it makes sense to slide our next best defensive player, Jaden, into the PF position with Naz at center when Rudy’s out - at least until Beringer is ready. Jaden averaged 32 minutes last season. I don’t see increasing Jaden’s minutes, but I can see allocating another 5-10 of his 32 minutes to the PF position. Overall, I don’t see a plausible path to getting more minutes for TJ, Clark or Dilly by reducing the minutes of our three bigs.
Third, I’d like to see Conley’s minutes reduced below last season’s 24.7. If he’s still playing that many minutes next season then I think we’re in trouble. I’d start out taking him down to no more than 20 minutes and possibly go down from there depending on what we see from Dilly and TJ. Depending on how Donte performs, perhaps his 26 minutes could be reduced to 20.
Finally, I don’t have a specific breakdown in mind and the allocation of minutes at the beginning of the season probably won’t be the same by the end of the season. Having said that, it seems to me that all or almost all of NAW’s 25 minutes should go to TJ based on how TJ has been performing last season, in the playoffs and most recently in Summer League. Otherwise, it’s hard to see where Dilly picks up minutes if not almost entirely from Conley with some perhaps from Donte but either way I have a hard time coming up with more than 12-15 minutes for Dilly. Barring injury, I don’t know where Clark gets significant minutes. Finch mentioned in a SL game interview that he intends a 9 or 10 player rotation. He was pretty emphatic about that. I can see getting to 9 with Dilly at 12-15 minutes but I still don’t see a realistic scenario for a 10-man rotation.
