Starting Wings

[KiwiMatt]

Regular season game 1, who would you like to see start on the wing?

(Obviously no one would pick 4, except maybe Sam Mitchell)

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I voted Martin and Wiggins because I believe that right now they are our best wing players and it's not even close. We get two scorers in the starting lineup so it allows Wiggins to develop other aspects of his game outside of scoring, such as creating for others, rebounding, defense and off-ball movement. All of which are things he can absolutely improve upon. It also adds a much-needed three-point presence to that unit. We've already seen Ricky Rubio play with a bunch of non-shooters before; it hinders his effectiveness tremendously.

I would also be fine with Option A or Option C because both include one of our young, talented, on-the-rise (hopefully) players. Option D is unacceptable and flat-out ridiculous.

[KiwiMatt]

I went with Wiggins / Bazz.

Muhammad has been our best wing during the preseason. Sure his defense isn't flash but he is a legit scorer and is no worse than LaVine and Martin on D. I also love the fact that he often attracts the oppositions best defensive wing allowing Wiggins a lot more freedom on offensive, something he needs. He is a monster on the O glass and from what I've seen has improved his ball handling.

I like the balance of offense / defense with the starting line up of Rubio / Wiggins / Bazz / KG / KAT.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Even though I supported Mitchell's starting lineup in the other thread, I also voted Wiggins/Martin. Martin had a terrible shooting night last night (0 for 10), but he looked good creating his own shot even though it wasn't falling, had four assists, and actually looked decent on defense. So he and Wig would be my choice based on what I saw last night.

But as I stated in the other thread, like you guys, I'm not privy to what is going on in practice. I suspect that Sam's putting Tay in the starting lineup is rewarding him for hard work in practice and being effective on defense, and conversely, punishing Zach, Bazz and KMart for not getting it done in practice. If I knew that was true, I would change my vote to Wig/Tay. But since I only know what I saw on my TV screen last night, I voted Martin/Wig.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I voted Wiggins/Martin as well.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I said Wiggins/Bazz as a compromise. Sam doesn't like Wiggins at the 3 because he gets pushed around and he really doesn't like Lavine/Wiggins next to each other defensively. Bazz moves him to the 2 where he gets the matchup Sam wants while giving the starting unit a scoring punch they don't have. You simply don't need 5 defensive minded guys in the starting 5 to have a good defense. 4 should be more than enough and you still need to be able to score the ball to stay in games. It's too bad we can't do what every good team does defensively and direct traffic to help defenders. Instead we have to have 5 plus defenders who can take care of their guy and not play in a good team concept. If Malone and Clifford can make teams good defensively with Demarcus and Big Al as their starting C's, then I want to run their team defensive schemes because it's clear they've hacked into the Matrix and found a cheat code.

[Coolbreeze44]

I voted Wiggins and Bazz, but only because Mitchell has killed Zach Lavine off and I have no idea when his head is going to be in the right place. I've seen enough of Martin in the starting lineup, and it's just not good enough. Bazz is the best play right now, and would actually give us something to be a little bit excited about.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I said Wiggins/Bazz as a compromise. Sam doesn't like Wiggins at the 3 because he gets pushed around and he really doesn't like Lavine/Wiggins next to each other defensively. Bazz moves him to the 2 where he gets the matchup Sam wants while giving the starting unit a scoring punch they don't have. You simply don't need 5 defensive minded guys in the starting 5 to have a good defense. 4 should be more than enough and you still need to be able to score the ball to stay in games. It's too bad we can't do what every good team does defensively and direct traffic to help defenders. Instead we have to have 5 plus defenders who can take care of their guy and not play in a good team concept. If Malone and Clifford can make teams good defensively with Demarcus and Big Al as their starting C's, then I want to run their team defensive schemes because it's clear they've hacked into the Matrix and found a cheat code.

Yeah, Clifford is one of my favorite examples of a team that was coached up defensively (they went from 30th to 5th in one season. With Big Al as their only major roster change. Amazing). That being said, he did have some nice raw materials to work with in Kidd-Gilchrist and Gerald Henderson on the wings.

As for Mike Malone, he brought the Kings from #29 to #23 defensively, which is almost in the range of random variability, so it's hard for me to really assess him as a defensive coach.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Here is a (somewhat weak) defense of Mitchell. Stay with me here.....

A. He concludes that Wiggins really is better off at the 2 than the 3. I personally don't find that an outlandish conclusion, as Wiggins is a fairly weak rebounder for a 3 and has proven he can guard 2's. Sure, he doesn't have the handles of a classic 2, but when you have Rubio at PG and good passing bigs like KG and Towns, may be that's OK.

B. Once you make that conclusion, you instantly created a playing time problem for either Zach or Martin.

C. Martin can only play one position and that's shooting guard. He's too good and well respected to put 3rd on your depth chart behind Wiggins and Zach, so Mitchell can't do that.

D. How can Mitchell ensure Zach and Martin get enough playing time? Move Zach to 2nd string PG.

E. Next, put Martin on the trade block fairly early this season - hopefully get something of value.

F. Once Martin is traded, Zach goes back to being primary backup 2. He, Wiggins, and Shabazz, get the vast majority of wing minutes, with Prince really only a token starter at the 3. In fact, he may get traded too.....

That's all I can come up with.....

[60WinTim]

Okay, Option D was me. I guess I figure "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em"...

Sam has decided his feature player, Wiggins, is best suited to play SG. Unfortunately, Flip (and Milt) have constructed a roster more suited for Wiggins at SF, so Sam is stuck piecing together a rotation as best he can. Bazz and/or Zach in the starting lineup would surely take shots away from Wiggins, so the Option D lineup is designed to provide a supporting cast to feature Wiggins and Towns.

It's not what I was anticipating, but I guess I can wrap my arms around the concept and see how it works. Sam is focusing on the development of Wiggins and Towns as the future, and the other pieces have to fit the best they can.

[Edit: I just saw Q's post. I could have said "ditto". ]