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Doc Needs To Get This Idea Out Of His Head


Doc Rivers talking about things to try out in the pre-season:

You know, the one thing we'll have to find out in the preseason ... is Scal at the three.  You know, how much he can play threes, who he can guard.  You know, if there's a great three, can you put Scal on the two and let Marquis guard the three if we're going with five subs at the same time . . .?

This is one plan I hope we absolutely do not see in the regular season.  There's absolutely no need to play five man bench units; this isn't hockey.  I like Scal, and think he plays good defense on most power forwards and on some threes.  However, the idea of him guarding shooting guards, if even for a few minutes, is scary to me.

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As much as I hate to see it

I think we need to be able to sit Ray, KG and Pierce at the same time. They need plenty of rest. That likely means we need either TA, Scal, or Giddens to be able to give minutes at the 2 or 3 when Daniels is in.

by guava_wrench on Oct 2, 2009 8:40 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

I don't know...

I think there’s time to keep two or three of our starters in the game at all times. They need rest, but they don’t need to sit half the game on the bench.

It’s common sense, but very few teams outscore their opponents with one or zero starters on the floor. This is one recurrent pattern of Doc’s coaching that I really don’t like, and it’s not a new thing. See the third item, here: http://www.82games.com/simmons2.htm

It’s not a bad idea to experiment with some of these things in pre-season (so long as you work enough on your regular lineups, as well). However, it’s something I never want to see when the games count.

All the negativity in this town sucks. It sucks, and it stinks, and it sucks. - Rick Pitino

by Roy_Hobbs on Oct 2, 2009 8:47 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Also, another alternative...

If Ray and Pierce are both going to be out, Doc should play a Rondo / House / Daniels lineup. There’s no need to rest all of our starters at the same time, unless it’s garbage time.

All the negativity in this town sucks. It sucks, and it stinks, and it sucks. - Rick Pitino

by Roy_Hobbs on Oct 2, 2009 8:48 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I seldom disagree with Doc, but...

this time I hope he reads the blog and listens to you, Roy…although our bench is way better than last years…

by thirstyboots18 on Oct 2, 2009 8:56 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I often disagree with Doc

But this is probably nothing more than a tactic to motivate Scal into thinking there’s potential for him to get playing time even with all the new additions we made during the offseason. He manages personalities and egos well, just not necessarily playing times and the X’s & O’s part.

by Silhouette on Oct 2, 2009 11:58 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Ray, Pierce, KG taking a rest...

then House, Daniels, Sheed/Davis plays. No need for TA, Scal, or Giddens.

by KY Celts fan on Oct 2, 2009 9:26 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

nothing about this team makes me nervous

by thirstyboots18 on Oct 3, 2009 7:13 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

we need a trade

Scal/Tony for Nocioni please

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers" Henry V

by Jeff Clark on Oct 2, 2009 9:02 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

He was thinking out loud

One way in which Doc differs from the likes of Belichick, is that he shares his thoughts freely with reporters. Having worked in the media, he is very comfortable saying whatever comes into his head, no filter. You can tell in the clip he is just throwing it out there, even was unsure as he was saying it. Camp is the time to figure out what you have, and who can do what. Much better to have an open mind as a coach, then behave as a blogger and have set lineups all figured out already.

This may be a part of Doc’s coaching you don’t like, but the results, however he has reached them, speak for themselves. Whose to say if he mixed and matched exactly as you want, the end result would be better than what he decides? I know whose choices I am most comfortable with, and that is the man who led the team to a title and another 62 wins last year with a hobbled team.

Besides, I don’t think you’ll see much of Scal covering 2s with Marquis covering 3s, just a quick example Doc gave off the top of his head reflecting the versatility he has from his bench players.

by KJ33 on Oct 2, 2009 9:10 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Just because we won a championship...

… doesn’t mean that all of Doc’s decisions are perfect. The four/five man bench units that he often goes to are an example of that, in my opinion. Learning to better mix his bench with his starters is an area he can improve in, I think.

All the negativity in this town sucks. It sucks, and it stinks, and it sucks. - Rick Pitino

by Roy_Hobbs on Oct 2, 2009 9:18 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I agree about the platooning

And I can already answer whatever questions Doc may have about how Scals would be at the 3: terrible. I said the other day that Scals probably can’t cover more than 5% of NBA 3s, and that still seems about right.

Presumably Doc has better things to do than waste time on this nonsense.

"People don't understand, if you can't live the rest of your life off one year in the NBA, you can't live off 21." -- Keon Clark

by Eeyore III on Oct 2, 2009 9:44 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Why this love affair with Scal???

I just don’t understand why Doc continues to seek to play Scal.
Scal had his chance and we know he is a player with limited talent .

He has a valuable expiring contract and the C’s goal should be to trade him for better a better talented bench player.
If possible a legit 7 foot back up center or strong, big defending small forward.

The 2nd unit which we spent all summer building is all set with.
 
Hudson
House
Rasheed
Williams
Daniels

Play them, not Scal!.

by leothetiger on Oct 2, 2009 9:32 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Oops..... I forgot to include that Big Baby....

will also be coming off our bench ahead of Scal.
With Baby also coming off the bench, here again is more reason that Scal should not be getting playing time.

by leothetiger on Oct 2, 2009 9:41 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Hudson?

How did Hudson get on that list? Hudson is here because we had a pick at the end of the draft. Hopefully he can show something, but his ‘acquisition’ was hardly part of building anything.

by guava_wrench on Oct 2, 2009 10:10 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Yes Hudson belongs on the bench rotation list because..........

He is the only legit back up point guard on the bench, nobody else on the bench is a legit point guard .

House is not a legit point guard and I do not want to see him used as one anyway since he is best utilized as a shooting guard.

Daniels is not a legit point guard and since Walker is injured Daniels will now have to play most of the back up small forward position minutes and will not be able to play alot of back up point guard minutes anyway.

So it is for these reasons I see Hudson becoming our legit back up point guard off the bench.

by leothetiger on Oct 2, 2009 11:15 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I too think Hudson will get a chance

We cut Pruitt, and didn’t bring in any real PG competition, save for Quisy. If Daniels proves inadequate at backup point, I think we must be trusting Hudson to be capable of stepping in in a pinch.

The fact that we don’t have much in the way of guard competition in camp tells me there must be some degree of faith the organization has in Hudson, so I guess we’re just gonna have to hope for the best from him, and we may actually see him play in the regular season. He’s certainly not getting any younger.

by Silhouette on Oct 3, 2009 12:11 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

They could defenitley do that lineup, Quis, Sheed, and Baby were all starters last year.

by jesse_stoneham on Oct 2, 2009 9:42 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

"The one thing we'll have to find out in the preseason ... is Scal at the three..."

That’s it? There’s only one thing Doc has to find out about? One thing? And it’s about Scalabrine?

Is he kidding? Hey, here’re a few other things to check out: One, is Garnett going to be alright? Two, can Daniels actually handle the point? Three, is his defense good enough? Four, when and where is Wallace going to play? Five, how about Davis? Six, is Giddens going to be any use at all? Seven, how ‘bout Williams? Eight, are there any other hidden injuries out there that we don’t yet know about?

One thing my eye.

by no kidding on Oct 2, 2009 10:03 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Daniels can handle the point. Not a question for Doc. He’s already been clear about that. Whether KG is going to be alright is also not much of a question for the coach in camp. He either is or he isn’t. I’m sure Doc has plans for handling both possibilities. ‘Where’ Wallace plays is a no brainer. Williams is for emergencies. Giddens is for towel waving. Nothing is expected of him, so anything positive is a bonus.

Baby is a legit question. In particular, his footwork. If he can move better due to losing weight, he will be able to defend more 4’s. But this too isn’t a big question because it isn’t something new this season since he started at the 4 a lot last season.

The Scal question is one he is curious about because it can have a real impact on his rotations and he apparently isn’t sure whether it can work or not.

by guava_wrench on Oct 2, 2009 10:18 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

maybe doc is happy with the answers to those other questions?

I can think of happy answers to all eight of your questions and I suspect I’d be right about most if not all of them.

Folks need to chill. He was just shooting the breeze. ‘The one thing’ is just a lazy figure of speech used to start a statement while still forming the thought … which in this case just streamed out without a lot of editing.

Doc likes Scal for a lot of reasons. Scal is a smart, versatile player who has helped out this team many times. Too many people forget that when KG & Powe went down, Scal played PF very well for a stretch before getting the concussion. No, he’s not very athletic. No I don’t want to see him on defense in front of any but the slowest #2. But he’s got a lot of utility in other ways and to those who think we should trade him, we won’t get any value for him unless Doc figures out ways to get him minutes.

In all likelihood, Doc was ruminating on that problem (how to get Scal minutes – not easy with THIS lineup) – and just blurted out the latest craziness in his head.

Or so I keep hoping that was it. I’ll be pretty shocked if I ever see Scal guarding an SG in a game! :-D

by mmmmm on Oct 2, 2009 10:27 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Does thinking of "happy answers" prepare a team?

It was just an oddball quote from Doc thinking aloud, like you and others have said. (I’m not up early because of Doc Rivers saying this thing about Scalabrine. It’s the dang flu.)

But seriously, optimism and “happy answers” are really more our bailiwick as fans. Doc’s job, and the things the team needs to prove, have to do with figuring out the hard answers to all those things. Kevin Garnett plays every game looking to prove things all over again; he doesn’t suit up assuming the big three can roll any given team in the league.

The worst I’d really say is that Doc’s phrasing seemed just a bit…. complacent, which is a minor bad sign. Pat Riley, at this point, would be laying into one of his stars about his body fat or some fool thing. He sure wouldn’t be telling the team the only thing left to prove was whether a bench player could defend out of position.

by feral on Oct 3, 2009 5:38 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

next to mikki moore scal looked pretty good. why is doc even thinking about scal covering 3’s? training camp must be getting boring or he has too much time and his rational mind took leave.

by nazzbo on Oct 2, 2009 11:08 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Talking up Scal.

Doc could just be talking up Scal a little and not talking up Giddens for trade reason’s.

by liamail on Oct 3, 2009 12:48 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

There should be plenty of fourth quarter garbage time for doc’s crazy lineups if the starters / top 8 play to their potential. Reg. season of 07-08 they used to get 20 pt leads on teams routinely. I’d envision a lot of rest late in games. The problem has been doc starting the second quarter with all subs and making the game closer than it has to be.

by cons on Oct 3, 2009 6:05 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

They are pushing Scal’s value. If they won’t get to trade him until February, they will tell the media he’ll play more PG on offense from then on and defend the 5. Brian Scala-Magic!

by Mahoney_jr on Oct 3, 2009 8:26 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

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