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In a change of direction, Brad Stevens has decided to shake up his starting lineup after all.
Aron Baynes (who had a lot of success in the starting lineup last year) will start in place of Gordon Hayward (perhaps still finding his groove after returning from injury).
Remember all that conversation about no changes in the starting lineup?
— Sean Grande (@SeanGrandePBP) November 19, 2018
Aron Baynes in, Gordon Hayward out.
Irving, Brown, Tatum, Horford, Baynes starting tonight in Charlotte.
He said the focus is trying to find the pairings of who plays well together. https://t.co/DDwTdWHtkb
— Amanda_Pflugrad (@Amanda_Pflugrad) November 19, 2018
Tonight's starting lineup of Kyrie, Brown, Tatum, Horford and Baynes has a 96.9 o-rat, 82.8 d-rat and 14.1 net rating in 13 minutes this season.
— Max Lederman (@Max_Lederman) November 19, 2018
They had a 12.5 net rating last season
The timing of this (shortly after Stevens made a big deal about how the starting lineup isn’t the most important thing) strikes me as odd. It makes me wonder if Gordon volunteered to come off the bench for the sake of the team and lineup balance. We’ll follow up on this as more information becomes available.