Poll

Would you sacrifice the potential of a East 1 seed to keep guys healthy and fresh for playoffs?

Yes, health has hurt us in recent play off runs.
12 (46.2%)
No, go for the 1 seed injuries happen.
14 (53.8%)

Total Members Voted: 26

Author Topic: Health vs #1 seed  (Read 1525 times)

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Health vs #1 seed
« on: July 23, 2017, 12:08:52 PM »

Offline Csfan1984

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This question was on my mind because of depth and need to develop young guys. It would make sense to plan on guys getting a lot more rest/games off this year. Say every six game, or on every third non division road game, or on 2nd night of a b2b. I feel keeping all starters in the 68 to 72 games played may be just right for keeping everyone fresh and getting more development. Don't want injuries to be another excuse for another poor exit round.

Re: Health vs #1 seed
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2017, 12:11:50 PM »

Offline Surferdad

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The team is deep enough this season for Stevens to manage the minutes more effectively. So, I'm not voting because I think they can have both.

Re: Health vs #1 seed
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2017, 12:13:28 PM »

Offline Sketch5

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You need to go in healthy. Yes home court is important, but look at GSW two years ago when they went for the record and had to push the season. They gassed out by the time the finals came because of a harder playoff run. Kerr even said he wouldn't do that again.

One think Lebron does is stays healthy and rested and puts that over the seed of the team. Home court means nothing if you're down a player. Not that we would have won, but I bet it would have been a little closer in the loses if IT wasn't hurt.

Re: Health vs #1 seed
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2017, 12:20:54 PM »

Offline hpantazo

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Our roster is young enough and deep enough that this should not be an issue at all.

Re: Health vs #1 seed
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2017, 12:27:47 PM »

Offline billysan

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I think number  one seed is paramount  when possible.

If we are just talking being tired, bumps  and bruises, aches and pains then use the depth we have to get young players more minutes. That will add up throughout the season. I believe there are ample opportunities to do this, besides rotation will be shortened in playoffs so there will be even less rest time.

Having a relatively healthy roster come playoff time is often a matter of luck anyway.
"First fix their hearts" -Eizo Shimabuku

Re: Health vs #1 seed
« Reply #5 on: July 24, 2017, 11:40:17 AM »

Offline chiken Green

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IF you are talking about the #1 seed in the league I say go for it - It will be that kind of "WE must win every game mentality" that will help this team win a chip...  And may give us some kind of boost psychologically against the Warriors, or the 60+ win Spurs team..

IF we are thinking that this Roster alone is enough to walk us into a championship then we are in for a rude awakening..

Win Every game...  That has to be the mentality..  This is a good roster, a very good Roster but not a great Roster... And not a 2 league MVP Roster..


Re: Health vs #1 seed
« Reply #6 on: July 24, 2017, 11:46:37 AM »

Offline slamtheking

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seeding would matter for this roster.  granted, it didn't make a difference to the Cavs last postseason but for Boston, it made a difference against Washington.  this team does not have the talent level where they can relax a bit in the regular season and then turn it up in the playoffs to the point where they can negate not having home court advantage during a playoff series.

now if seeding is locked up with a few games to go, sure, a game of rest for the players getting heavy minutes shouldn't hurt (provided they aren't all getting it in the same game)

Re: Health vs #1 seed
« Reply #7 on: July 24, 2017, 11:49:01 AM »

Offline greece66

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If this is a dilemma that appears towards the end of the season, it could well be the case the difference between 1 and 2 won't be worth risking an injury.

btw I'm not at all sure we are locked to be top 2.

Re: Health vs #1 seed
« Reply #8 on: July 24, 2017, 12:04:54 PM »

Offline BitterJim

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If by "rest" you mean maybe missing a few games at the end of the season once seeding is pretty much wrapped up, then yes, we should.  But the suggestions you had like sitting every 6 games, or the 2nd night of back to backs, absolutely not.  This isn't the post-Championship Big 3: everyone on the team should be fine heading into the playoffs (with the necessary caveat that a random injury could mess that up, but skipping a game every two weeks or so won't help that)
I'm bitter.

Re: Health vs #1 seed
« Reply #9 on: July 24, 2017, 01:49:50 PM »

Offline bdm860

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This should be less of an issue this year (and in the future) league wide.

The NBA is starting the season 2 weeks earlier than normal (usually starts on last Tuesday in Oct., which would be 10/31 this year, but is instead starting on 10/17) and is also eliminating some pre-season games.

They've worked to reduce back-to-backs and four-games-in-five-nights over the last few years.  Take a look at these trends:

Back-to-backs, league avg:
2015 - 19.3
2016 - 17.8
2017 - 16.3

4-games-in-5-nights, league total:
2015 - 70
2016 - 27
2017 - 20

It will be interesting to see how low they can reduce the back-to-back number this year, and they most likely will be completely eliminating all 4-games-5-nights stretches.

Also the C's being one of the top teams in the league might help here as well, as they'll have more national TV games.  Per Lowe, the league is trying to make sure teams in national TV games are both coming off a rest day (though this may just mean the TV game is the 1st game of a back-to-back instead of the 2nd).

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Re: Health vs #1 seed
« Reply #10 on: July 24, 2017, 02:56:24 PM »

Offline nickagneta

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The youth you want getting premium minutes for development are Brown, Rozier and Tatum. Zizic, Yabusele, Ojeleye, and Theis are going to have to prove in practice covering for injuries and the garbage time minutes that they play that they deserve time on the court. Thats how those players will develop.

Re: Health vs #1 seed
« Reply #11 on: July 24, 2017, 03:24:22 PM »

Offline clevelandceltic

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1. Health
2. Player Chemistry
3. Player Development
4. #1 Seed

Remember there are alot of new pieces on this team so chemistry is going to be important and that takes playing games together. Player development will be important because you will need Brown and Tatum to play well in order to really have a chance the 2nd rd and beyond.

Re: Health vs #1 seed
« Reply #12 on: July 24, 2017, 05:44:19 PM »

Offline Greyman

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I said 'yes' because I believe you should in certain circumstances, though not as a prearranged plan. If you have players who could benefit from rest and your likely playoff opponents are similar as number 1 or 2, then resting players may have the better long term benefit. I wouldn't normally trade the number 1 draft pick, but if you believe you can get an advantage long term, take the risk.

I don't think you should go into a season thinking, 'we will rest our best players in the last month if we are assured a top 2 or 3 spot'. Fans deserve better and that sort of planning, like tanking, doesn't help your sport. Who wants to pay to watch players give a meaningless half baked effort? Apart from tennis fans of B Tomic apparently but that is a different discussion.

Re: Health vs #1 seed
« Reply #13 on: July 24, 2017, 05:59:01 PM »

Offline billysan

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The youth you want getting premium minutes for development are Brown, Rozier and Tatum. Zizic, Yabusele, Ojeleye, and Theis are going to have to prove in practice covering for injuries and the garbage time minutes that they play that they deserve time on the court. Thats how those players will develop.

Yeah I agree with your premise. The first 2 are already slated for rotation  spots and Tatum will get quick dunks in the pool at the end of quarters and such to measure his ability to perform in the league. It will be fun to watch and see how he does and how long it takes Brad to turn him loose.

I don't see how it will hurt to put Zizic for example in for the last 4 minutes of a quarter to replace Horford  and measure him the same way if it is sticking some in practice. If he or the others in the second group are not able to execute in practice then they need to go to the G league to work on stuff.

This going to be a lot of mental work for these guys as well. Being an effective sub on a playoff bound team is going to put pressure on these guys and I still believe the number one seed is our necessary goal to get us out of the East.  These guys need to prove they can help when called upon. If they  are not ready we also need to know that early on.
"First fix their hearts" -Eizo Shimabuku