Dunlap names starters

[Woody]

Kemba
Hendo
MKG
Mullens
Haywood

Also he says he'll play an 11 man rotation which means no Carroll or Higgins. I'd assume Diop gets the nod out of those 3 to play in case of foul trouble/injury

Thoughts?

[fan_of_a_fan]

I think this what most people expected. I don't see any surprises. Dunlap is just going with conventional wisdom, and then he'll probably make tweaks throughout the season.

[CableBoxCat]

So MKG is starting, but will he play starters' minutes? That's the real question. Has Dunlap commented on that?

[ammofan]

Exactly I as suspected.

[EmmaCat]

With that lineup I think we are going to have a very hard time guarding the pick and roll because Mullens and Haywood aren't exactly known for their lateral movement...I would have rather seen Mullens and Biyombo.

[spectre]

With that lineup I think we are going to have a very hard time guarding the pick and roll because Mullens and Haywood aren't exactly known for their lateral movement...I would have rather seen Mullens and Biyombo.

I agree, Biz showed last year he was very good at guarding the P&R. Thing is he's so raw at most of the other things (I said in another thread I think it's because he trying to learn and thinking too much) that I can understand why he's not starting. So long as he learns.

The guard/wings show that Dunlap is putting D over the O at least starting out which I fully expected since that's what he mostly concentrated on this offseason. Like in the preseason I think some games we'll start off slow offensively, so it'll be interesting to see how quick Dunlap uses the hook.

http://www.nba.com/bobcats/video/mike-dunlap-103112

Video of Dunlap talking about it. Ripped off another site:

And those five to me - on our deflection chart, on all our defensive things that we chart -they're our top five on those numbers and that's how I did it.
Any kind of movement of the chairs [in preseason] was to get a sampling of player combinations and I didn't know and I know more now with those combinations what they can do. And yet I still don't have all the samples. It's going to take a little longer.
I think they get after it defensively. We've been selling that and we've got more work to do on that but first and foremost, if I say that we're going to tilt this thing towards defense and we've got a long way to go in that area. But you've got to do it with your actions and not your words.

In order for us to play as hard as we want us to play on defense, I'm going to have to use a lot of the bench.
You can't ask these guys to do some of the stuff we're asking them to do unless they go to the bench to get a drink and a respite, and also you have this really long season. If you go with a short bench and you're demanding that maybe that we're going to do some trapping and stuff like that, there will be a burnout factor.

[SWedd523]

#FreeBismack!

[StitchJones]

I understand playing uptempo on both ends and asking your players to really press while they are out there. With that mentality you will need a 10-11 man rotation. My fear would be down the road. Eventually the best teams shave it down to 7-8 with limited spot minutes for others as needed. We are a LONG way away from that, but I hope he's flexible if over the next couple years we develop a clear top 7 or 8 that is far ahead of everyone else.

[dnbman]

#FreeBismack!

I actually hope that becomes an arena thing, like "release the kraken!"

RELEASE THE BISMACK!

[dnbman]

Eventually the best teams shave it down to 7-8 with limited spot minutes for others as needed. We are a LONG way away from that, but I hope he's flexible if over the next couple years we develop a clear top 7 or 8 that is far ahead of everyone else.

Yeah, but if you don't have those clear cut studs, why not run, run, run with lineups, especially with young, fresh legs?