What I find interesting in all of our past discussions of lineups, is that while there are many disagreements over the best starting five, there is pretty universal agreement on the 7 players that we expect to get significant minutes, with Nika being the most likely addition if we use 8 in highly contested games.
There is also much agreement that with multiple players that can play more than one position, the first two off the bench will get lots of minutes, and if everyone is healthy, we could get by in most cases with a 7 player rotation with no weak links.
So with that in mind, I think the question is how to deploy those 7 assets, hopefully 8 with Nika in the most effective way. That is not necessarily the same as picking the five best players to start, and involves considering the rotation patterns and having skill sets that compliment each other.
Could you pencil in Evina at PG? of course, but I don't like that option, in spite of feeling confident she could be a good one. Her ball handling and passing I would grade as exceptional for a SF, pretty good for a SG, and closer to average for a point guard. She could play all three positions well, but in my opinion for this team as constructed her best position is SG, followed by SF and then PG.
But beyond that reason we have not one but two incoming pure point guards, for whom passing is there best trait, with both considered to have not good, but exceptional vision, anticipating openings before they happen, and making passes only the gifted can see. If Westbrook starts at PG, yes Paige will have reduced minutes, but Nika's could be virtually eliminated in a rotation of 7. Another reason is many expect Paige to be starting by year end. This year there will be few big out of conference challenges in a shortened season, and she can grow into the position during the conference schedule, with the team used to the rotations to be used in the tournament.
If you consider Evina more as a SG/SF then the battle for playing time there is between her, Williams and Makurat, all of whom can get big minutes if you stick to those three. I would argue that nobody is head and shoulders above the others in that group, and any two starting could work with the other being a super sub.
So who plays off the freshmen point guards the best? What skills are most needed to compliment the rest of the starting lineup? Which two play the best with each other? Williams and Makurat might have an edge there with one year together. It's splitting hairs but I suspect Westbrooks versatility is best used off the bench.
It is also comforting that we should almost always have another ball handler/passer in the game to compliment our freshmen PG's (Westbrook or Makurat).
Another chemistry issue involves PF. Starting center is set and the PF and backup C minutes I believe will be handled by the two challengers at PF, Griffin and Edwards, with Griffin playing more exclusively at PF and Edwards getting about half her time at PF and the other half as backup C. Like the wing scenario it might be close, but whoever the backup is will get significant minutes because of the lack of a proven backup C, and a three big rotation also with no weak links looks very strong. Maybe the logical starter at PF is the one who plays with Liv the best, or the rest of the team. Tough call, but I suspect Edwards might compliment Liv the best with some perimeter skills while Liv is down low. In addition Griffin's exceptional defensive skills might have more value off the bench when the shot blocker Liv is out.
So I would have Westbrook and Griffin as super-subs, and Nika getting the backup PG minutes. Mostly I want to stress the top 7 looks very good with a high degree of certainty, and who starts at the wing and PF may depend more on how players compliment each other, than who is the best player, and whoever comes off the bench as 6th or 7th will be a major contributor. Hopefully Nika earns backup PG minutes, but if she doesn't then Evina could handle some of that too, but I'm rooting for the two new PG's to not need any help.
I have no idea.
