The Small Lineup

[Tenspro2002]

Boat. Bazz. OC. DD. Giff.

My God that unit is fun to watch. JC might be rolling over in his (coaching) grave at the idea of not having a single 6'10 guy (nevermind 2!) on the court at a time, but look at what happens: nimble rotations on defense, every player a threat to score from deep.

We fretted about a lineup with TO at the 5, but we needed to go even smaller.

 

[BarkingDog]

Agree. I want giffey on the floor.

 

[aceboon]

yea we honestly don't lose anything by going to this lineup and get bette offensiviely and defensively, Giff really holds things down in the paint, even closing out on rotations and blocking shots at the rim, where Tyler is woefully deficient in that area. I hope the 'we need to play Tyler and Wolf together' crowd are paying attention to how well this unit works together out on the court.

 

[SouleMan]

Um, just to be clear, JC's not dead

 

[caw]

I'm really impressed with Giffey's defense down low.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I would even assert that it opens up space for our guards to be more aggressive going for rebounds. Instead of TO flailing at the ball and getting 6 inches off the ground, you have room for someone like Boat or OC to come flying in from the wing.

 

[CL82]

I'm really impressed with Giffey's defense down low.

He was decent just inside the arc as well. Nice game for him.

 

[msgordon]

thats a REALLY intriguing lineup for next yr if everyone stays. i say it, lets roll with it and make other teams match up with us if they want to. look at how the NBA is changing with small lineups and stretch 4s everywhere, you have to be ahead of the curve and play to the strength of your personnel. giffeys value goes up a TON in a lineup like that as opposed to a standard one where he plays the 3

 

[UConn Esq]

Giffey too with his dribbling abilities and passing abilities is able to look up the floor after grabbing a rebound.. seems like the 5 guard lineup is really able to push the tempo and really make teams uneasy before they can settle in on defense. Teams really have to run to get back on defense, which takes a toll later on in the game.

Would've loved to see Giffey drill that buzzer shot off the steal though. Would have been one of the most epic endings of all time.

 

[UChusky916]

Honestly, we can't rebound even with big guys in there, so why NOT go with all small guys? At least Giffey can defend the 4/5 unlike TO who is slow-footed.

And as the OP stated, all of the players are a threat from deep on the offensive end. That's a matchup nightmare!

 

[Devland]

Boat. Bazz. OC. DD. Giff.

My God that unit is fun to watch. JC might be rolling over in his (coaching) grave at the idea of not having a single 6'10 guy (nevermind 2!) on the court at a time, but look at what happens: nimble rotations on defense, every player a threat to score from deep.

We fretted about a lineup with TO at the 5, but we needed to go even smaller.

JC's early teams a lot of times lacked an inside presence. How many times back then did you hear the term "Doughnut team".

 

[Kitaman]

Giffey moves his feet on D, and stays aware of where his man is. That is not easy to teach. He rarely gets lost, and know to hit the boards when the shot goes up.

 

[Palatine]

Giffey too with his dribbling abilities and passing abilities is able to look up the floor after grabbing a rebound.. seems like the 5 guard lineup is really able to push the tempo and really make teams uneasy before they can settle in on defense. Teams really have to run to get back on defense, which takes a toll later on in the game.

Would've loved to see Giffey drill that buzzer shot off the steal though. Would have been one of the most epic endings of all time.

He had two seconds plus and acted like he had none, he actually had time for a dribble or to head for the hole. He panicked.

 

[aceboon]

Honestly, we can't rebound even with big guys in there, so why NOT go with all small guys? At least Giffey can defend the 4/5 unlike TO who is slow-footed.

And as the OP stated, all of the players are a threat from deep on the offensive end. That's a matchup nightmare!

Giffey is a better rebounder than Olander. We're still not a great rebounding team with him in but we're actually better on the boards imo when he's in there.

 

[ctchamps]

Definitely fun to watch this group. But it was employed with Hawkins having four fouls and his being on the bench most of the time. Not sure how great it would have been with Hawkins not in foul trouble or against most other teams with a strong five.