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Expectations are now at least conference finals.

Double big expected to be significant but how much? In crunchtime?

After trade, only 1 of 20 most used lineups is still possible (bad negative / tiny minutes, fwiw). 45% of the 20 most used pairs still possible.

Lots has and probably will work but how well does roster fit and libeups get managed compared to other contenders? Find out slowly and especially in 9 months.

Factor discussion:

https://x.com/bballstrategy/status/1948089703544271208

Have a lot of questions about guard use / results and lineup management. Everybody is expecting big things but stuff to figure out.

Checking on Amen Thompson:

https://x.com/bballstrategy/status/1961319118960746507

Sengun's defense from many perspectives a thread starting here:

https://x.com/jasehoops/status/1964464022444790161

More lineup management thoughts:

VanVleet with Green and Brooks were mildly positive in regular season and playoffs but notably less than without and overall team average. With Thompson was lesser, only fractionally positive. Good in regular season. Will it work or not next season? Important.

VanVleet was very good with some bench and deep bench. Will that be done more or less next season?

But as noted previously, in general Udoka lost the playoffs with his dink lineups. Better pick them better in future and / or reduce such use and increase the best main lineups.

VanVleet - Smith was the best pairing with big minutes guys. Will that happen more or less next season? VV - Smith - Sengun was VV's best big minute regular season trio at an average of about 10 minutes per game. Why wasn't it more? Great in playoffs but only 11th most used. Only one above it was better. Looks like a major inefficiency to me. 3 least good in 12 most used all had Thompson. Will this trio be used more or less next season? Durant's usage might make it less or at least not enhanced. Can they play Durant with Smith? Should they? What will the results be? That trio with Adams was great in regular season and playoffs but very modestly used in both. Why wasn't it used more? Will it next season? 5 of the 8 used more and negative had Thompson. Thompson overall had ok raw team +/- on and on / off but quite a bit of lesser usages. What did Udoka and Rockets learn about how to use him and not? Green was his worst rotation pair in regular season, Smith, Eason and Holiday his best but only 5th, 6th and 8th most used. In playoffs, with VV was meh. Great with Adams. Amazing with Holiday in tiny minutes.

What position(s) Durant plays will matter, directly and indirectly as it affects where others play.

Will the two major exits and 1 major add and 1 late success (Adams) lead to a clunky start or will whatever they do cause the opponents more trouble til they have time to study and respond?

Will Eason have similar sized role, more or less? I doubt it is more. Will they pay or trade before then?

Adams played 13 minutes per game in regular season, 22 in playoffs. What will it be next season?

Sengun good in almost all the main combos including with Thompson overall but the few worst all had Thompson and with Thompson was only middle of pack, meh mild positive in playoffs. Sengun - Sheppard tested a modest 200 minutes to only a mild positive, his worst main pair, heavily restrained by large negative net turnovers.

Terror twins strong in regular season, flipped to quite bad in playoffs. Why? Used in "right" situations or not?


GM and Coach aware and working actively on all this information? Or maybe not some? That is what I found in less than 1 hour. Writing and order could be cleaned up with more time but that is around 2 dozen lineup combos earmarked for more attention.

The two most used combinations of VanVleet, Thompson, Smith and Adams were the 20th and 21st best performers out of 32. Mild positives but major shortfall from optimal usage. Of 8 most used it was 3 strong, 3 meh, 2 bad. For the 3 strong, Thompson in 2, VanVleet 1 but not together. Of 11 strongest only 2 were tested over 60 minutes. Small samples can produce big positives because of small sized but there is reason to pursue more meaningful minutes for at least some of them. Didn't happen. There were 4 negative performers that got 125 to over 250 minutes though. Van Vleet in 5 of 11 strongest, Thompson in 6. Together in 3 but only one for non-trivial minutes. Adams in 9 despite the low minutes. Sengun in 8, Smith 7.

Overall barely any difference between VanVleet and Thompson together vs. just one. No significant net performance basis yet for emphasizing the pair together. Together is best offense but worst defense, so it is essentially a wash.

Play all 32 of these combos next season or focus more on the best? More combos with similar or lesser focus weaving Durant in?


528 total regular season lineups used. 254 Thompson lineups. Care about concentration on best or not? By actions, it doesn't appear they cared that much.

In 7 playoff games it was 51 total lineups, 29 Thompson lineups. Could have been tighter and prospects of doing better. 40% positive lineups overall is typical but you should strive for more than typical. Only 1 lineup used meaningfully over 2 minutes per game. Only 20% over 1 minute per game.

After the starting lineup, there should be well-tested, good, select alternatives, not just a bunch of unproven, generally not that good dinks. Either you agree with that or don't. Act accordingly or don't.

Do you need 50 near dink and dink lineups after the starters in the playoffs? I don't think so, especially in just one round. Better off with just 20? I'd guess so.