Brehs...let's really be logical about Fizdale.
We can say all we want about the youth playing every minute...but shyt doesn't work that way in real life.
Think about this...We are trying to help develop Frank, right? So, imagine Frank playing w/ a full lineup of wet behind the ears teammates who don't know enough to be in the right spot to catch the pass that Frank throws? How does it affect Frank's development if his fellow 20 year old bricks every shot he passes to them? It's possible that just throwing the kids out there completely could prevent a player from understanding what he did right or wrong when it comes to helping his team.
Mitch? It sounds great to have him start every game, right? What happens when his development is act risk b/c he is unable to stay on the court b/c of early foul trouble in the first 4 minutes of games? Have we thought about the challenge of placing Mitch in the right times to help him see the game a bit slower in order to to excel?
Knox? His shooting stroke is excellent. But, his confidence and drive seem to be out of wack and we are risking making him complacent if he doesn't have to work for his minutes. Knox shoots 15 shoots, bricks most, plays horrible defense and still is rewarded w/ 28 mins a game? Yes, the extra time might help him...or maybe he needs to feel hungry and has to ride the bench until he goes out there and shows that killer instinct and locked in mentality.
We also have to realize that Fiz has already said he doesn't put an age limit on development. Why shouldn't we - during a development year - try to - as a second priority - also foster the development of the other not so young but not old players on our squad? Would Timmy be excelling and blossoming like this if we looked at him as just being the player he was last year and thinking he has no room for actual development? Mudiay, Hezonja & Vonleh need to be given chances as well.
It's definitely a complicated equation to figure out the best route for developing these cats. I look at it kinda like a jigsaw puzzle of skillsets.
I think getting Frank a more spaced out floor and opportunities to use screens is the recipe to help him. Giving him a player that can create their own shot is necessary for sure, be it Tim or Burke or Zo; because Frank won't force things unless the clock is low but those guys will push the issue.
Mitch avoiding fouls is probably better served rocking with Frank and Dot than Tim and Hezonja even though those two are more experienced (because the latter two give up more slashing to the basket and are less effective weakside helpers). Weakside help is probably the biggest deal here because when Robinson is overpowered in the post, that weakside double team can bail him out of picking up cheap fouls to avoid easy buckets.
With Knox, I'd lean toward Mudiay being a good helpful player since he has the passing ability but right now Manny is scoring focused so it's a bit tricky. So I'm not sure we have the type of players to get him easy looks unless the plays call for it. That's my case for getting him the rock in motion with some offball screens (I think this might be helpful for Frank too tbh).
So imho, you're right that the minutes only matters as much as the players around these guys. You put Mitch in that starting unit and he'll be picking up fouls. You put Frank with Dotson and Baker; nobody's going to breakdown the defense with any consistency. If Knox is out there with only scoring focused players then he's more liable to force the issue when he gets what few touches he does. Now on the development for the older cats; there's two conflicting thoughts I have. That I'ma list real quick (better spaced text that way)
1) Mudiay, Hezonja and Vonleh are expiring contracts. That's not a reason to just ignore them but developing them should be secondary to the long term pieces we have in place imo. Their success or failure could be completely irrelevant to us next season if we sign a max player and none of them wants to take an exception based contract. I think Vonleh is playing himself into a back-up contract, Mudiay if he sustains this too and I'm assuming Burke gets some money to score elsewhere too off of his performance last year and now. BUT...
2) The conflict here is something I've seen Jonathon Macri talk about that kinda opened my perspective on this...If Mudiay, Vonleh and Hezonja all show growth that gets them paid this coming offseason; that's a selling point for our front office and coach to any FA's that are interested. "You need to reset and prove yourself to the league? We can absolutely help you with that and look at the track record." That might not sound like the most valuable type of FA to target but we're super maxing KP soon and lord willing we are about to use all the cap space on one major key piece. That means we'll be relying on the draft and cheap FA's to finish up depth. So being a destination that can steal a gifted but struggling player for a year or two might end up being important (although a better scenario is all our draft picks work out of course).
So I'm still not sure what the balance is in giving the expiring guys opportunity and making sure that our youth is developing; but I do kinda like that the guys who have reason to focus on themselves are all playing together with mutual interests while our bench unit has an opportunity to develop chemistry before they're thrust into the spotlight again. This development ish is complicated AF and a night like last is the type to pull me back toward trusting the process (although I'm really skeptical about how long the new starters can keep it together without getting blown out on defense)
hong.kong.rui¿*
