In Reply to: +/- analysis for the Bruins roster YTD posted by RossVegas on February 09, 2025 at 09:44:22
and the combination of Clark and Andrews together gives us a pair of quick, good defensive smaller guards on the perimeter. That also gives Cronin more match-up options in defending teams with multiple quick and dangerous guards.
I know we list Kobe as a guard and he is that in the modern sense of these terms, but in my mind he's a super effective small forward, capable of playing both a guard and a forward role.
You know I agree about Mara but we have only four inside bigs: Mara, Kyle, Bilodeau and Dailey.
Mick clearly feels we are best offensively with Tyler on the floor. That means he's both a PF and a C. Eric is our best all around player this season (though he's struggled overall his last two games) but he's more effective as a 4 than he is a 3. Kyle is looking better and is a shot blocker but he's clearly #4 on that list of 4. I think rotating them and playing only 3 of the 4 at a time keeps them fresher and more effective.
So I'm happy with the rotation as it has been of late. I don't care nearly as much about who starts as about who is out there most and especially who is out there when the game's on the line late. So if Mara coming off the bench lets him get the feel of the game before he enters play and if it helps Mick control his (Mara's) minutes to keep him fresh and playing well, that's fine with me. That is especially true as Tyler has been playing much improved defense and is also rebounding some now.
One other thought: I think Mick is comfortable that he's most familiar with the starting lineup of Tyler, Eric, Kobe, Skyy and Dylan. Starting the game with them may give him his quickest and best chance to evaluate what the opponent is doing and what sorts of adjustments and matchups would work best for him on that night in that game.
Thank you for doing this - very interesting. What I'd like to see - and to follow - would be the +/- scores for the various combinations of players drawn while the game is still undecided. Of course, were you the coach you would want to see that broken down for games against different types of opponents - power teams that scheme behind big, power posts; smaller but quicker teams that scheme behind multiple, quicker players from outside in; that sort of thing. Because what might work against Michigan might fall flap on our face against Wisconsin.