Small ball (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061024/SPORTS0102/610240350/1127)

Saunders likes the budding chemistry between Chauncey Billups , Flip Murray , Rip Hamilton , Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace.

"When they've played at times, they've been good -- very good ," Saunders said. "I think Flip brings a different dimension, where you can go small and do some different things.

"That's one of the nice things about his addition to the team."

Think he'll actually play this lineup? we've heard coaches talk about playing small ball or playing three bigs (LB said Ben, Sheed, and Dice), but it never seems to happen. i didn't see much of the last game, so i don't know how effective that lineup was on the floor.

I think the Suns proved last year that you don't need to have 2 bigs (or any bigs) in at a time in order to be effective. Obviously that won't last for long stretches, but for short periods of time in the game that might become a pretty effective weapon.

i was thinking more like this:

PG blaylock
SG hunter
SF flip
PF billups
C rip

sure, we'd give something up defensively. but we gain a lot offensively- i can just see rip backing down shaq now. ;)



nah- that's not a bad lineup though. it depends who we're playing but if that group have chemistry together, go for it.

i just hope if we go with that small lineup, that sheed doesn't PLAY small.

we need him to work from the post and THEN perhaps move out, instead of just parking out on the wing all night. particularly if he's meant to be the C in that lineup.

Does this end up with Tay at PF against TD again?

Tay would be on Bowen now, since the Spurs are going small ball too now.

This is idiotic. I hate everyone.

Only way I do small ball is if the other team already does it (ie Suns with Prince on Diaw at PF or something. But now that they have Amare I doubt they do it a lot either. I'd rather play dice on a smaller PF and post him up anyway. small ball, no thanks.

Small ball works when teams haven't had a chance to prepare for it... In the playoffs they work on iso's against small players (Spurs/Suns)... then they have to take it from out of bounds after they got abused in the post... not hard to set up defensively when they're not on the break.

Small Ball is seriously the most retarded thing in the world. It hasn't won a single championship and everyone is trying to emmulate the Suns' style of play.

A Larry Brown coached team would slow the ball down on the Suns and shove it down their throat all game in the post.

Hes not listening ... instead, Flip takes it one step too far
(thats from espn...unedited) and yes i know its obviously a screwup -.-

i don't have any problems with any strategies as long as they are used sporadically and in prime situations. also, it's important that FlipS realizes when it's not effective anymore in the game. i'm sure he's not going to go small ball or play zone defense for long periods of time, during games (which is what i think some people are scared of). my thing is that, there's nothing wrong with throwing a curveball at the opponent once and a while to catch them off-guard. i say, throw in a small ball line up for a few minutes and get the other coach to react. maybe it'll jump start the offense, if we're struggling. maybe the smaller line up can force turnovers in the backcourt and allow for easy fastbreak buckets. the opposing coach might panic and over compensate. regardless, i like us dicating the flow of the game and the other team reacting.

imo, there's nothing wrong with having more weapons. the biggest issue is having a sharp enough coach that will abandon a strategy that's not working.

the problem is small ball is that you need a good strategist who can correctly gauge when to use it and when not and when to counteract with it, etc etc. I don't have that confidence in Flip Saunders, though you guys might.

the other problem is that our additional "small" people aren't our best scorers (like Phoenix had). Going small means no Dice (or Sheed) and Maxiel, who shoot a high % and grab rebounds. With Prince floating on the perimeter and Sheed being a lazy rebounder, you basically have to make every shot. And if going small means Flip in there, then you're not shooting a high % (unless he's on fire).

The only way I do this idea is if Flip lights it up off the bench and you don't want to sit him (but need to bring RIP back in). Then you could play small and ride his hot hand for a while.

i think in the small lineup, flip would (or at least SHOULD) be the PG, with billups playing the 2, and rip the 3.

that allows billups to play to his strength which is spotting up on the wing, and it also let flip play to his strength, which is handling the ball and breaking people down off the dribble and penetrating.