13 minutes for McDermott isn't gonna cut it
i'll be very upset with thibs if he doesn't play the best shooter and maybe the best scorer on the team outside of Rose
for us to make any type of noise this year we need our rooks to be impact players....yeah we'll be improved with Rose/Gasol but i cant see us beating the Cavs
and i think this is the year we have to strike because Cavs will only get better
One of the problems is that they are way loaded with big men including Mirotic and McBuckets. Bairstow also is in reality the only other true center on the team so he will probably get a few minutes also. There are only so many minutes to divide up among Noah, Gasol, Gibson, Mirotic, and Bairstow who are PFs and C respectively. Then you go to small forward where they are also kind of heavy with Butler, Dunleavy, McBuckets, and Snell.That is nine guys not counting the two guard positions who are left with only four guys.
So.....as it stands now, I cannot believe that Thibs is going to give big minutes to Mirotic, McBuckets, Bairstow, or Snell If he does that he is probably going to piss off Gasol, Gibson and Noah. I also think that Mirotic will be pissed also after having the Bulls pursue him over the last few years.
This is then my prediction:
Noah --- 38 MPG Bairstow --- 7 MPG Snell --- 5MPG
Gibson --- 32 MPG Mirotic --- 12 MPG New Guard(?) --- & MPG
Gasol --- 26 MPG McBuckets ---8 MPG
Rose --- 35 MPG Brooks --- 10 MPG
Butler --- 38 MPG Hinrich --- 12 MPG
Dunleavy --- 20 MPG
When you look at our bench, most of these guys are either rookies or 2nd year players along with Hinrich, Brooks, and the new guy. When have we ever watched Thibs put guys in that he didn't trust to deliver and give preference to veterans when he has too. This is what I see and I may be wrong BUT I think it is a huge reach to assume that these guys on the bench are going to play a lot or perform right away when they do get in. This is a very young bench.