Not gonna lie…. I won’t miss Scott Skiles.
It’s not that he’s a bad coach. I think he’s actually pretty good, and he’s had a fair amount of success in this league. But his distribution of minutes is famously unpredictable, which has destroyed the fantasy value of quite a few players on Skiles’ teams. I’ve been consciously avoiding Milwaukee players – with the notable exceptions of Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis – in fantasy drafts for that very reason. Given the choice between a guy who will play 30 minutes consistently and one who will play 35 one night and then 13-14 for three straight games, I’ll take the guy getting regular run every time.
Inconsistent playing time might also have hurt the development of promising young frontcourt players like Larry Sanders. Sanders (71 percent owned) could get a nice boost under new coach Jim Boylan. He played 31 minutes in Wednesday’s win over Chicago – up from his season average of 24.8 – and has been a force in the paint of late (13 blocks in Boylan’s two games calling the plays). It’ll be nice to plug Sanders into lineups and have confidence that he’ll get starter-type minutes on a much more regular basis.
Of course, rotations can also be too predictable. Brooklyn’s Avery Johnson was known for having carved-in-stone substitution patterns, which may have allowed some of his more-established players to get a little too comfortable. And that level of comfort – and the lackadaisical play that followed – is a big reason why Johnson is no longer employed by the Nets.
Interim coach P.J. Carlesimo has been preaching accountability since taking over the job. Specifically, he’s said that players that aren’t playing up to par on both ends of the floor will get pulled. That probably doesn’t mean we’ll see a big shakeup in the Nets’ rotation, but it’s possible that someone like MarShon Brooks – a promising second-year guard who spent much of this season in Johnson’s doghouse – could re-emerge.
