Rip doesn't want to go to the bench

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It's McCosky. I'd take this with a grain of salt, but this is something I'd look at as the season progresses.

The small ball wasn't causing slow starts...

Obviously Rip believes he is above coming off the bench. If he wants to be selfish and disrupt what has become a winning team (ugly but still winning) with him sidelined, then we need to trade him for someone who will contribute off the bench.

Link please, and if he is going to be selfish it sure as heck makes Dumars job VERY EASY between now and february.

Ohhhhhh mann....

You are good and we need you, but buddy, you ain't that good. He just signed his death warrant.

With Stuck having the bad back, the point is moot for the moment. Stuckey will go to the bench to get some rest for the back.

Starters: AI, Rip, Tay, Amir, Sheed.

2nd unit: Stuck, Afflalo, (Tay staying over or Sharpe), JMAX, Kwame / Dyess

I like the entry below this one also where Sheed waved him off when he wanted to talk about Tim Legler.

I kind of see TG's point though. Why would you send a 113 lb guard who can't dribble to the bench?

That is probably right.

I like it! I don't see anything wrong with this. (Even though someone have something to say about it. )

But when Stuck back stop hurting, AI should come off the bench cause he would help those guys get a rhythm and more aggressive and get into the paint better.

Rip is holding on to the last piece of rope he has. He is maybe not the smartest person, but he is not stupid either.
It must have been -in a somewhat weird way- painful for him, that this team didn't struggle as much without him, as some whould have thought.
He still wants to preserve his "elite status" in this League, and in his mindset that is not going to happen coming of the bench

There is a Delima, if Rip goes to the bench, is this because AI is better than him? or is it because the team needs him to come off the bench?
AI may not sign next year, so will rip be a starter again? or will he still be coming of the bench? sure he will be starter again. This is what hurts him. He is considered the inferior to AI.

If AI is guaranteed for next year, then Rip is ok to start off the bench. I think.

I think that's fair enough Hamilton is good enough to be starting for almost every team so he knows he could be, therefore bringing him off the bench will be difficult because he knows his good enough and yes it will probably prompt a bit of anger to Hamilton. I suggested this in another post it sounds so stupid but I think it will work...both of them on the bench.

This is the line/up or rotation if you may (this is when we have a healthy team)...
C: Sheed / Mcdyess / Kwame
PF: Amir / Maxiell / Kwame
SF: Prince / Herrmann / Hamilton
SG: Afflalo / Hamilton / Iverson
PG: Stuckey / Iverson

The defense in the starting line-up is very strong, although still Stuckey, Prince and Sheed can maintain scoring and if not Afflalo and Amir have shown spurts of good scoring. Then on the Defense we still have the energy of Maxiell and McDyess - Good rebounding then the offensive brilliance of A.I. and Hamilton. Make sense or am I living in fairy land?

I am unti Herrman but i am big ball pro. So you can expect that i only have one thing i disagree here.
On the other hand, if the first name in each position is the starter, are you suggesting both Rip and AI coming off the bench? that would be a killer second unit in scoring, but a bad ball handling unit as it was proven that neither AI nor rip are good on position 1.

You can bet Joe D will be busy on the phones the next few weeks. Guys putting themselves before the team is not going to fly.

We're better without him. We'll be even better if we can get a big in return.

You don't sacrifice wins just to coddle egos. Staying big with AJ/Stuck starting is the only option. Curry said it himself yesterday on Stony/Wojo. He said it's Rodney's team to run from here on out, and that defense is first, which means 2 bigs. They asked Curry if that meant Rip or AI coming off the bench and he said yes.

I just hope they don't use Stuckey being banged up as an excuse to go back to AI at PG. That is a recipe for disaster in the long run.

AI and Rip off the bench doesn't make sense, you might as well have traded Billups for a forward if you're going to bring both AI and Rip of the bench. Bring one off the bench but not both.

We should have. A PF or a C would have been perfect. AI is ok, and the cap space is nice, but it really makes things messy this season.

you can't have everything.