I am one of the most vocal saying it does not matter. But to clarify, I would say it matters, but very little. Assuming the total minutes don't change, I would say the starters matter less than 5-10%.
I would say who Finishes the game does matter very much, as the end of games is played much different in almost every close game, with a lot more pressure and a lot more fouls.
And yes, to the one who said "what's Reed's record as a starter" is the dumbest argument, I agree completely that is a dumb argument.
But there are lots of factors people often do ignore, some of which we've not even tested yet, which could include the possibility that:
- Reed plays better off the bench
- Rob plays better, or fouls less, coming off the bench
- Wagner plays better starting
- Edwards plays better starting (if he's worse coming off the bench he would be unplayable)
- instill confidence in 2 who we want to play well to help the overall team play, because we need more than just the 3 R's playing well, especially when our defense struggles
- use your best defenders to start the game to attempt to raise the defensive level of play for the whole game
- bring 2 spark plugs off the bench in first 4 minutes to wear down the opponent (I do really like that spark when they enter the game)
Reed plays as much the past 2 months as you could want him to play and still be "fresh" at the end of games, 33-34mpg.
Rob I would like to see playing more. The level of energy he plays with I do think prevents him from playing much over 30mpg (& still play at that level). And his frequent foul trouble often prevents him from even approaching 30mpg. But when he can, I would like to see him near 30mpg.
Personally, I would start one of the 2 (Reed or Rob), trying to make it so that we play 0-mpg with just 1 "shooter", but not start both.
