Maceo's moment? Makes sense

As illogical at it may seem, the logical move for the Raptors to make tonight is to start Maceo Baston in place of centre Rasho Nesterovic.

And coach Sam Mitchell hinted this morning that’s just what he’s going to do.

With Nesterovic out because of a sprained ankle, the least disruptive move to the greatest number of players would be to start Baston, who has yet to play a minute this season. That would allow both Andrea Bargnani and Kris Humphries to maintain the roles they are used to, coming off the bench in the first quarter of games.

And Baston, who spent last season with the Indiana team Toronto faces tonight, could probably give the Raptors almost the same production Nesterovic did in the 12 or 14 minutes he plays most games.

Mitchell, aside from ruling Nesterovic out, wouldn’t announce his next move.

“We’re going to wait,” he said.

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Well-trained reader Scott Knowles passes this along, in reference to the quintuple-double question in this morning’s mailbag:

On Jan. 3, 2006, against the Los Angeles Lakers, (Andrei) Kirilenko posted a statline of 14 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists, 6 steals and 7 blocks. This was the third time in his career he racked up at least 5 in all of the other relevant categories.

Arguably, his statline is one of the closest performances to a quintuple double in NBA history.

It was also the first-ever regulation a game in which a player registers at least 6 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 blocks, and 6 steals — since the NBA began recording blocks and steals in the 1973-74 season.

In 1987, Hakeem Olajuwon had 38 points, 17 rebounds, 12 blocks, 7 steals, and 6 assists for the Houston Rockets in a double-overtime win over the Seattle SuperSonics, the only other time a player has earned a 5×6.

Comments

[Johnny]

Mitchell has lost his mind and thinks after his Moon decision he cannot go wrong

How do you kill a #1 pick's confidence?

- You bench him for Rasho and then when Rasho gets hurt you start a guy that hasn't played a minute all season over your #1 pick

- Bargnani is not used to his role as you suggest, he has sucked since being sent to the bench

- Garbo must be loving this one

Sam Mitchell is slowly but surely losing certain players on this team and destroying the chemistry and confidence of players like Bargnani and Garbo

Jose will soon follow Garbo and demand anwsers and eventually Mitchell will be wrong in one of these wacko decisions and be chased out of Toronto for his idiocy

Sam Mitchell's in game decisions, rotations and play calling is among the worst ive ever seen in professional sports.

[DougG]

Not quite sure why Jorge Garbajosa couldn't fill the same role as Maceo, but I've never seen him play.
Sam did a good job playing hunches on Moon, who adds defence and a bit of an inside game.
I was also under the impression that Bargnani was our centre of the future.
I guess Sam doesn't have a lot of options given the inconsistent performances of Bargnani and Bosh.

[Brian]

He's not killing his confidence, if anything he'll probably only be playing Mace for 10-15 minutes today.
Bargs will still get the majority of the minutes. But I still think it's unwise to leave Bargs out of the starting lineup, if anything Bargs needs more time to get used to playing with CB up front. He can't be out on the three-point line forever.

[Bay Street Lawyer]

Just wanted to say that I called this yesterday... I just didn't think Baston would start.

Like other readers, I'm not following the logic. If Mitchell's philosophy is to start those who are performing well, then Bargnani and Garbo both sit. But shouldn't Hump start? He had 14 boards the other night.

I hope this is a reflection of Baston stepping it up in practice, rather than an attempt to keep Hump and Bargnani in their 'usual' roles, which is a weak reason in my opinion.

I'm not as worried as Johnny about the players losing confidence. If Bargnani comes out and plays the way he did in the first two games, he'll get the lion's share of minutes, which is what every player really wants. Same goes for Hump.

As for Garbo... I've got two words after reading Feschuk's piece... "Elective surgery".

[Mark in WI]

Mr. Knowles may be more on top of it than I am, but didn't Doug Christie, while in Raptor uniform, post a line of 7 points, 7 rebounds, 7 steals, 7 assists, 7 blocks, and 7 turnovers?

[Marc C]

Your readers really need to relax the logical move for the Raptors to make is to play Maceo Baston in place of Rasho Nesterovic.
There is no one on the team that would know the strengths and weaknesses of the Pacer rotation better than a former Pacer.
My fourteen year old predicted that he would play last night. Maybe your readers aren’t and informed as I thought they were?

[Abbas]

No disrespect to the Coach of the Year, but I'm pretty sure Jerry Sloan wouldn't have started Rafael Araujo (last year) over Carlos Boozer, simply because Araujo had practiced with Bosh and thus knew his tendencies better.
I always thought starters consisted of your five BEST players based on how they match up with the opponent... not your five players that are best familiar with the opponents plays and their social habits.
So is Mitchell telling us that Baston is a better matchup than Humphries? I can understand not starting AB for defensive liability, but Baston? I'd go as far as saying that Mr. Patriot Garbajosa would've been a better option.

Blogger's note: I believe you, and many others, are missing a huge part of the point. The feeling is that starting Baston, even if he plays the 17.6 minutes that Nesterovic averaged a starter (a stretch, I'd say) is to be the least disruptive to the largest number of players.
As I tried to explain the blog post, Kris Humphries is much better suited coming off the bench and changing the frontcourt tempo and Bargnani should provide (Wednesday's shooting aberration aside) the frontcourt scoring off the bench they wouldn't get if he started alongside Bosh.

[Mike]

Whoa guys, quick to fire up the rash comments towards Sam, the Nesterovic move worked so why wouldn't this one? Yes he's starting, but this is a 5 and it's better having big body on the floor that's dispensable at any time.
Clearly, Bargnani and Parker together was not working out, so I'd rather not go back to that move with the risk.
Even if Baston, who did have a 60% fgp in limited time (with Indiana last season), doesn't produce offensively he has the same game as Nesterovic. You still got Parker, Bosh, and Ford who can all score, and I think it's fair to include Moon there, too. Baston has the size and will know his former team, and if he picks up some quick fouls, that's fouls saved against the Big Soph and Hump.

Besides, when did Indiana have a decent bench? Humphires had 14 boards the other day, and Bargnani, Calderon and Kapono function as starters off the bench. Easy advantage for us there.

[HC]

Is it possible that the Raps have too much depth?
They had a good win against the Pacers, but keeping Bargnani to such few minutes (granted he did get into early foul trouble) cannot be good for his confidence.
If he and Bosh are the future of this franchise then they really need to start playing together and figuring each other out.
I still think that with Moon in the starting line-up (and not another shooter like Kapono), inserting Bargnani in the starting line-up can work.

[j. carlos]

Sammy isnt a confidence killer.
If I was the coach I'd bench someone who doesn't respond to the call, for two straight games we've seen mediocre performances from Il Mago.
Of course every player goes into a slump but once you're name is called from the bench, you've got to make sure you're ready.
So far Il Mago has been forcing the game and not letting it come to him, like tonight's game, three quick fouls. Now if you started him and he committed those three quick fouls, where are you going to go?
Take Bosh as an example, he's been struggling, but he responed well in (Friday's) game, 13 trips to the foul line.
Il Mago needs to learn from mistakes and turn the negative into positive. Remember, he's in his second year, he's still in a learning curve. In no time his magic touch will be back