Coaching is Behind the Mark (Again)

After the game, I went through the some advanced stats from different time frames between tonight’s game and the last two months.

November 5 Man Lineups (min. 10 minutes played, with Turner and Portis in)

November 5 Man Lineup with Turner and Portis

The three most used lineups with the two where the following:

M. TURNER – B. PORTIS – K. KUZMA – G. TRENT JR. – R. ROLLINS: 15 minutes, 41.2 net rating

M. TURNER – B. PORTIS – G. TRENT JR. – R. ROLLINS – A. GREEN: 13 minutes, 30.3 net rating

M. TURNER – B. PORTIS – K. KUZMA – R. ROLLINS – A. GREEN: 23 minutes, -31.3 net rating

Tonight – 5 man lineup with Turner and Portis

M. TURNER – B. PORTIS – K. KUZMA – K. PORTER JR. – R. ROLLINS: 7 minutes, 7.7 net rating

M. TURNER – B. PORTIS – K. KUZMA – K. PORTER JR. – A. GREEN: 21 minutes, -4.5 net rating

M. TURNER – B. PORTIS – G. TRENT JR. – K. PORTER JR. – R. ROLLINS: 2 minutes, -150.0 net rating

(No minutes filter)

Bucks start the lineup of Turner, Portis, Kuzma, Porter Jr and AJ green, and it was their most used lineup in the game with 21 minutes. Green probably had one of his worst shooting nights tonight, but he has the “coming back from injury” excuse.

The problem is the Bucks coaching staff is recognizing positive and negative play too late and are failing to make those adjustments in game. Like shown above, the Turner/Portis lineups showed potential in November, but we actually didn’t see utilized a lot for the whole month. It almost seemed like Doc was allergic to playing both Turner and Portis at the same time for even short stints, before and after Giannis getting injured. I know I saw comments during game threads asking why Portis was closing games with Turner riding the bench because, I too, was thinking the same thing. Now we see a correction taking place, maybe an over correction seeing the amount of minutes the two played tonight. This became more evident during the 15-0 run the Wolves did when it was 68-53, under tonight’s starting lineup.

Some extra 5 man lineups stats:

December – min 10 minutes played

M. TURNER – K. KUZMA – G. TRENT JR. – K. PORTER JR. – J. SIMS: 11 minutes, 9.5 net rating (only positive net rating with at least 10 minutes played)

M. TURNER – K. KUZMA – G. TRENT JR. – K. PORTER JR. – R. ROLLINS: 26 minutes played, -28.1 net rating (5 man lineup with the most minutes played in December).

Last 10 Games

G. HARRIS – B. PORTIS – G. TRENT JR. – J. SIMS – R. ROLLINS: 10 minutes, 10.5 net rating

M. TURNER – K. KUZMA – G. TRENT JR. – K. PORTER JR. – J. SIMS: 11 minutes played, 9.5 net rating

M. TURNER – K. KUZMA – G. TRENT JR. – K. PORTER JR. – R. ROLLINS: 26 minutes played, -28.1 net rating (lineup with most minutes in last 10 games, 10 minute minimum).

Me personally, I would start giving Gary Harris more minutes for defense, maybe even starting with Turner – Portis – Kuzma – KPJ, or Turner, Kuzma, Green, KPJ. Probably won’t see that until the end of the month of course. 🥴