A Michigan State beat writer said on Twitter this morning that we essentially run a 6-man rotation. Pretty sure he was discounting Daniels, as he's only averaging around 10-minutes as of late.
Curry has been great and ideally we would have the depth to spare him some minutes. We definitely don't want to be playing him more than 30 minutes a game. That should be his hard limit.
But I am also worried about the other starters as well and cannot but help think that it is a matter of when, not if, for our starters to wear down. Battle is playing every minute and I fear his game will drop off similar to what we saw with Carr after Pitino wore him to the ground.
If the idea is that Loewe, Willis, Stephens, Battle, Curry and Sutherlin are our best 6, I think Daniels has shown he deserves to be in the rotation at least, which can't be said for anyone else on the roster--in part because not too many other guys have had a chance to play.
I bring all this up because I wonder if Daniels and Curry could share the floor together. Curry was essentially a PF coming out of high school, and showed he was capable of playing the 4 and the 5 in the Big10 his freshman season. I know he is not as athletic as he once was, so guarding a small-ball 4 for significant minutes is out of the question.
But with us likely to get outrebounded in every game in the Big10, is there not a rotation where we have Loewe, Willis, Stephens, Curry and Daniels to give Battle a break? If we are getting outrebounded to death and we need to mix something up, couldn't we go Lowe, Willis, Battle, Curry and Daniels?
I'm not calling for Curry and Daniels to play 10 minutes together every game. But even if you could get away with 2 minutes each half, that at least relieves some pressure from Battle.
Daniels seems to have the athleticism and the smarts to play minutes in Big10 play. Wish we would give him like 5 extra minutes a game to help relieve the other guys.
Curry has been great and ideally we would have the depth to spare him some minutes. We definitely don't want to be playing him more than 30 minutes a game. That should be his hard limit.
But I am also worried about the other starters as well and cannot but help think that it is a matter of when, not if, for our starters to wear down. Battle is playing every minute and I fear his game will drop off similar to what we saw with Carr after Pitino wore him to the ground.
If the idea is that Loewe, Willis, Stephens, Battle, Curry and Sutherlin are our best 6, I think Daniels has shown he deserves to be in the rotation at least, which can't be said for anyone else on the roster--in part because not too many other guys have had a chance to play.
I bring all this up because I wonder if Daniels and Curry could share the floor together. Curry was essentially a PF coming out of high school, and showed he was capable of playing the 4 and the 5 in the Big10 his freshman season. I know he is not as athletic as he once was, so guarding a small-ball 4 for significant minutes is out of the question.
But with us likely to get outrebounded in every game in the Big10, is there not a rotation where we have Loewe, Willis, Stephens, Curry and Daniels to give Battle a break? If we are getting outrebounded to death and we need to mix something up, couldn't we go Lowe, Willis, Battle, Curry and Daniels?
I'm not calling for Curry and Daniels to play 10 minutes together every game. But even if you could get away with 2 minutes each half, that at least relieves some pressure from Battle.
Daniels seems to have the athleticism and the smarts to play minutes in Big10 play. Wish we would give him like 5 extra minutes a game to help relieve the other guys.