This is Good News

Mike Brown has his rotation set:

During the recently completed West Coast trip, Brown gave up his attempt to play a 10-man rotation. He tinkered with it for several weeks when his guards all got healthy, but wasn't happy with the choppy results from game-to-game. From now on, Brown is going to uncomfortably designate an odd man out.

At the moment that is Daniel Gibson, who played just seven seconds against the Lakers Friday night and then didn't get in until fourth-quarter garbage time in the Cavs' 108-83 victory over the Houston Rockets Sunday night.

In five minutes, Gibson made all three shot attempts and scored seven points. But Gibson's play has nothing to do with his current situation.

"Boobie has been playing very well and he's a joy to coach, it is just tough to play that many perimeter guys," Brown said. "It's a matter of trying to find time for six."

Brown's six are LeBron James, Anthony Parker, Mo Williams, Delonte West, Jamario Moon and Gibson. There are 144 available minutes and Brown had tried to do that math but doesn't think he can give players fair playing time to establish rhythm. He tried for a while, but saw his rotation go all over the place. It particularly affected Williams, who wasn't getting his normal run.

Not ironically, in the last four games as Brown has boosted Williams' minutes, he's averaged 24.5 points and the Cavs have gone undefeated.

I mentioned this after the Sacramento game, but Gibson should be the odd man out. He doesn't have Delonte's ability to run the offense, he doesn't have the height of Anthony Parker and he doesn't have the length of Jamario Moon. While Parker and Moon may not be the pure shooter that Gibson is, they aren't Eric Snow either.

It's not like Boobie has been playing poorly or that he's done something wrong, it's just that Brown needs to have a tight rotation. Playing Moon 15 minutes and Boobie 5 minutes doesn't really do much for either guy. He's a shooting guard in a point guard's body, he's a great shooter and good defender but other guys can just bring more to the table (play point, defend bigger players, rebound, etc).

Having a set nine man rotation should really help the Cavalier players as well as Mike Brown.
It'll make things easier on everyone.