1. What is Gilbert Arenas’ target minutes per game?

One of the biggest (yet most entertaining) mistakes the Wizards made after acquiring Arenas was his back to back 40+ minutes per game seasons of 80 starts each. In Jason Kidd’s 19 14 years, he’s only eclipsed 40 mpg in a season once (John Stockton never did). This is the equivalent of when an NFL team gives their running back 400+ carries (think 1998 Jamal Anderson or 2006 Larry Johnson). Naturally Gil’s future looked bleaker than Jay-Z’s sidekick.

If I am Flip Saunders, I target Gilbert to a conservative 30 mpg. I take him out in blowouts. I don’t let him go for 50. I give him the occasional back-to-back off. I massage his feet during timeouts. I massage his feet at his house. I become a certified acupuncturist. I sacrifice woodland creatures to my altar of Nepthys (the Egyptian god of knee ligaments). Lastly, I call in a bomb threat to Barry Farm.

2. Is this the year Andray Blatche makes the leap?

You don’t need a Magic 8-Ball to know this is “very doubtful.”

Read more »

Count on seeing McGee in warmups more than in uniform - flickr/Keith Allison

Amidst Flip Saunders’ talk of an 8-man rotation (well, according to his quote below, really an 8 + 2 rotation), I wanted to attempt to predict the 2009-10 minutes distribution … all the way in August.

My philosophy’s always been you play eight players, nine and ten play when you have some foul trouble which you’re always gonna usually have in a game. -Flip

The idea reflected in my numbers below is that eight players will receive consistent minutes and the ‘plus 2′ can be any combination of the remaining players, given which one, contingent on a number of factors that will be judged by Saunders’ coaching experience, best fits the circumstance.

Read more »