Alright, let’s talk about how I figured out the Clippers depth chart the other day. It wasn’t super scientific, mostly just me trying to get a handle on who’s playing where and when, especially with all the moves and injuries teams deal with.
So, first thing, I just started by thinking about the main guys, the starters. You know, the ones you see opening the game. I jotted down the names that immediately came to mind for each position: Point Guard, Shooting Guard, Small Forward, Power Forward, and Center. Pretty straightforward for the top layer, usually.
Getting the Basics Down
I grabbed a piece of paper – yeah, I still use paper sometimes – and listed the basic positions. Then I put the obvious starters next to them. That part was easy enough, based on watching the last few games and just general knowledge about the team.
- PG: The main ball handler
- SG: The shooting guy
- SF: The wing player
- PF: The bigger forward
- C: The center
Filling in those first names? Took like two minutes. That gave me the skeleton.
Digging into the Bench
The next step was figuring out the bench rotation. This is where it gets a bit trickier. Who comes in first? Who gets regular minutes? Who’s more of an end-of-bench guy?
I started thinking about the players I see subbing in early in the quarters. I looked back at some box scores online, not digging too deep, just scanning the minutes played column for guys who weren’t starters but still got significant time, say 15-25 minutes regularly. I didn’t write down exact minutes, just tried to get a feel for the pecking order.
So, under each starter, I started listing the guys I thought were the primary backups. Sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes a guy might play multiple positions, which complicates things. For those ‘tweeners’, I kind of had to make a judgment call on where they fit primarily or where the team seems to need them most off the bench.
Dealing with Uncertainty
Then you’ve got the third stringers or the guys whose minutes really depend on matchups or injuries. I listed them too, usually at the bottom for each position. Had to put question marks next to a few names mentally, because their roles seem to change week to week.
Injuries are a big factor, obviously. I had to remember who was out and who might be filling in for them. That meant shuffling my initial list around a bit. If a key backup was injured, the third guy moves up, or maybe someone from another position slides over temporarily.
Putting It Together (My Version)
After going through position by position and considering the rotation patterns I remembered, plus checking recent minutes, I had my rough chart. It looked something like this in my notes:
Point Guard:
- Starter Name
- Key Backup Name
- Third String / Situational
Shooting Guard:
- Starter Name
- Key Backup Name
- Situational Player
Small Forward:
- Starter Name
- Key Backup Name (Maybe plays multiple spots)
- Deep Bench
Power Forward:
- Starter Name
- Key Backup Name
- Another Bench Guy
Center:
- Starter Name
- Backup Center
- Third Option / Deep Bench
Of course, I replaced “Starter Name” and the others with actual player names based on what I found and observed. It’s not official, just my own working version based on watching them play and looking at who’s getting the minutes. It helps me understand the rotations better when I’m watching the games now. It was a pretty simple process, just took a bit of time recalling game flows and checking recent stats.
