So, I know the Dubs are finally off their losing skid and with Jax back, they'll probably never lose another game all season, yada yada yada.  But the real question that will plague the Warriors all season is whether or not the youth on this extremely deep team will be able to contribute.  

In all, there are 7 players on our team with less than 4 years in the league.  If you consider actual playing time, you could make a case for this number to be 9 (including Pietrus and Barnes who each have 4).  In my opinion, the only way for these younger guys to develop to their full potential is to get playing time.  Success in the NBA, like all professional sports (or life, for that matter), comes to those who are confident.  Anyone who's actually played basketball will tell you that the only way to make a shot is to believe you are going to make the shot.  Superstars rarely surprise themselves because they believe in themselves and already know what they're capable of.

My point here is that the reason that Marco isn't making his shots is because he's not confident in himself.  He looks scared out there.  This is completely different from how he looked in the Summer League.  For anyone who watched the games, he actually looked hungry to score and confident that he was better than those he was going up against.  Now, he looks like he's just trying not to screw up.  Aside from each of their respective "breakout" games, POB and Wright look like they're kind of in the same boat.

We need to get these guys more playing time if they are truly going to be the faces of the franchise in the coming years.  It's tough to get game time confidence when you only play 4 minutes a game.  It's more of a mental detriment than anything. Marco probably feels like he can't find a rythm in the NBA and that fear is probably difficult to overcome, especially for a streaky shooter. I think Nellie has been too predictable in not playing his young guys.  The depth of our bench is going to be the difference if we do indeed end up making the playoffs this year.

This is somewhat out of the box, and I'm sure I'll get some haters, but what would you guys think about a different substitution pattern?  One that resembles the sub patterns of hockey.  We could start Baron, Kaz, Jax, Al and Andris and play them for somewhere around 8-9 minutes a quarter.  The other "line" we could use would be some combo of Ellis, Barnes/Belli, Pietrus/Barnes, Wright, POB.  These guys could make up the other 3-4 min/quarter.  What this does is always keep scorers (Baron&Kaz or Ellis&Pietrus/Belli)) on the floor with at least one good defender (Jax or Barnes).  This sort of substitution patterns would allow our starters to stay fresh deeper into every game and ultimately, the season while giving our young players a real chance to develop some confidence.  If nothing else, we'd be giving them a fair shot.

With all of the running and up tempo style play, do you think this sub pattern would help or hurt the Dubs?  Obviously, changes would have to be made on a game by game basis, but in my opinion, this type of subbing would keep our starters fresh at the end of the game while allowing our up and comers a chance to both play together and get significant minutes.