I really don't see the point of "continuity" if we know another lineup doesn't make as much sense. Last regular season the LeBron/Luka/Rui/Austin lineups were +5.1 in 226 minutes. That's pretty good, but I want better from a starting unit. I don't see the point in starting games with Luka and Austin purposely out of position defensively. I want to jump on teams early and mitigate the harm of our shallower bench. Start Smart. The whole point of bringing him here was to guard at the POA. Rui's good but not good enough that we should be prioritizing his feelings about starting over what clearly makes more sense on paper. Much better players than Rui have come off the bench.
I don't know where people are getting this idea that it's a long season so who cares who we start in October. Look at the teams that have been winning titles recently. OKC and Boston attacked the regular season and established themselves early. They built up good habits and got their best lineups plenty of reps over the course of the season. The Nuggets did the same in 2023 so they could coast the last month of the regular season. Warriors did the same thing in 2022. I want to see these guys slotted correctly so we can actually assess how far away we are.
