Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: Tweaking the Platoons?

Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

Seven games into the season, John Calipari’s “Platoon” system looks to be a success. Although he’s made in-game adjustments over the course of these 7 games (mostly, as a result of foul trouble), his plan to sub “5-in, 5-out” seems to be doing exactly what many thought it would do—distribute minutes (somewhat) equally, allow everyone to play as hard as they can in short bursts, and wear opposing teams down. Kentucky won its first 7 games by an average of more than 34 points per game with no player average more than 10.5 points per game. And even when the struggle on offense (as they did against Providence last Sunday) their defense has allowed the ‘Cats to stifle opponents. Kentucky’s opponents are shooting less than 28 percent from the field, and, on average, have made less than 15 field goals per game. Yes, it ought to be acknowledged that several of these games were against very weak competition and the true measure of just how good this team is will be revealed in December, against Texas and UCLA and North Carolina and UofL.

Let’s not kid ourselves, however, this Kentucky team is really good. But could it be even better, with just a tweak—an adjustment—here and there?

I’m not suggesting Calipari change how the team is playing or the system he’s employing, but rather, tweaking the personnel being used.

Currently, the Platoons are comprised as such: Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Alex Poythress, Aaron Harrison, and Andrew Harrison make up the Blue Platoon. Dakari Johnson, Marcus Lee, Trey Lyles, Devin Booker, and Tyler Ulis make up the White Platoon.

Now, Calipari has said that in-game situations will require him to switch-up the platoons as sees fit and this was certainly on display during the Providence game when Booker was, at times, used as another shooting option with the Blue Platoon. The change I suggest however, is irrespective of in-game situations. I believe the time has come to move Towns to the White Platoon and elevate Dakari Johnson to the Blue squad.

That Towns is more naturally talented than Johnson cannot be ignored. Towns oozes talent; there is a reason why he’s looked at as a possible number one pick in next summer’s NBA draft. But the statistics are, largely, in Johnson’s favor. Johnson is averaging over 2 points per game more than Towns; he’s made 6 more free throws than Towns has attempted (26 made free throws for Johnson to 20 free throws attempted for Towns); Johnson has more offensive rebounds than Towns. And, perhaps most interestingly, Johnson’s +/- is higher than Towns.

Where Towns excels over Johnson is defensively; specifically, with regards to blocked shots. But the difference between the two is not so great that Kentucky would be conceding a high number of blocks by the Blue Platoon if Calipari moved switched Towns and Johnson.

What Kentucky does gain is someone—Johnson—who is playing much better than Towns right now offensively. And the change, I believe, would be less disruptive than other tweaks to the platoons Calipari could make (for example, switching out Poythress for Booker). One could argue Johnson and Towns are the essentially the same player and, therefore, are the most easily interchangeable pieces. Will Calipari do it? Probably not. Should he consider it? Absolutely.