Alvin Gentry didn't beat around the bush today when asked about the changes to his starting lineup that were hinted at yesterday.
"I'm going to start Marcin and I'm going to start JD (Jared Dudley). How about that for a direct answer," Gentry said.
Here's everything Gentry had to say about the moves, including Vince Carter's reaction:
"JD's played well over a stretch of games. We'll stick him out there as starter and see if that gets us off to a better start, see if we can finish quarters."
"Obviously, Marcin has been playing starters' minutes anyway. This way he can probably get more rest in between long stretches then playing him off the bench. When we play him off the bench he's basically playing the last 17 or 18 minutes of the first and second quarters. This way, I think we can break it up a little bit more and give him an opportunity (to rest), and even in the third and fourth quarters he can find a way to get a little rest where he's not playing 16, 17 consecutive minutes."
"I don't think it's a reflection on (how Vince and Robin have played). As a team, we've been inconsistent. It hasn't been one guy, it hasn't been two guys. Marcin, I put in the lineup because he can give us some additional scoring early in the game and see what happens and JD's played well and pretty consistent."
"I'm sure that (Carter) is disappointed. I'm glad that he's disappointed. I would be disappointed if he weren't disappointed but it's just something that we want to take a look at. He's understanding of it, I don't think he's real happy about it."
Gentry said that Carter will come off the bench and play. Carter has started 907 of 915 games in his NBA career.