Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina
A tandem is ideal. The coach needs to trust both guys such that if one falters in the playoffs there is an easy move to the other.
2 years ago the coach clearly didn't trust The Chad, so instead stuck with Elliott even as he wasn't play well. By the time they made the switch, after a softy early in game 4- it was too late
And in reality Johnson would not have made a difference as by that time he had been bad for a while.
The coach needs to be able to have two guys he trusts.
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I believe Smith is definitely the organization's preference for a playoff starter due to experience. But so long as Rittich plays reasonably well in his starts down the stretch, I expect they would not have much patience for poor play before inserting him (unlike the Chad). I don't know if that meets the definition of a tandem (which I think of just riding the hot hand and no real preference) but maybe that's just semantics.
To put it another way, if it was a true tandem, we wouldn't have a strong idea with 20 games left who would start playoffs of game 1. Personally, I believe it is evident that Smith starts that game.