The way I see it:
PG -- Greene until December, and then Branch (or maybe still Greene, depending) starting in December
SG -- Harrison
C -- Obekpa
Then you have Sampson definitely starting, at either the 3 or the 4.
So the question is who among Pointer, Garrett, and Sanchez is the 5th starter? I imagine it may vary by team, but I think you'll see Dom start --- go with strong defense. Garrett off the bench with some offense and energy, as well as Sanchez for some inside scoring.
This is a healthy Steve Lavin on the sidelines we're talking about. The lineup won't be set at any position (except perhaps SG) until practice is done in November, and THAT will be just for the FIRST game. As he has for his entire career, Steve will use the season's opening games to try different starting lineups, different player combinations, different substitution patterns. The starting lineup won't be set till probably game 7 or 8 - and then may change again when (and if) Branch proves ready. A starting frontcourt of Gift, Sanchez and Sampson wouldn't suprise me. Nor would Obekpa, Sampson Garrett. Nor even Sanchez, Garrett, Pointer. Or obviously any combination. I think the best players will play (and start) - that could even mean Branch, D'lo, Dom, Amir and Sampson.
It's a fun fanboard exercise, but in the real world, really a moot issue till mid November, possibly even to mid December.
I'm just trying to remind that Steve doesn't always play by the same rule book other coaches do. For example, Sean Farnham starting over Dan Gadzuric at UCLA - tho Sean was a career 3rd string scrub who only averaged 6 minutes a game, and Dan 25. Lavin once got so tired of the media questions as to why, that he jokingly said it was because Sean was his "good luck charm" - of such things myths are born. that statement was made only after he'd answered the question with the actual answer several hundred times - that is that Gadz as a frosh/soph got so hyper at the start of games, that he was constanatly getting into foul trouble in the first 5 minutes - 2 and even 3 fouls - he actually fouled on the opening tip 3 times at the start of his frosh year. UCLA's backup center was Jerome Moiso, but he was also the STARTING PF. So Lavin started 3rd string center Farnham, let him play the first 5 minutes, let Dan calm down on the bench, see how other team was playing the post, and how the refs were calling the game, THEN come in. And thus getting 10-15 minutes in the first half from him, rather than the 5 or less they got when he started and picked up those quick fouls. Of course, as said in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance", "This is the west, Sir. When Legend becomes Fact, print the Legend". So Lav became an incompetent who relied on "good luck charms".
Similarly, he would play the worst shooter in UCLA history (Rico) in the regular rotation at SF AHEAD of a Soph Matt Barnes, or a Dijon Thompson or at SG ahead of McD AA Ray Young - Legend is solely because Rico was his "pet" (there's a thread on the Bruin board just Yesterday that Rico is the greatest waste of 5 years of scholarship in Bruin history) --- but the real reason was because +/- stats showed that Rico had the 2nd higest +/- on the team for his final 2 years (2nd to Jason Kapono) - both years advancing to the Sweet 16. (For those that don't know the +/- stat, its very simply, how does your team do while you're on the floor. If you play 10 minutes, and during those 10 minutes your team scores 20 pts and your opponents score 15, you have a +5 for hat game. Your team scores 20, opponens score 23, you have a -3. How in the world could you NOT play the guy with the 2nd best +/- on your team???
So (back to this season) the strongest offensive player COULD be beaten out by the better defensive player. The better defensive player COULD be beaten out by the better offensive player. Or there COULD well be a player or two who's intangibles outweigh the common logic (Greene? Ballamou? Bourgalt?)...If you think back 2 years, we saw plenty of examples of that in Steves first season here....