I did a little number crunching - interesting launching pad for some discussion. I looked at some of the top teams, not all, I gotta work sometime. I listed primary players for each team with at least 382 minutes season to date - I was aiming for 400 but the Jazz had one guy just under the threshhold. After this level most players fall into the 100-200 minute level. For us Bonzi is now at 271 and probably beginning to climb. The Suns have the shortest rotation - 8 players between 478 and 1534 minutes, or 93.46% of all minutes played. The Clippers have 8 guys playing between 779 and 1530 minutes or 90.28% of minutes played. With the Clips it seems like you play a lot of minutes or you don't play much at all - they have a gap between the bottom of the rotation and the scrub bench. The Rockets are next with 8 players between 618 and 1561 minutes, or 88.44%. Include Bonzi as #9 and his 271 minutes and the team is at 9 men playing 91.16%. The Jazz have 10 guys playing 382 to 1554 minutes, or 95.05% of all minutes. Their top 8 players play 86.97% of the minutes. The Pistons have a 9 man rotation playing 414 to 1468 minutes, or 90.74% of the total. Their top 8 play 86.38% of all minutes. Next the Spurs have a 10 man rotation playing between 587 and 1479 minutes, or 97.06% of all minutes. Their top 8 play 84.46% of the minutes. The Mavs have 10 men playing 520 to 1493 minutes or 95.95% of all minutes. Their top 8 play 84.15% of the minutes. And last, the Lakers coached by Phil have 12 players between 430 and 1515 minutes, or 99.5% of minutes. Their top 8 play only 79.04% of all minutes. This may be because of Odom being injured. But it does seem like if Jackson has you on the squad then you play. It does seem like there is a philosophical difference between these coaches - I am amazed to see how much the Suns play - and every one of their positions has PER's above average on 82games.com. On the other side, Jackson seems to believe in a longer rotation, developing the bottom of the bench and having fresh legs ready. Jeff Van Gundy is at the higher end but not as extreme as D'Antoni. Could it be the Suns reach the playoffs vs the Mavs and the Mavs have just a little more gas left and a more experienced bench? My own preference would be the Mavs/Lakers approach.
I think the biggest thing to look at is how big the talent drop-offs are for the teams that have deeper rotations vs. the teams that have short rotations. The guys at the end of the Laker bench aren't too much worse than the starters, while Phoenix has a bunch of guys at the end of the bench who don't even belong in the same league as the starters. Those are extreme examples, but I'd imagine that to be the case for every team.
the difference between the suns' 8 man rotation and the rockets' 8 man rotation is that our style of play makes our plays much more tired than players in the suns' system. why? jvg emphasizes defense, which requires much more effort and concentration than the run and gun system the suns have. also, players ENJOY playing the way the suns play. if you've ever played basketball, you know you feel a lot more tired when you're not shooting or touching the ball. suddenly, you get the ball and you feel energized. on the suns, everyone is getting shots and getting touches. on the rockets, there is much less ball movement, less shot attempts, and generally just an overbearing sense that we're playing tiresome basketball as opposed to fun basketball. now i'll be the first to say i'd rather win any way we can, but i'm not convinced that the way we're playing now is giving us the best chance of winning. i know van gundy believes it is and thats why he's doing it, but until i see us try something else, whether or not it works, im always going to be second guessing what this team COULD be, versus what we are (a relatively boring, low-scoring team compared to the best in the nba).
you have a good point, but run and gun is also tiring. Either way i do agree we could try run and gun but last time jvg did he cleary doesn't know which players to play cause he put in rafer, lucas, and luther. we have the type of players to do both, snyder, rafer, bonzi, luther, lucas, hayes, and t-mac can do it. in the othher hand, we have yao, howard, battier, mutombo. you also have players who could play both half court and fastbreak, bonzi, snyder, and luther. imo, thats one reason y rafer is not doing well in our system. in fastbreak he can finish its just half court its not going in for him.
One obvious thing is Phx has 6 NBAers that actually deserve 30+ minutes per game. We have 3. Secondly, if you look at Phx top scorers/creaters, they are at 36, 30 and 30 minutes (Nash, Barbosa, Amare). Phx highest two minute guys are role players foremost (Marion, Bell). So yeah Phx top 6 are going to account for a lot more minutes than our top 6--they are much better and complete players (particularly in roster spot 4,5,6), but the true pressure on a few individuals carrying their A games is much different than with the Rockets. And no I don't think Phx will wear down or burn out for the playoffs if they are healthy. They will have 7 or 8 largely interchangable parts. Nash and Amare they need to be some carefull, but sitting them just doesn't have the same impact as sitting Yao or Tmac because of the quality of their sub and the other 4 guys remaining on the floor.
