Off the bench in a Flash

Who will get the minutes? It’s a simple question that rarely has a simple answer.

Coaches are constantly tinkering and toying with their rotations. Sometimes it has to do with injuries or trades and in other instances, it’s a result of ineffective or outstanding play from a certain player. The impact this has on minutes played and thus statistical production is where we come in.

Every Tuesday for the rest of the season, I’ll explore some of the league’s most interesting rotations while attempting to get inside coaches’ heads. The idea isn’t to tell you what LeBron James and Kevin Durant are going to do – it’s to decipher how much burn fringe players are going to get.

For last week’s look at the East, bang it here. This week, the focus is on the Western Conference. We’ll start in Utah, where a sixth man is making waves.

JAZZ
Position: Shooting guard
Oftentimes, the best players on a team don’t start. That’s certainly the case in Utah, where Gordon Hayward is establishing himself as one of the game’s premier sixth men.

Since returning from a shoulder injury six games ago, Hayward is averaging 32.5 minutes per game. That’s led to 17.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.6 3-pointers a night.

“This notion that you have to start to be a good player,” Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey said. “Everyone needs to look at Manu Ginobili, who I think is a Hall of Famer, and the notion that you need to speed up development – for us, it doesn’t fit with our standards.”

Getting minutes with the second unit certainly has its advantages. Hayward gets to go against second-rate defenders and he has the ball in his hands more. He won’t be affected by Mo Williams’ impending return because Randy Foye and Earl Watson are playing themselves out of the rotation anyway. The four-headed monster of Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap, Enes Kanter and Derrick Favors doesn’t affect the wings.  

As an aggressive talent locked into 28-33 minutes a night, Hayward is a must-start in fantasy even if he’s a bench player for the Jazz.

CLIPPERS
Position: Center
If centers such as Tiago Splitter and Larry Sanders are among the most improved big men in the game this year, DeAndre Jordan has to be the least improved.

Given a plum opportunity to just board, block and dunk on one of the best teams in the league, he’s often more of a liability than anything else. It’s resulted in a decrease in minutes to borderline unusable levels:

DeAndre Jordan Minutes Per Game:
November: 25.9
December: 24.6
January: 22.5
Last 10 Games: 20.9

Making matters worse is Jordan’s hesitancy to leave his feet to block shots. In his last 24 games, he’s blocked more than two shots once. That’s just unacceptable for owners that are already eating his mind-numbing 41.3 free-throw percentage.

GRIZZLIES
Position: Shooting guard
Memphis has really adjusted to the Rudy Gay trade well, and a big part of that has been handing more responsibility to Tony Allen.

In 32 games played before the Gay trade, Allen played 26.4 minutes per night. In 23 games since, he’s at 28.7 minutes. That two minute increase is big, but having the ball in his hands more is bigger. Over his last 10 games, Allen is averaging 11.8 points – well up from his season average of 8.9 and last year’s average of 9.8.

We know that Allen is going to be among the league leader in steals, making him a sneaky asset in standard formats.

HORNETS
Position: Small forward
I’ve talked about Al-Farouq Aminu in this space before, but I wanted to highlight his consistent role once again.

Since re-entering the starting five on Jan. 5, Aminu has played fewer than 25 minutes just seven times. Over his last 10 games, he’s played 30-plus minutes six times and has predictably been a defensive monster. During that span, he’s averaging 1.8 blocks, 1.6 steals and 9.2 rebounds per night. Again, category specialists are key at this time of year – especially in roto formats.

Who will get the minutes? It’s a simple question that rarely has a simple answer.

Coaches are constantly tinkering and toying with their rotations. Sometimes it has to do with injuries or trades and in other instances, it’s a result of ineffective or outstanding play from a certain player. The impact this has on minutes played and thus statistical production is where we come in.

Every Tuesday for the rest of the season, I’ll explore some of the league’s most interesting rotations while attempting to get inside coaches’ heads. The idea isn’t to tell you what LeBron James and Kevin Durant are going to do – it’s to decipher how much burn fringe players are going to get.

For last week’s look at the East, bang it here. This week, the focus is on the Western Conference. We’ll start in Utah, where a sixth man is making waves.

JAZZ
Position: Shooting guard
Oftentimes, the best players on a team don’t start. That’s certainly the case in Utah, where Gordon Hayward is establishing himself as one of the game’s premier sixth men.

Since returning from a shoulder injury six games ago, Hayward is averaging 32.5 minutes per game. That’s led to 17.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.6 3-pointers a night.

“This notion that you have to start to be a good player,” Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey said. “Everyone needs to look at Manu Ginobili, who I think is a Hall of Famer, and the notion that you need to speed up development – for us, it doesn’t fit with our standards.”

Getting minutes with the second unit certainly has its advantages. Hayward gets to go against second-rate defenders and he has the ball in his hands more. He won’t be affected by Mo Williams’ impending return because Randy Foye and Earl Watson are playing themselves out of the rotation anyway. The four-headed monster of Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap, Enes Kanter and Derrick Favors doesn’t affect the wings.  

As an aggressive talent locked into 28-33 minutes a night, Hayward is a must-start in fantasy even if he’s a bench player for the Jazz.

CLIPPERS
Position: Center
If centers such as Tiago Splitter and Larry Sanders are among the most improved big men in the game this year, DeAndre Jordan has to be the least improved.

Given a plum opportunity to just board, block and dunk on one of the best teams in the league, he’s often more of a liability than anything else. It’s resulted in a decrease in minutes to borderline unusable levels:

DeAndre Jordan Minutes Per Game:
November: 25.9
December: 24.6
January: 22.5
Last 10 Games: 20.9

Making matters worse is Jordan’s hesitancy to leave his feet to block shots. In his last 24 games, he’s blocked more than two shots once. That’s just unacceptable for owners that are already eating his mind-numbing 41.3 free-throw percentage.

GRIZZLIES
Position: Shooting guard
Memphis has really adjusted to the Rudy Gay trade well, and a big part of that has been handing more responsibility to Tony Allen.

In 32 games played before the Gay trade, Allen played 26.4 minutes per night. In 23 games since, he’s at 28.7 minutes. That two minute increase is big, but having the ball in his hands more is bigger. Over his last 10 games, Allen is averaging 11.8 points – well up from his season average of 8.9 and last year’s average of 9.8.

We know that Allen is going to be among the league leader in steals, making him a sneaky asset in standard formats.

HORNETS
Position: Small forward
I’ve talked about Al-Farouq Aminu in this space before, but I wanted to highlight his consistent role once again.

Since re-entering the starting five on Jan. 5, Aminu has played fewer than 25 minutes just seven times. Over his last 10 games, he’s played 30-plus minutes six times and has predictably been a defensive monster. During that span, he’s averaging 1.8 blocks, 1.6 steals and 9.2 rebounds per night. Again, category specialists are key at this time of year – especially in roto formats. KINGS
Position: Shooting guard
Marcus Thornton has certainly earned more minutes with his play of late. Over the last five games, he’s averaging 22.2 points on 58.1 shooting and making 3.2 treys per game.

But make no mistake, this isn’t going to translate into a starting gig. Coach Keith Smart has pegged him as a pure sixth man.

“He’s playing good basketball and obviously that’s what I envisioned that’s how’d he’d play on our team and give us a boost with our second unit,” Smart said.

Over the last 10 games, Thornton has played less than 20 minutes just once. Settling into a regular rotation, he checks into the game with roughly eight minutes into the first quarter every night. There’s enough reliability here to ride out the bumps.

MAVERICKS
Position: Center
Chris Kaman went from the doghouse to an extended concussion absence and now back to the starting five. Yawn.

Kaman’s defensive woes make it nearly impossible for coach Rick Carlisle to play him next to fellow defensive liability Dirk Nowitzki. Although Kaman has started the last three games, he’s averaging just 19.1 minutes a night. Backup – but better defender – Elton Brand is averaging 22.7 minutes during that span.

I wouldn’t want to own either, but if forced Brand would be the guy I’d trust more on a week-to-week basis.

ROCKETS
Position: Power forward
Prior to the Marcus Morris/Thomas Robinson trade, Donatas Motiejunas had played more than 20 minutes in a game ZERO times. He was the definition of buried on the depth chart, only appearing in 20 games and exclusively playing in garbage time. Apparently, the Rockets saw much more in practice.

Motiejunas played 30 minutes on Sunday, and didn’t even play in the fourth quarter due to the lopsided score. Since the trade, he’s averaging 25.6 minutes a night and making 1.5 3-pointers despite standing 7’0/222.

Coach Kevin McHale continues to work hard with the raw Robinson in practice, but this is surprisingly Motiejunas’ job to lose. The lack of shot blocking and poor free-throw shooting are concerns owners need to weigh.

SPURS
Position: Point guard
Tony Parker has missed five games so far this season. Here are the average minutes per game during those contests for each of the relevant backups:

Gary Neal: 24.1
Nando De Colo: 22.4
Patty Mills: 18.6
Cory Joseph: 11.0

As expected, Gregg Popovich has taken a committee-based approach that’s often based on matchups. Note that Gary Neal leads the way here even though he played just eight minutes in Sunday’s ravaging of the Pistons. That probably had more to do with the fact it was his first game off a hamstring pull than anything else.

If Neal can sustain health, he’s the sneaky candidate to be the biggest beneficiary of Parker’s one-month absence. In 25 career starts as a Spur, the sweet-shooting Neal averages 11.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.7 treys per game. Deep-league owners in need of 3-pointers should take a flier.

WOLVES
Position: Power forward
In previous stints when the Wolves were racked by injuries, Derrick Williams failed to produce. This time, he’s turned a corner.

With Kevin Love (hand), Andrei Kirilenko (calf) and Nikola Pekovic (abdominal) all sidelined, Williams has stepped up. Over the last 10 games, he’s averaging 17.9 points and 9.0 rebounds per night while playing 33.9 minutes.

However, there’s a ton of downside here. During this 10-game run, Williams has barely blocked (0.8), stole (0.6), passed (0.7) or made 3-pointers (0.9). Love says he wants to play in the final 15-20 games and there’s no reason to doubt him. Pekovic is one of the game’s true tough guys and is a threat to return as well. Williams will prove to be more trouble than he’s worth.