Tracking Minutes 2009-10

[AHF]

Category #1 - Joe Johnson

Joe Johnson through 44 games 37.5 mpg

40+ minute games: 3 through first 10 games, 7 of games 11-20, 2 of games 21-30, 5 of games 31-40, 1 of games 41-44 (18 of 44 overall - 41%)

Category #2 - Mike Bibby

Mike Bibby through 44 games - 27.6 mpg (down from 34 mpg last season)

35+ minute games: 1 through first 10 games, 4 of games 11-20, 0 of games 21-30, 2 of games 31-40, 0 of games 41-44 (7 of 44 overall - 16%)

Category #3 - Jeff Teague

Jeff Teague through 44 games - 8.8 mpg

Games with 5 minutes and change or less: 23 (53% of total games)

Category #4 - Bench Play (beyond top 6 players)

Non-Crawford Bench (collectively):

1 - 56 minutes W

2 - 53 minutes W

3 - 62 minutes L

4 - 26 minutes W

5 - 41.5 minutes W

Games 1-5: Avg 48 minutes

6 - 73 minutes L

7 - 54 minutes W

8 - 31 minutes W

9 - 44 minutes W

10 - 63 minutes W

Games 6-10: Avg 53 minutes

11 - 36 minutes (OT) W

12 - 41 minutes W

13 - 29 minutes W

14 - 50 minutes L

15 - 35 minutes L

Games 11-15: Avg 38 minutes

16 - 35 minutes W

17 - 21 minutes L

18 - 87 minutes (historic blowout!) W

19 - 38.5minutes L

20 - 44 minutes W

Games 16-20: Avg 45 minutes

21 - 84 minutes W

22 - 79 minutes W

23 - 63 minutes W

24 - 75 minutes W

25 - 76 minutes W

Games 21-25: Avg 75 minutes

26 - 38 minutes L

27 - 59 minutes W

28 - 39 minutes L

29 - 53 minutes W

30 - 36 minutes L

Games 26-30: Avg 45 minutes

31 - 35 minutes L

32 - 30 minutes L

33 - 38 minutes L

34 - 80 minutes W

35 - 31 minutes W

Games 31-35: Avg 43 minutes

36 - 75 minutes L

37 - 24 minutes W

38 - 31 minutes W

39 - 24 minutes W

40 - 39 minutes L

Games 36-40: Avg 43 minutes

41 - 69 minutes W

42 - 35 minutes W

43 - 48 minutes W

44 - 45 minutes L

Games 41-50: Avg 49 minutes

Atlanta's Bench Beyond the Top 6 Avg - 49.1 mpg through 44 games

% of games with fewer than 51 minutes - 61% (27 of 44)

(Boston's bench beyond their top 6 of Eddie House, Marquis Daniels, Shelden Williams, Brian Scalabrine, Lester Hudson, J.R. Giddens, and Bill Walker averages 63 mpg through 1.04.10)

(Cleveland's bench beyond top 6 of J.J. Hickson (mpg don't rate in top 7), Daniel Gibson, Jamario Moon, Delonte West, Darnell Jackson, Danny Green, Jawad Williams, and Coby Karl average 78 mpg through 1.04.10)

(Portland's bench beyond their top 6 in minutes played averages 69 mpg through 1.04.10)

(Denver's bench beyond their top 6 in minutes played averages 67 mpg through 1.04.10)

(Dallas's bench beyond their top 6 in minutes played averages 65 mpg through 1.04.10)

[coachx]

Atlanta's Bench Beyond the Top 6 Avg - 49.1 mpg through 44 games

% of games with fewer than 51 minutes - 61% (27 of 44)

(Boston's bench beyond their top 6 of Eddie House, Marquis Daniels, Shelden Williams, Brian Scalabrine, Lester Hudson, J.R. Giddens, and Bill Walker averages 63 mpg through 1.04.10)

(Cleveland's bench beyond top 6 of J.J. Hickson (mpg don't rate in top 7), Daniel Gibson, Jamario Moon, Delonte West, Darnell Jackson, Danny Green, Jawad Williams, and Coby Karl average 78 mpg through 1.04.10)

(Portland's bench beyond their top 6 in minutes played averages 69 mpg through 1.04.10)

(Denver's bench beyond their top 6 in minutes played averages 67 mpg through 1.04.10)

(Dallas's bench beyond their top 6 in minutes played averages 65 mpg through 1.04.10)

Just adding a little perspective to a black and white analysis.

Many of the teams you mentioned have a had starters miss significant time. That makes their bench players play more minutes.

Boston missed KG for a several games where other guys had to eat up his minutes.

Portland has been the team of the walking wounded all year.

Denver, Cleveland, and Dallas have aging players who can't play heavy minutes effectively all season long.

Denver plays in thin air.

The bottom line is that we are on of the few teams in the league who have been healthy enough to start the same 5 players in all but 1 game. Meanwhile Dallas and Portlant are constantly using different starting lineups b/c of inuries. Had we been hit with injuries like Portland or Boston have been......it would cause our bench minutes to go up. If we started 3 players well into their 30s like Dallas then we would see our bench minuntes go up. Even Denver has had 3 players (none in their top 6) who had to start 7 or more games due to injuries.

Reality like that distorts mpg............Hawks have been blessed to use the same starting 5 in all but 1 game. The Hawks are probably the only team in the entore league who can say that.

All it takes is for 1 starter to miss 20 games. Then you have 30 to 35 minutes that the bench has to pick up. Hawks are blessed to be one of the few team who have not had to deal with that yet.

Edited January 28, 2010 by coachx

[AHF]

Just adding a little perspective to a black and white analysis.

Many of the teams you mentioned have a had starters miss significant time. That makes their bench players play more minutes.

Boston missed KG for a several games where other guys had to eat up his minutes.

Portland has been the team of the walking wounded all year.

Denver, Cleveland, and Dallas have aging players who can't play heavy minutes effectively all season long.

Denver plays in thin air.

The bottom line is that we are on of the few teams in the league who have been healthy enough to start the same 5 players in all but 1 game. Meanwhile Dallas and Portlant are constantly using different starting lineups b/c of inuries. Had we been hit with injuries like Portland or Boston have been......it would cause our bench minutes to go up. If we started 3 players well into their 30s like Dallas then we would see our bench minuntes go up. Even Denver has had 3 players (none in their top 6) who had to start 7 or more games due to injuries.

Reality like that distorts mpg............Hawks have been blessed to use the same starting 5 in all but 1 game. The Hawks are probably the only team in the entore league who can say that.

All it takes is for 1 starter to miss 20 games. Then you have 30 to 35 minutes that the bench has to pick up. Hawks are blessed to be one of the few team who have not had to deal with that yet.

I agree with that point. Feel free to add a comparison taking this into account:

For example, Cleveland's starters have missed 10 games. Multiplying each starter's average minutes by the number of games they missed gives you a total of 280.4 minutes missed by the starters due to injury.

Cleveland's bench has played 3379 minutes.

3379 - 280.4 = 3098.6

3098.6/47 = 66 mpg

A similar calculation for the Hawks yields 48 mpg.

Thus, Cleveland's bench plays 18 more mpg than Atlanta after factoring in injuries to the starters.

[coachx]

I agree with that point. Feel free to add a comparison taking this into account:

For example, Cleveland's starters have missed 10 games. Multiplying each starter's average minutes by the number of games they missed gives you a total of 280.4 minutes missed by the starters due to injury.

Cleveland's bench has played 3379 minutes.

3379 - 280.4 = 3098.6

3098.6/47 = 66 mpg

A similar calculation for the Hawks yields 48 mpg.

Thus, Cleveland's bench plays 18 more mpg than Atlanta after factoring in injuries to the starters.

12 of those 18 minutes are the difference in how long Shaq and Horford can be effective on the floor. Plus the Cavs choose to start a PF who really does not play much at all.

Do the same thing with Boston and Portland and you will see little difference in bench minutes once injuries are accounted for.

Edited January 28, 2010 by coachx

[AHF]

12 of those 18 minutes are the difference in how long Shaq and Horford can be effective on the floor. Plus the Cavs choose to start a PF who really does not play much at all.

Do the same thing with Boston and Portland and you will see little difference in bench minutes once injuries are accounted for.

You can do that. I chose teams at the beginning of the season before injuries and have been tracking them. Feel free to crunch the numbers if you want.

The numbers I am giving you account for Shaq and Horford, though. Big Z and Varejo count among the top 6 for the Cavs since they are top 6 in mpg. The PF who starts rarely plays so I should have plugged in Andy but that won't move the needle since you are talking about an impact of 1-2 mpg.

Also, it isn't just the bench players minutes that go up when an injury happens, it is also the other starters who play more to cover. I'll ignore that and normalize these. When you normalize Boston you get:

553.4 minutes missed by the starters

2669 - 553.4 = 2115.6

50.4 mpg

Even after accounting for injuries, Boston's bench still plays 2 minutes more per game.

Portland's starers have missed 999 minutes.

Their bench has played 3774 minutes.

3774 - 999 = 2775

2775/47 = 59 mpg

Even after accounting for injuries, Portland's bench plays 11 more minutes per game than the Hawks.