I think we would all love to see these guys play and get extended time because they have all shown they can shine in the right circumstances - Queta, Garza, Baylor and Hugo are great examples of how playing time can give a player confidence and certainty to develop. The problem is we have too many promising players for the total minutes in a game. If you assume our 10 player rotation (which is usually a 9 player rotation with Joe) is this, given that the total minutes available in a game is 240 (48 x 5):
Player Mins Cumulative Minutes
Brown 35 35
White 35 70
Pritchard 32 102
Tatum 30 132
Queta 25 157
Hauser 25 182
Baylor 18 200
Garza 15 215
Hugo 15 230
Harper 10 240
Vuvecic 20 Need to come from players above
Walsh 15 Need to come from players above
Shulga 0
Williams 0
Bassey 0
(The minutes left column is a descending count of minutes available after each player's minutes is counted, counting down to zero.) With the 10 players in that rotation we're already at the 240 mins available in a game. So if we were to carve out minutes for Walsh they would have to come from those 10 players. Do we play Walsh 5 mins and Harper 5 mins? Walsh 7 and Harper 3? Take minutes from Hauser or PP? Is that going to be meaningful for them and not disruptive to the unit of 5 on the court who need to get into a rhythm with each other, know each other's spots on the court, not occupy the same places other players are, and not cause changes in coverages because the personnel is changing every 5 min?
Then also consider that Vucevic will presumably be returning and will probably play at least 20 mins a game...that one is simpler because those minutes will probably come from Garza, whose 15 mins will drop to zero, and then they will take 5 mins from someone else.
That's the problem, but it's a good problem to have. It's a math problem, given minutes are a limited resource and a professional basketball team isn't pickup ball where some dude can come in and start freestyling. It's like a symphony...each player needs to know that their teammates tendencies are, when they cut to the basket, when they pop, how soon they roll, who the help defender is, what each player's assignment is when the team is put in rotation, what parts of the court they set their screens...constant changing can disrupt that flow and chemistry that they might develop for that particular point in the game.
So I think what Joe has been doing, rather than the high school style of trying to give everyone a few mins here and there so they feel part of it, is to play individual players extended times in a game, to give them a chance to impact the game and to work on combinations or chemistry they may have with other players, while other bench players sit. So one game Hugo might play 20 min. Then the next he might sit and Walsh might play 20 mins. Or it would be based on matchups, or injuries.
Plus we're 10 games from the playoffs, where rotations will shorten, because the circle of trust gets smaller, and Joe will lean on proven combinations so players don't have to think about if someone is going to cut to the basket on a pin down, Brown just knows that Baylor will cut from the corner and he just throws the ball there. It's almost reflex because they know each other's habits.
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Topic: Should Jordan Walsh be playing more? (Read 1320 times)