I did a few quick calculations for some of the top teams in the league. Like was mentioned in the New Orleans thread, the real season doesn't start till later. I think this stat shows that only a couple of teams realize that, or can actually afford to play that way. These are the total minutes played by the top 5 players on each team per game and the % of total minutes possible. Then the total for an 82 game season. Phoenix: 169.9 70.8% 13,931.8 New Orleans: 168.5 70.2% 13,817 Boston: 168.1 70.0% 13,784.2 Detroit: 165.8 69.1% 13,595.6 Dallas: 159.3 66.4% 13,062.6 San Antonio: 156.3 65.1% 12,816.6 A couple of notes: - Manu is in SA's top 5 and isn't a starter. - If Barbosa is added, then Pheonix's top 6 players are playing 83.4% of their games. Or a total of 16,416.4 minutes over the season. Sticking with just the top 5, and not taking injuries into account, Phoenix's guys will play 1,115.2 more minutes than SA's guys over the season. I think San Antonio and Dallas are the two teams so far that understand that this is all just preseason. Have to ramp up for the playoffs.
Just another number to try an quantify those 1,115.2 minutes the Phoenix top 5 are playing more than SA's. Let's say there are 3 possessions per minute. The court is 94 feet long, but not everyone runs the entire length each time. There are also offensive rebounds and new shot clocks, fast breaks that don't last very long, and side to side running. Just for a base, I chose 80 feet per possession per player. 3 times a minute for 1,115.2 minutes over a season. Phoenix's top 5 would run 53.8 miles further over the course of the season than SA's top 5.
SA lost huge tonight vs. NO. But as I watched, I was thinking how this is not even close to the SA we'll see in the playoffs. Just look at the boxscore. NO starters minutes played: 39, 38, 33, 32, 23 = 165 SA starters: 34, 31, 28, 27, 24 = 144 (I used Manu instead of Finley) And, no, this wasn't entirely because it was a blowout. The blowout happened in the 4th quarter and some of SA's starters were out there. They weren't riding pine the whole 2nd half.
That's funny capitalcity, but I don't recall hearing a single Spurs fan freaking out. It was Dallas fans early in the season jumping off bridges.
I don't get it? Are we saying that SA is resting its players and will be a better team later in the season or post season? They definitely don't look their usual self right now.
