It seems as though when fans are upset about their teams the first thing they complain about is the bench not being used enough. Pistons fans did this last year, , Celtics fans did it this year. Spurs fans noted how every other team played their starters too much and the bench not enough.
There is somewhat of a point to this--if your star is 30 years old or over, you probably don't want him playing over 40 MPG on a consistent basis (unless it's Allen Iverson). But it was sort of funny seeing people make a big deal about something like 33 vs. 35 MPG. Particularly since the MPG stat is a little distorted. For instance, if your own team gets blown out early, the starters get to rest. Is that good? I would look at total minutes over the overpopular MPG stat.
But then, consider the Pistons, Celtics, Spurs examples. For the Pistons, it didn't seem like moving Billups from 36 to 31 MPG really did much for the team. For a professional basketball player who's in good shape and is still in his prime, those 5 extra minutes per game really don't make much a of a difference come playoff time. You get to the playoffs and adrenaline takes over, unless you are hurt or extremely worn out. The MPG stuff really only matters for very old or not so durable or out of shape or fading players.
Then you have the Celtics, and Rivers was chided for playing his starters too much during the regular season, and they did get a little banged up in the playoffs. But adrenaline took over and the team won the big one. Talent and chemistry are a lot more important than minutes per game.
Finally, the Spurs, whose fans relish the fact that Popovich keeps the starters' minutes down. But with Pop, I feel it's more about developing the bench than holding back the starters a minute or more per game. You'll notice that he won't hesitate to use Duncan or Parker 40+ minutes if the Spurs are locked in a tight battle, regular season or playoffs. It doesn't seem to be about the MPG number for Popovich, but more about developing the bench when heavy minutes for the stars are unnecesary.
The point is, play your bench to develop your bench, not so that you can boast about how your starters got under 35 MPG. That's just an artificial dividing line, as it is. The only time you really have to watch MPG numbers is if you are relying heavily on a player who is old AND encountering physical problems--someone like Shaq, Nash (the Suns in general), Ilgauskas, maybe Kidd. But the general rule is to develop your bench for the sake of developing your bench--as a fan, having your starters play 31 as opposed to 35 MPG is not really something to boast about...and I think recent examples have established this fact.
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