Worried about minutes?

The bizarre thing is Ray Allen plays the position with the most depth. Between Eddie House, Tony Allen, and Paul Pierce sliding over to the SG spot, Ray should be able to get plenty of rest. I also think he’s the biggest risk for injuries and decline, but what do I know.

KG is right where he should be, Pierce and Allen should come down some more too, especially since Doc seems to have more and more confidence in Tony Allen lately.

I have been worried about the minutes, but I have noticed that the minutes are trending down (at least for PP and KG — who were averaging 38-39 mpg earlier in the season). It would be nice to see RA play less minutes as well.

Good points.

The only concern I have dealing with minutes are those “grind out” games. Given our age, i hate it when we play 2 or 3 of those games in a row. I feel like they really wear down the team. We keep those games few and far between, i think we’ll be in great shape for the playoffs.

I agree with Brenden. KG’s on target. Ray’s minutes are WAY too much. If he ends the season at 32 that would be perfect because without his outside shot(legs) we aren’t winning the title. PP will probably be fine at 34-36.

I am very unhappy with Rays minutes, but I was unhappy with how Big baby was being used and Doc figured it out. Ray is the most fragile of the 3 historically and I think he is already not sharp,(duh, you can see him falling to the side on most of his jumpers).

What I am seeing is that we are being defended by other teams who are clogging the lane. This makes sense because if you jam the lane, that hurts KG and PP’s drives, and Rajon’s drives. Are tremendous interior passing is key, but we will only win the title by having legs to make ENOUGH 3’s to stretch the d.

Posey will be fresh. House will be fresh. Will Ray be fresh enough? He may be. There is lots of time to get him to peka for May and June. But Id like him to be oversused now.

Sheesh. I meant NOT overused now. Maybe it was Freudian. We need home court advantage too. I also meant “peak,” “our.”

Here maybe this will make up for the errors. From “The Onion” last year, for all you Patriots fans:

Peyton Manning: ‘I Won This Game As A Team’
November 2, 2006 | | Onion Sports

INDIANAPOLISâ€"Responding to critics who claim that recent games demonstrate that Indianapolis is a one-dimensional pass-first team with a porous run defense, quarterback Peyton Manning leapt to his team’s defense Monday by saying that he, Peyton Manning, won or lost Colts football games as a team. “Everything I do out there, every play, every first down, every touchdown pass, I do as a team,” said Manning, who added he resented the implication that he was weak in the short-yardage running game and could not pick up the blitz. “Need I remind you that I’ve converted 68 percent of my second-half third-down chances this year, that I have the lowest team average in dropped passes, and that I’m still undefeated? I think I’m doing pretty good for the so-called ‘worst Colts team in years,’ don’t you?” When asked about placekicker Adam Vinatieri’s last-minute game-wnning field goal against Denver last Sunday, a confused Manning said he “wished Vinatieri continued good luck with the Patriots.”

So 37.5 is ok for Pierce, but Allen is oveused at 38.8? For one, if you suggest Pierce sliding over to the SG spot, that means his minutes will increase. This is taking from one pocket and putting it into the other, plus Allen has always been more fit than Pierce, who has a history of getting winded in the end of games.

Second, House cannot be a regular option at SG. He’s 6’1, for crying out loud.

And finally, Tony Allen is absolutely not in a position to provide anything consistently for more than 10 minutes per, which is coincidentally what he’s logging right now.

So arguably, I would say that Ray Allen’s position is the most shallow, not the deepest. Either way, he’s not averaging 40 minutes per game. I am not concerned.

" We’re going to be asking these guys to play 16 extra games this season-"

Ha ha. Just 16? I like the way you think Roy! Fo-Fo-Fo-Fo.

(Personally I believe San Antonio might take a game in the finals and it will be Fo-Fo-Fo-Five.)

I think Ray’s ankles are bothering him. I am a sonic season ticket holder.(yeah, I know that sucks….I can provide an address if you guys want to start a collection for me.) I am just trying to pound this point whenever possible. Ray is not right. He is not squaring up, he isn’t as smooth, you can see him hoisting it up, if you know what he usually looks like; he is doing EVERYTHING he can to be valuable to us. I think, what you will see is he will end up missing a lot of games in March, and come back with about 3 weeks left. That might be just fine. If we get ahead in home court and can win without him, and TA can play say 20 solid minutes by then

The disconcerting part of PGA’s minutes is that we haven’t gotten to the meat of our schedule yet. PGA will have to log heavy minutes for us to beat the elite teams. Our bench has been up and down this season (although they seem to be settling into their respective roles) and I’m not sure they be as effective come February when our schedule gets a lot tougher.

None of those guys should average more than 33 minutes. Use the bench. Conserve for the playoffs.

Eh, the good thing that we can take from this is that the bench has slowly but surely gained Rivers confidence. As that continues (with Tony Allen hopefully getting back near 100%) Ray and Paul’s minutes will continue to dip. I think the goal should be for all three of them to play around 35 minutes a game.

Another positive to take note of is that none of the three are playing especially arduous minutes on a consistent basis. Usually one of them will have a tough matchup on both ends while the other two can sort of cruise through a game.

On Bricks point about simply conserving for the playoffs… Thats pretty foolish. With the way the C’s play at home it will be absolutely essential (if the goal is to win a championship) for the C’s to get home court advantage. The C’s need to limit minutes as much as possible while attempting to win more games than any other team in the league.

I think you’re right wahz. Ray seems to be hitting the mid range shot. Maybe he should just step in a little closer until he fully recovers.

…and when is the meat of the schedule? It seems to be only one week in March for the Texas trip. Other than that it looks pretty much the same as it’s been. There’s Detroit and away at Utah etc., but no prolonged difficulties.

None of those guys should average more than 33 minutes. Use the bench. Conserve for the playoffs.

Not going to happen – this team needs to learn to play together, not sit on the bench.

Even San Antonio isn’t doing that, and they’ve been together for years.

The difference is that our guys aren’t getting enough practice time. SA doesn’t need much and our guys aren’t getting any either

the other difference is that Ray is the most fragile of the SIX guys we are talking about(the other 3 in SA) and if you don’t believe it, look at his record. if you still don’t believe it understand he is the one with off season ankle surgery and the one who relies on his jumper and he is the one logging the most minutes.

You never know what the deal is. It may well be that Doc and Ray have talked and they have decided he is going to rest a lot down the stretch.

I only bother with this discussion because I think if Ray is on in May and June, we are going to win it. I believe PP, KG, Posey and Perk will be consistent. House is a bit of a wild card. He will need to be hot too. I think Rajon will continue to play well. I don’t think we are beatable if Ray Allen is on fire in the playoffs. Indeed I think we will blow teams off the floor when he is on fire

ginoblli at under 30 mpg so far. Duncan resting with his injury. Parker at 34.6, the youngest of the 6.

Look even I think it may be ok. But only if Ray’s minutes drop a lot or he sits out and plays say 70 games this year, missing about half after March 1

Spurs minutes this year:

Tim Duncan: 32.3
Tony Parker: 34.6
Bruce Bowen: 30.0
Manu Ginobli: 29.6

Brickowski is right. San Antonio is “doing that.” They are significantly below our players’ minutes. The Spurs win championships regularly.

I don’t think playing 40 minutes and missing 10 games is all that great. I’d rather see 33, maybe 35, and have them in the flow of playing every other day than taking a huge chunk of time off.

Let’s see: Duncan played 10 minutes in the game he was injured. With so few games, that shaves more than a minute from his average playing time. Bowen is 36(!). Plus, they also have Michael Finley and Brent Barry. It might be worth how much these players were logging in previous years: Parker and Duncan have both averaged within the 37 minute range as recently as 2 seasons ago.

Plus, no-one seems to be playing 40 minutes on our roster.

Um, my bad I guess, I got the regular season and playoff minutes mixed up.

If Rivers wants to play everyone 40 minutes a night in the NBA finals, that’s fine with me, although even then I think 8-man rotations are a bad idea. It’s a 48 minute game involving much bigger bodies than you see in college. Those short rotations come back to haunt you, particularly if there is an overtime game or two.

I haven’t been worried about the minutes. I thought it was too early and likely for the minutes to fall by mid December.

It’s odd that Ray is the one taking the most minutes right now. Espcially since, like Brendan said, he’s playing the position with the most quality depth.

I think Ray’s ankles are bothering him. I am a sonic season ticket holder.(yeah, I know that sucks….I can provide an address if you guys want to start a collection for me.) I am just trying to pound this point whenever possible. Ray is not right. He is not squaring up, he isn’t as smooth, you can see him hoisting it up, if you know what he usually looks like; he is doing EVERYTHING he can to be valuable to us. I think, what you will see is he will end up missing a lot of games in March, and come back with about 3 weeks left. That might be just fine. If we get ahead in home court and can win without him, and TA can play say 20 solid minutes by then

I agree that Ray hasn’t been anywhere near his usual standards and has struggled (relative to his past performances) but I do not think it has anything to do with his ankles.

I just think he’s struggling to find his place in the offense. He hardly ever catches the ball inside the 3pt line anymore. He doesn’t get enough high on the ball screen and rolls or enough screens off the ball. There’s quite a few times when the ball is kicked out and he has little option but to try and create by himself.

I think he’s not in rhythm. He isn’t being put into enough situations where he is most effective and that is carrying over into his jump shot.

I see no problems with his elevation or front rimming on his J’s which you normally notice when a player is struggling with either a foot or leg injury. I just think he’s struggling to get used to this role, he hasn’t quite found his spots yet.

Despite his fame for shooting he’s never taken that many stand still jumpers. He moves a lot, normally with the ball, and probes the defense and chooses his spots. He hasn’t been able to do that as much here.