That's one possibility. It does not preclude the scenario that there are just more
missed shots, hence more rebounds and fewer assists.
I've selected players who are sometime-starters -- not end of the bench guys. So they move up in the pecking order when other starters are off the floor.
Here's a summary of the whole league this season, separated into 4 equal sized groups: players who have started every game (or all but one); starters in 20% or more of their games; who have started <20% or played at least 340 minutes; those with no starts and <340 min.
Shooting frequencies (per36) and efficiencies:
Code: Select all
% Starts %Min mpg 2FGA 2fg% 3FGA 3fg% FTA FT% TSA TS%
.97 to 1.0 .44 32.6 13.4 .487 2.6 .359 4.0 .758 15.1 .539
.20 to .96 .28 23.3 11.1 .466 3.2 .358 2.7 .750 12.3 .522
.00 to .19 .23 18.2 11.5 .466 3.5 .363 3.0 .764 12.8 .529
none .05 9.2 10.9 .437 2.8 .289 2.7 .669 12.1 .468
These are totals, *36, divided by total minutes.
Full-time starters play 44% of the minutes. They shoot notably more and better 2-pt FGA, and more FTA.
Group 3 may be overloaded with 'scorers off the bench' -- JR Smith, Crawford, Kevin Martin, Landry, Ray Allen, ..
Other per 36 minute rates:
Code: Select all
%Start OReb DReb Ast Stl TO Blk PF Pts depth
.97 to 1.0 1.73 4.99 3.80 1.22 2.29 .84 2.5 16.3 1 to 4
.20 to .96 1.63 4.33 2.71 1.09 1.87 .73 3.0 12.9 5 to 7
.00 to .19 1.70 4.27 2.82 1.17 1.95 .77 3.5 13.6 8 to 11
.00 1.55 4.14 2.72 1.13 2.15 .80 4.0 11.4 12+
I especially like the foul rate, with its steady increase off the bench.
Last column is a very rough suggestion as to each group's constituency in their respective lineups. Obviously the aforementioned 6th men are mis-identified as 8th+
But by isolating bench warmers in the bottom quartile, it's pretty clear that there is not a general increase in pace -- at least as indicated by FGA and Reb, steals and TO -- when starters are out of the game.