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Boston Celtics Seeing Results of Stevens’ Minute Distribution

By Joshua Bateman

CHICAGO, IL - MARCH 5: Al Horford #42 and Brad Stevens of the Boston Celtics high five during the game against the Chicago Bulls on March 5, 2018 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL - MARCH 5: Al Horford #42 and Brad Stevens of the Boston Celtics high five during the game against the Chicago Bulls on March 5, 2018 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Boston Celtics are feeling the benefits of how Brad Stevens distributes the minutes

Brad Stevens has been known throughout his time with the Boston Celtics to use a deep rotation, and never strain anyone with too many minutes. At first, it felt like he did this out of necessity. The Celtics were rebuilding and did not have a lot of great pieces. There was so much youth he needed to explore, and there was no reason for him to give anyone crazy minutes.

Now the Celtics are seeing the real results of their rebuild and they have the kind of players that most coaches would be playing as much as possible. Top teams will usually shorten their rotation, because the drop off from the top talent is too much to overcome.

With Stevens, however, he is not changing his approach. Even if he may not be going quite as deep, he is spreading the minutes out just as much. The only real difference might be that the very end of the rotation is more stable. There are similar amounts of minutes being used for bench players, but not as many bench players using those minutes.

One of the more remarkable parts is that the Celtics are built in a way that you would think would make them want to use more minutes for their top players than most teams. The Celtics are incredibly young, and there is a lot of uncertainty with their depth. The level of trust in Kyrie Irving and Al Horford cannot even be compared to players in their first or second year, but Stevens has not wavered in keeping the same approach with the minutes.

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Irving currently leads the team at 32.5 minutes per game, which ranks all the way down at 46th in the league, behind Will Barton for the Nuggets. Horford is second on the team at 31.6 minutes per game, and that brings him all the way down to 58th in the league.

When you take into account the fact that the Celtics really have not ben blowing too many teams out this year, and that minutes restrictions is all by design. There is the occasional exception, but the Celtics have not dominated enough to have fourth quarter resting impact their minutes the way it has with Stephen Curry (who is still higher than both Horford and Irving).

Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are then the only other players on the team averaging more than 30 minutes, leaving more for the bench players that almost any other team in the league. Part of this could be about making sure the players stay fresh. The Celtics are always cautious with injuries, and they do not want to run their players into the ground with too many minutes.

That being said, limiting the wear and tear is only a part of it, and certainly does not explain why their minutes would be so low. Stevens is also limiting these minutes because he wants to make sure that Irving and Horford can be as effective as possible every moment they are on the court, and it gave these second unit players the opportunities they needed to develop their game, and come together in a special way.

The second unit has a lot of different kinds of pieces that were not working well to start the season. Stevens could have taken the approach of not wanting to risk the number one seed in order to have the bench develop. There is no doubt there could have been better immediate results if Stevens played those top players more, but the team would not be nearly as good as they are right now as a unit.

With Stevens’ insistence on spreading out the minutes, he was able to figure out which players he could really trust on the second unit, and now we are seeing someone like Semi Ojeleye completely disappear out of the rotation. More importantly, is that it allowed Stevens and the players to figure out how they could work together.

All the individual talent will not be enough, but now that these players are coming together and playing as a unit, they are transforming the team. Stevens forced the minutes issue early on, and it may have cost them some wins. Now the minutes distribution is a huge reason why they have played so well.

Irving is able to focus on being as effective as possible, without needing to carry as much, because of the impact the bench is having. The Celtics constantly get an advantage from that second unit, and the team does not have to lean on those individuals.

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There is a good chance that it will change a bit come playoff time, but Stevens has allowed the Celtics to grow they way they have this season largely because of the minutes distribution. The Celtics are proving to be one of the deepest teams in the league, and if they are ale to play their second unit with this kind of volume in the playoffs, they should be able to go on a deep run.

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