With the Grizzlies opening training camp Monday, now’s the time to begin our season-preview coverage. Like last year, in addition to preseason game coverage, links, and league-wide predictions, I’ll be doing a series of more in-depth blog posts on team-related topics leading up to my season-preview piece in the print edition of the Flyer.
I’m starting with what I think is the fundamental issue for last year’s team and the biggest looming question for the coming season — the gulf between the team’s returning starting lineup and its bench.
- These five guys are playoff-ready, but they need a whole lot more help.
This post is rooted in a comparison of starting (or primary) lineups across the league and how teams fared with and without those lineups on the floor. I’m going to post a spreadsheet (of sorts) comparing relevant stats for all 30 NBA teams — numbers derived from the unit stats found at BasketballValue.com — and a key explaining what each of the columns of numbers is. But if you don’t want to wade that deep into the numbers, you can skip over this part and just read the comments afterward based on these stats.
Key:
PL+/-: This is the plus/minus rating for each team’s primary (most-used) lineup last season, per 48 minutes.
PLM: This is the total number of minutes played by each team’s primary lineup.
NPL+/-: This is the per 48 minute plus/minus for each team when not using its primary lineup.
TEAM PL+/- PLM NPL+/-
Dallas +18.6 342.35 +1.2
Orlando +15.6 773.15 +5.5
Portland +13.7 372.45 +2.5
Boston +12.4 1154.45 even
L.A. Lakers +12.3 649.78 +3.3
Milwaukee +11.2 257.90 +0.7
L.A. Clippers +10.5 406.77 -8.3
San Antonio +10.0 230.88 +4.8
Phoenix +8.9 828.95 +3.8
Miami +8.0 286.73 +1.8
Memphis +7.3 1474.80 -6.7
Denver +6.4 520.47 +3.4
Atlanta +5.0 1169.08 +4.5
Utah +4.1 327.92 +5.6
Indiana +3.3 426.38 -3.0
Detroit +2.8 304.77 -5.7
New Orleans +2.7 486.68 -3.2
Oklahoma City +2.6 1291.28 +4.5
Washington +2.4 163.07 -5.0
New York +0.9 447.23 -4.4
Chicago +0.6 451.82 -1.9
Houston -0.8 823.65 -0.2
Charlotte -1.5 454.07 +1.6
New Jersey -3.7 301.55 -9.4
Philadelphia -4.5 253.72 -3.9
Cleveland -5.2 384.82 +7.8
Sacramento -9.4 116.88 -4.3
Toronto -12.8 369.83 -0.6
Golden State -17.0 124.37 -3.2
Minnesota -21.0 295.52 -8.7
Statistical Noise: The total minutes played by each team’s primary lineup ranges widely, from 1474.80 (your Memphis Grizzlies) to a laughably small 124.37 (Don Nelson’s Golden State Warriors, whose most-used lineup last season included Mikki Moore; no joke), and the reliability of the insights to be gleaned becomes wobblier as the chunk of time gets smaller. Which makes looking at these numbers pretty meaningful for the Grizzlies, whose most-used lineup took the floor considerably more than any other team’s.
