In Nba Circles, we tend to make a big problem of “bench”. A regular starter is transferred to the reserve unit, and he is considered as a demotion, an indictment, an embarrassment.
But this is not always the case. NBA coaches are constantly trying to find combinations that optimize the talents of their players. If they go halfway through the season and see that the starting program is completely ineffective, it would be negligent for them not to consider shaking things. We saw this with Steve Kerr sending Klay Thompson on the bench last season, and more recently with veterans like Bradley Beal, Khris Middleton and Mike Conley.
“I can bring it back early, I can hold it, I can run it longer, I can submit it for almost anyone,” said Minnesota Timberwolves coach, Chris Finch, about his decision to bring Conley back from the bench. “Try to keep your minutes down and start it and try to have it play with certain programming combinations, these three things were not achievable at the same time. But now I feel like I can do it .
The bench of a player does not only concern the starting unit – this is the second unit and the combinations that the coach is able to set up. And fortunately, to determine the effectiveness of these units, we have advanced sophisticated measures at our disposal. The NBA makes programming data easily available on their statistics site, and it is incredibly useful and revealing when you consider the combinations of effective players (Yay, Oklahoma City Thunder!) And downright horrible (Boo, Washington Wizards!).
Here is an overview of the five and worse five, three and two men in the NBA combinations this season.
Best alignments of five men
(Min. 200 minutes)
| Celtics | Holiday, White, Tatum, Brown, Horford | 215 | 120.9 | 100.9 | 20.1 |
| Thunder | Gilgeous-Alexander, Wallace, Williams, there, Hartenstein | 250 | 118.2 | 100.6 | 17.6 |
| Pacers | Sign, Nembhard, Shiphar, Siacam, Turner | 363 | 115.6 | 99.9 | 15.8 |
| Mower | Harden, Dunn, Powell, Jones, Zubac | 257 | 112.5 | 102.4 | 10.1 |
| Nuggets | Murray, Westbrook, Braun, Porter, Jokic | 227 | 127.1 | 119.8 | 7.3 |
Top dog: It is not really a shock that the Celtics have the programming of the five best men in the NBA, but you may have supposed that it would be their usual starting range with Kristaps Porzingis. Instead, the four regular starters alongside Ageless Wonder Al Horford are the one who dominated the League. In fact, these four guys with Porzingis have in fact been one of the worse units in the NBA (see below). Go represent.
Surprises: The starting alignments of the Thunder and Nuggets are not as much a surprise, especially since they have the two main MVP candidates, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic, leading the show. However, it can be a little shocking to see the unit of five men from the Pacers in the NBA, in particular with a sparkling defensive brand of less than 100 points for 100 possessions while they rank 20th in total in defensive note. Meanwhile, the clippers’ programming, which has started several games this season but will obviously not be the first five when Kawhi Leonard is in good health, does not contain exactly household names but has brilliantly played.
Worse alignments of five men
(Min. 200 minutes)
| Wizards | Poole, Carrington, Coulibaly, Kuzma, Sarr | 208 | 86.7 | 120.3 | -33.5 |
| Pelicans | Murray, McCollum, Jones, Murphy, Missi | 221 | 112.6 | 120.1 | -7.5 |
| Bulls | White, Giddey, Lavine, Williams, Vacevic | 250 | 106.7 | 111.8 | -5.1 |
| Deer | Lillard, Jackson, Prince, Antetokounmpo, Lopez | 264 | 107.7 | 111.4 | -3.7 |
| Pistons | Cunningham, Ivey, Hardaway, Harris, Duren | 261 | 119.8 | 122 | -2.1 |
| Celtics | Holidays, white, brown, tatum, porzingis | 208 | 114.8 | 116.6 | -1.7 |
Resident of the bottom: Hoo Boy. We knew that the wizards were really bad, but we did not know that they could be This bad. On paper, it could be the five best Washington players, and they were upgraded by 33.5 (!) Points for 100 possessions. As you can see, there is a gulf the size of the Grand Canyon between them and the next range. For reference, the worst unit of five men in the league with at least 200 minutes last season (the Nets Spencer Dinwiddie, Cam Thomas, Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and Nic Claxton) had a clear note of minus-19. The wizards were almost twice worse. Simply remarkable.
Surprises: Some of the worst teams in the League are at the top (Wizards, Pélicans, Bulls), but things become weird. The Bucks unit began more games than any other programming, and yet it was completely ineffective despite the presence of the candidate MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and a resurgent Damian Lillard. It is also quite surprising to see the Celtics’ starting training, the reigning champions (and Always the favorites of betting For this season), like the sixth range of the League with at least 200 minutes. Replace Porzingis with Horford, and you have the best alignment in the NBA. Eh.
Best alignments of three men
(min. 500 minutes)
| Thunder | Gilgeous-Alexander, Wallace, there | 651 | 117.5 | 101.6 | 15.9 |
| Pacers | Haliburton, Nembhard, Siakam | 549 | 117.5 | 101.6 | 15.9 |
| Nuggets | Westbrook, Porter, Jokic | 644 | 127.5 | 111.8 | 15.6 |
| Thunder | Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams, there | 780 | 117.6 | 103.3 | 14.3 |
| Thunder | Gilgeous-Alexander, Wallace, Williams | 589 | 115.9 | 101.7 | 14.1 |
Top dog: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a winning machine, as evidenced by his name appearing in three of the first five units of three best this season. As always with OKC, the alignments are characterized by their stingy defense, but the offensive is certainly not too shabby either.
Surprises: Again, seeing the pacers there could be a shock for some. They have been extremely hot lately, but I don’t think many people would have guessed that End Nembhard would be in the second unit of three most effective men in the league. As for the Nuggets, Nikola Jokic being in the course, but the name of Russell Westbrook – almost synonymous with offensive ineffectiveness in recent seasons – is part of a group that sets up an amazing 127.5 points per 100 possessions to Sharpnshooting sides Michael Porter Jr. for optimal spacing.
Worse alignments of three men
(min. 500 minutes)
| Wizards | Poole, Carrington, Coulialingy | 527 | 96.4 | 116.3 | -20 |
| Wizards | Carrington, Coulibaly, Sarr | 590 | 98.5 | 117 | -18.4 |
| Wizards | Poole, Coulibaly, Sarr | 657 | 97.6 | 115.5 | -17.9 |
| Pelicans | McCollum, Murray, Miss | 520 | 108.9 | 123 | -14.2 |
| Blazers | Simons, Grant, Camara | 525 | 100.4 | 114.1 | -13.7 |
Resident of the bottom: Well, after having seen the metrics of the unity at five men, it cannot be a big surprise. The Wizards have the three worst combinations with three men from the whole NBA, with atrocious net notes and a terrible offense. Bilal Coulibaly appears in the three, because he is one of the most ineffective offensive players in the league who obtains the starter minutes. But remember, he is only 20 years old and has already shown an overview of his upper level defensive potential.
Surprises: The Pelicans have a horrible file, but on the surface, CJ McCollum and Dejounte Murray – two traditionally effective veteran guards – should be well associated with Missi, a rim and lobal relay center which is in the mixture for the recruit of The year. The gaps obviously came to the defensive, where they grant 123 points by 100 possessions. Once again, it is somewhat surprising since Murray was once an all-defensive selection and that Missi is among the league leaders in blocked shots.
Best alignments of two men
(min. 1,000 minutes)
| Thunder | Gilgeous-Alexander, there | 1,079 | 118.8 | 102.9 | 15.8 |
| Nuggets | Jokic, wear | 1,089 | 126.7 | 113 | 13.7 |
| Nuggets | Jokic, Braun | 1,109 | 124.9 | 112.7 | 12.2 |
| Riders | Mitchell, Mobley | 1,015 | 116.9 | 106.1 | 10.8 |
| Celtics | Tatum, white | 1,090 | 117.1 | 107.1 | 10 |
| Nuggets | Brown | 1,121 | 122.4 | 112.6 | 9.8 |
| Knicks | Cities, Hart | 1 212 | 120.5 | 111 | 9.5 |
| Rocket | Brooks, Sengun | 1,013 | 114.8 | 106 | 8.8 |
Top dog: Has there ever been a doubt? Gilgeous-Alexander, undoubtedly the best score of the league, paired with Lu sleeps, a brick house of a locking defender, is equal to unprecedented success at the two ends of the ground. It is also extremely remarkable that Jokic, the other MVP Leader candidate, is part of the second- And Third best combos of two people in the league.
Surprises: It could be a bit of a shock to see a nugget pair on the list that does not contain Jokic, but remember that Porter and Christian Braun play most of their minutes alongside the big guy, which surely informs statistics. We went a little more deeply on this painting to show where the Knicks landed, and it was a bit of a shock to see Josh Hart as the second player next to the cities of Karl-Anthony instead of the star-star Jalen Brunson. Likewise, some may be surprised to see that Dillon Brooks is part of the unity of two men from the Rockets, but the defense dynamics of the offensive also seem to apply here, since it is so effective next to it d’Alperen Sengun.
Worse alignments of two men
(min. 1,000 minutes)
| Hawk | Young, Daniels | 1,078 | 111.1 | 114.1 | -2.9 |
| Heat | Herro, Adebayo | 1,100 | 110.4 | 111.9 | -1.5 |
| 76ers | Why, Obre | 1,014 | 113.2 | 113.9 | -0.7 |
| Bulls | Lavine, Vacevic | 1,238 | 115 | 114.9 | 0.1 |
| Kiss | Fox, desperate | 1,025 | 114 | 113.6 | 0.5 |
Resident of the bottom: Ok, now it’s really shocking. As we have seen, many best league units contain an offensive player off -competition alongside a defensive player outside competition, which should surely be the case for Trae Young – with an average of 23 points and 11, 5 assists per match – and Dyson Daniels, who leads the League in flight by a laughable margin. The fact that they are the worse The unit of two men in the league, for a team of Hawks which is mainly 0,500, is difficult to wrap your head.
Surprises: If you had questioned 100,000 NBA fans, it is difficult to imagine that you would find only one who would guess that Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo make up the unit with two men widely used in the NBA. Herro is a candidate for stars with his most effective season and Adebayo – when he had trouble offensively – is one of the best most versatile defenders in the League. It just doesn’t make sense, but the figures do not lie. Similarly, it is surprising to see from’aron Fox and Demar Derozan, two of the motor forces on the kings heated by the red, land in the last five.
