Playoff Ten Man Rotation

[timvp]

One underrated aspect of the Spurs 2007 Championship (it feels good saying that :smokin) is the fact that the Spurs used a ten man rotation.

The Spurs have opened other playoff runs with extended rotations but Pop has always slashed the rotation as the playoffs got increasingly tougher. By the Finals, 1999 was an eight man rotation, 2003 was an eight man rotation and 2005 was a seven man rotation.

Using a full ten players is unheard of in today's basketball world. Most teams don't even have a ten man rotation during the regular season.

I looked it up and the last team to use a ten man rotation during the playoffs was the 1984-85 Los Angeles Lakers. And that one wasn't even as impressive because Mitch Kupchak, Larry Spriggs and Mike McGee all had multiple games where they didn't play at all, so their minutes per game were inflated. (I'd be interested if anyone could find the last true ten man rotation used by a championship team.)

Basically what this means is the Spurs won the 2007 Championship while playing in regular season mode. Rarely did Pop even have to dial it up to playoff mode.

The result was the Spurs were the fresher team in the end of each series and I think that was a big reason why the Spurs went 4-0 in closeout games.

The Spurs make winning championships look easy. :cooldevil

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Definitely yay!

[J.T.]

That is awesome :smokin

[Borosai]

Impressive to say the least. That's depth.

Parker - Vaughn - Finley - Ginobili - Barry - Bowen - Duncan - Horry - Oberto - Elson

With a few spot minutes for Udrih and Bonner.

[Darkwaters]

The Spurs make winning championships look easy. :cooldevil

In odd numbered years, yes.

[whottt]

Are you sure none of Jackson's Bulls or Lakers Teams had a 10 man rotation?

[timvp]

Are you sure none of Jackson's Bulls or Lakers Teams had a 10 man rotation?

Yeah. Defining "in the rotation" as a player who averaged at least 10 minutes per game.

[timvp]

# players > 10 mpg during playoffs
2007 spurs 10
2006 heat 8
2005 spurs 8
2004 pistons 8
2003 spurs 8
2002 lakers 8
2001 lakers 7
2000 lakers 9
1999 spurs 8
1998 bulls 8
1997 bulls 9
1996 bulls 7
1995 rockets 9
1994 rockets 9
1993 bulls 9
1992 bulls 7
1991 bulls 9
1990 pistons 8
1989 pistons 9
1988 lakers 8
1987 lakers 8
1986 celtics 8
1985 lakers 10

[Condemned 2 HelLA]

Definately a good thing.

[dallaskd]

Thats because most of those players(Vaughn, Beno) only played trash minutes during the blowouts

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Beno was one of the 2 that were on the active roster but didn't get 10+ minutes(Bonner). And Vaughn played because....well he's our backup PG.

[dallaskd]

And Vaughn played because....well he's our backup PG.

Thats got to be a priority this offseason...

[Solid D]

# players > 10 mpg during playoffs
2007 spurs 10
2006 heat 8
2005 spurs 8
2004 pistons 8
2003 spurs 8
2002 lakers 8
2001 lakers 7
2000 lakers 9
1999 spurs 8
1998 bulls 8
1997 bulls 9
1996 bulls 7
1995 rockets 9
1994 rockets 9
1993 bulls 9
1992 bulls 7
1991 bulls 9
1990 pistons 8
1989 pistons 9
1988 lakers 8
1987 lakers 8
1986 celtics 8
1985 lakers 10

Good research. I knew it was rare.

[timvp]

Good research. I knew it was rare.

I saw you mention it during the playoffs. It's a pretty rare, indeed. :smokin

[duncan228]

It's brilliant. The guys weren't as tired, they knew they could depend on their teammates. Duncan said something about it along the lines of knowing he could trust whoever was on the court at any given time to get the job done. Dallas burned out after playing so hard for 82 games. It's absolutely genius to do it the way Pop did. And if he had to shorten it he would have been able to with his main guys still less tired than most starters were at that point.

And winning Championships does look easy when it's done the right way. Pop had these guys playing at their best at the right time of the season. He's brilliant.

[timvp]

updated
2007 spurs 10
2006 heat 8
2005 spurs 8
2004 pistons 8
2003 spurs 8
2002 lakers 8
2001 lakers 7
2000 lakers 9
1999 spurs 8
1998 bulls 8
1997 bulls 9
1996 bulls 7
1995 rockets 9
1994 rockets 9
1993 bulls 9
1992 bulls 7
1991 bulls 9
1990 pistons 8
1989 pistons 9
1988 lakers 8
1987 lakers 8
1986 celtics 8
1985 lakers 10
1984 celtics 9
1983 76ers 8
1982 lakers 7
1981 celtics 9
1980 lakers 8
1979 sonics 9
1978 bullets 9
1977 trailblazers 9
1976 celtics 8
1975 warriors 10

The 1975 Warriors are as close as I could find so far. They had 10 players who averaged more than 10 minutes in the playoffs. But again, one of those players didn't play in three games.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

So basically we made more history.

[whottt]

updated
2007 spurs 10
2006 heat 8
2005 spurs 8
2004 pistons 8
2003 spurs 8
2002 lakers 8
2001 lakers 7
2000 lakers 9
1999 spurs 8
1998 bulls 8
1997 bulls 9
1996 bulls 7
1995 rockets 9
1994 rockets 9
1993 bulls 9
1992 bulls 7
1991 bulls 9
1990 pistons 8
1989 pistons 9
1988 lakers 8
1987 lakers 8
1986 celtics 8
1985 lakers 10
1984 celtics 9
1983 76ers 8
1982 lakers 7
1981 celtics 9
1980 lakers 8
1979 sonics 9
1978 bullets 9
1977 trailblazers 9
1976 celtics 8
1975 warriors 10

The 1975 Warriors are as close as I could find so far. They had 10 players who averaged more than 10 minutes in the playoffs. But again, one of those players didn't play in three games.



I wonder how the series lengths(and number of them) correlate to the number of players in the rotation. Seems to me, the more games it takes, the less chance there is of there being a big rotation.


This Spurs team played 20 games to win the title. It's possible that if this series went longer players could have disappeared from the rotation...it happened in 05...when it took 23 games.

Still..since they added the extra game in 03 so it takes 16 wins...it probably took this team more than most.

[dallaskd]

So basically we made more history.

'85 Lakers

[timvp]

I wonder how the series lengths correlate to the number of players in the rotation.


This Spurs team played 20 games to win the title. It's possible that if this series went longer players could have disappeared from the rotation...it happened in 05.

Well, longer series = more difficult series.

What this tells me is that either the Spurs dominated more than people realize in the playoffs or Pop simply never panicked. When a coach panics, the first thing he does is cut the rotation.

And oddly enough, the 2007 Spurs might be one of the deepest teams in NBA history. Although no doubt teams have had more quality depth, no team in NBA history that I've come across relied on ten players like the 2007 Spurs did.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

'85 Lakers
It says in the top post that although the Lakers top 10 averaged 10+mpg, some of their players didn't play every playoff game, like the Spurs top 10 did.

[J.T.]

Buck Harvey prints this exact same shit in 3, 2, 1...

[whottt]

I just read in the globe article...

That the 2005 Spurs were the first team to win a title without a player averaging 35 mpg...and the 2007 Spurs are the second. That kind of explains the longer rotation. Seems like we were real close to having 9 or 10 guys average 10 mpg in 05 also(I know I wanted that at one point in that season)...seems like Pop didn't really get short with the rotation till the mid-end of the finals. IMO, he was starting to do that in these finals as well.

It's Pop.

I like it...because the more pieces a team has...the less individual performance matters. The more it becomes a true team.