Answering The Age Old Question

"Is it more important for everyone to play equal minutes or play to ensure that we win the game"?

This is something that often comes up every couple of sessions when manuevering throughout the course of a season. There will be a game or two when some of players who spend most of their time on the bench stand up and wonder aloud why they only got on the court for 5 minutes instead of their normal 15 to 20 minutes. Back in the infant stages of the franchise things were admittedly a lot easier. The talent on our team was such that it really did not matter who was on the court because we lacked any real super star players. Fortunately, over the years we have improved that talent and brought in athletes who have a different gear who can reach that elite level of basketball.

Herein lies the problem. When you know you are that much better than the next guy and the game is close do you feel comfortable raising your hand to come out of the game knowing you could be hurting the team? Do you stay in the game a few minutes too long knowing you are exhausted but do not have faith in your teammate who is less skilled than you are? These are probably all things that run through the heads of said elite players. Luckily for me, I am not an elite player, heck I'm not even close.

I would be delusional to think that I should be playing an equal amount of minutes as our best players like D.T. & A.H. etc. First of all I am a few years older than them and second of all even when I was their age I was only 1/3 as good as they are now. So I know my role on the team and I have accepted that fact and realize that I am best served at helping the team in other ways. Sure, I would love to be on the court for 40 minutes a game, thats the competitor in me speaking. The realist in me knows that playing about 18 minutes a game suits me just fine and I still contribute something on the court. The rest of the time I am the vocal leader and ultimate strategist on the bench.

Unfortunately, we run into some problems from time to time. Nobody on the team has ever refused to come out of a game when told to do so. There have been a couple times when it has come close but ultimately and sometimes begrudgingly I am sure they have removed themselves from the game and come to the sidelines. I get all that, wanting to be on the court when the game is on the line. But at the end of the day we all have to make the best decisions when trying to WIN the game. If that means you have to play 5 minutes or 2 minutes or 25 minutes to help us win then so be it. If you are used to playing 30 minutes a game but have been playing terrible and are not running back to play defense then you might be coming out of the game and be better served doing so.

I guess to answer the question above, there is no real cut and dry answer other than to say that the team should come first regardless of the situation. 90% of the time everyone buys into that thought process, it is the other 10% that I worry about and have to deal with. I guess that's part of the job and par for the course. I know that I will do whatever it takes to win and if that means our best player only plays 20 minutes and our least talented player gets 20 minutes than so be it. If our starters play almost an entire game and our bench does nothing but stand and sit all game long rooting on the starters than it will have to be that way.

Winning is everything and losing is not an option. Anyone who feels otherwise, has never won anything in their lives.