Rick Carlisle: Looking To Manage Minutes
The Dallas Mavericks kick off the regular season on Oct. 28 with a visit to the San Antonio Spurs to face the same team that eliminated them from the postseason in seven games last year. It may be the first of 82 games, but the Mavericks will be eager to make an early-season statement against their in-state rival.
Much like the Spurs, the Mavericks will be counting on a number of veterans to lead the way this season. The Spurs may have entered the 2013-14 season as one of the oldest teams in the league, but their age was never an issue during their impressive championship run.
The Spurs appeared fresh during their playoff run in large part due to the way that head coach Greg Popovich managed their minutes during the regular season. To keep Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker fresh, the Spurs selectively rested their veteran stars when the NBA schedule had them playing in back-to-back games.
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While the Mavericks may not rest their starters with the frequency that the Spurs did last season, they will be working to reduce the workload on Dirk Nowitzki whenever possible. Nowitzki continued to perform at a high level last season but head coach Rick Carlisle expressed his desire to lessen the workload on Nowitzki whenever possible.
"“I’d like to continue to work his minutes gradually down if we could. This roster is a strong roster from top to bottom just in terms of depth. We have a lot of multi-positional players and we’re going to have to find a high energy level with all of our guys. We’re going to have to play with a lot of pace, if we can do that I think we can find a way to get him from 32 minutes, maybe down to 31 or 30, maybe even 29. A lot of it is spacing and how you play him, and how you rest him.”"
Carlisle elaborated on the why it’s important to limit Nowitzki’s minutes. “He played some bigger minutes late in the year in critical games, but the important thing is when we go to that point he was fresh enough where he could absorb it and do it. We’re looking big picture again with him. We don’t want to overtax anybody too soon.”
Veterans Tyson Chandler and Dirk Nowitzki are not the only players that Carlisle will be looking to keep fresh throughout the regular season. Monta Ellis was the Mavericks’ second leading scorer last season and he averaged 36.9 minutes per game, the eighth most in the NBA. Ellis is also the only player in the top 10 of minutes played to see action in all 82 games.
Ellis proved himself capable of the heavy workload, but coach Carlisle will be looking to reduce his minutes as well when the opportunity presents itself. As simple as this may sound, this will only be possible if coach Carlisle has trust in the players filling in for Monta Ellis.
Second-year shooting guard Ricky Ledo and veteran guard Devin Harris will be two players tasked with replacing Ellis’ production during the brief moments he sits on the bench. Harris will also fill in at the point guard position, so Ledo’s play early in the season could very well determine just how long Carlisle feels comfortable with Ellis on the bench.
The Western Conference was incredibly competitive last season and it has the potential to be even stronger this year. The West was so deep that the Phoenix Suns won 48 games and missed the playoffs entirely. To put that in perspective, just a take at the Eastern Conference. The Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls are the only two teams that won more than 48 games in the entire Eastern Conference last season.
Coach Carlisle’s challenge this season will be finding the right opportunity to limit the number of minutes that his veterans play without sacrificing wins. This may be an arduous task for Carlisle, but it’s not a bad problem to have. Young teams in the NBA do not typically play deep into the postseason or contend for championships, and that’s exactly what Dallas hopes to accomplish this season with their collection of accomplished veterans.