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Minutes average for starter, backup, and reserve?

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329001.1
Date: 10/16/2025 12:26:03 AM
Bloody Harlan Hillbillies
III.15
Overall Posts Rated:
11
Forgive me for asking a question I am sure if I searched hard enough there is already an answer to. Feel free to link any previous answer. And thanks in advance for any help you can give.

When setting my lineup, if I put one player as the starter, then a second player as the backup and reserve at all 5 positions, about how many minutes should the starter get each game and how many minutes should the second guy expect to get?

Is it pretty close every week or will it vary widely?

So second question, if I put a player as the starter and the backup, but a second player as the reserve, is there a number of minute that should be close that each player will get each week?

This is assuming FOLLOW DEPT CHART and LET THEM PLAY in foul trouble.

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329001.2 in reply to 329001.1
Date: 10/16/2025 12:16:45 PM
Mos Eisley Imperials
II.3
Overall Posts Rated:
233233
With Follow Depth Chart + Let Them Play, barring injury or blowout, the typical minute distribution when no player is in more than one court position is close to:
Starter 36 / Backup 12 / Reserve 0

What I mean by "no player in more than one court position" is that if a player is a backup at PG, they could also be the reserve at PG but they're not listed at any other non-PG position. If one player is backup + reserve at two different positions, he tends to get around 8 minutes at each position with the starter getting around 40, but it's much more likely to wind up with at least one of those starters in the 42-44 minute range if you get a long run of no-whistle play.

If you are winning by a blowout (20 points or more at the start of the 4Q, with a chance of garbage time starting with a dead ball stoppage in the last 2 or so minutes of the 3Q if you're up substantially more than that), your coach will pull all starters that he can for the entire 4Q, which tends to tip the distribution to around 26/22 if the backup and reserve are the same player, or around 26/19/3 if the backup and reserve are different players and you don't have players in multiple positions on the roster.

Obviously, injuries and foul-outs impact this as well.

Last edited by Azariah at 10/16/2025 12:17:21 PM