The 240 Minutes Series Explained:
In the NBA there are 450 players under full contracts to start every season. These players consist of superstars, all-stars, average players, guys dealing with injuries, benchwarmers, rookies, ring-chasers, and whatever Hassan Whiteside is. Despite the contracts, draft capital, coaching, potential, friendships, and experience that all play a role in rotation minutes, there are only 240 minutes every game to go around and split amongst the players.
In this series, we cut through all of that. Join the fun as we dig into the rosters of every NBA team and project how many rotation minutes will be played by each player to begin the season. This takes into account all active injuries and thinks about the rosters in terms of which 9-12 players on each team will actually be playing for their respective team for the first few weeks of the regular season. In addition to this, we will discuss the positions that they will be playing, why their minutes per game total is calculated where it is, and showcase the quality of the player that is allotted those minutes. The “quality of player” tiers will look as such:
MVP Candidate – Top 10 player and potential to win MVP this season
All-NBA Candidate – Top 30 player and potential to be on an All-NBA Team this season
High-End Starter – Quality starter with potential to make the All-star game this season
Starter – Quality starter and is (roughly) a top 120 player this season
Low-End Starter – Starts but is not (roughly) a top 120 player this season
Elite 6th Man – Does not start but is a top (roughly) 120 player and could win 6MOTY this season
High-End Backup – Does not start but could if needed and perform well
Backup – Does not start but is a quality role player
Low-End Backup – Could see minutes during regular season but might not make playoff rotation
Without further ado:
Where Will the 240 Minutes on the Charlotte Hornets Go?
Terry Rozier PG/SG – High-End Starter (34 minutes per game)
Scary Terry has had a resurgence in his career the instant he arrived in Charlotte. He recently reached a four-year extension with the Hornets and looks to be the long-term running mate with LaMelo Ball. Last season, Rozier averaged 20.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.2 assists on solid shooting splits (45/39/82). Terry was the closer for the Hornets last season and made big shot after big shot in the last two minutes of games. Not only that but he was 5th in the league with 222 made three pointers, trailing only Steph Curry, Buddy Hield, Damian Lillard, and Duncan Robinson. Rozier averaged 34.5 minutes per game last season and should have a similar role this season with the departure of Devonte Graham, but addition of Ish Smith and rookie James Bouknight.
LaMelo Ball PG/SG – High-End Starter (32 minutes per game)
LaMelo had a wonderful rookie season and despite fracturing his wrist in the middle of the season and missing over a month of games, he was still able to win rookie of the year over fellow rookie Anthony Edwards. LaMelo started 31 of 51 games for the Hornets and averaged 15.7 points, 6.1 assists, and 5.9 rebounds in 28.8 minutes per game in 2020-2021. He also became the youngest player ever to record a triple-double at just 19-years-old. LaMelo is poised to both start and make a jump in minutes in his sophomore season and could even be a fringe-all-star player. Look for him to get in the 31-33-minute range nightly.
Gordon Hayward SF/PF – High-End Starter (31 minutes per game)
Hayward was having a bounce back year in Charlotte in 2020-2021 until injuries once again de-railed his season. Prior to his foot injury in early April, Hayward was averaging 19.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game. Early in the season he was also making his case to make just his 2nd all-star appearance as he was averaging a career high 23.0 points per game on 50/43/86 shooting splits and had incredible 4th quarter efficiency. The biggest key at this point is keeping Hayward healthy, so Charlotte brought in Kelly Oubre to play backup SF and take some of the load off and Miles Bridges can also play either forward spot. While Hayward averaged 34.0 minutes per game last season, Borrego should be trying to keep him at 31-32 minutes in 2021-2022.
PJ Washington PF/C – Starter (30 minutes per game)
PJ Washington has made the most of his opportunities and with the Hornets consistently struggling to find good play at the Center position, PJ actually started 23 games at C for the Hornets last season. He should see plenty of minutes at Center when the Hornets play small-ball, but with Charlotte bringing in Mason Plumlee via trade, PJ will likely start at PF to begin the season. Washington averaged 12.9 points and 6.5 rebounds in 30.5 minutes per game in 2020-2021. He also had a consistent long-range shot, making 38.6% of his threes. He will likely play right around 30 minutes a night for the third consecutive season in Charlotte.
Miles Bridges SF/PF – High-End Backup (28 minutes per game)
Another player who has developed very nicely for the Hornets is Miles Bridges. Over his first three seasons, he has started 108 games for Charlotte. This season he could very well start at PF, sliding PJ Washington to the starting C spot, but the initial plan seems to be to bring him off the bench as the 6th man. Bridges was a stud last season, making highlight dunks, shooting 40% from three, and averaging a respectable 12.7 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in 29.3 minutes a night. This is a contract year for Bridges as he looks to get paid big next offseason. While Bridges is a very solid player, with Hayward hopefully back healthy and Kelly Oubre now on the team, Bridges likely sees a very slight decrease in minutes.
Kelly Oubre Jr. SG/SF – High-End Backup (25 minutes per game)
Oubre has definitely had his ups and downs the last three seasons. After looking like a complete beast in 2019 averaging 18.7 points per game on a decent 35.2% from deep, he was injured during Phoenix’s iconic bubble run and the Suns elected to move on from him. In Golden State last season, he regressed and was not nearly as explosive or efficient. With that being said, he is still an elite 7th man to have on your roster. Charlotte now has insurance for if Hayward gets injured again and has an extremely versatile set of forwards. Oubre averaged 30.7 minutes per game last season, but will not see more than 24-26 minutes if everyone stays healthy on this roster.
Mason Plumlee C – Low-End Starter (21 minutes per game)
Believe it or not, Plumlee is actually the best true Center the Hornets have had since 2017 when Dwight Howard was on the team. Plagued by the likes of Cody Zeller and Bismack Biyombo the last three seasons, Mason Plumlee is actually an upgrade. He had a career year last season with Detroit, averaging 10.4 points and 9.3 rebounds per game (both career highs) in 26.8 minutes per game. With that being said he is still a very limited player who is the epitome of a low-end starter. If Charlotte elects to start PJ Washington at Center in the middle of the season, I wouldn’t be one bit surprised. Plumlee should dip to about the 20.9 minutes per game that Cody Zeller played last season.
Ish Smith PG – Backup (19 minutes per game)
With Devonte Graham departing, and LaMelo Ball poised to start in 2021-2022, Charlotte was in need of a backup point guard. Ish Smith was a great value pick up. The scrappy 10-year veteran has played over 650 career games and has actually gotten better as he has aged. The 32-year-old averaged 6.7 points and 3.9 assists in 21.0 minutes per game last season with Washington. His role should be very similar this season playing behind LaMelo Ball and Terry Rozier.
James Bouknight PG/SG – Backup (13 minutes per game)
The 2021 NBA draft treated Charlotte extremely well, as they were able to draft two potential immediate rotation guys, both of which have high-upside long-term. The first pick was James Bouknight who fell to the Hornets at pick 11. Bouknight is a 6’5” combo-guard who many analysts viewed as a top 7 pick in the draft. If he can develop his 3-point shot at the next level, he could very well be the successor of Terry Rozier by the end of his rookie contract. Look for him to be a consistent small-minutes player during the regular season.
Kai Jones PF/C – Low-End Backup (7 minutes per game)
This is the first time in the 240 minutes series that there has been a 10-man rotation rather than an 11 or 12-man rotation to begin the season. This is because there are simply too many young guys to develop on the Hornets. Of the remaining players on Charlotte’s roster, Kai Jones has the most upside and capital spent on for the last rotation spot. Jones was primarily a bench player in college and averaged just 8.8 points a game in his sophomore season at Texas, but his physical traits and perceived upside made the Hornets confident enough to draft him 19th overall. He is still incredibly raw and mostly a developmental project, but should see some minutes during the regular season for this up and coming team.
Projected Nightly Depth Chart:
PG: LaMelo Ball/Ish Smith/Terry Rozier
SG: Terry Rozier/James Bouknight/Kelly Oubre Jr.
SF: Gordon Hayward/Kelly Oubre Jr./Miles Bridges
PF: PJ Washington/Miles Bridges/Gordon Hayward
C: Mason Plumlee/PJ Washington/Kai Jones
Not in Initial Rotation:
Vernon Carey Jr. PF/C
Cody Martin SG/SF
Jalen McDaniels PF/C
Wes Iwundu SF/PF
Nick Rchards C