You have to take Per-36 numbers with a grain of salt, because of small sample sizes and match-ups, but I think it's interesting in this case, because we have a handful of decent players who can clearly play and not enough minutes to play them all.
It also gives you a hint of what these guys could potentially do if given enough minutes. The most any of our bigs are playing this year is 24 minutes. It's hard for a player to 'break out" and look like an all-star candidate if they are being limited to 24 minutes. But it's also hard for any of our bigs to get more than 24 minutes cuz there's too [dang] many of them. Could one of these guys averaged 20 and 10 if given 36 minutes per game? Would that make them super valuable in a trade?
It was interesting in previous seasons when we had Bass, Sully and Olynyk all playing at roughly the same level with minutes adjusted. This year, we have even more bigs. So let's look at early season results.
Player Stats Adjusted to 36 minutes:Sully (24.3 minutes): 16.5 points, 13 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.9 steals, 1.2 blocks, 47%/37%/75% - Holy crap that's outstanding. If a player was actually averaging that in 36 minutes, he'd be in consideration as an all-star. This is one of the main reasons I started a thread suggesting that
now might be a good time to sell Sully while his stock is high... He's always been capable of putting up stats, but I don't think he's as good as these numbers suggest. For reference, last season his per-36 was 17.7 points, 10.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1 steal and 1 block on 44%/28%/74%. Very good, but a host of concerns and a deep bench of replacements might make him a primary trade candidate.
Amir (23.4 minutes): 12.6 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.3 steals, 1.8 blocks with 57%/25%/63% shooting. That's almost exactly the same as his per-36 over the past 7 years:
http://i.imgur.com/bQrcCUN.jpg ... Check out that link, it's freaky. Amir is Amir.
Olynyk (17.5 minutes): 15.7 points, 9 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.4 steals, 1.7 blocks 40%/29%/73% ... His shooting percentages are lower than I'd expect and those defensive numbers are way higher than I'd expect. For reference, last year he averaged 16.6 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.6 steals, 1 block with 48%/35%/68% shooting. I still like Olynyk a lot and remain curious what he could do with starter minutes. When I suggest selling high on someone like Sully, I have guys like Olynyk in mind. Could Olynyk give you 80% of what Sully gives you? Less rebounding but probably better long-term shooting? Could he surpass what Sully gives you? You have to imagine his trade value sinks with his minutes. I don't think Olynyk's future is a bench warmer getting 17.5 minutes. Maybe I'm a homer, though.
Lee (15.8 minutes): 16.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.8 blocks with 51%/X/83% shooting. I think this one is the most interesting. I thought before the season that Lee would be our best player. He seemed to struggle early on. He looked slow. The last couple games, he's seemed to get his legs back, though. He was an animal against Brooklyn and seemed to show the player I thought he was. We all know that Lee is a season removed from averaging 18 and 9. In his GSW days, he was averaging upwards of 37 minutes. I understood why he never returned to the starting lineup in Golden State after his injury (the team playing at a championship pace and all), but I don't understand why people would think his talent disappeared. Lack of talent isn't why Golden State never returned Lee to the starting lineup... it was a fear of ruining championship chemistry. Now he's in Boston... and I guess I'm not all that surprised that even with his early season struggles his Per-36 numbers are about even with what he's done throughout his career:
http://i.imgur.com/AB4GkvE.jpg ... People think he's washed up 12 games into the season... Seems to me he's probably the same ol David Lee with less than half the minutes. His defense is another question entirely, but could that guy still get significant points/rebounds with starter minutes? Probably.
Jerebko (13.3 minutes): 9.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.2 steals, 0.5 blocks with 48%/33%/100% shooting. Well in his brief 13 minute stints, he hasn't looked amazing, but it's not far off from his career per-36 stats of 13 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.2 steals with 47%/34%/77% shooting. Jerebko seems like a contributor to me. Would the team be significantly worse-off if that guy was getting 20+ minutes as a primary backup? Probably not. He's got some game.
Zeller (8.9 minutes): 21.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.5 blocks, 52%/X/82% ... The dramatic drop in minutes for Zeller is a good illustration of the (good?) problem we have. We're loaded with mediocre bigs. Zeller was our starting center last year... now he's averaging 9 minutes per game. It's not like his talent disappeared. Again, not far off from his per-36 numbers for us last year... 17.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 0.4 steals, 1.1 blocks with 55%/X/82% shooting. Same ol Zeller... far less minutes. Could he still contribute if a trade cleared out minutes? Sure. If you moved Sully and other assets for a Wing and were forced to start Zeller at Center next to Amir at PF, would the team be dramatically worse off? Probably not.
Jordan Mickey (2.5 minutes): 36 points, 21.6 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 0 steals, 7.2 blocks with 50%/X/100% shooting. LOL. I mean, come on... nothing is more misleading than that. He's literally played a total of 5 NBA minutes. That's obviously not what he'd average in the NBA, but in defense of Mickey he was actually our best statistical player in summer league this year (even more so than Smart, Rozier, Young, Hunter). I put almost no stock into d-league performances, but it's fair to note that he's been one of the best players so far in that league: 19.3 points, 11.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.3 steals, 5 blocks per game in 50%/X/83% shooting in 4 games. I think the point is here, we got a guy who is likely going to see almost no minutes buried behind the above 6 effective players... and yet are you absolutely positive he'd give you less than Jerebko? I'm not. I'm the last person on this forum to give credit to bigs, but I can't rule out the possibility that Mickey would perform with minutes. If you wiped out the roster in a massive 5-for-1 deal to land a star, would I be worried about Mickey being incapable of filling the Leon Powe bench role?... Nah. I'd guess he's capable of giving you some decent bench minutes.
So anyways, I find all of the above interesting. It's a bit outlandish, but because of the unknown... I can't rule out the possibility that our 7th string big is on a par with our 1st string big. It's an interesting situation we have right now.