I have a team that has three guys that I would be real comfortable playing the point and another that I could use in a pinch.  My problem is that I want all three guys that can play the point to also play starters’ minutes.  I believe that if I use the “Fatigue” method of substitutions, I am going to end up with my emergency point guard playing the majority of backup minutes because my other two guys will be at the #1 slot at SG and SF and it will always put them at that position when they are in the game.

In order to get around this, I am thinking about trying the “Target Minutes” method and putting all three of those guys at 29+, but not starting one of them.  My depth chart would look something like this:

PG   SG   SF

PG1 SG2 PG3

PG2 PG1 PG4

PG3 PG2 SG2

PG4 PG3 PG1

 

PG1 thru PG4 are the guys that I want playing the point.  PG1 thru PG3 are the three that I want playing starters minutes.  SG2 is a guy that I would normally have backing up the SG position, but do not want at point guard and is targeted for 9+ minutes.  PG4 is my emergency point guard that I would normally want backing up at SF and is targeted to play 9+ minutes.

Has anyone tried anything like this?  Will it work out like I want it to?  Should I use slow down as my tempo to make sure that fatigue is not an issue?

why have PG1 ahead of PG2 at all 3 positions?

Also why is SG2 starting if you want him as a backup SG? Just start PG2

The reason I am not starting PG2 is so that it will stagger the substitutions.  It may be smart enough to work without having to do this when using target minutes, but I have found that when you use fatigue as the substitution method that it tends to sub out all of the starters at around the same time forcing you to have a ten man rotation.  My thought is that if I start SG2 and play him only about ten minutes a game he will come out earlier than the rest of the starters and PG2 will be fresh and able to play point when the rest of the starters are out of the game.  

In regards to why PG1 is always ahead of PG2, that is a mistake on my part, I should switch them up at SG.

It can be effective to use fatigue levels and mix it up among the players between Fairly Fresh and Getting Tired.  It can take some tinkering, but that's one way to stagger the substitutions.

I may need to go with that llamanuts because the exhibition game that I tried using targeted minutes caused some of my guys to be substituted back into the game when they were already tired.