Where the hell was Marreese Speights last night? Actually I can answer that; glued to the bench. He spent 3:02 on the court, which is well below his season average of 15.5. While his playing time has been sparse overall this season, lately the minutes have grown to where he is a real part of the rotation. But his absence last night was a headscratcher.
Speights is averaging a steady eight points per game so far and over the 10 games prior to the Hornets match up, his minutes had been up a bit. Basically, he does his damage in short spurts. And it isn't a science really; its quite tough to trust a rookie power forward to play a ton of minutes while still learning on the run.
What I do not get though is why he was relegated to on-looker while the Sixers needed a spark during Peja Stojakovic's Better Basketball shooting clinic on the right arc. Tony DiLeo did not look his way during an important time, a weird move considering the lack of passion exuded on the court by the Sixers during that wicked stretch.
The numbers never lie and currently they show a very consistent rookie being wasted. In the usual nine man rotation employed by DiLeo, Speights leads the Sixers in PER at 20.47. PER is the Player Efficiency Rating concocted by John Hollinger of ESPN.com as a way to show a player's per-minute productivity. And not only is he the leader in PER for the Sixers, but also for all rookies in the entire NBA by a fair margin.
Speights is simply giving the Sixers decent minutes right now. The return of Elton Brand undoubtedly has something to do with Speights and his 15 total minutes in the last two games. However, his maturation should not be stunted because Brand is back in the fold. If anything, Sam Dalembert should lose a few minutes to ensure the rookie gets some well needed, and earned, playing time.
While Speights does have some tendinitis in his knee, my knees creak too. Get the kid on the court, allow him to flourish, but also to make the occasional mistake, and play him with Brand.
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