Bogans is in the rotation because JJ makes mistakes, which Thibs hates. Thibs figures Bogans might as well get his minutes playing with guys who can make him useful, on account of their offensive prowess.

So Thibs is smart (figured), willing to be unconventional (obviously), and it seems that Bogans still starting after a trade is unlikely, although possible if we give up a rotation wing.

If Bogans was in there because he was the best option, like this article claims, then why does he NEVER play besides the opening minutes of each half?

that’s clearly not an option. so the only reason to get mad at thibs is for not playing JJ

Depending on how well a player fits with the other players on the team, I definitely believe a team could be better off with a player coming off the bench behind an inferior player, as long as the superior player still gets more minutes in the end. I have no problem with seeing a guy like Brewer, who’s probably the best overall SG on this team, come off the bench instead as long as he gets “starters’ minutes.”

However, Bogans is not very good. As others have pointed out, he should not be playing at all.

Starting isn’t of illusory importance. There’s two sides to the argument that you can hide Bogans offensively with the other starters. The upside is you don’t have them playing with offensively weak bench players, but the downside is our other starters get that many fewer open looks.

In economics, the key concept for situations like this is to think at the margin. Never mind how many minutes each guy plays right now. Think… given the rest of my lineup, would I be better off with another minute of A) Bogans or B) Brewer, or C) Korver?

I tend to think if you look at it on a minute by minute basis, you’d quickly erode Bogans’ minutes to zero. You’d start Korver and play him an extra few minutes. You’d play Brewer an extra few minutes. You probably would try to sneak in JJ for a few

The point isn’t that he starts, it’s that he gets any minutes. We have two other SG’s and Watson. There’s just no need for him to ever see the court, I could care less if he’s starting or coming off the bench. If the other guys don’t have it that night, then you let Bogans play, but you certainly don’t guarantee him minutes, which is what you’re doing when you start him.

This is like starting your middle relief pitcher and then putting in your ace in the second or third inning. While it’s possible your ace would have struggled and only pitched 5 innings that night and you’d have needed the middle relief pitcher, there’s no reason to start the game as if it will happen that way.

Bogans plays to start the 1st and the 3rd to tire the opponents starter. Brewer enters. Brewer is then working with fresh legs against a player with tired legs. Just that little edge lets Brewer’s talents in transition shine.

The reason not to start Korver would be that he can not guard the 2 spot. That is a legitimate concern. If Korver can basically not guard the two, then Bogans needs to be in the rotation anyway so who cares if he starts. I took a look at all Utah Jazz lineups from last year that had Korver. I sorted them by defensive points per possession and here is what you get:
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# Unit Min Off Def +/- W L Win%
15 Gaines-Korver-Miles-Millsap-Okur 17 .95 .74 7 2 1 66
18 Williams-Brewer-Korver-Millsap-Okur 15 1.44 .77 19 3 0 100
11 Williams-Korver-Kirilenko-Millsap-Okur 22 1.36 .85 24 6 1 85
9 Price-Matthews-Korver-Millsap-Okur 25 1.06 .86 11 6 1 85
8 Williams-Matthews-Korver-Millsap-Okur 26 1.19 .91 16 3 2 60
16 Williams-Brewer-Korver-Millsap-Boozer 15 .95 .91 5 2 4 33
13 Price-Korver-Miles-Millsap-Fesenko 20 1.19 .93 10 2 1 66
6 Williams-Korver-Kirilenko-Boozer-Okur 34 1.15 .99 19 5 2 71
14 Price-Matthews-Korver-Millsap-Boozer 18 .90 1.00 -3 3 5 37
10 Williams-Matthews-Korver-Boozer-Okur 23 1.17 1.03 7 5 3 62
2 Price-Korver-Miles-Millsap-Okur 82 1.10 1.07 6 7 9 43
12 Williams-Korver-Miles-Boozer-Okur 22 .73 1.07 -20 2 3 40
17 Gaines-Korver-Miles-Millsap-Fesenko 15 1.11 1.08 2 1 2 33
4 Williams-Korver-Miles-Millsap-Okur 54 1.34 1.09 21 10 5 66
1 Williams-Matthews-Korver-Millsap-Boozer 109 1.21 1.11 27 12 10 54
5 Williams-Korver-Miles-Millsap-Boozer 52 1.31 1.11 18 10 7 58
20 Williams-Matthews-Korver-Millsap-Koufos 13 1.06 1.13 -2 1 2 33
7 Price-Korver-Miles-Millsap-Boozer 32 1.05 1.15 -5 2 4 33
19 Price-Korver-Miles-Millsap-Koufos 13 .93 1.15 -8 1 3 25
3 Williams-Korver-Kirilenko-Millsap-Boozer 60 1.32 1.19 13 7 7 50

And they play 2 on 2 basketball so the daughter is always teamed with the dad because if she is teamed with one of the sons then the Dad team will always win?