FanPost

Are we the Youngest Team in the West? PART 2

It is not your beloved Golden State Warriors.  After doing some extensive math work, I devised a new stat that I call 'Actual Playin Age'(I know, not that clever).  It is a much better way to mesure the age of team than raw age average.  I decided to compare the Warriors to 4 other Western Conference teams:  the Memphis Grizzlies, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Minnesota Timber Wolves, and the Oklahoma City Thunder to see where we stood.

When taking a look at the stats you can see that not only are we not the youngest team, but we are not even built as a young rebuilding and up and coming team.  Observations on the other teams

Thunder's top 3 players in minutes played are Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, and Russell Westbrook.  3 young guys they want to build there future around. The rest of the guys are supporting cast are veteran players and a few young role players to fill out the bench.  Building around those 3, they can change the other parts as they get ready to make push in the West.

Grizzlies's have played their rookie OJ Mayo more than they have played anybody else.  Followed closely by Rudy Gay.  Both of those guys are potential future All-Stars.  The next 5 guys that play are also very young players.  Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, Hakim Warrick, Kyle Lowry, and Darrell Arthur.   The end of the bench is filled by veterans, in effect the exact oppostie of how the Warriors are constucted.

Timber Wolves's have Randy Foye and Al Jefferson, that is there future along with Kevin Love and Corey Brewer.  Corey Brewer is out of the season, and the Timber Wolves are bringing along Kevin Love slowly and seeing if Ryan Gomes and Sebastian Telfair can make it as solid NBA players.  The rest of the bench is filled with veterans and young a couple of young NBA hopefuls with Rodney Carney and Craig Smith.

Trail Blazers's are already an elite Western Confernce team. LaMarcus Aldridge and All-Star Brandon Roy are the team captains and lead the team in minutes.  In fact other than veteran point guard Steve Blake and ridiculuos rebounding machine center Joel Przybilla, all their roatational players 25 or under.

The difference from those teams and the Warriors is that they have a plan and we do not.  Maybe for the TWolves, Thunder, and Grizzlies it doesnt work out, but they are trying something and sticking to it.

What is the Warriors plan?  If everything works out and we might get to fight for the 8th seed and a 1 and done in the playoffs the next 2 -3 years?  It is nice to know that that is our BEST case scenario for our team.

On the tables below, pct refers to what percent of total playing time that player has played for the team.  For the Warriors, pct A factors in Demarcus Nelson and Al Harrington, and pct B does not.  We are still a very young team, but maybe not as young as you would like to think.  Actual Playing Age is a much better way to represent the team's average age than just the average age of the players of the team.

Golden State Warriors

Player

Age

Minutes Played

Pct A

Pct B

Jackson

30

1854

.136

.140

Azibuike

25

1557

.114

.117

Biedrins

22

1549

.114

.117

Crawford

28

1492

.110

.112

Watson

24

1283

.094

.097

Maggette

29

1213

.089

.091

Turiaf

26

1099

.081

.083

Morrow

23

762

.056

.057

Belinelli

22

696

.051

.052

Wright

21

524

.038

.039

Randolph

19

507

.037

.038

Ellis

23

432

.032

.033

Kurz

23

243

.018

.019

Nelson

23

171

.013

-

Harrington

28

166

.012

-

Williams

23

53

.004

.004

Davidson

24

14

.001

.001

Portland Trailblazers

Player

Age

Minutes Played

Pct

LaMarcus Aldridge

23

2013

.151

Brandon Roy

24

1909

.145

Travis Outlaw

24

1480

.111

Rudy Fernandez

23

1406

.106

Steve Blake

28

1276

.096

Joel Przybilla

29

1212

.091

Greg Oden

21

1053

.079

Nicolas Batum

20

968

.073

Sergio Rodriguez

22

931

.071

Jerryd Bayless

20

495

.037

Channing Frye

25

458

.034

Ike Diogu

25

73

.005

Shavlik Randolph

25

16

.001

Martell Webster

22

5

.000

Michael Ruffin

32

4

.000

Raef LaFrentz

32

0

.000

Memphis Grizzlies

Player

Age

Minutes Played

Pct

O.J. Mayo

21

2093

.157

Rudy Gay

22

1941

.146

Marc Gasol

24

1646

.124

Mike Conley

21

1525

.114

Hakim Warrick

26

1408

.105

Kyle Lowry

22

1071

.080

Darrell Arthur

20

967

.073

Quinton Ross

27

834

.062

Darko Milicic

23

744

.059

Greg Buckner

32

571

.042

Marko Jaric

30

271

.020

Darius Miles

27

196

.014

Javaris Crittenton

21

44

.003

Hamed Haddadi

23

14

.001

Minnesota Timber Wolves

Player

Age

Minutes Played

Pct

Randy Foye

25

1986

.150

Al Jefferson

24

1836

.140

Ryan Gomes

26

1747

.131

Mike Miller

28

1448

.108

Sebastian Telfair

23

1339

.102

Kevin Love

20

1318

.100

Craig Smith

25

1001

.074

Rodney Carney

24

646

.049

Rashad McCants

24

636

.048

Kevin Ollie

36

429

.032

Brian Cardinal

31

368

.026

Corey Brewer

22

307

.023

Jason Collins

30

203

.014

Mark Madsen

33

61

.003

Calvin Booth

32

1

.000

Oklahoma City Thunder

Player

Age

Minutes Played

Pct

Kevin Durant

20

2197

.163

Jeff Green

22

2073

.153

Russell Westbrook

20

1786

.132

Earl Watson

29

1474

.109

Nick Collison

28

1261

.093

Desmond Mason

31

1064

.079

Chris Wilcox

26

719

.053

Joe Smith

33

691

.051

Kyle Weaver

22

579

.042

Damien Wilkins

29

520

.038

Nenad Krstic

25

461

.034

Johan Petro

23

342

.025

Robert Swift

23

245

.018

Chucky Atkins

34

84

.006

Mouhamed Sene

22

23

.002

Thabo Sefolosha

24

18

.002

Steven Hill

23

2

.000

Team

Average Roster Age

Actual Playing Age

Minutes Leader

Golden State Warriors

24.1(24.3 17 man)

25.7(25.6 17 man)

Jackson(30) 1854

Portland Trail Blazers

26.3

23.8

Aldridge (23) 2013

Memphis Grizzlies

24.2

23.3

Mayo(21) 2093

Minnesota Timber Wolves

26.9

25.0

Foye (25) 1986

Oklahoma City Thunder

25.5

24.7

Durant (20) 2197

This FanPost is a submission from a member of the mighty Golden State of Mind community. While we're all here to throw up that W, these words do not necessarily reflect the views of the GSoM Crew. Still, chances are the preceding post is Unstoppable Baby!