Stats review: The value of a strong bench

Let's dive into how important teams' production off the bench has been to winning

Round 8 of the BKT EuroCup was highlighted by several key wins as things remain very tight, with a half dozen teams vying for position in the middle of Group A and Valencia Basket continuing to stand out in Group B. Scoring over 100 points for the fifth time in seven games, the Spanish club featured seven scorers in double figures including three off the bench.

Roster depth matters in the EuroCup; each of the last two teams to win the competition ranked among the top three in the percentage of minutes played by their bench at the end of the season. Despite the recent correlation with winning, the definition of a deep team remains nebulous. For some groups it is rooted in the quality of their sixth and seventh men, for others it’s the feeling that they have seven starters allowing them to mix and match, and some even benefit from being able to play 10 or 11 players. Regardless of the details, it’s the impact of that depth on the floor that is meaningful.

That has been especially true for Valencia through the first months of the season. With a mixture of perhaps the league’s highest talent level from top to bottom and how coach Pedro Martinez has chosen to exploit it, the Spanish club has leveraged its depth as effectively as any team in EuroCup history. Without a single player averaging 23 or more minutes per game but 11 players who have been in the team’s starting five and 14 who have seen game action, no team in the league has used its reserves and mixed up its lineups as liberally as the Group A leaders. The result has been a surprising level of consistency.

Not only has Valencia scored 100 points five times, but its second-ranked offensive efficiency has been nearly flat quarter to quarter. Its bench has outscored opposing reserves by 19 points per game as the way this roster can maintain a high standard of play for 40 minutes has been an unsolvable puzzle for opposing teams so far this season. No team has used its bench more than its starters for a full season in recent EuroCup history, but early returns suggest it may work in Valencia’s favor to become the first.

Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse has this season’s second-highest bench scoring differential. In contrast to Valencia, Bourg used the same starting lineup in their first four games before some injuries led to some reshuffling. When healthy, the French club has used a platoon system; its two most used lineups this season did not feature any common players until last round. Even as its bench has played some 10% fewer minutes than Valencia’s, the value of those true second-unit minutes has been apparent early on as the bench has outscored opposing reserves by 74 points, explaining most of their fifth-ranked +48 point differential.

The fluidity of Valencia’s rotations and the chemistry of Bourg’s bench have had an obvious impact on the standings, but there are plenty of other nuggets to be found looking across the EuroCup this season.

Jordan Ford may be coming off the bench for Dolomiti Energia Trento, but that has not stopped him from ranking sixth among all players in points per-game. His production has made Trento the only team other than Valencia getting as much scoring from its bench as its starters.

No team has leaned on its starters more heavily than Turk Telekom Ankara, which has played them a league-high 67% of the time through eight games despite using 10 different starters. While some of these numbers will flatten out as the year goes on, it will be interesting to see if that continues to work now that teams have settled into the rhythm of the season.