Blazers reporter criticizes Splitter's player usage: Hansen could have played more minutes, Klingen played too long.

On January 7th Beijing time, Blazers reporter Mike Richman criticized Splitter's overly cautious player management in his latest podcast, saying Kamara and Klingen played too many minutes in a game that was already decided, and Hansen should have been given more time on the court. The relevant content is as follows—

“I feel that Kamara and Klingen’s playing time in this game was excessively long. The game lost its suspense early, yet Toumani played a full 35 minutes and Klingen logged 33 minutes. Chris Murray’s minutes were clearly limited, which is obvious. After the game, Splitter always says similar things, mentioning he has to handle internal player minute restrictions but never specifies who or how long the limits are. If you ask him before the game, he’s vague, but after the game, he admits players have hit their minute caps.”

“Chris Murray just recovered from a quadriceps injury, so logically his playing time shouldn’t exceed 25 to 26 minutes. In this game, he was subbed out after only 2 minutes in the fourth quarter, with a total of 26 minutes and 40 seconds on the floor, which is basically the maximum allowed.”

“So I somewhat understand why Kamara’s minutes were a bit long—the team clearly didn’t want the bench unit on the court for too long. But I think the perfect moments to rest starters were at the timeouts with 6:17 and 5:30 remaining. If they had been subbed out around 6 minutes left, both could have kept their minutes under 30. Instead, they stayed in until only 2:14 remained in the game before finally coming off.”

“Of course, I know these are young players whose stamina can handle such minutes, which is normal in regular games. But in a game where the outcome is decided, the team really should avoid letting starters accumulate excessive minutes, because the long NBA season easily causes fatigue issues.”

“More importantly, playing an extra 5 minutes in a meaningless game risks unexpected injuries—maybe just stepping on someone’s foot accidentally, leading to an ankle sprain and then a 10-day absence. That’s why I think their playing time was way too long.”

“At that time, the team was leading by 24 points and could have easily given Hansen about 4 and a half more minutes. I think the team could have maintained the lead comfortably. Dupree Reese could also have gotten some minutes. The team could have securely held the win. Honestly, I’m not satisfied with the team’s player management. Although I understand it’s partly due to other players’ minute restrictions, if I have to criticize, this is what I’m most unhappy about in this game.”

In this game, Hansen only played the final 2 minutes and 14 seconds, shooting 1 for 1, making 2 free throws, and scoring 4 points. The Blazers ultimately defeated the Jazz 137-117.