Time to return to one of the points we hammer home the most on FBB – the almighty power of the minute. It’s the most basic principle – to win fantasy basketball, you need players who accumulate stats. To accumulate stats, you need to be on the court. Players who are on the court more accumulate more stats. We’ve been through this before. Minutes win. I don’t want to jinx my team further on a night when Jermaine O’Neal already went down, but one of the main reasons my team is in first place is that I boast seven players in the top 30 in total minutes played. So let’s take a look at some names near the top of the minutes played leaderboard, separated into three different categories.

The Sure Things
Gilbert Arenas, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Shawn Marion
There’s a reason that these players were possibly the first four players taken in your draft back in the fall. Yes, they are among the most talented players in the league, but they also have a track record of health and big minutes that makes them guarantees. Arenas is 3^rd in total minutes this season, James 4^th, Garnett 6^th and Marion 10^th. Arenas has averaged 40+ minutes in each of the past three seasons, has missed four games over that span and just turned 25. Those are the kinds of traits you want in a player who will be anchoring your team. As disappointing as LeBron’s season has been, the one thing you must give him credit for is his continued heavy workload. His game may have stagnated but by staying healthy and playing 41 mpg he remains an elite talent. It’s the guarantee of huge minutes that makes it near impossible to pass over LeBron with one of the top few picks in next year’s draft. Garnett has long proven his superhuman durability. When he missed the last six games of the 05-06 season it was more games he missed then the previous eight years combined. We worry about most big men as they get on the other side of 30, but Garnett has shown absolutely no reason for us to be worried yet. He’s actually seeing more minutes than he has since the 02-03 season and is looking like a good bet to be the most valuable player in fantasy yet again. It seems like Marion’s been dinged up a bit this year, but the two games he missed recently were his first two absences of the season. And he’s averaged 43 mpg in the games since he’s returned, which is a perfect example of why Marion, like Garnett, should never be overlooked at the beginning of drafts.

The New Breed
Andre Iguodala, Joe Johnson, Elton Brand, Dwight Howard
Johnson obviously sticks out here since it looks like he’ll miss a good portion of the rest of the season. But after four years of appearing in 82 games we’re willing to give him the benefit of the doubt with this injury. It’s more important to note his career high 41.4 mpg, his fourth straight season of at least 39.5 mpg, with back-to-back career highs in his first two seasons with Atlanta. He’ll turn 26 in the offseason, meaning he’s likely to continue to see as many minutes as he can handle for a while. We’ve remained high on Iguodala because of his durability and big minutes and this season has only reinforced why that was the case. He still hasn’t missed a game in his pro career and is up to 40.3 mpg, ranking second in the league in total minutes played. He is a true ironman and will likely be the focal point of his team’s offense for the entire season next year. Don’t be afraid to take him in the second round if you have to. Brand and Howard are trying to follow in the footsteps of Garnett as reliably high-minute big men. After a couple of seasons in which Brand had some bad injury luck he’s now strung together three straight seasons of very good health and has maintained his minutes in the high 30s, ranking 16^th in the league in total minutes, with Garnett, Marion and Howard the only big men ahead of him. Despite some great streaks, Howard may be considered a disappointment by some, ranking just 37^th on the average player rater, and that’s in leagues that don’t bring into account his nearly 4 turnovers per game. But because he’s out there every night playing 36 mpg, he’s #18 on the overall rater. He’s 13^th in total minutes; next highest for a player that qualifies at center is Eddy Curry at 28^th. That’s a big competitive advantage to have at that position and it’s one reason why Howard should still be given some benefit of the doubt.

One Year Wonders?
Mike Miller, Luol Deng, Shane Battier, Deron Williams
Going into Wednesday’s games, the league leader in total minutes played was Mike Miller. This is fairly shocking, considering that hadn’t managed to top 76 games once since his rookie season, and went four straight seasons without topping 65. He played in 76 and 74 in 04-05 and 05-06, respectively, but averaged just 30 mpg in both of those seasons. So what to make of this year’s PT explosion? It seems like a fluke, but the trends of the past few years were at least going in the right direction. Still, of all the players in the top 10 this year, he seems the most likely to be there next season. And that top 10 includes Luol Deng, who entered Wednesday 8^th in the league in total minutes. We were impressed with Deng when he managed to receive 33.4 mpg from the always fickle Scott Skiles in his second year when he started just 56 games. He’s up to 37.4 mpg this season and has managed to stay healthy. That has helped him work his way into the top 30 on the player rater. We were as high on Deng as anyone and we didn’t think it would be that good. We were excited about Shane Battier going to Houston because it just seemed like he would be a guy that Jeff Van Gundy would love and keep out on the court a lot. That has proven to be the case, as Battier has seen 37 mpg, his highest workload since his rookie season. He’s also been one of the few constants in the Houston lineup, and seems to keep his career-long streak of appearing in at least 78 games alive at six years and counting. His stat line of 10.6/4.1/1.8 on 45% shooting sure doesn’t look exciting, but there he is at #50 on the player rater. We were shocked when he went as early as #65 in our draft, but he’s proven to be worth it. Just like Deng overcame Scott Skiles quick hook, it seems that Deron Williams has done the same with Jerry Sloan. His 37.1 mpg is a very healthy number for a player under Sloan and it only stands to increase as his career gets going. He’s missed a couple games lately but has avoided the curse of day-to-day becoming week-to-week, avoiding missing consecutive games.