Booker/Green/Tillman.

From the Freep.   I can’t remember complaining about Tillman or Day Day not getting minutes and I know it absolutely has to do with recency bias.   I just remember both of them as being bad ass  

Anyway.

In early February 2009, Green went from playing 8 minutes in his first 20 games as a Spartan to averaging 15 minutes a game over the final 17 games and helped guide MSU to the national championship game.


Green averaged 5.5 points and 4.4 rebounds and did not play fewer than 10 minutes down the stretch that season, after posting 1.9 points and 2.4 rebounds and getting double-digit minutes in only five of the Spartans' first 20 games.

Over MSU's final six games in February and March 2018, Tillman went from averaging 8 minutes over the first 29 games to getting 14 minutes a game. He averaged 4.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in that finishing run that included the final two games of the regular season, two Big Ten tournament games and two NCAA games

“I was on the phone with Xavier (Booker) two days ago, and there's a couple of guys I want him to talk to, because that's all part of it. Both Xavier (Tillman) and Draymond were almost identical. They play very few minutes during the year, and then at the end of the year, they started getting better. And they started getting better, because they figured it out.

Unlike both Green and Tillman, who lost weight and improved their strength and stamina during their first season, Booker’s physical limitation was with his 215-pound frame he arrived at MSU with over the summer. Gradually he said, through a combination of improved eating habits and weight room work with strength and conditioning coach Lorenzo Guess, Booker said he is now up to 236 pounds as of this week.

While it’s been a running request from fans for Booker to get more playing time, he admits his development at times has been slow.

“I feel like that also just comes with time and more experience playing the game,” he said. “Obviously, a month ago, a few months ago, I probably wouldn't be doing some of the things I'm doing now. It just comes with time and experience — learning the game, learning where to be, learning where to be in the right spots on defense and offense, too.”

Particularly, Booker pointed to difficulties he had in learning MSU’s ball-screen defense as one area where he has made a significant improvement that has built some of the trust needed for an expanded role.

“That definitely takes some time,” he said. “That probably took me a lot of time at the beginning. because obviously I didn't really ever do anything like that.

OK. We play one of the worst teams in the league tomorrow. I don’t think this is brought up unless there are plans to play Book around 14+ minutes. So, he has to play in the 2nd half. And he’s either taking some of Mady’s diminishing minutes, or giving Hall more of a break.

I hope he plays more.

Similar things happened with Lorbeck

I think Draymond seriously thought about transferring at one point.